The Tusculum University football team wrapped up its fall preseason camp on Saturday afternoon with an intersquad scrimmage as the Pioneers are just two weeks from kicking off the 2024 campaign.
Tusculum, the defending South Atlantic Conference Mountain Division Champions, will travel to Livingston, Alabama, on Sept. 7 to face the University of West Alabama.
On Saturday, the Pioneers held their annual photo day in the morning and later laced it up with an 80-plus play scrimmage at Pioneer Field.
Overall, Tusculum coach Billy Taylor was pleased with how Saturday’s scrimmage started but said there is always room for improvement.
“The offense looked strong early and executed very well,” Taylor said. “On defense, we need to tackle better and we had way too many missed assignments early on. But after that, we responded and played much better.”
Taylor was very excited about the play of some of his rookies, including quarterback Kamden Wellington (South Pittsburg) looked sharp on offense, while the linebacker trio of Jeremiah Williams (Cairo, Ga.), Antwone Robinson (Apopka, Fla.) and Ja’Ki Singleton (Elkton, Fla.) stood out.
TU’s receiving corps made some outstanding catches in the scrimmage and Taylor was pleased with the quarterback play he saw.
“We have a real battle at quarterback and that’s a good thing,” Taylor added. “We have three or four guys who have shown they can play, plus some young ones who are picking it up quickly. That was a concern heading into the spring with having to learn a new offense, but I feel we are really strong there.”
The scrimmage included South Atlantic Conference game officials as the SAC crew spoke with the players afterward, focusing on the new rule changes for 2024. Changes include video review in the conference for the first time as well as new timing rules.
Classes begin on Monday for the University as the team and its student-athletes will focus on getting the semester off to a solid start. Last spring, the Pioneers boasted the second-highest team grade point average of the SAC’s 12 football playing members at just below 3.00.
Tusculum will have another scrimmage on Wednesday before beginning its final preparations for the West Alabama game.
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