Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Football holds Media Day at Stadium Grille
08/12/2009 | 12:00:00 | Football
Aug. 12, 2009
By Adam Longueville
www.SIUSalukis.com
Daily Camp Blog -- Daily Photo Gallery
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Dale Lennon, his staff and selected players met with the media at Stadium Grille for the team's annual Media Day Wednesday.
Excerpts from Coach Lennon's Media Day Press Conference
"One thing I'd really like to do is encourage people to come to the Friday luncheons (at Stadium Grille before home games). We'll have the big screen up there telling us about the upcoming opponents and who to watch. We're just trying build some excitement that will carry over to the business community. This is our first time here at Stadium Grille. Last year was very positive, and by the end of the year, the room was overflowing. It's something I would like to continue."
"We have an open door policy with the community. My policy has always been that practices are open. So if there is anyone that wants to come down and watch us practice, feel free."
"The media should feel free if you come to practice to grab any of our position coaches. While you always can talk to me, I welcome, actually encourage, any of you to grab our positional staff, because they can give you more in-depth answers about our players."
"We had 89 players report this past Sunday. Of those 89, we had seven returning starters on offense and nine on defense, not to mention both kickers. So we had 18 starters returning. Of our 89 that reported, 18 were freshmen, and 24 were seniors."
"Last year was a good season for us. We won the automatic bid from our conference and finished the season with a final ranking of 10. But at the end of the season, the staff, players and I were dissapointed that we exited as soon as we did. Because of that, our offseason was very productive for us. After the spring semester and during the summer, I visited with Coach (Jared) Nessland who oversees the players on a daily basis. He saw some very good improvement in the weight room. Our numbers are looking good."
"We had our third practice this morning, and I like what I saw. We were able to throw the helmets and shoulder pads on. We're regulated by the NCAA about how we practice. By the fifth practice, that's when we can put the full pads on. Going into the sixth day, that's when we can go to two-a-days. After each two-a-day, we have to follow that with just one practice the next day. We follow that up until school starts. Those are the rules we are governed by. and I think they're good. They're changes that came about within the past 3-4 years and they allow the players and coaches to recover a bit from practice."
"Like I said, we finished our third practice today, and it felt good. I thought the spirit was really good out there. We installed a lot of our packages. Defensively, we're already past the half way point with the installation of our package, so that's moved along very well."
