VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State football team will close out the 2026 spring season with a final practice at 6 p.m. at Bazmore-Hyder Stadium Thursday evening (April 9).  The practice is free and open to the public.
 
Prior to the practice on Thursday, Kit Strief, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications at Valdosta State, sat down with head coach Graham Craig for a brief Q&A about how spring practice has gone thus far.
 
1. What are you looking for in the practice at the stadium on Thursday?I want to see how our guys compete at the stadium, as this will be the first time a lot of guys are over there. This will be our second time playing real football with referees and lining up and playing, so to see how some guys respond to that.  Overall, I just want to continue to see growth and improvement on both sides of the ball. I thought we tackled well in the live situations, but I want to continue to see how we handle some of the situations that we've added in since the first scrimmage.  Also, I want to see how we handle two-minute red zone backed up.  I want to put us in some different situations in, in-game situations and see how we handle it.
 
2. You've had two scrimmages so far, what have you seen from those scrimmages leading up to the one this coming Thursday?I like where we are right now.  I think we've really learned how to practice over the spring.  I think we are playing hard and the effort is there.  We definitely have some things to clean up, but as a coaching staff, we've been able to evaluate guys and get a lot of reps this spring, which is considerably different from last year.  We've really started to sort out some of the position battles in these live situations and I have been pleased with the two scrimmages so far.
 
3. What have you seen overall from the spring so far that has really impressed you and what are some things you will take into fall camp to improve?With our depth we have now compared to last spring, we have been able to give guys a lot more reps and more live situations.  We are getting the guys ready who are going to be involved in position battles this fall and now we are getting to start those in the spring, which is something we couldn't do last year.  I feel we are ahead in that, but getting these guys together, learning the scheme, being in situations together and seeing how they respond, I would say we are ahead of where we were last year overall.
 
4. How is the quarterback situation and what have you seen from the quarterbacks so far in spring camp?Yeah, so only returner who has played has been out this spring in Jameson Holcomb. This spring has been newcomers Hezekiah "Champ" Harris, Haden Klees and Tyrieke Wade.  We've seen major growth from these guys and them learning a new offense with all of them coming in about the same time.  Being able to pick things up and definitely seeing growth has been huge in that room.  It will be a competition heading into fall camp.  I am really pleased where they are right now and the growth they've had and will be great to see how they play Thursday night.
 
5. How have the running backs been progressing in camp and wide receivers ?Yeah, we are building off the momentum from the backfield toward the end of last season. We've added a couple of new guys in Tiant Wyche from Albany State and Logan Coldren from Erskine who both have had solid spring seasons.  It's a room continuing to improve and we are excited about it going into the fall.  For the wide receivers we return Jaheim Arnold who had a great end of the season last year making some huge plays for us.  He's had a really good spring and we are excited to have him back. Leon Washington was here for us last year and has had some good reps this spring as is Zandae Butler who dealt with some injuries last year and we are excited to have him back and healthy.  We have added Chris Lawson from Appalachian State who has had a really solid spring. 
 
6. How have the special teams have done so far this spring?At kicker we have Adrian Gonzalez and Brett Fitzgerald who have split reps and it's been a good competition so far and will carry into fall.  We'll get some live kicks on Thursday and see how they handle them.  It's been pretty even at punter right now as we've had Lucas Edenfield who transferred from Savannah State handling the punting duties.  We've put him in some live situations the last few practices and he's done well and some things to improve, but we've been pleased with the way he has punted so far.
 
7. The secondary was hit hard by graduation, who has stood out so far this spring?It's a position where we did lose a lot, but we have brought in a lot of guys and some have played a lot of football and others are still pretty young in their careers.  It's been a position we have had to sort out as camp has gone and we are going to continue to work on there.  The two guys we have coming back at safety played a lot in Rickey Ransom and LaBarryon Moore.  Curtis Janvier played a lot toward the end of the season so those three coming back at safety and there are a lot of new guys at corner.  We've had a rotation and Thursday will be really big for us to see how these guys continue to develop.
 
8. What are your thoughts on linebacker so far in camp and for the future?We have new people at linebacker this year and Ashton Heflin transferred to us from Texas State and has had a really good spring.   Also coming from Appalachian State is Jayden Bethea and we are excited about both of them.  Jarius Curry is a guy who played for us last year and we've moved to inside linebacker as he has had a strong spring as well.  We are continuing to evaluate these spots, but those are a few guys who have stood out so far.
 
9. Talk about both offensive and defensive lines, what have you seen from them so far?Those were two positions we addressed at midyear in recruiting and we lost a lot of linemen to graduation.  We've seen a lot of growth throughout the spring with guys learning two schemes on both sides.  Defensively, Malik Bowling and Cedric Andrews have had good springs and overall, we are pleased with the group who has come in and the reps the guys are getting have been really valuable leading into the fall.  On the offensive line, Ty Merkle and Kentravius Williams return at tackle as they both started games for us last year and have continued to get better this spring.  Leon Wesley is a guy from Albany State who was an all-conference player there has been doing a really good job for us.  There are a number of guys in the mix on the offensive line who are continuing to compete for playing time.  
 
10. You are in your second year with a conference title and playoff appearance last year, personally what do you want to see going into your second season in Titletown?I think with the spring we've had it has been figuring out our identity as a football team earlier and we've done a good job of learning how to practice.  It's been a very competitive spring and we've had the ability with the amount of players we have, to practice the way we want to this spring compared to last.  Getting reps and being together and we are beginning to determine our identities on both sides of the ball this spring has been huge.  
 
11. What are you looking for from a recruiting perspective now that camp is done on Thursday heading into summer?Right now, recruiting wise, won't be near as many guys signed as we did last year in the spring, but we will address a couple of needs.  We'll continue to recruit offensive linemen, a tight end and potentially some defensive linemen.  We will address some spots, but overall, we feel really good on where we are and will continue to recruit.  We are really excited about the guys we have brought in and the freshmen we have coming in the fall.