JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Call it a launch point for the upcoming season.
At 2 p.m. on Saturday, Edward Waters holds its spring football game, hoping to build on the success the team enjoyed late in the 2022 season.
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After an 0-4 start, the Tigers won five of their last seven games, buoyed by quarterback Jyron Russell returning to health after being injured on the second snap of the season opener.
Russell’s return gives coach Toriano Morgan hope that the team can continue to build on the late-season success. Although he admits that every team is different, Morgan said he is still learning the personality of the newest edition of the Tigers.
“The spring in its entirety kind of gives you an open first look at what the personality of this team is,” Morgan said. “Coming in from winter workouts into the spring I learned very quickly that this team’s personality is totally different than last year’s team’s personality in a lot of different ways. More so for the positive.”
Continuing to learn how to communicate with a team and how to push them is a work in progress and the spring game will give Morgan and his staff a chance to test what they have learned so far.
“The beauty of the spring game is now you get a chance to see how these guys’ demeanor is going to be when they when the lights are on,” Morgan said. “I have a saying that I always tell these guys, if you can’t do it in private, you can’t do it in public.
“It gives us the opportunity to kind of get a dress rehearsal, as we close out, you know, this particular academic school year to get a true assessment of where we are.”
This is the second year that Morgan will coach a spring game. He was hired after the 2021 season, but too late for a spring game. Then last year was the first time Morgan was able to coach a spring game as the head man for the Tigers.
Now, he has a strong foundation of what his program is all about and many of the players have been through a spring game before with Morgan at the helm.
As for the game itself, Morgan says they’ll operate offense vs. defense with a scoring system that will allow the defense to gain points by creating turnovers, getting sacks and forcing three-and-outs on the offense.
The game will also feel like a regular game day, as much as it can with players on the same roster competing against one another.
“We’re going to put together a great game-day experience for fans on this upcoming Saturday,” Morgan said. “We’re going to start it with our game-day Tiger Walk to give the fans the opportunity to get up close and personal with the players as they get prepared and dressed and ready to play the game.”
The game will also be played with officials on the field. The Edward Waters band will play and perform a halftime show.
“It’s going to be a real game live family atmosphere with tailgating all type of good stuff,” Morgan said.