Albany State interim football coach Dan Land liked what he saw from Rams

ALBANY — Albany State football fans got a taste of what they’re going to see this fall from interim head coach Dan Land and the Rams football team Thursday night as they held their annual Blue & Gold Scrimmage game at the Coliseum.

It was the Gold Crush offense that was able to come back in the second half and defeat the Dirty Blue defense 34-31.

The Rams are in the process of filling a void left by former quarterback Frank Rivers, who was able to lead the team to the SIAC championship game during his team his two seasons. They have three prospects to replace him, two of which played in the scrimmage — former Monroe standout Charles Stafford and Caleb Edmond, who backed Rivers up last season.

In his first pass during the seven-on-seven warmup, Stafford completed a bomb for about 15 yards. In the second quarter, Edmond got tangled up with a few defensive linemen, appeared to be going down but at the last second completed a shovel pass and turned what would’ve been a sack into a 20-plus yard gain. Edmond also completed a beautiful 39-yard touchdown pass in the third and finished with no interceptions. Stafford had two in the contest.

Land said both quarterbacks bring something different to the table.

“Stafford showed me some good things by his placement of the ball … he had good placement of the ball,” he said. “But Caleb showed me he can scramble and move around in the pocket and make plays. So if I had both of them in one person, I’d have a quarterback.”

While the two have different skill sets, Land added that he felt both did a good job of shaking off mistakes, something that’s going to be key going forward as one of the two will be called on to lead a college offense with no previous experience.

“I saw the movement, I saw the motivation in being able to lead the offense, even through adversity,” he said. “Being able to come back and make plays is the most important thing. That’s what I was looking for, when they get knocked down, sacked, or threw an interception, how they bounced back from that. That’s what I need to be able to see…and they did pretty good today.”

The defense looked game-ready, consistently laying big hits throughout the game. Land said he felt they got fatigued toward the end but still feels good about where they are. Overall, Land said he doesn’t want to fix anything that isn’t broken but there will be minor adjustments, particularly on defense.

“We’re not trying to recreate the wheel here,” Land said. “All we did was took exactly what we had, that we know we’re good at, and just change some things that would best benefit us on defense and on offense. Normally on offense, we would do more offensive sets and on defense, what we’re doing now is more zone defense…making the quarterback read more.

“I felt good and that’s what I was telling the guys,” he said. “We’ve had a great spring and the game basically showed us exactly what we’re doing in practice. We’ve been working hard and we did a great job out there today.”

NOTES: The Rams released their nine-game 2015 schedule earlier this week. They’ll participate in seven SIAC conference games, two classics and face three teams that made appearances in the 2014 NCAA Division II football playoffs.

ASU will open the season on Sept. 5 with one of its four home games. Valdosta State will be the visiting team in the season opener. The Rams will begin SIAC play on Sept. 12 when they travel to Phenix City, Ala. to participate in the second annual White Water Classic against Tuskegee.

Homecoming for the Rams will be on Oct. 17 as they host Morehouse. ASU closes its regular season on Nov. 7 against rival Fort Valley State in the 26^th annual Fountain City Classic in Columbus.

Winners of the SIAC East and SIAC West will play for the 2015 SIAC title at a date, time and site to be determined later.