Georgia State football coach Trent Miles was pleased with his team’s pace but not its attention to detail in the first practice of the fall camp.
“A little sloppy,” Miles said. “The energy was there. We had guys who were all excited, but it’s just too sloppy for my liking.”
The team got in more than 100 plays, but there were numerous fumbles, many on the center-quarterback exchange and dropped passes.
The Panthers, 1-11 last season, will open the season hosting Charlotte at the Georgia Dome on Sept. 4.
“I don’t know if it’s first-day jitters or what. Some of it came from the younger guys. The older guys looked smooth.”
Miles said all but one of the players seemed to be in good condition. He didn’t name the player, but said the heat affected him on Thursday.
Injuries: Linebacker Kaleb Ringer and defensive end Shawayne Lawrence didn't participate in parts of Thursday's practice. Ringer, a junior college transfer, has flat feet and Lawrence's knee recently underwent an arthroscopic procedure. They were both dressed out, but Miles said the coaches wanted to limit both of them.
Safety LaDarion Young will no longer play, but will stay with the team as a student-assistant coach. Young underwent surgery on his neck last year.
Position changes: After working with the first team at center during the spring, UAB transfer Kelepi Folau has been moved to guard. Position coach Harold Etheridge said Folau played center during the spring because of depth.
With Folau at guard, Taylor Evans, who played guard last year, is back at center, a position he played in junior college.
Etheridge said he wants to use camp to continue to build chemistry and determine the depth. He said is comfortable playing the two-deep in games, but needs to decide who will be on that two deep.
Redshirt sophomore Sebastian Willer worked a lot with the first team on Thursday at right tackle, and sophomore Alex Stoehr returned from his injury to play a lot at right guard.
“We have to come together as a unit,” Etheridge said.
Michael Ivory, back from his season-ending foot injury, worked at left tackle. He said he has no confidence issues with his foot.
“I feel pretty good,” he said after being out for eight months. “Been back about three months now, I’m getting back in shape. First day of practice getting back into the groove of football. It’s different between running and actually playing.”
Ivory said he’s stressing to his teammates that they need to win the one-on-one battles in each session of each practice.
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