SE FOOTBALL EMPHASIZES TEAM PLAY

Indians open season Thursday night at home vs. Truman State.

The 1997 football season for Southeast Missouri State was long and arduous. The spring and summer of 1998 have flown by and now the 1998 football season is upon us.

Our football program has shaken off the '97 season, which in the beginning was full of promise. This promise of an exciting season was due to the acquiring of several talented I-A transfers, as so many other programs have done.

However, the team's chemistry and direction from myself did not allow us to jell and be successful.

The present Indian football team is made up of a group of young men that on paper may not be as talented, but from within themselves, will prove to function better as a team.

To date, our players have worked hard and have progressed through a more physical two-a-days. There were days when practice was ugly, but they pushed through it, didn't gripe and found that they could handle adversity better. They are in good shape as we conditioned hard through the heat.

Our players have a better understanding of the importance of daily fundamentals as being a key to success.

We have grown in our understanding of our offense. Over the years we have not had a great deal of offensive continuity with our staff, which has been evident. With the number of returning players who have not only played but started, we should experience a continued offensive improvement that began midway through the '97 season.

Staff continuity over the past five years on defense has resulted in consistent play and the development of a solid defensive tradition. We did lose a few very good individual players from last year's team. This year our defense will rely more on team defense, filling in the right spots and swarming the football.

We will have new faces in the kicking game but have emphasized unit execution. The kicking game will have to be solid in the areas of point production and field position.

As a whole, we intend to play a more team oriented and disciplined game. Each phase must help and create opportunity for the others. We look for our players to emphasize ball security, no penalties and limit opponents' big plays.

This team has been a pleasure to coach to date. I hope you will take the opportunity to attend our opener Thursday at 7 p.m. when an old MIAA rival, Truman State, comes to Houck Stadium.

Truman State has developed an excellent winning and playoff caliber program at the Division II level. Don't let the label fool anyone, the Bulldogs are for real.

Thursday's game is the first of four straight home contests to start the season and our football team sees this as a great opportunity to get off to a strong start.

Following the opener, Indiana State, Murray State and Tennessee-Martin will visit Houck Stadium in what promises to be an exciting start to the season.

We look forward to seeing you Thursday night and at every Southeast game this year.

John Mumford is the head football coach at Southeast Missouri State University