April 10, 2005

Charleston, SC - There was something different at The Citadel's first scrimmage of spring football practice Saturday.

Sure, new coach Kevin Higgins is in charge now, and his spread option offense is not exactly the return to the wishbone that some Citadel faithful were hoping for.

But the biggest difference might have been the player wearing the red jersey with the number 7 on the back.

Quarterback Duran Lawson, a rising sophomore from Conway, is the first returning starter the Bulldogs have had at quarterback in eight years, since Stanley Myers put off law school for a year to return for a fifth season in 1998.

That fact alone gives Higgins and offensive coordinator Toby Strange a head start this spring as they install the spread option, an offense that will require a lot of the 6-1, 180-pound Lawson.

"It makes a big difference," said Strange, who has tutored three different starters in his two seasons at The Citadel. "We have a guy who's been through our system last year and has played in games. Our system has changed this year, but we are doing a lot of the same things. Duran is going to have more of a leadership role this year, and it's great to have a guy who's actually played a year for us."

Lawson connected on 5 of 9 passes for 55 yards and threw one interception during Saturday's scrimmage at Willson Field, and showed progress in picking up the spread option, which is a lot like the offense that coach Urban Meyer used to lead Utah to a 12-0 record last season.

Strange spent some time this spring at Florida, where Meyer is now teaching the spread option to the Gators. At Utah last year, quarterback Alex Smith com- pleted 67.5 percent of his passes for 2,952 yards and 32 touchdowns, and ran for 631 yards and 10 more scores for a team that averaged 45.3 points per game. Higgins, whose teams at Lehigh led the Patriot League in passing in five of his seven seasons as head coach, isn't promising similar results for The Citadel, which was last in the Southern Conference with 16.2 points per game in 2004. But he's confident that Lawson can run the offense effectively.

"Duran is an intelligent player and is a student of the game," Higgins said. "He has done a very good job of picking things up."

Lawson started the final six games of the 2004 season, leading the Bulldogs to wins over Chattanooga and Western Carolina. He hit 55.6 percent of his throws for 925 yards and three TDs, and ran for 278 yards and six scores in 10 games.

"You have a lot of reads in this offense," Lawson said. "You have to know what everybody is supposed to be doing. There is a lot of motion, a lot of people moving around. A lot of stuff looks the same and sounds the same, but it's different."

During the scrimmage, Lawson most often lined up in the shotgun with one running back and three receivers. The offense also used an empty backfield with four wide receivers, and can run the option with a slotback in motion.

"The offense is designed to make the defense cover the whole field," Lawson said. "If we're just going to run the ball, they can stack people in the box. And if we're just going to throw it, they'll have six defensive backs out there. But doing both from the spread, they never know what we are going to do."

NOTES

-- Higgins said Citadel receivers showed improvement in the scrimmage. Sophomore Gary Domanski led the first-team receivers with two catches for 19 yards ... Tight end Aaron Kelly, often split wide, caught one pass for 15 yards ... RB Nuru Goodrum, running with the second-team offense, had 15 yards on five carries ... Safety Kendrick Lyles made a nice break to intercept a Lawson pass ... End James Wilson and tackle Kevin McCaskill each had sacks ... Kicker Blake Vandiver made a 42-yard field goal as the Bulldogs practiced an overtime situation, but missed from 36 yards ... Backup QBs Justin Knox (3-6, 27 yards) and Steven Tumbleston (5-11, 28 yards) saw action with the second and third teams.

-- Saturday's starters on offense - LT Chris McDowell, LG Brian Fletcher, C Jason Thomas, RG Dusty Benefield, RT Antwuan Hill, TE Aaron Kelly, QB Duran Lawson, RB Montrell Lee, WR Rontreal Tyler, WR Justin Woodberry, WR Gary Domanski.

Defense - LE James Wilson, LT Fred Townsend, RT Jacob Bryant, RE Trevar Broughton, LB Shawn Grant, LB Andrew Rowell, LB Porter Johnson, SS Avery Dingle, FS Josh Lawson, CB Brandon Hawkins, CB Andrew Henderson.