ATLANTA-- Day five of preseason camp brought the first practice in full pads for the Georgia State football team, and head coach Bill Curry was pleased with the effort by his Panthers.
"The guys were enthusiastic, and they should be," said Curry after the Monday morning workout at the GSU Sports Complex. "We play football because we're not regular people; we like to run into each other. If that's not something that really excites you, then you're in the wrong sport. But our guys love to play football, we love to hit. Having the full pads on today for the first time was really fun, and we made excellent progress."
A recurring theme for Curry and the Panthers this preseason has been building toughness.
"We don't expect to just show up and be somewhat improved," said Curry. "We expect to win, but to do that, we have to pay the price out here."
The Panthers return the bulk of the roster from last year's inaugural season, but there are newcomers working their way up the depth chart.
"For the most part they are adjusting very well," said Curry. "We've got some who are still confused about the calls or the formations or the snap count, things like that, but they're making progress.
"We've got some terrific new players who are going to play for us this year," he continued. "We've got some others that we'd like to redshirt but who are going to be great players for Georgia State. We'll try to save this year for the next generation."
One area that features new faces is the kicking game, where the Panthers must replace last year's placekicker, Iain Vance, who earned third-team All-America honors.
True freshmen Christian Benvenuto of Palm Coast, Fla., and Matt Ehasz of Kingsland, Ga. (Camden County HS) are battling for the placekicking job. Georgia State also has two freshmen punters in Matt Hubbard of Peachtree City, Ga. (Starr's Mill HS) and David Miller of Hinesville, Ga. (Bradwell Institute), who join last year's starter, Bo Schlechter, and backup Michael Donovan.
Georgia State will hold its first two-a-day practices Tuesday with workouts at 8:15 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. When asked what the Panthers need to improve upon the most this week, Curry did not hesitate.
"We need to get our pads down," he answered. "The natural tendency, especially with big guys up front, is to try to play football standing up, and that simply won't work. We have to bend our knees and get our pads down. It's a technique thing, and that's what we've been working on the most."
The Panthers open the season on Friday, Sept. 2, when Georgia State hosts Clark Atlanta at 7:30 p.m. at the Georgia Dome. Season and individual game tickets are on sale now (866-GA-STATE and GeorgiaStateSports.com).
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