Kennesaw State football coach Brian Bohannon had a few reasons to be unhappy after Saturday’s spring game, but instead he was all smiles.
Almost two years to the day that he was hired to lead the inaugural program, Bohannon and 3,800 others watched the second-string offense and defense, dubbed the Gold team, defeat the Black team, featuring the first-string offense and defense, 21-0.
There were dropped passes, 10 penalties, poor special-teams play, two lost fumbles and numerous mistakes, but the Owls finally were playing almost meaningful football.
“I can honestly tell you that I’ve loved every minute and every day of those two years,” said Bohannon, formerly an assistant at Georgia Tech.
Quarterback Trey White, formerly of The Citadel, was one of Saturday’s stars. He rushed 30 times for 128 yards and a touchdown and was 4-for-4 for 70 yards passing, with a 24-yard touchdown to Pedy Leverette. The Gold team had 268 yards of offense to the Black’s 130.
“I think offensively, execution is huge,” White said. “We won the day, but if we played a real game, we had so many penalties. We’re not going to win many ballgames if you shoot yourself in the foot that many times.”
Bohannon said White and Jake McKenzie, the quarterback of the Black team, likely would both play when the season starts Sept. 3 at East Tennessee State. McKenzie rushed 22 times for 53 yards and completed 8 of 12 passes for 50 yards. He was sacked three times.
“I think in the grand scheme of things, you just have to remember that this is most of these kids’ second semester in college, you know, the majority of the football team,” Bohannon said. “That’s a pretty big step to go out and play in front of a pretty awesome crowd today and keep their composure, which was what I was more concerned about than anything.”
Bohannon said the coaching staff tried to do everything to make Saturday’s conditions as close to game-like as possible. The team had an “Owl Walk” through the fans before the game — which Bohannon said was “awesome” — and music blared so loud at times that Bohannon said it was difficult to hear himself think.
“I think as a team we all enjoyed the atmosphere. We like to see the crowd come out there. It gives us a lot of energy, and as far as football goes, it went pretty well,” linebacker Dez Billingslea said. “We still have a lot of work to do, but it was pretty good.”
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