Lands dominates for the Jaguars, defensively

Houston – Southern senior defensive end Vince Lands had a field day against Southwestern Athletic Conference rival Texas Southern Saturday in Houston’s Reliant Stadium.
Lands had only four tackles (two solo, two assisted) and 1.5 tackles for loss, but came off the right end almost every time the ball was snapped in the first half applying pressure to TSU quarterbacks Cornelius Harmon and Donnie Shorts, forcing them to throw the ball before they wanted to.
“Anytime you can get some pressure from your down four people, that makes it a lot easier to play pass defense,” said Southern head coach Pete Richardson.
Lands was a huge part of the Jaguars 28 first half rushing yards, with TSU’s only score coming on an eight play 57-yard drive which spanned 1:52 seconds culminating in a six yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Jeff Bell.
“He just played well,” said SU defensive coordinator Terrence Graves. “He executed and took advantage of guys trying to cut him off on the inside by speed rushing him. We did some things to try to free him up scheme wise and he was just aggressive. When you do that, those things are going to happen.”
Before being taken out mid way through the fourth quarter, Lands continued penetrating into the TSU backfield putting pressure on their quarterback and disrupting its run game. In fact, TSU totaled 16 rushing yards on 23 attempts and 174 passing yards, good for a total of 190 yards total offense Saturday.
“I knew I could beat whoever they put on me this game because I know my speed,” said Lands. “The coaches told me to use my speed to my advantage, so that’s what I tried to do for the whole night.”
Combined with its inability to move the football or score points, TSU struggled holding onto the football as well. The Tigers fumbled the ball twice, turning it over both times as Southern jumped out to an early 34-7 lead halftime lead.
“We gave up that touchdown but we really didn’t want to give it to them,” Lands said. “As a defense we really took it upon ourselves to finish shutting the out.”
Shutting them out is exactly what Southern did in the second half as TSU’s offense sputtered with the loss of sophomore quarterback Donnie Shorts as he was hit as he threw toward the end of the second quarter. In fact, the Tigers never scored a second half point.
“That’s just that wall defense we started to build,” Lands said. “We know we’re capable of doing it, we just executed tonight. The defensive line gave a push up front and the outside linebackers came in to fill the holes.”
Southern’s bye week looked to have benefited Lands as he could have gone all game if needed but was pulled instead because of the score.
“We really needed the bye week to get rid of the injuries,” Lands said. “I had some myself but you learn to play through it. Today we got everybody back and you see what we’re capable of doing. I felt like I could have played all game but they took me out.”
Lands and the Jaguars travel to Pine Bluff, Ark. to play Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Saturday November 10, in Golden Lion Stadium. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.
Lagniappe
Lands was awarded SWAC Defensive Player of the week for his 11 tackles (eight solo, three assisted), one sack, 4.5 tackles for loss, one fumble recovery and one pass deflection performance against Alcorn last week.
Although Lands’ stats weren’t as eye catching Saturday, he still managed to hurry the quarterback, and make tackles in the backfield.