AMHERST — Bakhari Goodson made the first drive of his first career start count.
The junior cornerback swooped in after Duquesne quarterback Daniel Parr’s throw was tipped in the air by the intended receiver and intercepted the pass. The next play, UMass scored a touchdown and the Minutemen were en route to a dominant win two weeks ago.
Goodson has started the past two games in place of Isaiah Rodgers, who was suspended by coach Mark Whipple for an unspecified violation of team rules. The players expect Rodgers to return to the lineup Saturday when UMass travels to Georgia Southern, although Whipple said he’s still in the process of making that decision.
Goodson has performed well in Rodgers’ absence. In addition to his interception, he made a tackle against Duquesne for his only other recorded stat. However, he showed his potential to be a lockdown corner against the Dukes, and was in good position on several throws by Boston College QB Anthony Brown last week, even if the pass was completed.
“I’ve been enjoying it,” Goodson said after practice Tuesday. “I’m just trying to pounce on every opportunity that I’ve been given and try to make the most of everything and trying to do whatever I can to help the team.”
Goodson played in 23 games over his first two seasons, racking up 14 tackles and one interception in each of those campaigns. His experience was vital when stepping into a secondary with three seniors to help keep everyone on the same page.
Senior cornerback Lee Moses said Goodson did a good job transitioning from the nickelback role he played last year, to playing on the outside as a starter to begin this season.
“He picked it up well during camp and he was just able to jump right in and fill in well,” Moses said. “We don’t have Isaiah, but Bakhari understands the playbook and he played in every game last year and he picked right up.”
QB SHUFFLE: Whipple took some heat online during Saturday’s loss to Boston College about sticking with Andrew Ford at quarterback as the offense stalled repeatedly in the first half. Ross Comis led the Minutemen to a touchdown on his only series of the opening 30 minutes and didn’t return to the field until the game was well in hand late.
Whipple said Comis knows when he’s going into the game before the contest and the coaches will adjust the rotation as needed based on the flow of the game. The coach added that plans change with every game, but that the quarterbacks are well aware of the situation before kickoff.
After Saturday’s loss, Comis said he accepts his role on the team and has the utmost confidence in Ford to move the offense. Ford said he doesn’t worry about the rotation at all and just focuses on being prepared for whenever he’s summoned onto the field.
“It’s just kind of the feel of the game and how the game is going,” Ford said. “I know going into it that I’m going to get the first series and Ross is going to get the second, but after that, it’s kind of up to Coach Whipple and we’re both ready to go at any time.”
COORDINATOR CHANGES: Georgia Southern is breaking in a pair of new coordinators and UMass has very little film off which to study.
The Eagles handled South Carolina State with ease on Saturday, leaving Whipple with only a slight idea of what to expect on Saturday. The Minutemen have spent much of this week delving into tape on Appalachian State’s defense from last year when current Georgia Southern defensive coordinator Scot Sloan was running the Mountaineers’ defense. On offense, Whipple is studying both Georgia Southern’s read-option scheme as well as the wrinkles added by former New Mexico offensive coordinator Bob DeBesse, who is now Georgia Southern’s coordinator.
It is the defense, though, that has Whipple the most concerned because of the limited tape he’s seen on Georgia Southern in Sloan’s scheme. He said he expects to have to make a lot of adjustments as Sloan and the Eagles unleash some of the wrinkles they didn’t need to reveal during last week’s blowout victory.
“They’re an odd-front now and they have a little more mixture of coverages and different blitz patterns,” Whipple said. “He’s brought their package and Appalachian State has had a lot of success on both sides of the ball, but especially defensively. It’s studying the things off that tape a little bit more than watching last year’s Georgia Southern.”
STREAK SNAPPERS?: The last time Georgia Southern (1-0) lost at home to a nonconference opponent was Nov. 18, 2006 against Central Arkansas. That was 21 games ago for the Eagles, whose streak includes five victories in the FCS playoffs. However, Saturday’s game is only the second nonconference home contest for Georgia Southern against an FBS opponent since the streak began.
That doesn’t stop the 21-game winning streak from adding a little more fuel to the Minutemen’s fire.
“We love it,” Goodson said. “We run into situations into that all the time, and we love it. We go in there and it’s just another thing to pump us up and get us ready for the game.”
Josh Walfish can be reached at jwalfish@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshWalfishDHG. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.