Johnson C. Smith is paying a steep price for youth.

The Golden Bulls (1-4, 1-1 CIAA) are struggling with inexperience and injuries with less than stellar at the season’s midpoint. The second half may not get much better, starting with Saturday’s home game against CIAA South foe Winston-Salem State.

“We’re a really young football team and youth seemed to catch up to us on some occasions,” JCSU coach Kermit Blount said Monday. “But we’re going to keep grinding and keep trying to get it done.”

The Golden Bulls have much room for improvement. They’ve been outscored 224-73 and outgained 2,571 yards to 1,008, indicative of a team that is giving up big plays on both sides of the ball. In last week’s 47-14 loss at Chowan, JCSU fumbled the ball on the Hawks’ 4 late in the second quarter, killing a drive that could’ve pulled the Golden Bulls to within a touchdown at halftime.

“The score didn’t indicate the type of football game we played or we could’ve played,” Blount said. “We gave up some easy points last week and that’s what we’ve got to eliminate this week. We turned the ball over a couple of times and they ended up scoring on both of those turnovers and gave up a couple of blown coverages on defense. If we eliminate those things from our repertoire, we’ve got a different football game.”

On offense, JCSU’s patchwork line hasn’t been able to set the pace. Quarterback Harold Herbin, who posted an efficiency rating of 153.82 against Elizabeth City State two weeks ago, slid to 73.71 against Chowan. He completed 14-of-34 passes against Chowan for 140 yards and a touchdown. He was sacked three times and intercepted twice. Opposing offenses are gaining chunks of yardage, as evidenced by the Golden Bulls’ tackle leaders: defensive backs Basir Wright, Carlo Thomas and Desmond Taylor.

“We’ve got some work to do,” Blount said. “We’ve got to continue to coach our young men and try to get our football team healthy and get ready for another week.”

If there is a chance at a turnaround, it’s the back end of the schedule, where the final four opponents – Fayetteville State, Shaw, St. Augustine’s and Livingstone – are a combined 2-18. Blount isn’t focuses as much on the Golden Bulls’ deficiencies as much as looking for improvements, starting with ball security.

“I’d say it’s the nature of the beast,” he said. “I’ve been here before at this point and certainly we’re not going to quit on them, we’re not going to give up on them. We’re going to work and we’re going to keep trying to get better. It’s just a matter of time and it’ll come together. I think our kids understand that when we play error-free football, we can win football games. We just can’t make mistakes.”

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