McNeese Opens Camps - By Jim Gazzolo

The road back to respectability has been a long one for McNeese football.

Three straight losing seasons, 21 years since the last playoff win, and eight long campaigns since a postseason game have Cowboy fans itching for a fresh outcome.

By all accounts, the Pokes are on the right track, but nothing is given until the games get started.

Still, Southland Conference folks have taken notice.

McNeese was picked to finish third in the upcoming season by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors.

Defending co-champs Southeastern and Incarnate Word finished first and second respectively in the poll that was released last week.

“It is nice to be ranked anywhere,” said McNeese head coach Gary Goff while admitting the selections mean nothing.

Southeastern finished with nine of the 16 first-place votes and 95 points, just edging past UIW which had seven No. 1 votes and 93 points overall. McNeese came in with 65 points, just two ahead of Nicholls.

“It doesn’t mean anything,” Goff said. “We would rather be ranked higher at the end of the season.”

After years of struggle, the Cowboy faithful are ready to hear such talk.

Though there are still a lot of unknowns with these Cowboys, who open the season at home against Tarleton State on Sept. 2. Kickoff for the game is set for 7 p.m.

“We are ready to go,” Goff said. “We are excited to play somebody.”

But this is not anything like last year’s team.

McNeese will have a bunch of new starters and have 110 on the roster, 57 of those are newcomers. There are four new quarterbacks, three fresh running backs, and nine new scholarship receivers on hand.

And that’s not counting the line.

The defense has had a similar change, which was all planned after last season’s 4-7 record.

“We had to get more talent, no question,” Goff said. “We had to be more players and better players. My staff did a tremendous job doing that.”

Now the Cowboys begin to find out just how much better they got.

McNeese will report to camp on Sunday but the first official practice is set for Thursday. Already, Goff likes what he has seen through the summer months.

“We have worked very hard and have really come together,” Goff said. “I like the culture and the guys are buying into what we want to do.”

With just four seniors on the roster, McNeese could still be a year away from reaching the championship level. However, Goff added 22 juniors to the roster, a good portion of them coming from the junior college level. That would help with the depth and leadership of the squad.

“We really needed guys who had playing experience,” Goff said. “We wanted to find guys who had tape on them and knew how to play football. Experience is what we were looking for and we found it.”

Some also came to McNeese by way of the transfer portal.

“You have to be careful with the portal,” said Goff. “You can get burned by it.”

That likely happened some to Goff and the Cowboys last season, as he got the job late and had to make quick decisions while recruiting. With a normal amount of time and full offseason, the Cowboy staff seems to have fixed the problem.

McNeese now has more talent on the roster than probably in the last decade, but there are still no guarantees of a title.

“We are going to be a very young football team,” said Goff. “That’s okay. Sometimes being young can make you dangerous.”

Fitting the right pieces in the right places will be what this camp is all about. There are more than a few positions up for grabs as the Pokes begin practice. While all eyes are on the quarterback spot and the battle between Nate Glantz and Tre’ Simmons there are even more fights going on all over the field.

“Competition is a good thing,” said Goff. “It makes everybody better.”

That’s what the Cowboys are hoping for as the heat really starts to turn up as the calendar gets flips to Aug.