By Amanda Guerriero

With only four starting positions up for grabs, the football team’s 11 new recruits will have to fight for playing time next season.

Coach Joe Gardi was impressed with both the academic and athletic abilities of the new recruits, but has not made any decisions regarding the starting line-up yet.

“I feel good about the players that we got, but it won’t be until the first few weeks of training camp that we can see what kind of players we have to work with,” Gardi said.

There will be a need for a center next season, but Gardi said he does not think he will look to his new players to fill the position without exhausting his veteran players first.

Of the 11 athletes who sent national letters of intent stating their plans to play football next season for the Pride, the defensive backs will have the most opportunities to snatch playing time next season, Gardi said.

“The offensive lineman will take a while to see some playing time,” said Gardi, highlighting the overabundance of offensive lineman on the team.

Coach Gardi, also said there was a strong possibility that many of the new recruits will have to go through the red shirt process. He said the process would be better for some of the incoming players because they could be utilized in future seasons rather than being thrown in the mix when they may not be needed.

Gardi admitted that the University lost many of the players they had hoped to recruit to other teams in the conference, but the newcomers are a ‘smart football class.’

With their GPAs just under 3.0 and the average SAT score close to 1100, Gardi said he predicts the recruits will succeed both on and off the field.

Looking ahead to the next season’s schedule, which was released on Feb. 8, the Pride will face four teams who made the I-AA Championship playoffs and competed in the championship quarterfinals.

“We always get the toughest schedule,” Gardi said, but he is confident that his team will be ready for it.