Injuries dog Citadel during camp

The Citadel football team ended training camp with a one-hour scrimmage Saturday afternoon, and not a day too soon.

Receiver Alex Carr became the latest Bulldog to miss practice time with injury, sitting out Saturday's workout with a fractured bone in his left foot. The Citadel had a lengthier list of injuries than usual in the three weeks of fall camp that ended Saturday.

"We had more than our normal share," said coach Kevin Higgins, whose team begins game-week preparation Monday for its Aug. 30 opener with Webber International.

That's one reason Higgins likes the lineup of Webber International, Clemson on Sept. 6 and then an open date before the Sept. 20 game with Princeton. That leaves a full five weeks before the Southern Conference opener with Western Carolina on Sept. 27 to get players healthy.

"We're looking at this now as a two-game season," Higgins said. "We want to work hard, make sure we're polished for the first game before we go play in an unbelievable environment at Death Valley.

"Then we can get our legs back under us, regroup and see where we are offensively and defensively. We'll see what we can and can't do, and then approach Princeton almost like it's the first game of the season."

Carr joins a list of two-deep players to miss practice time that includes right tackle David Morbitzer (knee), wide receiver Scott Harward (ankle), nose guard Terrence Reese (ankle), linebacker John Synovec (knee), free safety Demetrius Jackson (hip) and cornerback Cortez Allen (thigh).

Morbitzer, Jackson and Allen were in action at Saturday's scrimmage, which featured the first-team units working against the scout team, which ran Webber International's looks.

"Guys like Synovec and Harward are critical," Higgins said. "They are on three or four special teams and they are good backups. And when they are not in, new guys have to take their place, and the ones still have to get their work, so there is more wear and tear on the legs."

Despite the injuries, Higgins said it was a good camp.

"I thought our guys gave us good effort throughout camp," Higgins said. "We have an awful lot of freshmen in the two-deep that are still learning their assignments, and we have to keep working with them."

Place-kicking continues to be an area of concern, with redshirt freshmen Jordan Panter and Sam Keeler struggling to gain an edge.

"Neither one of them really helped themselves (today)," Higgins said. "We'll have to continue to evaluate that, but it's so important that they step up."

--Saturday's scrimmage included about 52 plays, about 35 by the first team offense ... WR Andre Roberts dazzled the crowd at the Maybank Practice Facility with two punt returns for TDs and a long catch from QB Bart Blanchard.

-- ... Knobs circled the field for the scrimmage, lending a game-day atmosphere to the proceedings ... Former Citadel athletic director Walt Nadzak will be the color man on Bulldog radio broadcast this season, working with new voice of the Bulldogs Darren Goldwater ... The Bulldogs will be off today and practice Monday morning, with classes starting Wednesday.

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