Certainly Georgia State’s football team won’t play as many as 15 freshmen again this season, as they did last year.
“I will know that once we get going,” coach Trent Miles said. “I don’t expect that many, but I don’t know.”
Because last season’s team, which finished 0-12, lost 27 scholarship seniors, some of the 16 freshmen will play this season, which begins against Abilene Christian on Aug. 27 at the Georgia Dome. The team opens practice Friday.
Most of the freshmen who started last season played on defense, so a few of this year’s class who have caught the eyes of Miles and some of the upperclassmen during the summer workouts are on offense. As Miles has said, nothing has been decided in terms of which freshmen will play and which will redshirt, but he hopes those who do get on the field take advantage of the experience as last season’s freshmen did, many of whom are expected to start this year.
“It’s huge, Miles said. “There’s nothing like having a game experience. Guys like Shawayne Lawrence and Mackendy Cheridor know what to expect. You can tell. They are more confident in what they are doing. They know what they will be going on.”
Here are some of the freshman candidates to play:
Chandon Sullivan
Though Sullivan is listed as a cornerback, Miles said he could play at any of the skill positions.
“The SEC missed one,” Miles said. “He’s the real deal.”
Linebacker Joseph Peterson, one of the team’s leaders, said Sullivan is a player to look out for.
Sullivan (5-11, 180 pounds) played cornerback and running back at Winder-Barrow High, where he was second-team All Region 8-AAAA after totaling more 1,100 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Krysten Hammon
Hammon brings something to the running back position that it didn’t have a lot of last year: speed.
“He will be a good player,” Peterson said.
Hammon (5-9, 180) rushed for nearly 4,000 yards during his career at Dickinson High in Hitchcock, Texas.
Maaseiah Francis, Tevish Clark, Glenn Smith
These players are grouped together because they will compete at wide receiver.
Francis (6-3, 190) helped Norcross High to back-to-back state titles as a junior and senior.
Clark (6-1, 180) earned first-team all-region honors at Carver-Atlanta as a junior and senior.
Smith (6-1, 185) was player of the year in Region 2-AAAAA at Northside-Warner Robins. He caught 33 passes for 402 yards and five touchdowns. He is from the same high school that produced Robert Davis, who was Georgia State’s second-leading receiver last season as a freshman.
“Offensively, all three receivers have done a lot,” quarterback Nick Arbuckle said. “They have improved dramatically.”
Emiere Scaife
It might be odd that Scaife is on this list considering that Arbuckle, a junior, was named the starting quarterback after the spring practices, and that Ronnie Bell returns after starting 12 games last season, and that Ben McLane returns after starting nine games in 2012.
But Miles likes Scaife’s size (6-2, 218), work ethic and leadership ability.
Scaife, from Charlotte, N.C., missed most of his high school’s state-title season in 2013 because of an ankle injury. He passed for more 2,500 yards with 26 touchdowns as a junior.
