STATESBORO -- The afternoon of an uneventful Georgia Southern football scrimmage instantly became memorable with the kneeling of a knee.
Eagles assistant coach Sean Saturnio proposed marriage to his girlfriend Sharon Gordy on Saturday on the 20-yard line at Paulson Stadium.
A surprised Gordy said “yes,” drawing applause from a small group that knew what was about to happen after the 70-play, 90-minute scrimmage.
Most of the players, fans and media had already left the field on the cloudy afternoon. Assistant media relations director Rose Carter began a mock interview with Saturnio, from Hawaii, when the conversation turned to the word “aloha.”
“People know when they visit the islands, they hear the word aloha and it could be ‘hello,’ it could be ‘goodbye,’ but there’s a deep sense of meaning to it in the sense of love,” Saturnio said. “When you break apart the word, it means to share the breath of life together. … I’ve found someone over here who I’d love to share the breath of life with for the rest of my life.”
Saturnio then walked over to Gordy and got down on one knee and offered a ring.
“I didn’t know anything,” Gordy told her friends, who were busy documenting the event by taking pictures and videos.
Georgia Southern posted the video on YouTube.
Longtime Paulson Stadium groundskeeper Roger Inman said he never heard of a coach or player proposing at Paulson but has opened the field for a few students and fans to propose.
Defense dominates
Connor Tierney’s 35-yard field goal was the lone score during the scrimmage. Several starters, including preseason All-America fullback Dominique Swope, were held out of action just to give some of the younger players a look.
Quarterback Jerick McKinnon saw limited action. He took one big hit and head coach Jeff Monken decided to take him out for the rest of the day.
Monken said several true freshmen have had solid camps, including defensive linemen Jay Ellison and Rafael Hardee, defensive backs Darius Jones and Robert Brice, center Andy Kwon, running back Robert Brieda and kicker Younghoe Koo.
“This scrimmage was important to get an evaluation on the young guys,” Monken said. “It was good to get them some work.”
Injury report
Prized freshman quarterback Alfred Ramsby will miss the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Ramsby had surgery Thursday and is expected to be out six months, Monken said.
Ramsby ran an option offense similar to Southern’s and was the Cincinnati Enquirer’s high school Player of the Year after rushing for 1,688 yards and 18 touchdowns and throwing for 1,649 yards and 16 touchdowns at Colerain High.
Also, slotback Ezayi Youyoute missed the scrimmage with a separated shoulder, but is expected to be back for the season opener on Aug. 31 against Savannah State, Monken said.
Limited seating
Construction will be ongoing at Paulson Stadium this season and seating will be limited. The scoreboard side of the stadium will be closed off to fans.
Athletic director Tom Kleinlein said permanent lower level seating should be competed on the North side of the stadium (student side) by Aug. 31. The second deck won’t be started until after the season.
Kleinlein said capacity for the stadium should be about 18,000. Single-game tickets went on sale Saturday.
This and that…
Bad weather halted the plans of several Georgia Southern coaches who had hoped to fly by private plane to Cairo on Saturday to pay their respects to Marshell Wilcox, the mother of J.J. Wilcox.
Marshell Wilcox died Tuesday after a long battle with lupus, an immune system disorder. J.J. Wilcox, a third-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys, missed the Cowboys’ preseason game against Arizona on Saturday. … Carl Poelker, Monken’s college coach at Millikin University, attended Saturday’s scrimmage. Poelker remembered Monken’s fearlessness for running routes over the middle as a wide receiver.
“He had a lot of courage,” Poelker said. “He was a guy who worked hard and had a lot of desire and obviously was a leader.”