THE GAME
Coming off a tough loss to Albany State University in the inaugural Coastal City Classic, the Savannah State University Tigers (2-2, 1-1 SIAC) will return home to play Edward Waters University (1-3, 1-2 SIAC).
 
Savannah State and Edward Waters have been playing each other since 1930. Although EWU leads the all-time series 12-11-4, Savannah State has won the last five meetings between the schools. With both schools having the same mascot, this will truly be a Cat fight.
 
LAST YEAR
Savannah State edged Edward Waters 31-28 on September 10 at Nathaniel Glover Community Field & Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. Trailing by three points, Edward Waters started the final drive of the game on their own 29-yard line with two minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Six plays later, with a new set of downs and one minute to play, on Savannah State's 23-yard line, they looked poised to score. Tyler King rushed up the middle but lost the ball. SSU's Jonathan Glover was there to recover for Savannah State and help preserve the victory

COACHES QUOTE
SSU head coach Aaron Kelton says "We need to work harder at playing clean football and not let our emotions get the  most of us. We played a good Albany State team last week and a good Edward Waters team is coming in here this week. We need to work hard all week in our preparation and continue our fast physical play. We are getting better in some phases of the game which is nice but we need to win every chance we get. We know winning is hard but if we prepare well we will have a better chance to win the game."

LAST WEEK
Savannah State lost a defensive battle to Albany State 15-12 in the inaugural Coastal City Classic in Brunswick, Georgia. Neither team was able to score a touchdown until the fourth quarter and relied on their field goal kickers to put most of the points on the scoreboard.
 
TOP OFFENSIVE PLAYERS
Quarterback Jadon Adams is the top offensive  threat for Savannah State as he leads the team in passing and rushing. So far, the junior signal caller has completed 49 percent (57 of 107) of his passes for 609 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He has also ran for two touchdowns and leads the team in rushing with 148 yards.

Tailback Shamarcus Poole has 132 yards and a touchdown this season and is averaging 4.6 yards per carry.

Wide receiver Da'Shun Mitchell is the top pass catcher with 14 receptions for 193 yards while Brent Carr has ten catches for 183 yards and two touchdowns.
 
TOP DEFENSIVE PLAYERS
Savannah State's defense is led by linebackers Tavare Brewton who has 33 tackles and Gary Davis who has contributed 17 tackles. 

Defensive lineman Ameer Phillips leads the unit with five tackles for loss and two sacks while Nathaniel Chisholm has four tackles for loss and two sacks.

Roaming the secondary is Kirk Smith has two interceptions to his credit.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS
After missing the 2022 season while recovering from an injury, Kenneth Lockhart is back. In four games, he has punted 24 times and is averaging 37.9 yards per punt with a long of 53 yards. Seven have landed inside the opponents 20. He has made 5 of 6 field goal attempts and has a long of 37 yards

Joseph Hampton has six kick returns and is averaging 20.8 yards a return and Randy Scott has four kick returns and is averaging 26 yards a return.
 
SCOUTING THE EWU TIGERS
Toriano Morgan is in his second year as the head coach of Edward Waters. Prior to coming to EWU, Morgan spent two seasons as assistant head coach/offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Virginia State University.
The Tigers enter the contest on a high note after beating Morehouse last week 44-13. Edward Waters began the season with three straight losses to Florida Memorial (38-21), Benedict (34-0) and Fort Valley State (34-31) before beating Morehouse.
EWU is averaging 24 points and 351.5 yards a game while giving up 29.8 points and 366.3 yards a night.

Quarterback Jyron Russell is one of the top signal callers in the SIAC. He leads the conference in touchdown passes (8) and is second in passing yards (955). He has also thrown six interceptions. Russell's favorite target is Johnny Jones who has a league leading 30 receptions for 382 yards. Nathan Rembert is also a threat with 10 catches for  216 yards and three touchdowns. When EWC runs the ball, they will look to DeShaun Hugee who has 170 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Widmyer Garcon is the team's leading tackler with 27. Kenard King has been involved in 19 stops and James Gary has 17 tackles and four tackles for loss.
 
SSU/EDWARD WATERS CONNECTION
David Adebiyi, the Edward Waters Assistant Athletic Director For Compliance, is a 2015 graduate of Savannah State, where he graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor's Degree in History with a pre-law focus. He also a former football player at SSU, where he was a defensive end for the Tigers. In 2015, he was a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) First Team All-Academic Team member, as well as a Savannah State Dean's List honoree and a member of the Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
 
PROTECTING THE BALL
SSU quarterbacks have not thrown an interception so far. The last interception thrown by a Tiger quarterback was October 29, 2022 against Fort Valley State.
 
RECOVERY EFFORT
Dating back to last season, SSU has at least one fumble recovery in the past seven games.
 
CHASING 1000
Quarterback Jadon Adams has thrown for 609 yards so far. He needs 391 more to reach 1,000 for the season.
 
POLL WATCHERS
With their loss to Albany State, SSU has dropped out of the top 10 in the latest HBCU Division II Football Poll. The Tigers received 1 vote in the latest BOXTOROW Division II Coaches Poll.
 
CHASING 100
Sophomore linebacker Tavare Brewton has 33 tackles on the season and 99 for his career. He needs 1 more to reach 100 for his collegiate career
 
FAMILY AFFAIR
Philadelphia maybe the city of brotherly love but Savannah State also has its share of family ties.

Defensive lineman Josua Shepherd and student assistant Elijah Shepherd are brothers.

Tight end Quavien Bell and linebacker Deon Bell are cousins.
 
NEW DIGITAL SIGNAGE
Fans will notice a new digital signage/scoreboard at T.A. Wright Stadium. The new board which is 32'x16', is apart of a overhaul of the university's technology enhancement campus-wide upgrades. The display board will also be incorporated into classroom usage as well as other departments on campus such as the NROTC program and Enrollment Management. The idea of the new signage board was the brainstorm of Dr. Dedra N. Andrews (SSU Director of Title III), Mr. Gary Miller (SSU Chief Information Officer) and  Opio Mashariki (SSU Director of Athletics).

 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.