The fiercest competition of preseason practice has re-ignited.
B-backs David Sims, Preston Lyons and Charles Perkins will determine who will start in Saturday’s game against Maryland through their work in practice this week, B-backs and quarterbacks coach Brian Bohannon said Tuesday. Coaches are trying to push the team, 5-0 and ranked No. 13, after a flat week of practice last week.
Bohannon said Sims didn’t play well against N.C. State on Saturday (“nobody played well,” he added) and that Lyons didn’t distinguish himself, either. Perkins did not play any snaps at B-back, according to Bohannon.
“They’ve kind of hit a plateau where they don’t have that same kind of competition level,” Bohannon said. “We’re fortunate to have some [capable] guys there, so we’ve kind of opened that thing back up this week.”
Bohannon said he and grad assistant Shane Bowen will judge the players and make a suggestion to coach Paul Johnson. In camp, Sims rose from fourth on the depth chart to first and has remained with the first string through the first five games. Sims is averaging 6.7 yards per carry and 69.8 yards per game.
In the stands
In his opening comments at his weekly news conference, Johnson called on the student body to support the team Saturday. “Hopefully we can get the students out there loud this week,” he said. “We need them.”
While 9,100 tickets were distributed to students for the North Carolina game Sept. 24, about 5,600 showed up, many arriving after kickoff. Ticket-office staff met with student leaders to get feedback. The most common explanation was that the noon start was too early and too hot. Saturday’s game also is at noon.
About 43,000 tickets have been distributed for the game. Tickets are available at 1-888-832-4849.
Injury report
For the second consecutive day, linebackers Jeremiah Attaochu and Daniel Drummond did not participate in practice, both because of leg injuries sustained in Saturday’s win over N.C. State. Johnson continued to list them as questionable.
“We won’t know, probably, until later on in the week for sure,” Johnson said Tuesday.
Linebacker Brandon Watts also did not practice because of an injury.
Sunny Days
His fumble near the end of the N.C. State game allowed the Wolfpack to score a touchdown, but backup quarterback Synjyn Days’ spirits were high Tuesday.
“I felt bad about it, but you’ve just got to learn and move on from it,” Days said.
Days said he feels like he is progressing in practice and has been getting encouragement from Bohannon about getting more playing time.
Mason earning time
After performing well in practice, freshman guard Shaquille Mason played about 15 snaps Saturday. Johnson said he was “all hyped up” for the game and did not play as well as he had in practice.
“Nobody played stellar Saturday, but I think he’s got a bright future,” Johnson said.
Quotable Johnson
In an explanation about how a team’s drive has to ultimately come from the players, Johnson said that in 32 years of coaching, he had never seen a pregame pep talk make a difference.
“Western Carolina came in here, you could dig Knute Rockne up, it wasn’t going to help them,” Johnson said. “Sometimes, you’re overmatched.”
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