The Nicholls football team will travel to Jonesboro, Ark. on Saturday for a 6 p.m. game against its second I-A opponent of the season when it will play Arkansas State. Although the Colonels’ focus will be on their upcoming opponent, they will visit Graceland. The football team will take a tour of Elvis Presley’s former home and adjoining museum late Friday afternoon. The trip to Graceland will mark the fourth time in coach Daryl Daye’s tenure that the team has gone sightseeing the day before kickoff.
“We’ve done it (gone sightseeing) since we’ve been here,” Daye said during his press conference on Tuesday. “We were going to visit St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital (in Memphis), but they would not let the whole team go.”
The Colonels visited Universal Studios, in Orlando, Fla., in 1999 prior to their game against Central Florida. Last year, the Colonels visited the St. Louis Arch prior to traveling to Western Illinois. The day prior to the Colonels game against Southwest Texas, the Colonels visited the Alamo and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not in San Antonio.
The trips are all a part of Daye’s philosophy on enriching his players minds both on and off the field.
After the trip to Graceland is over, the Colonels (0-2) will attempt to break their two-game losing streak against Arkansas State.
“We are getting a little inspiration from the King (Elvis Presley), we might go out there and play in blue suede shoes or something,” said Daye.
The Colonels first two losses came against the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and Jacksonville State University.
The Colonel offense was only able to produce 55 yards of total offense against ULL, but it racked up 286 yards of total offense against Jacksonville State.
The Colonels downside in the last two ball games have been a weak finish. Going into the fourth quarter against ULL, the Colonels had to overcome a 13-point deficit and last week at Jacksonville State, they had a five-point deficit going into the fourth quarter.
The Colonels strong suit seems to be their running game, as they rushed for 255 yards on 53 attempts on Saturday against Jacksonville.
“I looked at our last two games, and with five minutes left in both of them we just did not finish,” said Daye. “We are working hard to get these kids to finish ball games. They just ran out of gas.”
The Colonels should have Josh Son, their starting quarterback, back at the helm after an injury kept him out of the Jacksonville State game until the fourth quarter.
“Josh had a nice practice yesterday, and his arm is getting better. He threw the ball well in practice yesterday for the first time since the injury,” said Daye. “I think that by Saturday he will be at 100 percent.”
Arkansas State (0-2) will also look for its first win of the season against the Colonels in hopes of jump starting their season before conference play begins in the Sun Belt Conference.
The Colonels have never played Arkansas State , but they are 4-0 against teams from Arkansas. Central Arkansas, Arkansas Montecello, Harding College and Ouachita Baptist are a list of teams the Colonels have beaten from that state.
The Colonels have to play Arkansas State and Troy State back to back, and theirchances of winning are good, according to coach Daye.
“We believe we can win. Any given Saturday, somebody doesn’t come prepared and not willing to play, and they make turnovers at key times,” he said.
