This is the eighth of a 16-part series, analyzing the fall sports of each school in the Lone Star Conference. Today will feature Southeastern Oklahoma.
Football
The bad news for Southeastern Oklahoma head coach Ray Richards is that when he looks at his offensive depth chart, he sees just four returning starters from last year’s 7-4 team.
The good news of course is that one of them running back Baylen Laury, a first-team All-LSC pick who was the preseason North Division Player of the Year selection.
“Obviously our best football player is Baylen Laury,” Richards said. “He got hurt at the very end of the year which affected us a little bit. Baylen is our best player. We’ll probably have him back returning punts and kicks. We’re hoping to get him the ball a lot in the open field to create some havoc for defenses.”
Laury ranked eighth in the LSC in both rushing (637 yards) and all-purpose yards (104.8 per game). Running back Josh Johnson, who rushed 611 yards and eight touchdowns to earn second-team All-LSC honors, was expected to complement Laury in the backfield before suffering a season-ending injury.
Another bright spot for the running game is that SE also returns three starters on the offensive line in senior center Sean Taglialatela and juniors Ryan Sullivan and Robert Westbrook.
At quarterback, the Storm is counting on Logan Turner, an SMU transfer.
Richards said an area he is concerned about is wide receiver, where just about all of the production and depth is gone.
“We lost four receivers. We only have one guy on the team that has caught any balls last year, I think he caught two as a backup,” Richards said. “Our receiving corps will be a lot of new faces. One of the keys this season will be if our receivers can make plays and hopefully we can.”
Defensively is where the Storm can make up for things. However, they’ll have to do so without three-year starting linebacker Johnny Seals, who is lost for the season with an injury. Richards says his best defensive players was Seals, a second-team All-LSC player in 2009, recording seven tackles for loss and three sacks.
But SE returns three all-conference players on the defensive line, including end Alex Moore, a first-team selection and second-team picks Lionel Gillespie and Dexter Elliot.
In the secondary, the Storm returns safety Steven Harris, who ranked third on the squad with 66 tackles and first with nine pass deflections, and cornerback Matthew Leatherwood, the team’s leader last season with four interceptions.
Richards will have to replace both his punter and kicker and said special teams could be an area of concern.
“Overall, we’re a young football team but we have some talent,” Richards said. “If we put it all together, I think we can have a great year.”
Volleyball
New head coach Jenn Corkum takes over at SE and inherits a team that not only won 22 games last season, but returns five starters.
The goal is to finally make a trip to the post-season and this could be the year the Storm can get there.
Junior middle blocker Brittany McDonald returns after earning first-team All-LSC honors last year. McDonald ranked in the top three on the squad in kills (376), blocks (101) and points (460).
Junior outside hitter Lunden Azaura was a second-team All-LSC and was the league’s Freshman of the Year in 2008.
Senior middle blocker Jordan Parks led the team with 103 blocks and sophomore setter Alex Cassell averaged 10.08 sets a game and was named LSC Setter of the Week earlier in her first month of her collegiate career.
Senior defensive specialist/libero Raelynn Beatty returns, as will sophomore outside hitter Taylor Clinebell.
Women’s Cross Country
Head coach Brad Ludrick will have a young squad of runners as the Savage Storm try to resurrect the program that was picked to finish last in the LSC this year.
Junior Jessica Barnes is the experienced leader of the team after two solid seasons where she has been one of the LSC’s top performers.
Sophomore Rachel Brunk returns along with freshman Kenna Chaffin, Ashley Fawks and Allison Keats.