Salukis hold first practice of the season
08/04/2013 | 12:00:00 | Football
Aug. 4, 2013
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois football team opened training camp on Sunday morning with the first practice of the season. The team ran through a variety of drills without pads in helmets and shorts.
Coach Dale Lennon, entering his sixth season coaching the Salukis, was pleased with how far along the team was on the first day.
"It wasn't a traditional first practice of pre-fall," Lennon said. "I liked the fact that we came out and looked like we knew what we were doing and had been preparing for the past six or seven months to take a step forward."
The Salukis are coming off a 6-5 season in which they finished tied for third place in the Missouri Valley Football Conference with a 5-3 conference mark. Offensively, Southern returns seven players who started at least half of the team's games last year and 10 players with starting experience.
With the addition of three transfers at running back and a more experienced offensive line, SIU will look to improve its ground game.
"We have to take a big step forward offensively," Lennon said. "The run game was poor last year. We have to be a strong run team."
The defense returns only five starters and will have to replace five seniors from last year's front seven. However, with 21 lettermen returning on defense, SIU has experienced players who will look to step into a starting role.
"We have to replace some pretty good players," Lennon said. "A couple of them are in the NFL right now, so we'll have to step up there."
The Salukis will open the season on Aug. 31 at 11 a.m. on the road against Illinois. SIU is preparing for another difficult conference schedule as the MVFC is projected by many to be the strongest conference at the FCS level this season.
"The edge is there," Lennon said. "The guys have something to prove. We know that we're in a conference that can be competitive, so we have to be pretty darn good."