A starting point. That’s how head coach Mitch Stewart saw Tuesday’s practice, as the Murray State football team officially kicked off its 2017 season with the start of fall camp.
The focus of Tuesday, and each remaining day, was and will be to keep improving with every practice. The third-year head coach told reporters after his team’s first practice that while he saw some good things, there was still plenty to work on.
The good news for Stewart is that as he heads into his third season at the helm, he will have plenty of player leadership to help set the tone. The 2017 edition of the Racers will return eight offensive starters and nine defensive starters from a year ago.
However, despite only losing five starters, one of the big questions Stewart will have to answer in fall camp is who will replace one them, MSU’s all-time leading passer KD Humphries. Currently, all six quarterbacks on the roster are in the mix and Stewart says he has seen good things from each of them. Freshman Corey Newble joins returners Cam Birse, Brendan Bognar and Eli Oltean, as well as Shuler Bentley and Preston Rice, who enrolled in January, in the race to become Murray State’s new QB1.
Defensively, Chris Boone will look to continue to chip away at the Racers points allowed per game for the third consecutive season and he will have a wealth of talent in which to do it with. In addition to his nine returning starters, the Racer defense will bring back 21 other letterwinners from last year’s squad including Preseason All-OVC selection D’Montre Wade and Zachary Wade who was named to the OVC All-Newcomer team last year. Boone also added to his arsenal in the offseason with two FBS transfers in Rico McGraw and Jason Johnson, several junior college transfers and a bright crop of freshman.
Click this link below to hear both Boone and Stewart’s thoughts on the first day of practice.
Courtesy of GoRacers.com
Racer Football Alumni Association, LLC 