Samford Falls in Grass’ Debut, 22-10
Year one of a new era ends in a loss as Samford falls to North Alabama, 22-10 in Huntsville. North Alabama makes just a few more big plays in the end which dooms Samford in week 0. The Samford offense struggled running the football finishing with negative eight rushing yards with sack yardage factored in.
Oregon State transfer quarterback Gabarri Johnson got the start for Samford and had some big time throws. Samford, however, just could not capitalize on a few drives. Johnson finished with 245 passing yards with one touchdown and one interception (on the last play of the game). Samford head coach John Grass was pleased with Johnson’s play in the opener.
“I don't think Gabarri could've played much better,” said Grass. “I thought he protected the ball. He made some throws. When he had time, he was very, very efficient in the pocket. He's a accurate guy. Man, he really is good decision maker, gets the ball where it's supposed to go. They gave us a little problem, some twist stunts up front, some blitz stuff, so they got him off his spot. He had trouble. But, he made some plays with his legs, scrambling. Couldn't ask him to play for much better than he did tonight, when you don’t got your run game going because a lot of stuff we do is off that run game.”
Johnson did make some big plays including a 86-yard touchdown catch and run to Clemson transfer wide receiver Marquise Henderson on a double move. Henderson had a couple other big catches finishing with 151 receiving yards and that touchdown. Samford has found themselves a quarterback and another dynamic receiver alongside Preston Bird.
Back to the Samford running game which struggled mightily running in between the tackles. Samford did have 36 yards once you take out the sack yardage. North Alabama has a much improved defensive line unit which played very well in week 0. Samford might have to introduce some quarterback run if the run game continues to struggle into the rest of the season.
North Alabama had just under 400 total yards but the Samford defense played good enough for the most part. Safety Jalen Nelson finished with 14 total tackles while safety Lashon Young had eight. The rush defense did have trouble with North Alabama having 165 yards on the ground. Samford gave up one massive play which was a 95-yard catch and run which was the first touchdown of the game in the second quarter.
That play was a part of a huge momentum swing as Samford had the Lions backed up inside the five-yard line to start that drive. Samford almost forced a safety on two consecutive plays then on third down, following a Lions holding call, came the 95-yard touchdown.
Samford then elects to take a re-kick on the ensuing kickoff due to a North Alabama offsides penalty on the first kickoff. Samford gets a holding call on the re-kick which backs their drive all the way to the Samford 10-yard line. Four plays later Gabarri Johnson gets sacked in the Samford end zone for a North Alabama safety which pushes the lead to nine.
North Alabama ended up with more penalty yardage but it felt like Samford’s 32 yards were more meaningful compared to the Lions’ 78 yards.
Samford also missed a 46-yard field goal in the first quarter after a Bulldogs false start on the first try of the fourth down. Samford punter Will Thorley played extremely well averaging 47.8 yards per punt with his longest at 61-yards.
The biggest room of improvement needed for Samford, have to establish some semblance of a running game and Grass mentioned that postgame.
“We gotta be able to run the ball better than what we did,” said Grass. “And it's not that we didn't try. I mean we tried to run the ball and it got us in a lot of third-and-long situations. We gotta do better with that. And like I said, a lot of it was their defense. I don't think it's necessarily our offensive line is bad. They've improved a lot. I've talked about that. I think UNA's got as good a D-line as you will see at this level.”
Well the starting quarterback question has been answered for Samford in Gabarri Johnson. Wide receiver Marquise Henderson is as good as advertised and the offensive line has a ways to go to improve in run blocking moving forward.
Then over to the defense, it’s never an ideal sign when your safeties lead the team in tackles. However Mickey Conn’s group did have some nice moments but the 95-yard touchdown stings for sure.
Samford has a quick turnaround with the Southern Illinois Salukis up next in the home opener on Thursday night at 6:00pm central time. SIU will probably be without starting quarterback DJ Williams who suffered a knee injury in their 34-31 loss at West Florida.
