INDIANS WILL NOT LACK FOR LEADERS WITH SIX CAPTAINS

Southeast Missouri State University football coach Tim Billings believes having fellow players elect a team's captains carries considerably more weight than when coaches do the picking.

"I don't really think it does much good for coaches to pick captains," he said. "It always means a lot more when the players pick."

And Billings believes the Indians made some fine choices recently when they elected six captains for the 2000 season, three on offense and three on defense.

The Indians' offensive captains are quarterback Rashad West, wide receiver Leslie Weaver and guard David Fielder while the defensive captains are strong safety Isaac Powell, free safety Joe Williams and linebacker Asim Thomas. All but West, who is a junior, are seniors.

"I think our players did a great job in electing those captains," Billings said. "All six are fine leaders and they were the overwhelming choices by the rest of the team."

Billings said he did not necessarily have in mind to use six captains for this season.

"That's basically just the way the voting turned out," he said.

* Speaking during his first weekly media conference of the year Monday, Billings said he has basically been pleased with his team's two-a-day practice sessions that are now officially over.

With school having started Monday, the Indians will now hold just one practice daily.

"I felt like things went well," he said. "We got accomplished what we wanted to. We're a lot better now than we were last spring. Where that's going to take us, I don't know."

According to Billings, Monday's practice was to mark the first time that the coaching staff would bring up Marshall -- the Indians' opening-night opponent Aug. 31 -- to the players.

"We have not talked about any opponent yet," he said. "We've been worried about ourselves first, trying to get better."

* During Saturday night's scrimmage that lasted a little more than 90 minutes, the defense got by far the better of the offense, with just one touchdown being scored.

Said Billings of the scrimmage, "I was disappointed in our offense. We had too many penalties in crucial situations. It was the first time we had officials (during a scrimmage). We've talked about not beating ourselves."

Added Billings with a smile, "But if the offense had done too well, I probably wouldn't have been happy with our defense."

What did please Billings was the number of fans at the scrimmage. Several hundred people were in attendance at Houck Stadium.

"It seemed like we had a really good crowd," he said. "A lot of people have talked about that being the best crowd (for a scrimmage) in a long time."

* Billings has mentioned several times how pleased he is with his first recruiting class at Southeast and many of those newcomers are making their mark on the field as 12 first-year Indians are listed on the most recent two-deep chart.

Offensively, Nebraska transfer Mike Green is the starter at left guard, freshman Eugene Amano is No. 2 at right guard, junior-college transfer Kollie Moore is No. 2 at tight end, freshman Chris Nessmith is No. 2 at wide receiver and Marshall transfer Byron White is No. 2 at running back.

Defensively, Marshall transfer Jermaine Motley is a starter at tackle, juco transfer Corey Mathis is a starter at linebacker, freshman Travis Bucher is No. 2 at tackle, freshman Travion Brock is No. 2 at linebacker, freshman Marco Tipton is No. 2 at cornerback and freshman Bruce Turner is No. 2 at strong safety.

Also, Marshall transfer Jason Witczak is the starting punter. He will also handle kickoffs and is competing with Nick Reggio for place-kicking duties.

In addition, Marshall transfer Tarik Simpson was a starting wide receiver before suffering a separated shoulder earlier this month.

Several other newcomers, while not on the current two-deep, are also pushing for plenty of playing time, including Mississippi transfer Jake Hill at wide receiver, juco transfer Curtis Cooper at wide receiver and freshman Marcus Patton at running back.

* On the injury front, Simpson has been recovering better than originally anticipated from the separated shoulder he suffered Aug. 11 and is likely to return to practice this week.

"He's really come along well," said Billings.

Defensive lineman James Jennette is still out after suffering a broken hand Aug. 15. He'll probably be sidelined a while longer.

Defensive lineman Chad Gwilliam has been suffering from recurring neck problems and is slated to see a specialist this week.

"We're especially thin on the defensive line with the injuries," Billing said.

* The Southeast coaching staff will host a women's football clinic Thursday at the Show Me Center.

The clinic will begin with a happy hour at 6 p.m. sponsored by Kohlfeld Distributing. Group sessions will begin at 7 p.m. Those in attendance will have a choice of three groups: Beginner, intermediate and advance.

"We hope this will give the women in our area a chance to come out, relax and learn more about football," said Billings.