Courtesy of Benedict Athletics
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Benedict College football team will hold its annual Purple-Gold Spring Game at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday at Charlie W. Johnson Stadium, which should give the coaching staff a good look at some young players.
“We’re taking a look at some guys who didn’t play a lot last year,” head coach Mike White said. “We’re trying to get those guys ready for the 2019 season on both sides of the ball. In the secondary, we’ve got some new guys who we hope to get a lot of reps, and the same with our linebackers. We’re just trying to get them ready to play. Some of our starters from last year, we already know what they can do, but we’re just trying to take a look at some of the new talent.”
The Tigers have been going through workouts for about three weeks in the evenings to avoid class conflicts, as well as Saturday mornings, White said. He said there are about 50 players on the spring roster. The spring game will begin with some 7-on-7 drills before full 11-on-11 offense vs. defense drills. White said the team will go through about 50 plays on Saturday.
White said he will be paying close attention to both the offensive and defensive lines. The Tigers lost two starters on the offensive line and four key players on the defensive line.
“You’ve got to look at some of the guys and see exactly where they are,” White said. “This gives us a chance to see them go all-out in a scrimmage situation and see how they handle it.”
The offense will score points by scoring a touchdown (6 points), PAT (1 point), field goal (3 points), rush over 20 yards (3 points), and pass over 25 yards (3 points). The defense will score points by a defensive touchdown (7 points), missed PAT (1 point), missed field goal (3 points), turnover (4 points), drive stop (2 points), three-and-out (3 points), sack (2 points), forced fumble (1 point), and tackle for loss (1 point). Last year, the defense won 24-22 and 28-18 in 2017.
The 2019 season will open on September 7 at Fayetteville State University.
