By T. Scott Boatright
Three yards and a cloud of dust. Or rubber tire pellets, anyway, living in the world of today’s artificial football turf.
It worked for Vince Lombardi. It worked for Eddie Robinson. It works for current Grambling State head coach Mickey Joseph, too.
Grambling State closed out its first week of practice Saturday with an intrasquad scrimmage at Eddie G. Robinson Memorial Stadium.
Joseph was satisfied with what he saw.
“The effort is there — I love the effort,” Joseph said. “I love how they’re competing. We talked to them this morning and told them that right now, somebody’s got to run out there first, but right now there are no starters. The depth chart is written in sand. It will take shape as preseason practices continue, but who knows? It might not be totally set until after Game 1.”
The first 18 plays of the scrimmage were running plays, scripted by design.
“We want to run the ball,” Joseph said. “The only way you can pass is by establishing a solid run game first. Today, the start of the scrimmage was scripted for 18 straight run plays. We had some good run plays. But we have to stop the run on defense, too. Today, the defense gave up some runs they don’t normally give up. We know they can rush the passer, but we’ve got to have gap integrity.”
Out of Grambling’s solid rushing attack Saturday, junior Tony Phillips, all 5-foot-7, 150 pounds of him, probably had the best day.
“Tony is probably one of the toughest guys on our team pound-for-pound,” Joseph said. “He’s not very big, but he’s a tough Chicago kid. He believes in us and we believe in Tony. We know Tony can do some special things. Tony might run sometimes where he shouldn’t be. He probably shouldn’t run in that (inside) gap, but we trust Tony.
“He runs with his eyes and he makes that work. Tony can’t do anything but get better. He’s one of the toughest kids on the team. He doesn’t back down from anybody. He plays big. He reminds me of Clyde (Edwards-)Helaire, but he’s faster. He’s small, but he plays like he’s 6-foot, and that’s what I like about Tony.”
Joseph admitted Saturday’s scrimmage was all about the run.
“I was looking to see if we were going to be able to run the ball,” Joseph said. “I wanted to see if we could make first downs running the ball. And we accomplished that. And on defense, I wanted to see if we could stop the run. I knew we could rush the passer and I know we can cover. But I want to know if we can stop the run and get our safeties involved in doing that.
“So we’re going to continue to get better at what we’re doing. But we’re going to continue to run the football.”
As far as Grambling’s starting quarterback competition, there is no favorite.
“That race is wide open,” Joseph said. “(New quarterbacks coach) Bruce Eugene is in there doing a good job with them. It’s good to have him here. Not only is he knowledgeable at the position, he’s knowledgeable about what it feels like to be a Grambling State quarterback.
“Everybody knows being a quarterback here is a little different after having (James) ‘Shack’ Harris, Doug Williams, Bruce Eugene, Randy Hymes … you’ve got some big names that people are going to compare you to. So it’s good to have Bruce here and he’s doing a great job with them. He likes quarterbacking from under center. I like that also. But the quarterback race is going to go down to the wire. We could end up playing two, maybe three, until we can figure this thing out.”
But on Saturday, it was redshirt senior Ashton Frye who garnered the most attention.
Five quarterbacks took snaps Saturday for the Tigers, including transfers Reginal Johnson, a redshirt junior who played last year at Florida A&M, and Jacobe Robinson, a freshman who was at Southern Miss last season.
But Frye fared best Saturday, throwing a 30-yard scoring strike to Northwest Mississippi Community College transfer Lantavious Murphy while adding a 15-yard scoring scamper.
“Frye’s going into his third year in the system,” Joseph said. “If we have a dark horse, it’s Frye, based on experience and based on being in the system. Jacobe came in the spring and competed well when Frye wasn’t there (as he continued healing). And now we have RJ (Johnson). It didn’t work out for him at UMass (where Johnson played as a freshman). A lot of people around the country didn’t feel comfortable with RJ.
“I don’t ever believe what people say about kids until I talk with the kid. And RJ’s a great kid. He’s a great young man. The mistakes he made at UMass, he won’t make those mistakes here because he identifies it now. I have structure for him. I also told him I won’t give up on him. So many other schools just give up on players. I don’t do that. He’s about two weeks away.”
Joseph knows his offensive line is key to his plan.
“(Offensive line coach Eric Losey) Coach Lose and I have a special relationship,” Joseph said. “We’ve known each other since 2013, and that’s a lot. It’s old Nebraska (Cornhusker) style. We’re going to run the ball. Wear down the defense.”
Let the G-Men Blitzkrieg begin.
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