Who:

When: October 2, 6 PM

Where: Ernest Hawkins Field at Texas A&M-Commerce Memorial Stadium

Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Mist Rain, 76 Degrees

Listen/Watch/Stats-

Radio-Lion Sports Network via 88.9 KETR (Commerce)-Charlie Chitwood (Play by Play), Brock Calloway (Color/Analysis/Updates) or Stream via http://www.ketr.org

Watch-https://lonestarconferencenetwork.com/tamuc/

Live Stats-http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=353489

Projected Starters-

Offense-(Multiple)

QB-Jaiave Magalei 6’3, 235 LBS, RS-JR, Tacoma, WA (Lakes) 

OR

QB-Eric Rodriguez, 5,11, 190 LBS, FRESH, Missouri City, TX (Fort Bend Travis)

RB-Antonio Leali’ie’e 5’11, 210 LBS, SR, Copperas Cove, TX (Copperas Cove)

WR-Kenedy Snell, 5’9, 190 LBS, SOPH, Waxahachie, TX (Waxahachie)

WR-Kevin Ledee, 6’5, 190 LBS, RS-SOPH, Cypress, TX (Cypress Ridge)

WR-Chance Cooper, 6’3, 205 LBS, SR, Leander, TX (Rouse)

TE-Chris Dascher, 6’2, 250 LBS, RS-SOPH, Boca Raton, FL (Olympic Heights)

OL-Amon Simon, 6’5, 290 LBS, RS-SR, Atascocita, TX (Atascocita)

OL-Travis Daft, 6’1, 255 LBS, RS-JR, Prosper, TX (Prosper)

OL-Christian Hernandez, 6’1, 285 LBS, RS-SR, Frisco, TX (Lone Star)

OL-Richard West, 6’6, 240 LBS, RS-JR, San Antonio, TX (East Central)

OL-Anthonie Thomas, 6’8, 320 LBS, JR, Houston, TX (Madison)

Defense-(4-2-5)

DE-Elijah Earls, 6’0, 240 LBS, RS-SR San Antonio, TX (Stevens)

DT-Bryson Stewart, 6’2, 250 LBS, FRESH, Missouri City, TX (Ridgepoint)

NT-Devin Beamon, 6’1, 290 LBS, JR, Forney, TX (Forney)

DE-Jaylon Hodge, 6’0, 275 LBS, RS-SR, Houston, TX (Fort Bend Travis)

LB-Michael Noble, 6’1, 230 LBS, SOPH, Orange, CA (Orange Lutheran)

LB-Cedrick Wilcox III-6’0, 235 LBS, SR, Port St. Lucie, FL (Treasure Coast)

DB-Darius Williams, 5’9, 185 LBS, RS-JR, Fort Worth, TX (Arlington Heights)

DB-Dominique Ramsey, 5’9, 180 RS-SR, Converse, TX (Judson)

DB-Kader Kohou, 5’11, 190 LBS, RS-SR, Euless, TX (Trinity)

DB-Alex Shillow, 5’10, 185 LBS, RS-JR, Pflugerville, TX (Pflugerville)

DB-D’Ante Smith, 6’0, 185 LBS, FRESH, Richardson, TX (Berkner)

Specialists-

PK-Jake Viquez, 5’10, 190 LBS, RS-SR, Rockwall, TX (Rockwall)

Punter-Mitchell McGarry, 6’3, 210 LBS, RS-FR, Queensland, Australia, (Gregory-Portland HS)

Holder-Matt Childers, 6’4, 190 LBS, RS JR, Henderson, TX (Henderson)

Deep Snapper-Wyatt Leath, 6’4, 245 LBS, SR, Sunnyvale, TX (Sunnyvale)

Returner-Kader Kohou, 5’11, 190 LBS, RS-SR, Euless, TX (Trinity)

Returner-Dominique Ramsey, 5’9, 180 RS-SR, Converse, TX (Judson)

Storylines-

A New Chapter-This past week, the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions accepted an invite to become a Division I school as a member of the Southland Conference. The campus is buzzing and most alums are pretty thrilled and have been waiting for this day to come. It is pretty surreal to think that just a few years ago, we were playing NAIA schools, and now we could be facing off against North Texas, SMU, TCU, Texas Tech, and others. Some questions still abound about how this is all going to go down and what will be different, but those answers will come.

New Opponent-U. Fort Lauderdale is a small college and is just now starting a football program, something they have only had for the past 2 seasons. This is a home game and should be one that has a lot of high scoring for the good guys and hopefully everyone on the dress roster gets to play, something that does not happen very often.

A Needed Tuneup-Don’t be surprised if David Bailiff pulls his starters after only a few series and lets second and third string guys get some reps to take the game home. This will show us who can get some good showings when they are in the game and also get some jitters out of their system if they are needed down the line for whatever reason. Also, expect Bailiff and his staff to iron out some kinks against a UFL team that may not be very good, but is pretty athletic.

Over .500-If the Lions win, this will put them over .500 for the first time since week 2 of the season. It will also have them with a winning record headed into a very important game versus Saginaw Valley State, who at 2-2, hosts Grand Valley State and could get a serious win over the Lakers to head into their matchup against The Lions next Saturday.