By T. Scott Boatright
Coming off an unlikely win — even stunning for many — Grambling State will start its fourth different quarterback of the season when the Tigers kick off against Bethune Cookman at 2 p.m. today inside Eddie G. Robinson Memorial Stadium.
With No. 1 quarterback C’zavian Teasett and No. 2 quarterback Ashton Frye both out with injuries, the Tigers turned to third-stringer A’Myne Darensbourg, a true freshman, to start last week’s game against Alabama A&M.
And when Darensbourg went down with a leg injury and had to be helped off the field late the opening stanza, Joseph was forced to turn to fourth-string quarterback Hayden Benoit, another true freshman.
And somehow, the Tigers managed to earn a 13-10 win despite totaling only 175 yards of offense and converting only 1-of-26 third down attempts.
If not for a pair of Josh McCormick field goals and a 64-yard punt return to paydirt by Delano Franklin, the GSU offense would have been shut out.
“It was an ugly win,” Joseph said. “Ugly offense. Very ugly. It had a lot to do with trying to protect the quarterback and trying to make sure every position ended with a kick, either an extra point, a field goal or a punt. We were bad on third down. Our defense was awesome on third down — 0 of out 11. But we were trying to protect this kid (Benoit).
“Hayden is in a better place now knowing what we’re asking him to do. During the game when he had to go in, we had to ask him what he understood. He was a really good quarterback in high school, so we’re going to look at what he did then and try to get him comfortable. He’s a very confident kid. We’ll be better. “We’re talking about a kid that didn’t get any reps in September or October and now he’s the guy. So we’re piecing it together. It is what it is. We’ve got to get it out of the mud. Everybody’s got to step their game up and really around this kid.”
Joseph knows Bethune-Cookman will present an even bigger challenge this week after winning five out of their last six games after a 0-3 start to the season.
“It’s a tough matchup,” Joseph said. “It’s a tough matchup for our defense and a tough matchup for our offense because they’re really athletic on defense also. On offense, they’re very explosive. They know how to score points. They’re triggerman is a really seasoned kid that’s been around for a while. And they do a good job with their scheme. They spread you out and when they do that, you’ve got to do out there (and cover) because if you don’t, they’re going to throw the ball out there because now they’re one-on-one. Their skill guys are really good in the open field. They make you miss.
“So, we’ve been working our butts off this week on open field tackling and finding ways to put pressure on them like some unscouted looks to try to slow them down a little bit. But it’s a really good football team. We’re catching them at a bad time. It’s not good for us. They’re hot.”
The Tigers (6-3 overall and 3-2 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference) have moved true freshman wide receiver Isiah Coleman, who played quarterback in Jasper, Texas, back to his high school position behind center to back up Benoit, and Joseph said running back Bryron Eaton, Jr. will also once against get some snaps behind center out of the Wildcat formation.
“We have Isiah,” Joseph said. “We’re going to rep him up a little bit and still use the Wildcat to take some hits off of Hayden. But we’ve got to do a better job in the run game and I know we will because everything we ask them to improve on, they improve on. Shyrone and I were part of the problem because we were both on the headsets saying,’ What do you think?’ to each other. We were trying to protect him because he’s our fourth guy. But Hayden’s revved up and ready to go.”
Joseph said he’s been focused on putting last week’s offensive performance in the past and to continue the resilience they showed in that win.
“I’m telling them to not overthink it,” Joseph said. “We’re playing with our fourth quarterback. We didn’t play well up front. We didn’t play well at the running back position. We missed some runs. We missed some blocks up front. We’re piecing it together but I told my coaches to not overthink it.
“This is a tight-knit group, a feisty group. We’re playing with our fourth-string quarterback. A lot of teams would have folded. But this team rallied around the kid. I told the coaches I think the players don’t blink because the coaches don’t blink. Nobody blinked. We’ve been behind. But I always say let’s just play 60 minutes and see what happens. And they played for 60 minutes. I take the win because it was a win. Now we move on to Bethune Cookman.”
