After a successful first season with a brand new offensive scheme and only losing two players on the offense, experience and depth should provide plenty of support for Clinton, La., native and second-year offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson.

In his first season with the Majors, Dawson’s four-wide philosphy guided Juan Joseph and the Millsaps offense in breaking a pair of single-game team records and eight single-season marks.

Millsaps set new team season highs in passing yards (2,831), passing average per game (257.4), pass completions (249), pass attempts (411), total yards (4,107), yards averaged a game (374.3), total touchdowns (46) and total first downs (203). The Majors also ranked 19th in all of Division III in passing offense, 32nd in scoring offense and 40th in total offense.

Prior to joining the Millsaps staff in January 2006, Dawson spent one season coaching the inside receivers at New Mexico State where four Aggie receivers caught multiple touchdown passes and five hauled in 350+ yards. The receiving core as a whole averaged 10.3 yards-per-catch, led by Second Team All-WAC standout Paul Dombrowski who caught 78 balls for 798 yards and two touchdowns.

Before NMSU, Dawson was the running backs coach for a pair of seasons at Southeastern Louisiana (2003-04) and the receivers coach at Wingate University (2002) for one season.

In his playing days, Dawson started at the quarterback slot three years at Silliman (La.) high school before earning his bachelor’s from Wingate University in May 2001. Dawson spent time at receiver and quarterback for the Bulldogs, leading all receivers in 2001 with 43 catches for 584 yards and seven TDs while tossing another two.