The close to 250 fans who took part in South Carolina State’s “Meet the Players Day” at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium Saturday witnessed a scrimmage dominated by the defense.

“I thought defensively, we did better than we did offensively,” S.C. State head football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough said. “Offensively, I thought today we were very medium. I think it had maybe something to do with the fact that our defense is starting to really kind of keep a grip of us and do some things to kind of shut us down. Whether or not we can attribute all of that to our defense, I don’t know. It might be the fact that offense just didn’t have it today. But, I think it was mostly because our defense played better.”

Although neither linebacker Marshall McFadden nor safety Markee Hamlin suited up, the Bulldog defense managed to have one of its better days of the preseason. The group opened the controlled scrimmage by intercepting Malcolm Long and mostly kept the second-team offense from developing any sustained drives.

“It’s been up and down all camp,” S.C. State defensive coordinator Mike Adams said. “Fortunately today, we were able to stay pretty consistent with our alignments and our assignments and our reads. We had a couple of plays that didn’t look too good, but for the most part, our guys understand our defense and their role on our defense.”

The offense’s shining moment came when Long he launched a long bomb from his endzone to a streaking Trey Young near midfield which he turned into a crowd-rousing 98-yard touchdown. Long also guided the first-team offense on two scoring drives which ended with field goals by Blake Erickson.

With the Bulldogs slated to hold their final two-a-day session on Monday, Pough is generally pleased with his team’s overall conditioning entering the Aug. 30 season opener against Central Florida.

“It’s never quite where you want it to be, but I think we’ve got enough depth to survive,” Pough said. “Offensively, you’ve pretty much have to play the whole game. But very few guys on offense can actually just come out and stay out, especially the offensive line, the quarterback and running back. Defensively, you substitute kind of haphazard because guys play so hard, you have to have at least two or maybe three deep at some positions. Hopefully, conditioning-wise, we’ll be good enough where we can play 6-7 hard defensive snaps on our defensive line and linebacking corps and then we’ll be good enough on offense because offense doesn’t spend as much energy to make our offensive line go pretty good.”

‘Who’s Who’ in attendance

Following the scrimmage, the S.T.A.T.E. Club sponsored a lunch and “Meet the Players” event behind the stadium seats at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium. Along with the football team, members of the S.C. State soccer, volleyball and cross-country teams were introduced to the large gathering.

Both Athletics Director Charlene Johnson, S.T.A.T.E. Club President Larry Watson and new school president George Cooper spoke to the crowd. Also in attendance were some of the Bulldog football players’ persons, including Lee Central girls’ basketball coach Dorothy Fortune, mother of offensive lineman Casey Fortune.

Following lunch, Pough held a Women’s Football Clinic where female fans got a closer look at the inner workings of the football program.

Sticking with kickers

Though Pough is still deciding which incoming freshmen he plans to redshirt, it appears both new place-kickers Blake Erickson and Matthew Patterson will remain on the active roster this season.

Erickson connected on field goals of 25 and 27 yards in Saturday’s scrimmage, while Patterson struggled with some of the field goal attempts placed at an angle from the goalpost.

“I’ve had these guys now for the whole preseason,” Pough said. “One day, one of them looks good and the other one doesn’t look so good. Today, Blake Erickson looked like he might be the lead guy. He was a little bit better, but Matt Patterson has had his days and to be perfectly honest, I think we’ll keep both active.”

Another freshman with a chance to stay on the active roster, defensive back Yari King of Irmo, was on crutches with a heavily taped right ankle.

Smart Bulldog

In addition to giving the Bulldogs’ passing game a lift just by his presence, but Long’s natural leadership skills and football acumen have further upgraded the quarterback position, according to Pough.

“Malcolm’s a field general of sorts and he’s now come to the forefront as far as who’s going to be our guy at that position,” Pough said. “With him taking over and wanting to be in charge, you get a little different kind of feel overall for what our offense is like. I’m thinking that he’s going to lead us in a direction where our attitude will have to be pretty good.”

Pep rally set for Tuesday

A pep rally for the 2008 S.C. State football team will take place at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Russell Street Square in Orangeburg.

Along with the players and Pough, there will be appearances by the Marching 101, SCSU President Cooper and other local officials.

The event is free to the public and those in attendance are encouraged to wear their Garnet and Blue colors. 

-- T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5547. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.

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