Friday Features: Delta State football hopes (spring) practice makes perfect
By Maurice Patton
Delta State wrapped up spring practice last weekend coming off a Gulf South Conference title.
Third-year coach
Todd Cooley isn’t sure how many folks are aware of that fact, and he’s OK with that.
“We’ve had a pretty good run here in two seasons,” Cooley said. “We won the league championship. But nobody talks about us. We like that role. We like where we’re at.”
Part of the reason some may lose sight of the Statesmen’s crown is a 37-27 season-ending loss to GSC rival West Georgia in the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs, which closed out a 9-2 campaign for Delta. The other loss was a 24-16 regular-season defeat at West Georgia – which followed a 38-20 loss to the Wolves in the 2013 season finale.
West Georgia is responsible for three of the Statesmen’s five losses in 21 games since Cooley took over the program.
“They’re a good football program, they’ve done a good job,” he said. “We played them two times (last year) and had eight turnovers against them. You’re not going to beat anybody like that. They may be the best team in the league, but we’re still going to line up and play them. We’re just trying to get better. We’ve got to worry about ourselves, like we always do.”
That was the focus during spring workouts – concentrating on the Delta family.
“We’re trying to find the identity of this team,” Cooley said. “I don’t know if you find it in the spring, but we’re close. We think we know what we’re going to be on offense, we made some strides defensively, and we’re pleased with how the kicking game progressed, so it was a positive spring.
“The biggest thing is, we got 10 or 11 (mid-year transfers) and we were trying to get them acclimated to how we do things, get them caught up, see if they can help us. We think they are. So all in all, it was a successful spring.”
West Georgia aside, Cooley said the objective is to continue to play for – and win – championships, and doing so is easier with a veteran roster like this one. Delta State returns seven starters on offense and eight on defense from last year.
“We’ve got some guys that have played a lot of football the last couple of years,” he said. “They know what to expect, so I don’t feel like I have to correct as much. They know they can do it, they know what to expect, how to handle certain situations. But they also know that because they started last year doesn’t mean they start this year.
“I like our team, like our family right now. We’ve embraced who we are. Delta’s won as much as anybody at this level, and we’ve embraced that. We’ve reached out to our community and got them behind us, tried to act like a family and represent ourselves well every day. We’ve recruited and gotten kids to buy into that. We’ve just got to take the next step, but one thing we’ve done a good job of is keeping things in perspective.”
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11/21/2014 - VSU's Margaret Stauffer Finds Strength in Team, Family.
11/28/2014 - Union Off and Running.
12/05/2014 - UWA Coach Ray Stanfield Pushes Cross Country Teams to Top.
12/12/2014 - CBU Men's Basketball Making Noise.
12/19/2014 - Dickey Says UWG Football 'Right on Schedule'.
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1/02/2015 - UAH's Owens Rebounds From Car Crash With New Appreciation for Life, Basketball.
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2/06/2015 - Union Outfielder Unfazed by Physical Challenges.
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