By Kyle CarrierSports Editor

Driving past the practice field, many students can see the Colonels football team dressed out and getting back to work.

The Colonels have already taken their first steps to defend the conference title with the start of spring drills.

Head football coach Jay Thomas said things are going well so far for the Colonels.

“We have a lot of new faces running around on the defensive side of the ball,” Thomas said. “We’re flying around, but we just don’t know where we’re going sometimes. Everything is going as well as it can go right now.”

As spring drills move on, the Colonels have already seen their share of injuries, something Thomas said they’ve had to learn to deal with.

“We’ve had to adjust practice a little bit where there is not as much contact as there would normally be,” Thomas said. “It all depends on where your numbers are and how much we can do. We need to be smart in how we prepare.”

As with all sports, spring drills give every player a chance since all positions are open.

One key position the Colonels are looking at this season is quarterback to replace Yale Vannoy who completed his senior year last season.

“Right now we’ve got (freshman) Vincent Montgomery, (sophomore) Brandon Zackery and (freshman) Blake Fritscher all taking reps,” Thomas said. “All the guys came in and ran the offense pretty well. We’re trying to put them under the gun as much as we can and as much as we can afford to do.”

Winning the Southland Conference has brought just a little more anxiety to practice, according to Thomas.

“It seemed like this year they are more hungry,” Thomas said. “We played a very good ball game against Furman and came up a little short, but it created a lot of enthusiasm in the off-season. Our guys want to come out and prove that this is a team that is on the move.”

Offensively, Thomas said the team is pretty set. The Colonels return the majority of their offensive starters, with the exceptions of quarterback and running back.

Thomas said defensively the Colonels are going to have to find ways to replace seven seniors on the defensive line from last season.

“We need to bridge that gap between those guys that were red shirts and those that were in back up roles,” Thomas said. “We have guys that played backup last year that are at the top of the depth chart right now. We’re a little short in depth right now but we’re working through it.”

The Colonels achieved every team’s goal last season by winning the conference. This season, Thomas said, the goal is to continue that success and continue to have the program competitive.

“As long as we can keep that mental approach and concentrate on getting better each day, we go out there and each guy trying to get better at playing his position, we’ll be okay,” Thomas said. “I’m really pleased with them. The work ethic has been really good.