University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles Start One-A-Day Workouts
8/19/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Eagles Start One-A-Day Workouts
Hattiesburg, Miss. - With the start of fall semester classes today, the Southern Miss football practice schedule changed to one workout a day as the Golden Eagles head into their next-to-last week of practice prior to the start of the regular season.
Head Coach Jeff Bower says the workout was better than usual for this particular day. "When you're off on Sunday, players then start classes, a new routine for the players, and usually it's not a good practice day," Bower said. "We really got lucky in that we dodged the rain early in practice, and it really cooled off, and we had a solid practice. It did get hotter late in practice and we had a really good conditioning period following practice."
Bower also announced that sophomore wide receiver Rocky Harrison had surgery over the weekend, after suffering internal injuries during an Aug. 14 scrimmage. "He still has a way to go, but he is making improvement," Bower said. "It's going to be a long haul back for him, but he's fighting it, and getting better."
Junior defensive end Terrell Paul ruptured a ligament in hand during last Saturday's scrimmage and will have surgery following the season. Both sophomore running back James Walley and sophomore defensive back Darrell Bennett were limited at practice today with shoulder injuries, junior defensive lineman George Brice and senior defensive back Corey Yates both are scheduled for MRIs tonight to determine the extent of knee injuries suffered during Saturday's workout, and Joe Henley practiced full speed today after suffering a bruised shin in the same workout.
Sophomore wide receiver Chris Johnson, who suffered a broken thumb in a voluntary preseason passing drill, had a smaller cast put on today, and is scheduled to have that one removed and start catching again early next week.
Following the Saturday scrimmage, Bower said the quarterback situation remained unchanged. "We got a lot more production out of the quarterbacks than we did in our first scrimmage," he said. "They all graded pretty close in the Saturday scrimmage, and we'll let them compete through the week and then probably make a decision sometime early next week."
With the start of classes today, the Golden Eagles will stay with the one-a-day workout schedule this week and next as they prepare to open the 2002 season Aug. 31, at home, against Jackson State. Southern Miss follows that with two more home games, against Illinois, Sept. 7, and Memphis, Sept. 14, before hitting the road for the first time, Sept. 21 at Alabama.
