Football | 3/28/2019 8:33:00 PM

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- As a former defensive coordinator, Savannah State University's first-year head coach Shawn Quinn has had to prepare for some difficult, high-powered offenses.

The most difficult to prepare for? Quinn says the option offense.

So, Quinn and his coaching staff began the Tigers' first day of spring practice Thursday installing some option plays.

"The triple option, the read option, we want to do both," Quinn said. "I always thought Wofford was hard to defend. We want to run our offense from under center and the (shot) gun."

For a defensive guy, Quinn has an abundance of experience seeing the run-oriented style of play that gives the quarterback the chance to hand-off to a running back, run with the ball or pitch the ball to a trailing back.

As a player at Carson-Newman, Quinn went up against an option offense just about every day in practice.

As a defensive coach at Georgia Southern, Quinn had to line up his players for the option in practice. Every year, the Eagles were challenged by option foes Wofford and The Citadel in Southern Conference play.

"As we get more comfortable, we're going to be better at it," Quinn said. "It's just the first day of practice so the defense is ahead of the offense, but we want to create some mystery."

The Tigers appear to have the personnel to run the new offense. Rising junior quarterback D'Vonn Gibbons has led the team with 462 rushing yards as freshman and 431 rushing yards as a sophomore.

Gibbons ran a spread, passing offense at Stephenson High School, transitioning almost seamlessly into the SSU short passing attack the last two years. But he isn't daunted by the new option wrinkle which might lead to him getting hit often.

"That's OK, it's football," Gibbons said. "I'm good at adapting so I caught on quickly. I know once everything comes together, we're going to be very explosive."

Quinn said Gibbons will have competition for the starting quarterback job. Red-shirt freshman Craig Grant from Colleton County (S.C.) and incoming freshman J.T. Hartage from Mary Persons are versatile enough to run any offense.

Quinn said assistant coach Russell DeMasi, who ran the option as a quarterback at Savannah Christian and Georgia Southern, will be valuable teaching the nuances.

"D'Vonn started last year, but it's a wide-open competition and D'Vonn knows that," Quinn said. "Every day is a new day."

Quinn sees an additional benefit from the addition of the option offense. SSU will be looking to recruit a different athlete.

"We're putting a premium on athleticism and foot speed and there's a plethora of that in this area," Quinn said. "There are a number of schools that run this offense, so it's a win-win situation for us.

"To play a different system, it's probably 20, 25 years since they ran something like this, I think it will give us a new outlook in recruiting."

SSU will be back in action for the second of its 15 spring football practices on Friday. The annual Orange and Blue Spring Game is April 27 at 1 p.m. at T.A. Wright Stadium.