“Hey, man, let’s play. I’m ready.”With those six words, a third-year head football coach summed up his excitement about the upcoming season.

After enduring one-win seasons in each of his first two years as head coach, Daryl Daye said he is very confident about the potential for a much better season.

He said this despite the grueling schedule. Last season, Nicholls’ schedule was ranked as one of the toughest in I-AA.

“I heard this one, in a lot of polls, is the toughest one,” Daye said.

Before hosting Samford on Sep. 29, The Colonels will open the season with a four-game road trip including three against I-A teams.

“We can’t do that schedule anymore. That’s not good for those kids,” Daye said.

“We just have to schedule better.” Daye said with Rob Bernardi as athletic director, things will be a lot better.

“I was asked a question on what did I think about playing three I-As on our schedule,” Daye said.

“I guess you could say Nicholls has never beaten a Division I-A school, but we’ve got three chances.”

Daye was asked what the strength of his team will be in the fall.

“I would have to say it would be that they are a team now. The cohesion is there,” he said.

“We’ve got more kids working here this summer than they had in about 20 years here.

“We’ve got a senior class that believes in Colonel pride.”

Last season, the Colonels lost six games in the final minutes.

“It wasn’t a conditioning problem; it was a depth problem and a youth problem. Sixteen freshmen including some walk-ons played for us last year.”

Daye thinks his team has matured noticeably since last season.

“They’re a lot better sophomores than they were freshmen, I can tell you that,” he said.

This was one of the main problems last season, Daye said. Youth and depth, not lack of heart, hurt the team.

“I can’t say that I ever was disappointed in our kids. What are you going to tell them when they gave all they’ve got?”

He said over 50 players left the program in his first full year at Nicholls.

“It’s just taking time to put it back up. The 50 kids who left were all due to poor academics and discipline.”

This fall’s team will still consist primarily of youngsters, Daye said, as a large recruiting class of about 30 signees will join the team soon.

“Over 40% of the scholarship team is not on campus yet,” he said.

Daye said he became confident when he saw his team’s execution in the spring game.

“I noticed them buying into the whole deal. We’re a disciplined program here. You’re not going to come here and have all the freedom in the world,” he said.

The hallmark of the offense, he said, will be the newly-implemented triple-option attack led by sophomore quarterback Josh Son.

Daye said the strength of the Colonel defense will be its solidity and its intense tenacity.

Offense

“We’re going to an entirely new structured offense. Last year we had two quarterbacks go down. We went to the triple option, because that’s what Josh Son can do,” Daye said.

Daye said he made the decision to change the offense based on his philosophy that talent dictates scheme.

“It hit me when I saw Josh Son running the option. A lot of the teams we played, we were a touchdown from winning the ballgame. There were six games where we lost in the final minute,” he said.

New offensive coordinator Jeff Richards will be calling the shots for the new Colonel offense.

“He’s our triple-option guru. I actually worked with Jeff at Southern Mississippi,” Daye said.

Richards feels the triple-option plays to the strengths of the athletes Nicholls has.

“We feel like the triple option will give us a chance to be successful. Nobody else in our league runs a triple-option,” Richards said.

Will this work to the advantage of the Colonels?

“There’s no doubt,” Richards said. “It’s hard to get ready for a team that runs the triple option in three or four days.”

Richards said it will be difficult for opposing teams to duplicate Son and his running backs in their practices.

“Those guys are good coaches. They know how to defend the option,” Richards said.

“It’s just getting it worked on, when you’re used to teaching a certain style defense.”

Also working closely with Son will be Vickie Joseph, quarterback coach.

Joseph, who was a quarterback at the University of Nebraska, went through some of the same things in his playing career that son experiences at Nicholls.

“They complement each other well. Josh has a tremendous amount of respect for Coach Joseph,” Daye said.

Projected starters in the backfield are Son at quarterback, Rudy August and Philip Brock at the running back positions and LSU-transfer Colt Colletti at fullback.

“You’re going to see three of them in at all times,” Daye said.

He said the triple-option is a rare offense.

“It’s not a popular offense nowadays. It doesn’t get coaches jobs. It just wins. It doesn’t light the board up.

“It’s a running back generated offense, and the quarterback is a half-running back. So, you’re talking about four running backs on the field at a time.”

Daye said he is pleased with the receiver core.

“You’ve got some big physical guys that can put a body on you out there, Viking-type wide receivers, big freakin’ guys that’ll block you, and also have the threat of the deep ball,” he said.

The offensive line, he said, will include some big, physical players who are mobile, including all-conference right tackle Kyle Smith.

Defense

Safeties Lee Rogers and Steve Ellis, “committed warriors” according to Daye, will be relied upon to lead the Colonel defense.

This commitment, he said, extends to the other defensive backs.

“Them boys don’t quit,” Daye said.

“Them boys don’t know how to quit. There’s going to be a lot of money coming into Nicholls in about 20 years when these guys get established in the workforce, because they ain’t got an ounce of quit in them.”

Daye called Ellis a “spiritual leader” and Rogers a “productive leader.”

“Seneca McMillan will be back as corner,” he said.

The linebackers impress Daye.

“Our linebacker core is one of the fastest group of linebackers I’ve ever coached in I-AA. We’ve got kids we signed like Lester Magee [of Jones Junior College.] We’ve Todd Rivera and Torrian Thomas,” Daye said.

He said his linebackers are “hit-you, back-you-up-underneath-the-bleachers-type kids, violent, athletic, attacking young linebackers that I can’t wait to see play this year.

“They will fly around. There’s a whole slew of them back there.”

The defensive line will include standouts like Burnell Taylor, Doug King, Mike Kieffer, Antonio Knox and newcomer Shane Kliebert. Daye said all possess speed to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

One of the problems that plagued last season’s defense was exhaustion.

“You’ll have fresh legs [in the defense] if that offense runs like it’s supposed to,” Daye said.

“That’s the best thing that keeps a defense fresh is an offense that controls the ball.”

Special Teams

“We’re going to have a lot of fun on special teams. We’re going to have young kids flying everywhere. You might not know where they’re going, but they’re going to run into something,” Daye said.

“Don’t stand too close to the sideline; you might get hit.”

What to look for

“If you come watch a game,” Daye said, “you won’t be disappointed in those kids’ efforts. You won’t be disappointed in how they represent themselves.

“They’ll go out there and
fight, and they won’t lay down.”

The Saints come marching in

Daye was asked how the presence of the New Orleans Saints will affect his team’s schedule.

“We’ve already been through it for a year. We know how to work around it,” he said.

“We’ve got it down-pat now. Last year was a forest fire.”

Daye said there were some distractions at last year’s camp.

“It was tough on the kids, but now they know what to expect.”

He said there is not much interaction between the teams.

However, Daye said he was “glad to have them back.”