The football season came to a close with the River Bell Classic victory at Nicholls last month. The team is now in the off season and are gearing up for next season.
Head Coach Ron Roberts assessed the past season.
“I thought we got a lot better over the last six or seven games,” said Roberts. “We gave ourselves an opportunity for the playoffs and put ourselves in the position to get a consideration to get voted in. I thought we made huge strides forward as the season went along.”
Roberts feels the Lions need to improve to make it to playoffs going into the next season.
“We’ve got to improve in all areas,” said Roberts. “We’ve got a lot of guys in position that are returning and obviously the other guys. They got to get better in order to get to the NCAA tournament. Hopefully, we’ve got to prove it every year if we’re gonna get ourselves in the championships and in the playoffs.”
Roberts also gave out the plans he made for the off season. This is usually the time when players and coaches are added to the roster. It also gives the players some rest from last season as well as an opportunity to train and improve for the next season.
“We’ll get ourselves back, make room, training and then spring practice all of a sudden,” said Roberts.
The recruiting process also looks to improve the team and replace some of the players for the next season.
“We’ll bring about 24 guys this year,” said Roberts. “Obviously, there’s some areas we got to replace some guys. Seniors are leaving and stuff. The receiver, quarterback, defensive line, those are the big areas of need. We need to fill in the senior’s spots. Besides that, we’re looking for some depth in situation guys who can fill in for every position we have.”
There are 18 seniors in this season’s roster. Roberts feels they made a contribution in inspiring the team, especially after getting to a rough start early in the season.
“I think they did a good job,” said Roberts. “We started out 1-3. We still kinda struggled. I think our guys did a great job keeping the team focused and continuing to get better. That’s the biggest thing we did. When you continue to get better weekly and you continue to improve in the season, you get to good position by the end of it.”
This was yet another winning season for the Lions. Their third in four years. The season ended with three wins in a row.
