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Lamar University wasted little time after reporting for camp before stepping on the practice field for the first official workout of the spring. Taking the field not too long after sunrise the Cardinals managed to beat the heat of Southeast Texas with practice No. 1 in the books.
“We’re fired up to be back,” said head coach Pete Rossomando. “I think we’ve got a good group back. They’ve had a great summer, and we’re excited to see what they can bring to the table each and every day. The hard part for us is when you have a lot of veterans, they really start looking forward to gameday, so we need to get them focused on taking it one day at a time.”
Friday’s workout was the first of 20 for the Cardinals before they enter official game-week preparation for the season opener at Texas State (Saturday, Aug. 31st). The nearly 2:30 practice was a helmet-only workout as the coaches got their first look to see how well the veterans remember what was covered in spring ball as well as their first look at rookies.
The Cardinals will close out the day with a walk thru before team and position meetings in the evenings. All practices are closed to the public.
Big Red enters the 2024 looking to build on what most fans would describe as a surprising 2023 campaign. In his first season at the helm, Coach Rossomando and his staff converted Lamar from a one-win team (in 2022) to a conference contender last season. The Cardinals posted their first winning season since 2018 as well as FCS football’s fourth-best single-season turnaround.
Most will argue it will be next to impossible for the Cardinals to post a consecutive five-win improvement this season – of course, those same folks claimed it was impossible to do so last season – but LU has plenty of reason to be excited for this year.
The Cardinals return 52 letterwinners, including 20 starters with 10 of those starters coming on the offensive side of the ball. In addition to that, Lamar has 12 to 16 players who have been named preseason all-conference (depending on which publication you read) and senior defensive linemen Caleb Williams has been named to two different preseason All-America squads.
Preseason hype is nothing more than that … hype. Outside of creating a story idea for the day, it means nothing when it comes to what will actually happen. With that being said the one thing preseason honors are an indication of is the excitement and hope surrounding the program.
Offensively, the Cardinals have weapons they can turn to either on the ground or through the air. A returning starter behind center is always a desired asset and along with Robert Coleman – who started every game last season – the Cardinals also return Jakolby Longino who is one of the most athletic signal callers the program has had since its return, and he is going into his third season with the program.
More important than that might be the fact that Lamar returns all but one starter on the offensive line from last season. The Cardinals front got so banged up in the early part of the season numerous players were thrust into starting roles and several of those guys are back as well.
Defensively, the Cardinals return six starters, but the returnees on the defensive side of the ball might be more impressive than the offense entering camp. We’ve already mentioned Williams, but he will be joined by veterans like Ramond Stevens, Kristian Pugh, Jaymond Jackson and Jalen Freeman. For the first time in several years, the Cardinals return key players at every position which, if all the pieces fall into place, 2024 could be a special season. But let’s not worry about how 2024 is going to end up just yet, let’s just enjoy the fact that it’s August and your Cardinals have reported for camp and let everything play out day-by-day.
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