Took some photos at this morning's football workouts down at the stadium...my first look at the actual team on the field. Here are a couple observations from this limited experience:
1) I expect us to be good on defense. We have depth just about everywhere, especially up front and at linebacker, and the depth is experienced. A little thin at corner at this point depth-wise, but the starters (Flores and Hunter) are as good a tandem as anyone has in the league right now IMO.
2) The offense will be more explosive. There's some depth at WR and our stable of RBs are as good as anyone we'll see. Need to develop some depth and get some guys healthy up front, and the starting QB role is going to be interesting throughout camp. The four guys who battled in the spring -- Sed Harris, Tristen Cooksey, Seth Hubbard and Daniel Tatman -- are going at it again in camp so we'll see what happens.
3) Our junior varsity is going to be pretty good this year. Talked with Coach Sartain and the staff is really impressed with the freshmen -- and we are at a point in the program where for one of the few times in the 10 years of the program we don't have to depend on a young freshman to step up and play varsity ball on Saturday just to fill a spot. Our freshmen this year will have the opportunity to play a nine-game JV schedule without the pressure of being forced onto the field too early on a Saturdays.
More thoughts from here as we go along.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
ASC All-Access
We are now less than two weeks away from student-athletes arriving back on campus at ETBU, and as typically happens this time of year for me, the weariness of a long year of athletics back in May has given way to the freshness of a new year and the expectation of new opportunity.
I am excited about the upcoming year. The American Southwest Conference conducted its annual meeting of Sports Information Directors in Dallas yesterday and for me that usually serves as the time to tee things up in earnest for the upcoming year.
I like our football team as a dark horse in what will once again be a deep and talented league. As I've said before our volleyball team has generated as much excitement for the upcoming season as any of the 10 previous years I've been at ETBU. Both soccer teams will be improved with new faces and older returning ones. Men's basketball has built on a strong second half to last season and the hunger of barely missing the postseason with another strong recruiting class. Our women's basketball team will be one of the most improved in the entire conference -- you can count on that. Our softball team should once again be one of the best in the nation and they've gotten better with another strong recruiting class. And I expect bigger things still for our baseball team, which continues to load up in what is one of the toughest leagues in the nation bar none.
I also take it as a personal challenge to improve every year as an SID. Sometimes I get it done more than others, and sometimes, well, the improvement comes in smaller increments lets just say! But it is my goal every year to be better than the year before with the coverage of our teams and athletes.
Part of this improvement comes from our improved web site capabilities. We spent a lot of time discussing new media in this day and age and what our fans and followers use most to get their news. Obviously, the Internet is a big part of news today, no matter whether its sports, news, business, etc.
The ASC recognizes this and we are constantly working to improve our technology here at ETBU and throughout the conference. One addition to this year we discussed at the meeting was the unveiling of an "ASC All-Access" show that will debut in September on the conference website. This show will be about a 5-8 minute clip weekly highlighting news from around the league. There will be player/coach interviews, game highlights and other features highlighting conference schools and athletes.
We will post a link to the broadcast here on our ETBU website, and I would encourage you to check out the show on Wednesdays this fall. It's going to be a cool deal I think.
We are also going to be adding several things to our own site as well. Some of it you've already probably noticed, such as the Twitter addition. I would encourage you to sign up for this free service on Twitter and use it as another tool to keep up with our news. We will have more blogs from different sources as well, so just keep checking us out for the changes.
The countdown to 2009-2010 is officially underway...
I am excited about the upcoming year. The American Southwest Conference conducted its annual meeting of Sports Information Directors in Dallas yesterday and for me that usually serves as the time to tee things up in earnest for the upcoming year.
I like our football team as a dark horse in what will once again be a deep and talented league. As I've said before our volleyball team has generated as much excitement for the upcoming season as any of the 10 previous years I've been at ETBU. Both soccer teams will be improved with new faces and older returning ones. Men's basketball has built on a strong second half to last season and the hunger of barely missing the postseason with another strong recruiting class. Our women's basketball team will be one of the most improved in the entire conference -- you can count on that. Our softball team should once again be one of the best in the nation and they've gotten better with another strong recruiting class. And I expect bigger things still for our baseball team, which continues to load up in what is one of the toughest leagues in the nation bar none.
I also take it as a personal challenge to improve every year as an SID. Sometimes I get it done more than others, and sometimes, well, the improvement comes in smaller increments lets just say! But it is my goal every year to be better than the year before with the coverage of our teams and athletes.
Part of this improvement comes from our improved web site capabilities. We spent a lot of time discussing new media in this day and age and what our fans and followers use most to get their news. Obviously, the Internet is a big part of news today, no matter whether its sports, news, business, etc.
The ASC recognizes this and we are constantly working to improve our technology here at ETBU and throughout the conference. One addition to this year we discussed at the meeting was the unveiling of an "ASC All-Access" show that will debut in September on the conference website. This show will be about a 5-8 minute clip weekly highlighting news from around the league. There will be player/coach interviews, game highlights and other features highlighting conference schools and athletes.
We will post a link to the broadcast here on our ETBU website, and I would encourage you to check out the show on Wednesdays this fall. It's going to be a cool deal I think.
We are also going to be adding several things to our own site as well. Some of it you've already probably noticed, such as the Twitter addition. I would encourage you to sign up for this free service on Twitter and use it as another tool to keep up with our news. We will have more blogs from different sources as well, so just keep checking us out for the changes.
The countdown to 2009-2010 is officially underway...
Monday, June 22, 2009
Texas Football
Dave Campbell's annual bible of Texas Football hit the newsstands earlier this month, and with it comes the prediction of ETBU's football team finishing fifth in the American Southwest Conference.
The Tigers, who have finished 5-5 each of the last two seasons, are picked fifth behind Mary Hardin-Baylor, Hardin-Simmons, Mississippi College and Louisiana College. Rounding out the bottom four behind ETBU are Sul Ross, Howard Payne, Texas Lutheran and McMurry.
It's going to be an interesting year in the ASC. ETBU is in its third year under Coach Mark Sartain and the Tigers will field one of their most experience teams in the history of the program in terms of upperclassman leadership. ETBU, which marks its 10th season of football since returning to the gridiron at the beginning of this decade (man how time flies by!), could have as many as 25-30 seniors on the field by the time the Tigers kick off the season Sept. 5 against Wisconsin-La Crosse. Another 30-40 players will be classified as juniors, giving ETBU between 60-70 players either in their junior or senior seasons once the roster is all sorted out.
McMurry is picked last in Texas Football, but the former Indians will be run by former D-1 coach and offensive guru Hal Mumme. Mary Hardin-Baylor and Hardin-Simmons, as always, are the flag-bearers of the ASC entering the season and both those teams will be top-notch once again.
Spots 3-5 in the standings could probably be a coin toss at this point. The Tigers are in that group certainly, along with Mississippi College and Louisiana College. The Wildcats will be in a big year under head coach Dennis Dunn, their fourth under the former Shreveport Evangel coach. And the Choctaws will be better under head coach Norm Joseph after a couple of up-and-down years, with last year being down from the start with the injury loss of quarterback Adam Shaffer in the season opener.
It's going to be a fun year. The Tigers have adopted the slogan "Close and Overtake" as part of their motto, which can be found on the team's new shield logo unveiled on the football web page. Lights, again, will bring the first night games to campus this fall. And don't forget ETBU will be playing its first full 10-game schedule against D-III only competition this season.
Players arrive for fall workouts Aug. 15, and it will be here before you know it.
The Tigers, who have finished 5-5 each of the last two seasons, are picked fifth behind Mary Hardin-Baylor, Hardin-Simmons, Mississippi College and Louisiana College. Rounding out the bottom four behind ETBU are Sul Ross, Howard Payne, Texas Lutheran and McMurry.
It's going to be an interesting year in the ASC. ETBU is in its third year under Coach Mark Sartain and the Tigers will field one of their most experience teams in the history of the program in terms of upperclassman leadership. ETBU, which marks its 10th season of football since returning to the gridiron at the beginning of this decade (man how time flies by!), could have as many as 25-30 seniors on the field by the time the Tigers kick off the season Sept. 5 against Wisconsin-La Crosse. Another 30-40 players will be classified as juniors, giving ETBU between 60-70 players either in their junior or senior seasons once the roster is all sorted out.
McMurry is picked last in Texas Football, but the former Indians will be run by former D-1 coach and offensive guru Hal Mumme. Mary Hardin-Baylor and Hardin-Simmons, as always, are the flag-bearers of the ASC entering the season and both those teams will be top-notch once again.
Spots 3-5 in the standings could probably be a coin toss at this point. The Tigers are in that group certainly, along with Mississippi College and Louisiana College. The Wildcats will be in a big year under head coach Dennis Dunn, their fourth under the former Shreveport Evangel coach. And the Choctaws will be better under head coach Norm Joseph after a couple of up-and-down years, with last year being down from the start with the injury loss of quarterback Adam Shaffer in the season opener.
It's going to be a fun year. The Tigers have adopted the slogan "Close and Overtake" as part of their motto, which can be found on the team's new shield logo unveiled on the football web page. Lights, again, will bring the first night games to campus this fall. And don't forget ETBU will be playing its first full 10-game schedule against D-III only competition this season.
Players arrive for fall workouts Aug. 15, and it will be here before you know it.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Lights Lights Lights
The starting times you see on the 2009 Tiger football schedule are not typos. ETBU will play the first home night games in the 10-year history of the program this season pending the addition of lights to Ornelas Stadium for the first time this year.
The lights are set to go up sometime this summer and will give ETBU lighted facilities at all of its outdoor venues for the first time in the university's history.
As has been noted in the past, the East Texas heat can be brutal on fans and players alike in September and October. Travel issues with ETBU's first visitor, Wisconsin-La Crosse, have caused the Tigers to schedule their season opener at 11 a.m. to again try and beat some of the heat issues. But beginning with the second home game, against Texas Lutheran on Sept. 26, home games will be able to be played under the lights and hopefully in temperatures a little more conducive to football.
The lights are set to go up sometime this summer and will give ETBU lighted facilities at all of its outdoor venues for the first time in the university's history.
As has been noted in the past, the East Texas heat can be brutal on fans and players alike in September and October. Travel issues with ETBU's first visitor, Wisconsin-La Crosse, have caused the Tigers to schedule their season opener at 11 a.m. to again try and beat some of the heat issues. But beginning with the second home game, against Texas Lutheran on Sept. 26, home games will be able to be played under the lights and hopefully in temperatures a little more conducive to football.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Walking Up
Got a bit of a good feeling over the weekend watching the Texas Rangers' game against the Oakland Athletics on FSN Southwest. Rangers star Josh Hamilton was walking up to hit and his "walkup music" was a first for me -- "Saved the Day," by Christian group Phillips, Craig and Dean.
In a day when filthiness and outright deplorable material fills the television and radio, not to mention IPods and cd players, it was refreshing to hear Hamilton's display of faith in front of the Rangers' largest crowd of the season. Hamilton's story is no longer a secret -- the demons of his past drug and alcohol abuse haunt him wherever he goes but he has made it back to baseball and is at peace with himself and with God. And as Josh will readily tell anyone who will listen, it was the power of Christ that got him through that dark period in his life and every waking minute of his day today.
Thank God for the power that changes lives.
Tigers Roar! DW
In a day when filthiness and outright deplorable material fills the television and radio, not to mention IPods and cd players, it was refreshing to hear Hamilton's display of faith in front of the Rangers' largest crowd of the season. Hamilton's story is no longer a secret -- the demons of his past drug and alcohol abuse haunt him wherever he goes but he has made it back to baseball and is at peace with himself and with God. And as Josh will readily tell anyone who will listen, it was the power of Christ that got him through that dark period in his life and every waking minute of his day today.
Thank God for the power that changes lives.
Tigers Roar! DW
Monday, June 1, 2009
Welcome Back!
I could spend a lot of time in the next few paragraphs giving excuses/reasons/explanations as to why I haven't posted an entry to the blog since last October. But that would only be a waste of time so let's just jump right back in...
A lot has happened here at ETBU since I last went online here on the blog. Most recently, we can start with today being the first day of the Dub Oliver administration here at ETBU. Dr. Oliver comes to ETBU from Baylor and the anticipation of his arrival has finally culminated with him actually being here as the 12th President of our university. Welcome aboard, Dub! You're officially a Tiger now, and we all know a Tiger can take out a Bear any day...
A few weeks late but here's my official congratulations and thanks to the 2009 Lady Tiger softball team. What a fun ride this past spring was! ETBU came from out of nowhere to jump to the top of the ASC East Division again, and the Lady Tigers are poised to stay there for awhile with back-to-back stellar recruiting classes. From what I've seen and heard regarding next year's class, it could be even deeper and talented once again, so the Lady Tigers should be even more of a factor again next spring...
The Tiger football team -- or at least 13 members of the group -- had an interesting weekend overseas. What started out as a scheduled week-long stay in London to do construction and mission work for The Elam Institute turned into something only Hollywood could imagine. Apparently the British government wasn't too keen on a small group of college football players entering the country, and the Brits' immigration department saw it as an opportunity to flex its muscle and detain our contingent at Heathrow Airport. The Tiger players and coaches are safely back home now but have an experience to talk about for the rest of their lives. Read more about their adventures across the pond on Coach Sartain's blog at http://www.tigersinlondon.blogspot.com/.
Lots more to talk about as the summer progresses, but I'll try to stay up to date with the news -- and the blog, for that matter.
Tigers Roar! DW
A lot has happened here at ETBU since I last went online here on the blog. Most recently, we can start with today being the first day of the Dub Oliver administration here at ETBU. Dr. Oliver comes to ETBU from Baylor and the anticipation of his arrival has finally culminated with him actually being here as the 12th President of our university. Welcome aboard, Dub! You're officially a Tiger now, and we all know a Tiger can take out a Bear any day...
A few weeks late but here's my official congratulations and thanks to the 2009 Lady Tiger softball team. What a fun ride this past spring was! ETBU came from out of nowhere to jump to the top of the ASC East Division again, and the Lady Tigers are poised to stay there for awhile with back-to-back stellar recruiting classes. From what I've seen and heard regarding next year's class, it could be even deeper and talented once again, so the Lady Tigers should be even more of a factor again next spring...
The Tiger football team -- or at least 13 members of the group -- had an interesting weekend overseas. What started out as a scheduled week-long stay in London to do construction and mission work for The Elam Institute turned into something only Hollywood could imagine. Apparently the British government wasn't too keen on a small group of college football players entering the country, and the Brits' immigration department saw it as an opportunity to flex its muscle and detain our contingent at Heathrow Airport. The Tiger players and coaches are safely back home now but have an experience to talk about for the rest of their lives. Read more about their adventures across the pond on Coach Sartain's blog at http://www.tigersinlondon.blogspot.com/.
Lots more to talk about as the summer progresses, but I'll try to stay up to date with the news -- and the blog, for that matter.
Tigers Roar! DW
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