Donald Pittman confident in his Fort Valley State football team
FORT VALLEY -- Donald Pittman knew early that last year was going to be a challenge.
The veteran Fort Valley State football head coach lost two full weeks of practice at the beginning of the year due to some glitches with having trainers and a medical staff available, so the Wildcats headed into the first game against nationally ranked Delta State with only two weeks of practice in the books. That helped lead to a 56-13 home loss.
The Wildcats got better as the season went on and managed to win six games, and with five full weeks of practice this year, Pittman is confident his team will be ready to compete for the SIAC title.
“This is a brand new day in the valley, and it feels great,” Pittman said as he watched his team in its second scrimmage Saturday afternoon. “We feel like we are way ahead of where we were last year, and we have been working hard to improve on last year’s record. I have been happy with both of our scrimmages, and obviously at this time of year, our defense is way ahead of our offense. We have a veteran defense, and they have set the tone so far for this team.”
Saturday’s scrimmage was at times dominated by a defense led by returning starters Stefon Harper, Billy Sparks and Sam Goode. But with Pittman’s continued urging, the offense finally was able to move the ball. Returning starting quarterback Malcolm Eady, who threw for 855 yards last year and ran for 411, threw a scoring pass to Alexander Morgan, and minutes later, quarterback Otis Brown, who threw for 714 yards and ran for 470 last year, found big-play receiver Drelon Freeman for a long touchdown.
“We feel very confident in our skill players on offense, and we are blessed to have two quarterbacks with so much game experience,” Pittman said. “Drelon is a big-play guy who is a preseason first-team All-SIAC pick, and the second receiver job is wide open right now, but we have been very pleased with the play of Jysanti Richardson, a freshman from Westover who we feel can step in and help us this year.“
The running back competition is also wide open, according to Pittman.
“We have Jalen White back this year, and he had over 500 yards rushing as a freshman, but we have maybe five or six guys that are working hard to get playing time,” Pittman said. “We have learned over the last few years that we can never have enough running backs, because we have lost quite a few to injury the last few years.”
FVSU travels to Delta State for the Sept. 3 opener, and Pittman is already looking forward to playing the game.
“We are getting edgy to play someone else, and I feel like we are ready to play,” Pittman said. “We just want to continue to improve every single practice.”
This story was originally published August 23, 2015 at 9:36 PM with the headline "Donald Pittman confident in his Fort Valley State football team ."