The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

    Lions football signs 12 new players for upcoming season

    Head Coach Ron Roberts chatted on the radio station Kajun 107.1 that  was broadcasting the event. He talked about how he and the rest of the coaching staff felt about the new recruits and their hopes for the upcoming season.
    Nathaniel Callaway/ The Lion's Roar

    The Lions football team began gearing up for the upcoming season as they signed a total of 18 new players to play next semester. On Wednesday, Feb. 1, 12 student athletes decided to continue their college football career on National Signing Day, with an additional six being added midyear. The additions included five offensive lineman, three defensive lineman, three defensive backs, two quarterbacks, two wide receivers, one running back, one tight end and one linebacker. Head Coach Ron Roberts talked about his satisfaction with the picks, and how he thinks it’ll help the team grow and advance.

    “We were able to address our areas of need with this class,” said Roberts. “We were able to sign five quality offensive lineman, which was huge. We’ll be replacing two senior tackles this year and next year we’re losing several more senior starters. We did a nice job in that area bringing in a couple of student-athletes that can have an immediate impact and several that will be building blocks for the future.”

    Roberts also mentioned how he was looking forward to what the new quarterbacks will do for the team.

    “We’ve brought in two quarterbacks who we think can both compete for playing time right away,” Roberts said. “We expect that to be a wide open competition during both spring practice and fall camp.”

    The new players added were offensive lineman Elijah Hayes, Drew Jones, Lorenz Jones, Rendon Miles-Character and Kyle Strickland, defensive backs Marquis Johnson, Ferlando Jordan and Jah’mar Sexton, defensive linemen Jon Miller, Imani Mitchell and Noah Vance, wide receivers Nih-jer Jackson and CJ Turner, quarterbacks Chandler Eiland and Byron Walker, running back Delmonte Hall, linebacker Kyle Nevels, and tight end Dalton Brabham.

    The new players come from all over the country, with Brabham, Hall, Hayes, Jones,  Miles-Character, Nevels, Turner and Walker all hailing from Louisiana, Jackson, Imani and Sexton coming in from California, Lorenz Jones, Strickland and Vance from Mississippi, Johnson and Jordan coming to Louisiana from Georgia, Miller coming down from New York, and Eiland from Texas.

    Roberts and his coaches chose these players specifically for each of their positions.

    “We signed someone at every offensive and defensive position,” said Roberts. “We feel real comfortable with all the areas we covered. We were able to add players who are not just great athletes, but high-character and dependable young men who we can count on to do the right things for our program.”

    Roberts was also pleased with that he got to help out some of the students in keeping them close to home in Louisiana.

    “We were very pleased with the quality of student-athletes we were able to bring in from within the state,” said Roberts. “We think all of our in-state signees will be starters for us in the future. We want to continue to keep more of our Louisiana players at home.”

    As for the individual picks, Roberts stated that they chose the right players and that they will all be ready for the season.

    “Some of the kids we signed, we expect to come in and make immediate impacts,” said Roberts. “Then we’ve got some guys that we know we’re gonna have to take and be in the program for a while. It’ll take some time before it pays off for them but we’re real excited about the class and like I said, every one of these guys we picked to come in here to win the championship and get a degree and that’s our goal every year on the football field.” 

    Roberts feels that the players brought in will also be prepared for their future at the university.

    “I think we’ve got some real quality young men and that’s the thing that works,” said Roberts. “I think we really got a group of character players that will take care of business on the field and off the field in the classroom. We really think they’re gonna make a difference at the school and in the community, because they’ve all got experience in helping out.”

    Tom Dawsey, Assistant AD for Marketing and Development of the university athletic department feels confident in the coaches’ choices and decisions and added his thoughts on the picks.

    “This group of coaches always do a great job of bringing in good kids who are quality athletes and good students,” said Dawsey. “We’ve got five or six on campus who are really doing a good job in the classroom and on the field as well. I expect when these other guys come in for the summer they will be just as excited and just as hardworking.” 

    Dawsey also feels that the team has a strong chance this year for really pulling through and making some big wins. 

    “Like I said, the coaches really do a good job of vetting out the athletes and making sure they’re just good students, good players and good guys,” said Dawsey. “We want to win the Southland Conference and I really think we’ve got the opportunity this coming season.”

     
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