THE GAME
Savannah State will play their final game of the 2023 season by making the trip to Jackson, Tennessee to face Lane College at Lane Field on November 4, 2023. The Tigers hope to send the senior class out with a win in addition to breaking their six-game losing skid. Despite their record, the Tigers have been very competitive in their games and have played hard until the last whistle has been blown.

SSU enters the contest with a 2-7 overall record while being 1-6 in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Lane has a 1-8 overall record and a 1-6 record in the SIAC.
Savannah State and Lane first met in 1965. The Tigers own a 14-1 lead in the series. Lane's lone win over SSU was during the 1968 season when the Dragons won 14-0.

LAST YEAR
Savannah State defeated Lane 44-38 last year at Theodore A. Wright Stadium on November 5, 2022. The teams combined for 798 yards of offense in a game that featured six ties. The game was tied at 24 at the half and Lane led 38-31 entering the fourth quarter. However, during the final 15 minutes of play, the SSU defense held Lane to just 23 yards. The Tigers scored twice in the fourth quarter in a span of about two minutes with Da'Shun Mitchell catching a 6-yard scoring pass early in the quarter to tie the game and defensive back Jordan Clark intercepting a pass and returning it for the game-winning touchdown. The victory also evened SSU's record as they finish the season with a .500 record at 5-5.

COACHES QUOTE
SSU head coach Aaron Kelton says "We are working hard to end the season positively and on a winning note."

LAST WEEK
Savannah State lost a hard-fought game with Benedict, who at the time was ranked #5 in Division II. The teams went into intermission tied at 17 but the visitors from Columbia, South Carolina out-scored SSU 21-0 in the second half to earn the win. The 17 points and 301 yards by SSU was the second-most against Benedict all season. Jadon Adams combined for 218 yards of offense with 109 passing and 109 rushing. He also threw for a pair of touchdowns.

TOP OFFENSIVE PLAYERS
Quarterback Jadon Adams is the top offensive threat for Savannah State. So far, the junior signal caller has completed 50 percent (120 of 240) of his passes for 1,512 yards with nine touchdowns and five interceptions. He has also ran for five touchdowns and 376 yards.
Tailback Shamarcus Poole has rushed for 296 yards and three touchdowns this season.
Wide receiver Da'Shun Mitchell is the top pass catcher with 35 receptions for 569 yards  and a touchdown while Brent Carr has 25 catches for 438 yards and six touchdowns.

TOP DEFENSIVE PLAYERS
Savannah State's defense is led by linebackers Gary Davis, who has 51 tackles, and Tavare Brewton, who has contributed 44 tackles. 
Ameer Phillips leads the defensive linemen with six tackles for loss and two sacks.
Roaming the secondary is Deandre Creary and Kirk Smith. Creary has three interceptions and Smith has two.

SPECIAL TEAMS
After missing the 2022 season while recovering from an injury, Kenneth Lockhart is back. In nine games, he has punted 45 times and is averaging 38.9 yards per punt with a long of 59 yards. 12 have landed inside the opponents 20. He has made 8 of 11 field goal attempts and has a long of 37 yards.
Joseph Hampton averages 21. yards a return.

SCOUTING THE DRAGONS
Vyron Brown is in his third season as the head coach at Lane, after spending one season as offensive coordinator and running backs coach with the program. Prior to being hired at Lane, Brown had coaching experience on the high school and college level. His collegiate resume includes stops at Texas Southern,  Grambling State, Alabama State and Shaw.
 
The Dragons' lone win this season came against Clark Atlanta (34-24). The team has had losses to Miles (24-37), Alabama A&M (13-51), Benedict (7-54), Tuskegee (22-28), Edward Waters (30-37), Kentucky State (14-21), Virginia Lynchburg (42-45) and Central State (14-17).
 
Lane averages 22.2 points and 339.4 yards a game. Kylan Duhe is the leading rusher with 820 yards and 7 touchdowns. Polo Solomon is the starting quarterback and has thrown for 1,146 yards and 6 touchdowns. he has also thrown 11 interceptions. Jaquez Jones is the top receiver on the team with 47 receptions for 811 yards and 3 touchdowns.
 
The Dragons surrender 34.9 points and 360 yards per game. Asmar Hasan has 104 tackles and 12 tackles for loss to anchor the defense. JaQuintis Summers has 5 sacks and Nick Patterson has 2 interceptions.

THE SKINNY
Lane has only won one game but their team features a trio of exceptional athletes in running back Jylan Duhe, wide receiver  Jaquez Jones and defensive lineman Asmar Hasan. Duhe is the SIAC's leading rusher, Jones is the leading receiver and Hasan leads the league in tackles. Both teams hope to end a disappointing season on a good note as well as put a halt to a losing skid. SSU has lost 6 in a row while Lane has lost 4 in a row.
 
SAVANNAH STATE/TENNESSEE CONNECTION
During the 1991 season, linebacker Patrick Dean led the SSU football teams in tackles with 91. Dean was one of four players on the team that year who hailed from Knoxville, Tennessee. The three others were linebacker Johnny Williams and defensive backs (and brothers) Eric and Glenn Allen.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Wide receiver Brent Carr is third in the SIAC in receiving touchdowns with six and is ranked #36 in Division II. Defensive back Dreshawn Dawkins and defensive lineman Ameer Phillips are second in the SIAC in forced fumbles with two and is ranked #31 in Div. II, Specialist Kenneth Lockhart is ranked #30 in Division II in field goal percentage with .727 and Joseph Hampton is ranked #14 in Div. II in combined kick returns with 500.

CATCHING ON
Wide receiver Da'Shun Mitchell has caught a pass in 19 consecutive games.

COMMON OPPONENTS
Savannah State and Lane have five common opponents: Benedict, Clark Atlanta Edward Waters, Tuskegee and Central State.
 
TIGER NFL CONNECTION
Omar Young, a 2005 Savannah State graduate, is in his second season in Chicago and his first as an assistant quarterbacks and wide receivers coach in 2023. Prior to being named the Bears assistant quarterbacks and wide receivers coach, Young spent the 2022 season as an offensive quality control coach. He has 14 years of coaching experience, including four in the National Football League with two additional years of experience on the personnel side. While completing his undergraduate degree at Savannah State, he worked as a student assistant and video coordinator for the football program, essentially starting his coaching career path in 2004. Young first attended Willamette University in Salem, Ore., where he played defensive back for two years. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in history from Savannah State University in 2005 and earned his master's in sport management from the University of San Francisco in 2008.
 
THE CLARK ADVANTAGE
Both Savannah State and Lane have defeated Clark Atlanta this season. The Tigers beat CAU 28-21 while Lane defeated the Panthers 34-24.

FINAL GAME
Today's game will be the final game in a SSU uniform for 18 seniors: Steven Wakefield, Kenneth Lockhart, Riyon Adams, Kyle Frazier, Randy Scott, Brent Carr, Elijah Norwood, Malik Fleming, Jameson Pettiford, Kirk Smith, Dreshawn Dawkins, Julian Roberts, Jarius Jackson, TyRique Mingle, Jonathan Glover, Devon Beckford, Deon Bell and Walter Nelson.

NO BLOCKS
SSU is one of 72 Division II teams in the nation who has not allowed a blocked punt this season.

SECOND HALF BLUES
Savannah State has been outscored 130-54 in the second half this season. The Tigers have been outscored 77-21 in the third quarter and 53-33 in the fourth quarter.

CHASING 2000
Quarterback Jadon Adams has thrown for 1,512 yards so far. He needs 488 more to reach 2,000 for the season.

FIRST TD
Da'Shun Mitchell caught his first touchdown of the season last week against Benedict. With 7:22 left in the second quarter, Mitchell caught a 7-yard touchdown from Jadon Adams that tied the game at 10-10.
 
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Entering the final game of the season, Jadon Adams is the team's leader in passing yards and rushing yards. The last SSU player to finish the regular season as the team's leading passer and rusher was D'Vonn Gibbons who was the Tigers leading passer and rusher in 2017 and 2018.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
The SSU roster is made up of players from eight states (Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Connecticut, New York, California, Tennessee and Alabama) as well as the District of Columbia
 
THE LEGACY CONTINUES
SSU defensive back Dwayne Ruff is the son of Savannah State alum Dwayne Ruff. The younger Ruff played three seasons at East Tennessee State. He earned his degree at ETSU and decided to play his final season of eligibility at SSU as a grad transfer. The elder Ruff was a two-sport student-athlete at SSU, playing football and basketball from 1986-89. He was a member of the 1989 team that included NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe that posted a 8-1 record.
 
WELCOME TO THE MARSH
SSU head football coach Aaron Kelton welcomes two new coaches to his staff. Marking their first season at Savannah State are A.J. Walsh (offensive line) and Keon Cezar (defensive line).
 
IN MEMORY
SSU mourns  the loss of former Tigers head football coach Dr. Leo Richardson. He led the Tigers to a 6-2-1 record in 1967 which was good enough to win the Southeastern Athletic conference championship. That same year Richardson was named the SEAC Coach of the Year. In addition to coaching football at SSU, Richardson also served as the head men's basketball coach and a biology professor. He was inducted into the SSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010. Richardson died on July 23, 2023.
 
TRANSFER U
SSU has 15 players on the roster that have transferred from other schools. The programs, which range from FBS to junior college, include East Tennessee State, Bryant University, Pittsburgh, North Carolina Central, Glennville State, Point University, Georgia Southern, Lane College, Grambling State, Albany State, Louisburg College, Hobart College, American River College, Los Angeles Valley Community College and Hutchinson Community College.
 
SURVIVOR
SSU signee Kyle Frazier is a cancer survivor. Frazier was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in April 2019 but after chemotherapy treatments, he was declared cancer free in August 2019. The Augusta, Georgia native enrolled at SSU in January 2020 and joined the football team in 2021.He has made the all conference team his freshman and sophomore years.

FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE
Savannah State will appear on ESPN+ twice during the season.The Tigers will play Clark Atlanta on September 16 at Theodore A. Wright Stadium at 6 p.m. The 2023 SSU Homecoming match-up with Tuskegee University on October 21 will also appear on ESPN+ with a 3 p.m. kickoff.

HOME GROWN
SU has 14 players in its roster from ten different of the local high schools (Islands, Savannah High, Johnson, Windsor Forest, Memorial, Beach, Bethesda, New Hampstead, Calvary and Jenkins.
 
THE SIZE OF IT
Freshmen linemen Kamrem Bing and Derrick Clark are the biggest players on the team. Bing, a offensive lineman weighs 340-pounds while Clark, a defensive lineman stands 6-foot-5. Freshman wide receiver Jason Cobb is the smallest player on the roster at 5-foot-7 and 150 pounds.
 
GETTING THE MILES IN
SSU has six road games on the schedule with an average of 355 miles for each game. Tiger fans will travel to Lakeland, Florida (335 miles), Daytona Beach, Fla. (234 miles), Brunswick, Georgia (79 miles), Fort Valley, Ga. (175 miles), Wilberforce, Ohio (689 miles) and Jackson, Tennessee (620 miles).
 
PRESEASON HONORS
During the SIAC Football Media Day in July, four SSU football players were named to the preseason all conference team. Offensive linemen Kyle Frazier and Riyon Adams and running back Shamarcus Poole were named to the First Team while punter/kicker Kenneth Lockhart was picked for the Second Team.
 
WHAT'S IN A NAME
There are ten sets of players on the SSU roster that share the same last name. The team has three players with the last name of Williams, Brown and Johnson and seven sets with the last name of Roberts, Leonard, Adams, Bell, Davis, Hampton and Jones. Additionally there are players with the last name that is pronounced the same but spelled differently as in Brown/Browne and Clark/Clarke.