JACKSON – Millsaps
College third-year head coach Mike DuBose and his highly talented
staff welcomed 133 football student-athletes to campus at 9:00
a.m. on Wednesday morning in preparations to defend their back-to-back
SCAC football crown.
Fresh off
an 8-2 season, the best in 11 years, the Majors look to get
back to the NCAA Division III playoffs after a one year hiatus.
The
Majors
return 73 players from last year and welcome the new arrival
of 54 players to the team, including freshman RB Shane
Bowser and sophomore OL J.J. Duarte'.
Bowser, the
younger brother of Millsaps linebacker Jaren Bowser, said of
his first day on campus, "It's been great meeting everybody,
getting to know all the coaches and getting back into the
football atmosphere. I'm playing on the opposite side of my
brother and that's kind of scary, but at least I'll get to
play with him another two years. I'm looking to compete for
my position, get a good education and be apart of a championship."
Duarte',
a 6-foot-1, 344-pound lineman from Oneonta, Ala., spoke of
his first day with the team as well stating, "It's been
real great and I'm glad to get everything rolling. My visit
on campus
sold it for me, everyone was welcoming, nice and were willing
to help me in any way." When asked if he was ready to
compete right away for playing time, Duarte' responded "Yes
sir!"
The Majors
already have a full slate of activities planned for them, which
has included housing check-in, equipment issuing and their
physicals. They will also have their first team meeting at
8:30 p.m. tonight.
The
team
begins
its 1-A-Day practices on Thursday at 3 p.m. where they will
continue the schedule up until
Tuesday, Aug. 19 – their first and last 2-A-Day Drills.
All practices will be held on Harper Davis Field.
“We
are very excited about getting started tomorrow,” DuBose
said. “It’s a good looking group, we have prepared
all summer and we’ve gone over different scenarios, and
we are ready to go tomorrow afternoon. We
are going to be doing a lot of things on the first day which
will include a lot of throwing, running, team drills
and
offensive and defensive drills.”
The 2008
football season kicks off with "Backyard Brawl IX" against
rival Mississippi College on Saturday, Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. which
will be presented by Community Animal Rescue and Adoption (CARA).
