By Terry Wills Jr.
Clark Atlanta Panthers went against the Allen University Yellow Jackets. The Panthers beat the Yellow Jackets, ending their four-game losing streak,
The Panthers' defense had a tall task as they took on a Yellow Jackets team whose offense has been averaging 401.6 yards a game. The run defense of the Panthers has been a work in progress as they gave up 228 rushing yards in a loss to Tuskegee University last week. I had the opportunity to ask Head Coach Tim Bowens how he planned on improving the run defense today and he responded with “Effort. We have a few guys out due to injuries so we have to make sure the next man up is ready to go and corral the ball carrier.”
Not only do the Panthers have to worry about the run game of the Yellow Jackets but they also have to worry about the Quarterback, David Wright, who has been lighting it up. Last week, Wright threw the ball for over 400 yards and 4 touchdowns so I asked coach Bowens how he planned on slowing him down. Bowens described Wright as a gunslinging quarterback and said “We have to be able to be able to keep him in the pocket because he is a dynamic player and when we do keep him in the pocket we have to be able to put pressure on him.” Clearly, the coach did not want to allow Wright to rip them apart through the air. The Yellow Jackets are an electric team on offense but their defense can be suspect at times as they gave up 26 points in the first quarter against Central State. To wrap up the pregame interview I asked the coach if he has been preaching to his team during the week to get off to a fast start and he stated “We must get off to a fast start today and we can do that by having good consistent quarterback play, good O-line protection, and being able to move the ball on the ground successfully.”
I also had the chance to catch up with Quarterback Elijah Odom after the game who had a few touchdowns passes over 30 yards. I asked him to take me through that 30-yard touchdown pass in the 2nd quarter to Darren Stephens. Odom said, “We carried out the coach's game plan he had for us during the week and we executed the play today.”Odom was taking advantage of the Yellow Jackets suspect secondary and he was doing so by connecting with wide receiver Drakar Jerry. I asked him what the connection between the two of them was like and Odom described him as an amazing vet and said that Jerry always helps him throughout the week and that has become his go-to guy. Elijah Odom finished the game with 207 passing yards and 2 touchdowns as well as 45 rushing yards.
Comments