It’s not very often that you get Friday night lights in the spring, but that’s exactly what southern Illinois football fans got on April 3 in Du Quoin and on April 10 in Marion.
The Saluki football squad only gets 15 spring practices, and only three with live tackling, so it isn’t lost on Marion head football coach Jason Dunning how much of an opportunity this is for the local communities.
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“I’m honored that they would use one of their days to come here,” he said. “I wish they would go to more places like Carterville or Harrisburg.”
Dunning said it’s not just an opportunity for Marion, but for the Salukis as well.
“They get to come here to a neighboring town, so it’s not too far, and it gets them out of the mundane of SIU every day,” he said.
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At the start of practice in Marion, fans first got to take a look at the team in individual drills broken down by position. That gave Saluki fans their first chance to see starting quarterback DJ Williams since his announcement that he’ll return to SIU to play one more year. Williams did not participate in the live scrimmage portion of either evening due to recovering from a torn ligament in his knee he suffered last fall.
Before the live scrimmage to end the night, kids in attendance were invited onto the field to catch passes from the quarterbacks, while some kids chose to go one-on-one with offensive linemen instead. That portion ended with Williams throwing a 35-yard touchdown to a lucky fan.
The defense shined during the scrimmage, with safety Vinny Pierre Jr. forcing a fumble out of the hands of running back Ed Robinson in the first series. That was the first of seven straight stops to start the scrimmage.
The offense finally broke through when QB ET Harris threw a touchdown to UNLV transfer WR Traivon Dyson. Running back Lem Wash added a rushing touchdown at the end of the night for the offense.
The Marion High School football team was also in attendance, getting an up close and personal look at what a Division I football practice looks like.
“I think it motivates them,” Dunning said. “They think they can’t play at Alabama or Illinois but maybe they can play at this level.”
SIU will end their spring on Friday, April 17 with the annual Spring game at 6 p.m. at Saluki Stadium.
Sports reporter Eli Hoover can be found at [email protected] or on Instagram @hoovermakesart
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