Aug. 19, 2005

CHARLESTON, SC - Coach Kevin Higgins' eyes exhibited the old Johnny Carson line of "I've got good news and bad news" when he explained how the defense dominated the offense in Friday morning's move-the-ball-scrimmage.

"Our defense simply dominated the offense," he said referring to Friday's first of two practices at Johnson Hagood Stadium. "The good news is that our defense played really well while the bad news was that the offense, well, they simply got dominated."

Dropped passes, missed assignments and several other offensive miscues prompted Higgins to state that the offense "has a long way to go."

But he quickly reiterated that the defense looked terrific saying that the "defensive line continues to do an excellent job."

Higgins pointed to the front four of Fred Townsend, James Wilson, Deon Douglas and Shaun Palmer as collectively having terrific fall practices. All are native South Carolinians.

Townsend, a senior from Bennettsville, is a preseason All-Southern Conference choice who is the d-line's leader. He has 87 total tackles in his three previous seasons, and is capable of making plays with his leverage. Wilson, a junior from North Myrtle Beach, is quick and, and as a result, has developed into a strong pass rusher. Douglas, a junior who is also from Bennettsville, has the ability to drop into pass coverage during zone blitzes while Palmer, a senior from Columbia, started as a tackle last year and has improved his pass rushing abilities.

Also during the morning workout, the Bulldogs again worked on their 2-minute offensive and defensive attacks. In the afternoon's session, the Bulldogs employed their hurry-up field goal and other special team situations, again, both offensively and defensively.

Higgins pointed to long snapper Nick Fender, a sophomore from Culleoka, TN, who has "been a pleasant surprise." In addition, Jason Thomas, a senior from Phillipsburg, NJ, is penciled in as the short snapper, a role he ably handled last year.

Saturday, Higgins and his staff will conduct the first of two intra-squad scrimmages at 2:30 p.m. at Johnson Hagood Stadium with the dual goal of continuing the evaluation process and to ascertain a two-deep chart.