In the final week of the preseason, Southern University Football has named their starting quarterback, and it is none other than one who led them to victory in the 50th Bayou Classic last year, junior Noah Bodden.
Yesterday in the final practice with media availability of the week, Southern Head Coach Terrence Graves spoke about the decision.
“Noah’s been with me a long time. I know what he’s capable of. He’s the one with the game experience, and that’s what separates him.”
Southern Head Coach Terrence Graves
Bodden was a true freshman in 2021 at archrival Grambling St when Coach Graves was on the coaching staff there as well, the year when Graves took over as Grambling’s interim head coach with one week left in the season. Bodden then transferred to Southern in 2022, moving down to Baton Rouge alongside Graves that year. Bodden has progressed as a quarterback for three years with Coach Graves there every step of the way, and now he has been given the vote of confidence from both Graves and the entire Southern coaching staff to lead the team into the 2024 season.
That being said, there’s a reason why the decision took place so late into the preseason, and that’s because Bodden had a lot of competition for that starting quarterback spot. The backup was also named Thursday, the hometown southpaw freshman Czavian Teasett. Third string will be fellow freshman Jalen Woods. The competition at quarterback played so well that, despite losing the job, Coach Graves mentioned the possibility of them getting some chances to play.
These weren’t just practices for the quarterbacks though – the entire team got their first week of getting into the swing of things with a more typical schedule after their late night practices and scrimmage last week at the conclusion of their fall camp.
“I loved it. Glad the camp is over. Now with school starting we are back to practicing at regular times. It was a great camp – the guys really enjoyed practicing at night, and the coaches did as well. Of course, we start off the season playing at night, so it makes sense. And, of course, we didn’t have any heat related issues, so that was a plus. Coach Moore and the strength staff did a really good job getting them ready at camp.”
Southern Head Coach Terrence Graves on the team’s late night practices
What I got to witness at the two practices on Tuesday and Thursday of this week was mostly individual position group work, with the team’s general talent being shown mostly through various agility drills. I did get a look at the punt and punt return teams, and it looks like senior wide receiver Chandler Whitfield and junior running back Braelen Morgan will be returning the majority of punts for the jags this season.
You can see all of the highlights from the two practices this week here!
Sights are now shifting away from fall camp and towards Southern’s first opponent, McNeese State. This is the beginning of Coach Graves’ first full season as head coach at Southern, and the importance of starting the season off right can not be overstated. The jags have been hard at work for a long time to make sure the game goes as well as it possibly can.
“It’s already started. We actually started in the summer. Now we’re just polishing up and zeroing in for the next couple of weeks.”
Southern Head Coach Terrence Graves on preparing for McNeese St
Southern University will have another week of practices next week as well as a press conference on Tuesday, which is when our next update will be. After that, it’s off to Lake Charles to take on McNeese next Saturday night. For all of our latest content on Southern or any other football as the season kicks off, make sure to go to www.gridironfootballusa.com !
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