HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana football team officially opened preparations for the 2020 season with the first fall practice on Wednesday morning in Strawberry Stadium.
 
The Lions underwent a split-squad practice on opening day with each group practicing for a little over an hour. SLU third-year head coach Frank Scelfo was proud of how his team performed on Wednesday.
 
"We made good use of our time off and it showed today," Scelfo commented. "We spent so much time with our players during our time away on Zoom meetings and as far as understanding schemes, we're further ahead today than we were on the first day of camp last year.
 
"Overall, our conditioning was good and our guys responded to the heat well," Scelfo added. "We came out ready to compete and we were pleased with how we operated today."
 
Scelfo also believes his program has responded positively to the challenges of preparations taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
"Our players, as well as our training, sport performance and coaching staffs have done an excellent job working through the challenges we face," Scelfo said. "Our players have been doing well following all the safety protocols, so we can keep our student-athletes safe and maximize who we are as a football team."
 
Scelfo is eager to see his team continue to come together as the season approaches and saw some early positive signs of that on day one.
 
"We're a player-driven program and we want the leadership to come out of the locker room," Scelfo stated. "We saw some players take control during today's practice. CJ Turner, Rendon Miles-Character, Mike Mason and Ferlando Jordan all showed great leadership today. Those are some of the ones we hoped would fill those leadership roles and now we just want to see more guys do the same."
 
SLU returns to the practice field for another split-squad practice on Thursday at 9 a.m. The Lions will open the 2020 season at Tulane on Sept. 3. Southeastern's five-game home schedule is set to begin on Sept. 26, when SLU hosts Southland Conference rival McNeese at 6 p.m. at Strawberry Stadium.
 
TICKETS
For ticket information, please contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit www.LionSports.net/tickets. The Lions' 2020 home schedule features visits from McNeese (Sept. 26 – 6 p.m.), Northwestern State (Oct. 10 – 6 p.m. – Hall of Fame Game), Abilene Christian (Oct. 24 – 4 p.m. - Homecoming), Houston Baptist (Oct. 31 – 2 p.m.) and Central Arkansas (Nov. 14 – 2 p.m.).  
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Football, follow @LionUpFootball and @Coach_Scelfo on Twitter, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
 
TOUCHDOWN CLUB/S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the football program are encouraged to join the Touchdown Club. Lion football alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
 
All membership fees and donations to both the Touchdown Club and S Club (football) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern football program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics instituted a clear bag policy for all ticketed events, effective with the start of the 2018 football season. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit www.LionSports.net/clear.