2015 Shorter Football Schedule

By Jim O'Hara
 
ROME, Ga. – The official start to their spring football drills, a 15-day off-season period that sets the table for a new campaign this fall, is Monday.

This year, however, the Shorter Hawks will return to Brady Field having already started preparing for another season since the start of the new year, working out together long before the sun came up and in frigid pre-dawn conditions – all on their own.

"They are very determined to no longer be at the bottom of the Gulf South Conference. They want to lead it," Shorter head coach Phil Jones said about the Hawks, who were spurred on by a determined and focused group of seniors and committed themselves to hold three 5 a.m. workouts each for the past two months to begin the load road away from back-to-back losing seasons and into the NCAA Division II spotlight.

"We have a group of seniors who did a great job taking it upon themselves to handle it," the coach who begins his 11^th season at the helm of the program, added about Hawks' desire to turn things around. "They ran the drills themselves. I was amazing to watch them out there and see what the team was doing.

"They're physically and mentally ready to go. I guarantee spring practice will be much different."

Just how determined the Hawks are, not to mention the success bar they raised for themselves, was evident each and every morning of their own team drills.

All told, the attendance rate was close to 100 percent and on the days when there were unexcused absences every single player ran extra 100-yard gassers after an intense hour-long set of drills.

For Jones and the coaching staff, that kind of effort and team bonding that has taken place has created a buzz for coaches and players alike as more than 70 Hawks will suit up over the next four weeks and conclude the annual rite with a spring game at Barron Stadium on April 11.

"It gives you a warmth of what they want to do and what they want to accomplish," said Jones, "so when we get out there this year we want a continuation of what they have already been doing. On Monday, we can start right in on working on the things we need to do."

One of the top areas the Hawks must address will be the position critical to the team's offense – finding a new quarterback, a position that has been filled for the last three years by Eric Dodson, who closed out his career last fall after setting nearly all of Shorter's passing records and becoming one of six Hawks who earned All-Gulf South Conference honors.

Hoping to fill the void are two rising sophomores who have already been battled tested – 6-foot-2 Devante James, who was red-shirted two years ago and served as Dodson's backup last season, and 6-1 Aaron Bryant, who due to depth problems saw extensive action in 2014 as a slotback where he rushed for 213 yards on 33 carries with two touchdowns and earned GSC Freshman Player of the Week honors after he gained 82 yards on just five totes with one going for a 67-yards TD.

"We've got to make sure we know what our quarterback situation is," Jones said, "and we feel good about who we have right now."

The Hawks also feel good about the number of veterans they do return on offense, from a seasoned group of offensive linemen, including All-GSC guard Chris Beno, to a well-stocked stable of fullback, slotback and receiver veterans.

And defensively, the Hawks will begin the spring and the new season with every single player – starters and the reserves – who suited up last year… and more.

Among that group includes safety Jordan Shaw, named to an amazing six All-American teams after a record-setting season in 2014 and elected as the GSC's Defensive Player of the Year. Joining him in garnering GSC accolades and also returned is defensive end Trevaris Horton, and linebackers Zach Butts and Luke Wilson.

Perhaps the one standout who is eager more than anyone to be back is linebacker Dominique Henfield, a three-year starter for the Hawks – he ranks seventh on the team's all-time career tackles list – who sat out what was supposed to be his senior season last fall after suffering a knee injury in last year's spring game.

The Hawks understand that their "all in" frame of mind is crucial knowing what can be easily considered Shorter's toughest schedule ever, an 11-game slate in which there will be no open date.

After opening the season at home on Sept. 4 home against non-conference foe University of Faith, the Hawks will keep their bags packed for four straight weeks, the first one coming on Sept. 12 when they head to Jefferson City, Tenn., to face perennial Division II power Carson-Newman.

That clash is followed by back-to-back showdowns with a pair of Division I FCS teams – a first for Shorter – when the Hawks make the short trip down I-75 on Sept. 19 to face Kennesaw State that is playing its inaugural season and a week later on Sept. 26 make a long trip to Cape Girardeau, Mo., to tackle Ohio Valley Conference contender Southeast Missouri State.

The month-long road strong comes to an end on Oct. 3 when Shorter travels to Clinton, Miss., to meet Mississippi College, the first of seven rugged GSC clashes that completes the Hawks' schedule.

With such a daunting task looming ahead of them, Jones and the Hawks want to make sure that they focus on the basics, the foundations upon which the team was built on.

"We want to be real vanilla – real fundamental," said Jones. ""If you can get every single player know the basics of what we want to do and do them well, then we can add to it if we want.

"We want them to be able to do the fundamentals of what we do to be successful in the Gulf South Conference."