Bulldogs ranked No. 9 in NJCAA poll
PERKINSTON – Mississippi Gulf Coast will start the 2015 football season with a No. 9 in front of its name.
The NJCAA Top 20 preseason poll came out Monday, and that's where the Bulldogs were ranked. That's the 129th straight poll in which the Bulldogs have appeared.
Coach Chad Huff doesn't think being ranked there means all that much, though.
"Absolutely nothing," he said, laughing. "They've got us No. 9. That's from last year's football team. It's good that we're being recognized in the top 10, but what matters is what they say in November."
The Bulldogs hit the field Wednesday for their first scrimmage of the fall, with the offense starting from various points of the field. They looked at everything from the shadow of their own end zone to the red zone and goal line situations going in.
The defense played well early in practice, with freshman Malcolm Conn grabbing and interception and the defensive line causing problems in the backfield, but defensive coordinator Steve Davis was not happy with happened later.
"I'm very disappointed," he said. "They got hot, tired and sorry for themselves and they kind of shut it down. Northeast doesn't feel sorry for us, so we can't feel sorry ourselves."
Gulf Coast opens the season at Northeast Mississippi on Aug. 27.
Sophomore wide receiver Jevon Floyd had a couple of touchdown grabs, one from 25 yards out and another in a goal-line situation. Sophomore wideout Demarre Kitt, a transfer from Clemson, grabbed a two scores from fellow sophomore transfer A.J. Erdely, who played at Middle Tennessee last year.
Andrew Hardrick, a freshman running back from Cottonwood, Ala., had a 20-yard TD receiving and 5-yard rushing touchdown dragging a lineman in a goal-line situation.
"Jevon made a couple of plays and A.J. made some good throws," Huff said. "The offensive line did a good job of protection and gave us time to make plays. That's the first time we've been down there and been live."
Like Huff, Davis sees plenty of room for improvement on his side of the ball.
"You've got to grow up," Davis said. "We feel like we've got some talent. We've got some guys who can run and when we're fresh and everything's going their way, it's great. But when they get a little tired, there's a saying, 'Fatigue makes cowards of us all.' We became cowards today. We've got to be better than that."
