2014 Hawks Schedule

By Jim O'Hara
 
ROME, Ga. – As the team gathered around him on Ben Brady Field, Shorter head coach Phil Jones wasted little time delivering his post-practice talk and made it a short one.

After all, the Hawks' Saturday morning workout that was dominated by a scrimmage, had given Jones and his coaching staff the looks they were seeking and caught on video, and perhaps most of all ended the team's second week of the preseason and ushered in the start of preparing for the season opener.

"I saw some good things out here today," Jones told the sweat-drench squad that in just 12 days will kick off the new season when Shorter hosts non-conference foe Paine College on Thursday, Sept. 4 at Barron Stadium. "But we still have a lot of work to do to get better, and that's what we need to do every day – get better and better."

Judging from how the Hawks approached the early-morning scrimmage, getting better on a daily basis was clearly their focus, despite having just turned in their second practice in just over 12 hours.

"I think our kids played hard against each other although they were tired," Jones said about his take on the mind-set of the team, which for the first time in the program's 10-year history will compete as a full NCAA Division II and Gulf South Conference member this fall. "It's hard to come back the morning after you work out the afternoon before. But they kept playing hard.

"The enthusiasm is good," the coach added, "and we did the things we wanted them to do."

The scrimmage – referees were on hand to officiate it – that dominated the hour and a half session in front of a few dozen fans was broken down into three segments, each covering different aspects of a game.

The Hawks' offense and defense opened the action squaring off against each other in a series orchestrated down and distance situations before shifting gears to running and defending against plays in the red zone, and in the closing periods of the practice the team was given an open field in which to move the ball or stop it.

Yet while Jones and the coaches got an eyeful first-hand, they will immediately turn their attention to the action caught on video to break down every play and focus on seeing what each individual Hawk did right – or wrong – and begin the process of deciding what Shorter's depth chart will look like.

"We'll look at the film and analyze every play – what we have to do to get better and what we're doing good," Jones said. "And we want to make sure we give every single player a look to give them a chance and then make a decision about what our personnel will be."

Once those decisions are made, the Hawks will return to practice with a clear picture of who will be where in the team's overall scheme and start putting in the pre-game package for the opener.

"We still have a lot of work to do," said Jones, "and not much time to do it."

The opener against Paine will mark the first of three straight non-conference clashes against Division II opponents.

The following week, Shorter hits the road for the first time when the Hawks head to North Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 13 for a non-conference rematch with Mars Hill, a game that sets the stage for what will be the longest trip the program has ever had to the largest stadium the team has ever played in.

On Saturday, Sept. 20, the Hawks will take the field at the home of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas – the 80,000-seat AT&T Stadium – to square off against Lone Star Conference member West Texas A&M for a 1 p.m. (Central) showdown in the annual Lone Star Football Festival that pits GSC members against Lone Star opponents.

That challenge will be the Hawks' third and final non-GSC game and after taking a week off, Shorter turns its attention to seven straight Gulf South matchups, the first taking place at Barron Stadium on Thursday, Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m. against Mississippi College.

Shorter has three more homes games at Barron against West Alabama (Oct. 16), Florida Tech (Nov. 1) and West Georgia (Nov. 15), while the Hawks will be on the road to face Delta State (Oct. 11), Valdosta State (Oct. 25) and North Alabama (Nov. 8.)

Season and individual game ticket information can be purchased by going to www.goshorterhawks.com.