Getting into regular-season form is at least the main objective during spring practice for college football programs. From an injury standpoint, South Carolina State has resembled a team which has already gone through a good portion of their schedule. With key players either sitting out or hobbled with injuries, Saturday’s first full scrimmage at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium offered an opportunity for plenty of the second- and third-team players to see action.

"It’s looking like we’ve got more depth than we had before," SCSU head football coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough said. "When we do have these kind of situations, we don’t have to necessarily shut practice down. We can get through enough to make a good showing. I’m excited by the fact that we’re beginning to develop some depth. At the same time, we’ve got to get our front line guys going because those guys are the ones who really are going to be the meat of what we do."

Even with both quarterbacks Cleveland McCoy and Bryan Hardy available, the offense struggled to put together extended scoring drives. Defensive back Phillip Adams singlehandedly ended one drive with an interception and nifty return for a touchdown, while a second drive ended with a fumble just outside the goal line.

Pough cited injuries to the receiving corps and having only two running backs (Jonathan Woods and Travil Jamison) available for the offense’s inconsistent showing. The offense was effective when placed inside the 30-yard line as Hardy and McCoy combined for four TD passes, two to North Carolina State transfer tight end Octavius Darby.

"He gives us a little bit different style of guy at tight end," Pough said. "It gives us a guy that you can throw some deep stuff to. Ordinarily, you don’t get a chance to really get the ball to a tight end down the field very much and he’s one of those type of guys. So we’ll excited about the possibilities of what he can do for us."

The kicking game also had a good showing as place-kicker Stephen Grantham connected on all of his PAT attempts and punter Aaron Haire of Orangeburg-Wilkinson booted a kick from inside his own 30 which landed at the opposition’s 10-yard-line.

With two weeks remaining before the April 14 spring game, Pough expects to continue seeing the offense and defense show signs of promise and inconsistency.

"You don’t know exactly what you’re going to get in these scrimmage type of deals because we do tend to flip back and forth between who’s having the better day," he said. "I do know that we do have a lot of people limping around and we’ve got to get some of those guys back in one piece. But, I think we had a good day’s work. We got a lot of work in. Hopefully what will happen is I’ll see some improvement on tape after that and then we’ll see."

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