VALDOStA — The Valdosta State Blazers will be looking to kick off their 2024 season with a bang when they welcome the Albany State Golden Rams into Bazemore-Hyder Stadium Saturday night at 7 p.m.
Though it is not an official rivalry, the Blazers and the Golden Rams are no strangers to each other on the gridiron. Saturday’s clash will mark their 24th meeting, with the Blazers holding a commanding 21-2 edge in the series.
That being said, Blazers head coach Tremaine Jackson knows he’ll have his hands full when Albany State rolls into Titletown, citing the familiarity with the Golden Rams.
“Albany State’s got a really good football team,” Jackson said. “They’ve got really good players. They have players that we’re familiar with from recruiting that they were able to get. It’s Game 1. Nobody knows what they really got. We know that they have some talented players on the roster, and we can’t make any mistakes.”
While the Blazers will be featuring plenty of new faces, one face that will be returning is senior quarterback Sammy Edwards. Edwards burst onto the scene in his first year as a starter last fall, throwing for over 4,000 yards and 34 passing touchdowns on his way to being a Harlon Hill Trophy finalist.
Edwards will be looking for redemption of sorts against the Golden Rams. In their meeting last season, Edwards was limited to just 79 yards passing with no touchdowns and an interception as the Blazers escaped Albany with a 21-16 win.
“I think Sammy Edwards was trying to find out his name was Sammy Edwards,” Jackson said of last season’s matchup. “That was our first Division II opponent this time a year ago. We were still trying to find out what we were.”
Valdosta State enters the season with lofty expectations following a 12-2 season that featured a shared Gulf South Conference title and a quarterfinal appearance in the playoffs. In addition to being tabbed as the preseason favorite to again win the GSC, the Blazers will enter the game as the No. 7 team in the country for Division II.
Still, Jackson and his team are only worried about where they finish rather than where they begin.
“We don’t take ourselves too seriously,” Jackson said. “I’ve been really proud of our guys. Our guys have not liked, retweeted, or done any of that with anything that says we’re supposed to be something. We won’t find out what we are until the very end. If you are a guy that believes in the pre[season], you can’t play here. We believe in the post[season].”
Jackson also added how the 2022 season — a season that saw the Blazers started out ranked No. 2 only for them to finish 5-6 — has been a lesson learned.
“I think preseason rankings are good,” Jackson said. “They help with recruiting and gives us some buzz. At the end of the day [though], we learned that lesson two years ago. Just because you were doesn’t mean you will be. We got to make sure that we work every day to be what it is we want to be.”
Albany State enters the game with similarly high expectations. The Golden Rams were picked to finish first in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, competing in the same region as VSU.
For Jackson, that just makes their matchup that much more important.
“The rivalry is cool, but it being a regional opponent is probably what stands out the most,” Jackson said. “We, in Division II, it’s not like Division I. We don’t get a chance to play some fluffy cakes to start. We have to come out the gate with a Division II opponent, an in-region Division II opponent. When you’re on this quest to win a national championship or any championship, you have to do well in your region so that at the end of the season, you can be where you want to be.”