TODAY’S GAMES
Arkansas Baptist at Georgia Military, 1 p.m.
Point at Millsaps, 2 p.m.
Fort Valley State at Clark Atlanta, 3 p.m.
Morehouse vs. Central State (Chicago), 4 p.m.
Reinhardt at Faulkner, 6 p.m.
Berry at Mercer, 6 p.m.
Elizabeth City State at Albany State, 7 p.m.
Savannah State at Miami, 7 p.m.
Shorter at Valdosta State, 7 p.m.
Midwestern State at West Georgia, 7:30 p.m.
Two quarterbacks are better than one at West Georgia.
Austin Trainor and Dallas Dickey share the duties behind center for the Wolves (2-0), who host No. 25 Midwestern State (0-1) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
“We never know who’s going out there for which series,” coach Daryl Dickey said. “We call them dual starters, and they split time. Each has his strengths and weaknesses, and the team is comfortable with both of them. It’s a good blend.”
Trainor, a senior who transferred from Florida A&M in 2012, has started both games this season, but they started five games each last season, when Trainor missed time with an injury.
Dickey, a sophomore from Carrollton, was on the field of most of West Georgia’s 31-7 win over Miles on Saturday.
He’s considered the better runner — he holds the school record for career rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with 11 — but he was 11-of-13 for 87 yards last week. Trainor has a better arm, but he’s completed only 37.5 percent of his passes with two interceptions.
“They both have a good grasp of the offense,” said Dickey, who is Dallas Dickey’s father.
Both QBs have been helped by the emergence of senior running back Quan Jones (Henry County). He has averaged 126.5 yards per game after rushing for a career-high 139 yards and two scores against Miles.
Stacking up backs: Morehouse coach Rich Freeman is trying to build depth behind No. 1 running back Shelton Hamilton.
Hamilton leads the Maroon Tigers (0-2) with 131 yards in two games, but backup Winston Bodrick (Mays) has only 7 yards on three carries, and Thomas Williams has no yards on one carry.
The rest of the running game has fallen to QBs Josh Harris and Monquavious Johnson (M.L. King), who have combined for 148 yards.
“We’ve got to have a three-back punch,” Freeman said.
Freeman likes Hamilton’s toughness and punishing running style, and he’s looking for Bodrick to regain the confidence he displayed before missing last season while rehabbing from ACL surgery.
“He was fearless before the injury, but sometimes that’s robbed from a kid who suffers a devastating injury,” Freeman said. “We need him to come around.”
Top backs: No one has slowed Point University's Rufus Mason and Georgia Military College's Jovon Robinson.
Mason, who is from Flower Mound, Texas, and played at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas, last season, leads the NAIA with 237.5 yards per game rushing. He ranks second in total rushing yards with 475 to go with four TDs.
Robinson, a former Auburn signee, leads the NJCAA with 730 yards rushing and 182.5 yards per game for the seventh-ranked Bulldogs (4-0). He’s also tied for the lead with eight TDs.
Missing Blazer: Gerald Ford (Gainesville), the Gulf South's offensive player of the year in 2012, is academically ineligible at Valdosta State.
Ford led the GSC with 69 catches and 1,026 yards last season and tied former teammate Seantavious Jones (Tucker) for the lead with 13 TD catches.
Jones and Regginald Lewis (Forest Park), who were all-GSC WRs in 2012, combined for 10 catches in the Blazers’ opening win over Fort Valley State. Junior college transfer Willie Downs had three catches for 97 yards and two TDs.
Around the state: Savannah State won for only the fourth time in four years with a 27-20 victory over Fort Valley State, but is a 60-point underdog at Miami. … FVSU DB Thomas Wolfe (Wheeler), intercepted two passes and broke up another in the loss. … Reinhardt won the first game in program history Saturday. Freshman LB Blake Barnes (Whitewater) was selected the Mid-South defensive player of the week with eight tackles and a key interception in the win at Kentucky Christian. … Clark Atlanta LB Bre'nard Williams (Tift County) had 11 tackles in a loss to Stillman. … Former Georgia TE Ty Flournoy-Smith (Colquitt County) has three TDs on his four receptions at GMC.
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