Tigers Up For New Challenges

“It’s hard to control the scrimmage when you’re against someone else,” Savage said. “We just feel like it’s better for us to do what we do.”

Savage says with about nine days left before kickoff, the Tigers are showing improvement.

“We’re looking better,” he said. “The young kids are starting to get the feel of what they’re supposed to do now.”

Savage said that in the time remaining before the start of the season, there is still some work to be done.

“We’re going to narrow down what offense we’re going to be running, and fine-tune our personnel in the secondary,” he said. “Then we’ll work hard on our kicking game this week. Next week, we’re going to get in game week mode.”

The team has 11 seniors listed on the team roster, from whom leadership is expected. They include Jessie Savage, Chase Barnett, Kyhrie Harris, Michael Moon, Anthony Norris, Tyler Reddish, Ryan Jones, Zach Harmon, Tyler Adams, Serguio Rojas and Austin Patterson.

With around the same number of seniors leaving from last year’s team, the Tigers have been working hard to fill the void, including four offensive linemen, and two running backs.

But working on such tasks comes as second nature for Savage, who is entering his 22nd year as head coach for the Tigers. He said despite the passage of time, the excitement level remains the same
heading into the start of a new season.

“I don’t move as fast as a once did,” he laughed. “I’m as excited as I was the first time I went out there. I’m also as apprehensive as I was the first time I went out there. Getting ready for an opening game, there are still a lot of questions. Eventually, we need to play to answer some of those questions.”

For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Commerce News.