Football | 10/5/2017 11:04:00 AM

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Savannah State University won its Homecoming football game last season, beating Howard University, 31-27. Saturday, the Tigers hope to win a second consecutive Homecoming game, this time against Hampton University.

Kickoff is at 2 p.m. at Theodore A. Wright Stadium. The game between SSU (0-4 overall, 0-2 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) and Hampton (2-2, 1-0) will be radio-broadcast on WHCJ, 90.3 FM and the SSU Internet (SSUAthletics.com).

Hampton is 7-0 in the series against SSU. The Pirates beat the Tigers, 28-24, last season in Hampton, Va. The loss snapped SSU's two-game winning streak. SSU trailed, 21-3, in the second quarter before scoring 21 straight points to take a 24-21 lead with 13:34 left in the game.

"Last year, they got us on special teams," SSU second-year head coach Erik Raeburn said. "We had two bad plays on special teams and it led to two touchdowns for them. We fumbled a punt, which they recovered on our 3-yard line, and they returned a kickoff for a touchdown. Those are killers. We lost by four points and we felt like we gave them 14 points on special teams on two plays."

This season, Hampton is one of three MEAC teams that are 1-0 in the conference. North Carolina A&T and North Carolina Central, both 2-0, are tied for first place in the MEAC.
SSU is coming off a 24-12 loss to Bethune-Cookman last Saturday in Daytona Beach, Fla. Hampton is fresh off a 30-23 overtime loss to Monmouth on Sept. 23 in Hampton, Va.

"They had their bye week last week so they've had two weeks to prepare," Raeburn said of Hampton. "Body-wise, they should be feeling great. But you've just got to continue to scratch and claw, and try to pull one out."

SAXTON HAS CAREER PERFORMANCE
Rashad Saxton, a 5-foot-8, 170-pound junior from Jacksonville, Fla., ran for a career-best 103 yards and a touchdown against Bethune-Cookman. He started at running back in place of Uriah Oliver, who suffered a sprained shoulder late in the game against FAMU.

"He definitely played the best game he's played since I've been the coach," Raeburn said of Saxton, whose previous career-best was 54 yards rushing against Howard in 2015. "He's played in every game but he had to take the bulk of the carries with Uriah out. He did a good job. He ran hard. He showed some good vision. It just wasn't enough. We've got to have everybody doing their job to be consistent on offense."

Raeburn said Oliver likely will be sidelined against Hampton.

"I think he's out again this week," Raeburn said Wednesday. "We had hoped that he maybe would be able to practice today but he wasn't medically cleared to practice. He'll probably be a game-time decision but it's been my experience that if you can't practice on Wednesday, you probably aren't going to be able to go on Saturday."

TIGERS STILL LEAD MEAC IN KICKOFF COVERAGE
SSU still leads the MEAC in kickoff coverage. Through four games, the Tigers have kicked off 10 times for 592 yards (an average of 59.2) and allowed 124 yards (an average of 44.3 yards) in returns.
Hampton is second in the conference in kickoff coverage. The Pirates have kicked off 23 times for 1,381 yards (60-yard average) and given up 322 yards (42.8-yard average).

"We've been getting some good kicks and we've had guys hustling, getting downfield and covering the kicks," Raeburn said. "I do think we've improved. This is the best any of my teams have ever done at downing punts inside the 10-yard line. Chandler (Williams) has done an incredible job. He is really gifted at that I think we've downed six punts this year inside the 10. I remember having entire seasons where we didn't have six punts inside the 10."

SEEKING CONSISTENCY
SSU beat Bethune-Cookman, 16-10, last season at T.A Wright Stadium. Last Saturday, the Tigers trailed the entire game.

"We gave up (293) yards rushing to a team that struggles to pass the football," Raeburn said of the Wildcats, who threw for 97 yards. "That was a disappointment. The number of big plays we gave up on defense was a disappointment. And, offensively, they were smart. We haven't shown that we can pass the ball consistently. They just basically had both safeties down five, six yards from the line of scrimmage and kept all the linebackers in the box to defend the run. We struggled to get anything going through the passing game."

SSU threw for 58 yards and ran for 105 yards.

"The problem for us this year is consistency," Raeburn said. "We have some talent but with the inexperience we don't have the consistency."

O-LINE MUST PROTECT GIBBONS
SSU's D'Vonn Gibbons will make his third collegiate start at quarterback against Hampton. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound freshman from Stone Mountain, finished 8-of-19 passing for 58 yards against Bethune-Cookman. He was sacked six times.

"He struggled a little bit in the passing game but part of that was he got sacked a bunch," Raeburn said. "They tried to keep him from running the football, which is why (Rashad) Saxton had a pretty good day. (Gibbons) is not playing great by any stretch but he's doing pretty good when you consider he's a true freshman and our pass-protection hasn't been fantastic."

Gibbons was limited to 1 yard rushing on 14 carries against Bethune-Cookman. Against Florida A&M the previous Saturday, Gibbons ran 22 times for a game-high 123 yards and two touchdowns.
Gibbons is filling in for sophomore TJ Bell, who suffered a leg injury.

HAMPTON PIRATES OUTLOOK
Hampton lost its starting quarterback, Jaylian Williamson, who was a graduate student last year. Also moving on were the Pirates' top three receivers last season: Rashawn Proctor, Twarn Mixson and Shakim Alonzo.

This season, the Pirates' quarterback is Delmon Williams, a 6-foot-2, 223-pound redshirt senior from Hampton, Va. Williams is 44-of-83 passing (53 percent) for 656 yards and six touchdowns. The transfer from San Jose (Calif.) City College has thrown two interceptions.

"Their new quarterback, he's new but he's a junior," Raeburn said. "Their passing game picked up right where it left off last year. I've been impressed. I thought with a new starter at quarterback and a couple of new receivers because of the good players that they graduated from last year, I thought maybe their passing game would be behind their running game but that's not really the case."

Wide receiver Ronald Bell, a 5-foot-6, 162-pound redshirt sophomore from Fort Washington, Md., has made a team-leading 23 catches for 258 yards and four touchdowns. Wide receiver Wesley Wolfolk, a 6-foot-2, 207-pound redshirt sophomore from Upper Marlboro, Md., has 11 catches for 117 yards. Wide receiver Aulden Knight, a 5-foot-10, 162-pound redshirt freshman from Akron, Ohio, has 10 catches for 287 yards and four touchdowns.

Running back Yahkee Johnson was Hampton's only preseason All-MEAC first-team selection this season. The 5-foot-7, 160-pound senior from Richmond, Va., has run 56 times for a team-leading 283 yards and four touchdowns. Running back Shai McKenzie, a 5-foot-11, 220-pound junior from Washington, Pa., has carried 42 times for 137 yards. McKenzie transferred from Virginia Tech.

Linebacker Raheim Huskey, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound junior from Gaffney, S.C., has made a team-leading 36 tackles to go with an interception. Huskey transferred from Marshall University.

"They're playing really good on defense," Raeburn said. "That's been their strength. They're like second or third in every defensive category in our conference. They've got most of their guys back from last year so it's not surprising that they're playing well on defense. They've got good players at all three levels of their defense. It will be a challenge. We've been struggling on offense so it's going to be a particularly difficult matchup for us."