ATLANTA--With Georgia State's second scrimmage in the books, head coach Bill Curry says that he likes the Panthers' aggressiveness and effort but looks for improved execution.

"We are a team that's right on the cusp," said Curry after watching the scrimmage tape. "We have a chance to be really good, but we're doing just enough foolish things to keep ourselves from that. We can't afford to go play the way we're practicing right now. We're dropping too many balls, putting too many balls on the ground, making too many mistakes.

"We are aggressive," he continued. "We are flying around. We love to play football. But we've got to execute.

"It's the very thing I've been talking about with respect to the fourth quarter. It's not enough to play hard in the fourth quarter; we've got to play hard and well in the fourth quarter. In the games we won last year, that's what we did, and this time around, we've got to do it against much tougher competition."

Curry did not attend Saturday's scrimmage because he was speaking at the memorial service for his teammate and close friend John Mackey, the long-time NFL great.

"We spent so many years in the huddle together, and John Mackey had been my roommate my last year with the Baltimore Colts," said Curry. "He's really one of the great human beings I've ever known, and by actual vote, the greatest tight end of all time. Being in the huddle with him was an inspiration."

Curry was the second individual to speak at the service, following NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

"We were there to celebrate a life well-lived, but it was difficult because we lost him at such an early age - and I think 69 is really young - and in such a painful way, watching him slip away over the last decade and watching his incredible wife Sylvia take care of him," said Curry. "I'm going to miss him very much."

"It was such a privilege to be there as a part of this celebration," he continued. "I was really happy to try express how much we all loved and respected of our teammate, and I was speaking on behalf of all his teammates."

Curry has frequently spoken to his Georgia State team about Mackey's legacy.

"He had great dignity and magnanimitas," said Curry, invoking a Latin word meaning greatness of spirit. "Of course, being the great player he was, whenever he walked into a room, people he would respect him anyway. He was just a great leader. He was honorable, and he was really smart. He was the first president of the NFL Players' Association after the leagues merged, and we all followed him with vigor because we believed in him. He had a kind of presence that was really unprecedented in my experience."

Georgia State's season 2011 season opener is less than three weeks away as the Panthers host Clark Atlanta on Friday, Sept. 2, at 7:30 p.m. at the Georgia Dome.

Preseason drills continue this week with single workouts on Tuesday and Thursday and with two-a-days scheduled for Wednesday and Friday, followed by the final preseason scrimmage on Saturday.

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