HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University football team will open spring practice Tuesday at Strawberry Stadium.
 
The Lion football team has 15 practices scheduled for its spring practice session, which runs through March 23. SLU will practice Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:50 p.m. and Saturdays at 4 p.m. Southeastern's 10 a.m. practice March 9 will kick off Super Lion Saturday.
 
Southeastern returns three All-Southland Conference performers. On defense, first team All-SLC defensive back Ian Conerly-Goodly returns, while the Lion offense brings back second team all-conference running back Harlan Dixon and wide receiver Darius Lewis. Lewis was also a first team All-Southland selection at punt returner.
 
Seventh-year SLU head coach Frank Scelfo is excited to see his team grow over the next five weeks.
 
"This is my favorite time of year, because you can see your team come together and what they're all about," Scelfo commented. "We want to see who is going to step up into leadership roles for us and which young guys do the things necessary to earn bigger roles as major contributors. It's an exciting time for our team to learn and grow together.
 
"We want to see improvement on the offensive side of the ball," Scelfo continued. "We weren't productive enough offensively last fall, while our defense played well. But we've lost key players on both sides of the ball, so this spring is part of a brand new process. Last year's results don't have any bearing on what we do this year, so we have to focus on what we have in place now."
 
As spring practice gets ready to start, Scelfo announced several coaching staff changes and additions. All new hires and title changes are pending approval by the University of Louisiana System's Board of Supervisors.
 
Anthony Scelfo, who has been a part of the offensive staff since the 2021 season and coached wide receivers and served as the passing game coordinator last fall, has been elevated to offensive coordinator and will coach quarterbacks. Scelfo replaces Greg Stevens, who is now the offensive coordinator at Utah Tech.
 
"Greg Stevens did a great job for us and we're pleased to be able to elevate Anthony," Frank Scelfo commented. "On the defensive side, we've elevated position coaches to coordinator three times now and we find it really is beneficial to the continuity of our program. Anthony has coached several different positions during his time here, so he's familiar with our personnel and our process."
 
Dustin Landry, who coached linebackers for Southeastern in the 2022 and 2023 seasons, will now coach the secondary.
 
"We felt like we lacked some communication in the back end last season," Scelfo said. "We believe moving Dustin, who has done a great job with our linebackers, to the role of overseeing all of our secondary positions will alleviate those issues."
 
To fill Landry's spot, Scelfo has brought back Trey Nunez, who served as a defensive analyst during the 2022 Southland Conference championship season, to coach the linebackers. Nunez spent the 2023 season as a graduate assistant at Louisiana Tech.
 
"We're excited to have Trey back with us," Scelfo said. "He understands the standards we have in our program and he's a great addition to our staff."
 
With Anthony Scelfo now overseeing the offense and working with the quarterbacks, Frank Scelfo has turned to Alvin Slaughter to fill his role coaching wide receivers. A veteran coach, Slaughter was most recently at Central Michigan and coached at Northwestern State for five seasons.
 
"Alvin was someone who always impressed me when I would cross paths with him on the recruiting trail," Scelfo commented. "Northwestern State always had a strong wide receiver group when Alvin was there and we're excited to have him back down south with us."
 
Southeastern opens the 2024 season at Tulane. The nonconference slate also includes visits to Southern Miss and Tarleton State, while Eastern Washington and two-time defending FCS national champion South Dakota State visit Hammond.
 
Southland Conference foes UIW, Northwestern State and Texas A&M-Commerce come to Strawberry Stadium this fall, while the Lions will travel to Nicholls, McNeese, HCU and Lamar in league play.  
 
TICKETS
For ticket information, contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit www.LionSports.net. Southeastern will continue offering mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets for the 2023-24 season. All tickets will be available via e-mail or text message in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Football, follow @LionUpFootball and @Coach_Scelfo on X, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and follow lionupfootball on Instagram.
 
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 observes a clear bag policy for all ticketed events. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit www.LionSports.net/clear.