Southeastern Football Position Report No. 2: Defensive Line

HAMMOND, La. – What a difference a year makes for the Southeastern Louisiana football team’s defensive line corps.

 

At the opening of last fall’s camp, SLU defensive line coach Brandon Lacy was working with a young group that had played in a combined 15 games in a Lion uniform. Entering his 10^th season in Hammond, Lacy, who also serves as assistant head coach and run game coordinator, has a 2018 group featuring seven returning letter winners.

 

Junior Fred Brown (23 tackles, 2.5 TFL), sophomore Ronald Cherry III (22 tackles, 2.0 TFL) and senior Jon Miller (14 tackles, 0.5 TFL) are the most productive returners for the Lions. With a year of Southland Conference experience under the belts, senior Imani Mitchell, as well as sophomores Noah Vance, Tainano Gailua and Feletoa Ailua, will have a chance to make a bigger impact in 2018.

 

“We’re more comfortable and have a better understanding of our expectations this fall,” Lacy commented. “We’re taking pride in taking charge as the first line of defense and meeting those expectations daily.”

 

While he’s seen progress with his group over the past year, Lacy still wants his now-veteran defensive line to raise the bar even higher.

 

“We’ve done a good job of competing on a day-to-day basis for the most part,” Lacy said. “For us to be as successful as we can be, we’re going to have to consistently perform for a whole practice or a whole game. We want to have championship effort on every play. Once we have that, we’ll be where we need to be as a unit. We’re getting closer, but we have to see that more consistently.”

 

Southeastern returns to the practice field on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. The Lions open the 2018 season with a 7 p.m. contest on Aug. 30 at ULM.

 

SEASON TICKET INFORMATION

For season ticket information, please contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit www.LionSports.net/tickets. The Lions will welcome conference foes Central Arkansas (Sept. 15), Northwestern State (Sept. 29), Houston Baptist (Oct. 13 – Homecoming), Abilene Christian (Oct. 20 – Hall of Fame Game) and McNeese (Nov. 3).

 

Season ticket holders will also be able to participate in the Season Ticket Party, set for Aug. 25 from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. in the south end zone of Strawberry Stadium.

 

CLEAR BAG POLICY

Southeastern Athletics has instituted a clear bag policy for all ticketed events, effective with the start of football season. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit www.LionSports.net/clear.

 

TOUCHDOWN CLUB / S CLUB

Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the football program are encouraged to join the Touchdown Club. Lion football alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letterwinners.

 

All membership fees and donations to both the Touchdown Club and S Club (football) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern football program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at la*@so**********.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA/#SelfieWithScelfo
For more information on Southeastern Football, follow @SLUFootball and @Coach_Scelfo on Twitter, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.

 

Fans can also win a pair of SLU Football season tickets by participating in the #SelfieWithScelfo campaign during the month of August. Follow @SLU_athletictix on Twitter for more information.

 

Fall Camp Key Dates
Aug. 15 – 3:30 p.m. (First day of classes)

Aug. 25 – 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (Season Ticket Party); 2 p.m. (Media Day)

By: Southeastern Athletics