Football | 8/19/2019 12:52:00 PM

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Last play. Fourth down from the 6-yard line. The Savannah State University defense was so excited its reserves gathered just behind the endzone to exhort their unit.

Upon seeing something he didn't like from the offensive formation, Tigers defensive line coach Thomas Sims rushed to the line of scrimmage to call a timeout.

A game on the line? No, just bragging rights for a play in SSU's first preseason scrimmage Saturday at Theodore A. Wright Stadium.

Quarterback Mason Wood ran a quarterback keeper and appeared to be touched down at the 3 before falling into the endzone.

Head coach Shawn Quinn, however, signaled touchdown. A bad call -- maybe the only bad news all morning for a dominating defense.

"We're going to be farther ahead on defense," Quinn said. "It's the second year in the system with seven starters back. I would expect that."

A year ago, the Tigers defense was second in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in total defense (316.2 total yards a game) and first in passing defense (138.5 passing yards a game) and it didn't let up against the newly installed option offense.

SSU's offense had just two touchdowns and two field goals during the 83-play workout. The Tigers didn't register a first down until their fifth possession.

"The effort was really good, as a defensive coach, watching the defense run to the football," Quinn said. "Offensively, we have to have a little more stinger to us than we had today. I felt we just didn't come out with a lot of gusto, maybe partially because of the defense. I thought in the second half, it was a different mojo."

Quinn credited the play of linebackers Desmond Young and Walter Yates and defensive back John Wilson for solid showings during the first eight days of preseason practices.

Yates registered a key tackle for loss Saturday on fourth down with the offense inside the 10-yard line.

In conference-only statistics, Yates led the MEAC last season with 8.5 tackles a game.

KJ Singleton, Sekou Dioubate and Hoston Robinson were among a group of linemen that controlled the line of scrimmage. Another lineman, Stephen Greaves, recovered a fumble.

Quinn has been impressed with Richmond Hill's Ronald Fuselier, a defensive back who is moving up the depth chart.

"I've always thought as a coach, if you can be really good on defense, you have a chance to be in every game," Quinn said. "A really good offense with a bad defense, you better score 50 points a game just to be competitive."

The offense had some good performances. Freshman quarterback JT Hartage engineered the first touchdown drive with D'Angelo Durham scoring on fourth down from the 1-yard line.

Another drive which resulted in Giovanni Lugo's 20-yard field goal, starting quarterback D'Vonn Gibbons completed a 39-yard pass to Joe Boykin. A few plays later, Gibbons appeared to run 20 yards for a touchdown on a keeper, but was called down when he was just nipped by a defender.

Lugo had another 21-yarder later in the scrimmage. More importantly, he was 5-for-5 on field-goal attempts with a long of 48 yards in post-scrimmage special teams work which meant the entire team did not have to run 100-yard sprints.

Quinn said he's seeing improvement but the team still has some work to get ready for the season-opener against Florida Tech on Sept. 7 at Theodore Wright Stadium.

"Rome wasn't built in a day, but we still have to finish the Pantheon and the Colosseum," Quinn said.