SLU Newcomers Shine in First Fall Scrimmage

HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana offense racked up nine touchdowns in the first scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday night at Strawberry Stadium.

True freshmen accounted for six of the eight touchdowns scored in the scrimmage, which lasted just under two hours under the lights in front of an enthusiastic crowd. Southeastern head coach Ron Roberts was pleased with the efforts of his team in its first game-like situation.

“We played hard and physical which is what we were looking for more than anything, so that’s encouraging,” Roberts said. “For the first scrimmage, I thought the mental mistakes were kept to a minimum. Obviously, we’ll have to look at the film to see how well we played, but overall it was a good effort.

“We did some nice things across the board, but we need to see more consistency moving forward,” Roberts added. “We saw a lot of our young players step up tonight and it was good to see them take advantage of their opportunities.”

All five Southeastern quarterbacks saw action and engineered at least one touchdown drive. Junior quarterback Donovan Isom rushed for a touchdown and connected with redshirt freshman Austin Mitchell for a 25-yard touchdown pass. Freshman Byron Walker threw touchdown passes to fellow true freshmen CJ Turner (72 yards) and Shyron White (29 yards).

Freshman running back Marcus Cooper led the way with three rushing touchdowns for the Lions, while ophomore quarterback Lorenzo Nunez and junior running back Darren Johnson each rushed for touchdowns.

On the defensive side, the Lions garnered several stops early in the scrimmage when the SLU offense started its drive in the defense’s territory. Senior linebacker Sione Teuhema and junior Ja’Hmal Macklin each collected sacks for Southeastern.

Senior placekicker Dillon Burkhard was the standout on special teams for the Lions. The Dodge City, Kansas native connected on all five of his field goal attempts, making tries of 39, 34, 33, 28 and 27 yards out.

Both sides of the ball had their moments until a break midway through the scrimmage. After the break, the Lion offense scored three quick touchdowns. On the first drive, Nunez hit senior Juwan Dickey with a 31-yard pass to set up a goal-to-go situation. Two plays later, Johnson bulled in from a yard out.

Isom found sophomore tight end Bransen Schwebel for a 51-yard catch and run to set up the next Southeastern score. Isom would cap the drive by diving in from three yards out.

A 25-yard end around by sophomore Jacq’co Price set up the next touchdown. Cooper scampered in from nine yards out to give the Lions their third touchdown in as many drives.

Southeastern will return to the field on Monday for a 3:30 p.m. practice in Strawberry Stadium.

The Lions are three weeks away from the 2017 season opener at FBS in-state foe UL Lafayette. Southeastern opens its home schedule on Sept. 9, hosting Bethune-Cookman at 7 p.m. in Strawberry Stadium. Season tickets will be on

2017 Southeastern Louisiana Football Fall Camp Schedule
Aug. 14 – Practice – 3:30 p.m.
Aug. 15 – Practice – 3:30 p.m.
Aug. 16 – Practice – 3:30 p.m.
Aug. 17 – Practice – 3:30 p.m.
Aug. 18 – Practice – 2:30 p.m.
Aug. 19 – Scrimmage – 7 p.m. | Media Day – 2 p.m.
Aug. 20 – Practice – 7 p.m.

– www.LionSports.net –

Kemmler Chapple
Southeastern Louisiana University
Assistant AD for Sports Information
Office: (985) 549-3221
Cell: (985) 974-5466
E-mail: ke*************@se**.edu
www.LionSports.net
www.facebook.com/sluathletics
www.twitter.com/sluathletics