Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Bowl: Thursday Practice Notes

Ian Guerin December 9, 2021 @ 11:17 AM

Under clear skies and temperatures crawling into the low 50s, everyone involved with the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Bowl was much happier with the second day of practice. After getting forced inside on Day 1, the North and South squads could finally start implementing more of their offensive and defensive schemes with live action. These are the biggest things to come out of the two morning sessions on Thursday. SAPP READY TO STAND OUT Greenville H-Back [player_tooltip player_id="91171" first="Joshua" last="Sapp"] spent the bulk of 2021 making things difficult for opposing front sevens. He caught 50 passes for 836 yards and 10 touchdowns, making him an easy choice for several postseason awards and honors. On Saturday, he may end up being among the most utilized pass catchers. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound tight end has already synced up with North quarterbacks [player_tooltip player_id="89316" first="Will" last="Mattison"] and [player_tooltip player_id="153264" first="Trent" last="Pearman"] after just three practices. Mattison, who said that his high school team (Northwestern) didn’t use an H-Back, noted Sapp is much bigger than his normal targets across the middle. Both quarterbacks found the Greenville senior on designed plays Thursday. The element of using him as a safety valve could also come into play. POSITION SWAPS A last-minute scratch of one two-way player gave the South coaching staff every reason to make another move. Carolina Forest’s [player_tooltip player_id="89329" first="Luke" last="Janack"], who was a starter for the Panthers at both linebacker and running back, was initially selected for the Touchstone Energy Bowl on defense. However, he has been moved to the offense and was playing there the last two days. And while it appears he won’t be getting defensive snaps, the team has also elected to rely on his punting abilities. Iowa commitment [player_tooltip player_id="91237" first="Drew" last="Stevens"] will be used exclusively at kicker unless Janack goes down. The moves came after West Ashley standout defensive back and running back [player_tooltip player_id="89312" first="Jahleel" last="Porter"] suffered a foot injury last week and had to back out of the game. JUST… HUGE North offensive coordinator Bradley Adams (Woodruff) has stressed to his line this week how much trouble the South defensive line could pose. On Thursday, the South offensive players found that out first-hand. During the live action portion Thursday, the South offense struggled to move the ball against the various combinations its defense used. Among the most notable was a four-linemen defensive set that included the Fort Dorchester duo of [player_tooltip player_id="89318" first="Demetrius" last="Watson"] and [player_tooltip player_id="89313" first="Devin" last="Geddis"], Beaufort’s [player_tooltip player_id="200665" first="Alvin" last="Wilson"] and Ashley Ridge’s Nick Downing. Those four stuffed the South tailbacks behind the line on back-to-back-to-back plays.