On a warm, sunny April afternoon in Panthersville, Georgia State fans gathered together at its sports complexes to take part in the first ever “All Blue All In” Day.
One of the main attractions of the day-long event was the football scrimmage that began in the latter portions of the morning to conclude the spring practice session. Many eyes at the Georgia State soccer complex were on last year’s starting quarterback Ronnie Bell as well as new transfer quarterback Nick Arbuckle as the football team put on the uniform and helmet for fans for the first time since finishing 0-13 the previous season.
Bell and Arbuckle got the majority of the snaps as it appears that they are the front-runners for the starting quarterback job when the football season kickoffs for the Panthers in August against Abilene Christian at the Georgia Dome.
“Arbuckle and Bell are at the top of our QB depth chart and got the snaps with the first team,” Head Coach Trent Miles. “Overall, it was a great event with great weather and atmosphere, and everyone played hard.”
Among those who arrived in Panthersville for All Blue All In Day was Kevin Ware, the former Louisville basketball guard who recently announced his commitment to Georgia State after visiting the university over the weekend.
The women’s basketball and court volleyball teams were also on hand along with Georgia State alumni, including Chris Collier who played for the men’s basketball team in 1991. He said he was impressed with the event and the scrimmage.
“I regularly attended the spring games at the Georgia Dome, but this experience outdoors was nice,” said Collier. “ The scrimmage was somewhat up-tempo even though we looked somewhat small on defense. I was curious as to how Arbuckle would perform, and I was impressed with him.”
The football event drew a huge crowd because it was different from the annual Blue vs. White spring game that occured at the Georgia Dome. Miles said the decision to go forward with a scrimmage instead of the game involved a great deal of planning.
“This took a great deal of input and organization from a lot of people. We felt it was more appropriate to have our football team come out like this than do the spring game again,” said Miles.
The football scrimmage was originally scheduled for noon, but was pushed back to 11:00 a.m. The blue team’s bus arrived at the Georgia State soccer complex approximately twenty minutes after the scheduled start time.
Shortly after the scrimmage concluded, the players had a chance to interact with fans and sign autographs. Others stayed around for the entirety of the day to attend some of the other events taking place. The soccer team then took to the field for a pair of exhibition matchups against Erskine and Shorter.
Elsewhere in Panthersville, the softball team swept a doubleheader against Sun Belt Conference rival Texas State with victories of 8-1 and 10-2 at the Heck Softball Complex. The second game was won via the run rule as Georgia State won in five innings despite a late rally by the Bobcats that nearly prolonged the game past five innings.
The baseball team lost 6-3 to the UT Arlington Mavericks as their three-game series became even at one game a piece. UT-Arlington scored three runs in the top of the eighth to break a 3-3 tie.
