Kennesaw State football coach Brian Bohannon wants to see leaders emerge from this first set of spring practices.
He doesn’t care if it comes from a freshman, a sophomore, a junior or senior.
By the sheer numbers, it seems likely that it won’t come from one of the four seniors — that’s right, four — on the team.
But those four seniors do bring the experience, if not a lot of playing time, to the Owls as they continue to prepare for the inaugural opener at East Tennessee State on Sept. 3.
“We need guys stepping up when things are tough and there’s some adversity,” Bohannon said. “That’s unique to a start-up. You don’t have guys that have been through it and played.”
Bohannon said he isn’t going to demand that the four seniors, wide receiver Prentice Stone, A-back Ryan Godhigh, defensive back David Stevenson and center Brett Gillespie, become the team’s leaders.
But it is natural to think that they should be.
They are ones you have been on road trips. They are the ones who have been taught how to handle the nerves running through the tunnel and smoke before games.
Some have seen the less-than-pretty parts of college football: coaching changes or a lack of playing time that can affect players in different ways.
With the exception of Stevenson, each made his way onto the roster through one of the tryout camps. All four were at other schools before matriculating to Kennesaw State.
Stone starred at Sprayberry High before enrolling at Eastern Kentucky. He returned home to Marietta because of a series of injuries and family needs. He said it’s odd to have so few seniors, but he embraces the possibility to become a leader.
“At Eastern I was a new guy looking up to a whole class of seniors,” he said. “Now, being one of the four, it’s a big responsibility and trying to teach the young guys how to do things the right way.”
Godhigh, younger brother of former Tech running back Robert Godhigh, was at Jacksonville State. Unhappy with the experience, he left and transferred to Kennesaw State, where he decided to give football another shot, winning a spot after one of the tryout camps.
He said he is trying to apply lessons learned with the Gamecocks, where he thought he was “the top dog” as a freshman, to his new team.
“When you come into a school as a freshman you have to understand that whether or not you are playing, you still have to be all in for the team,” he said. “You have to give your heart regardless if you are the first or the last. It doesn’t matter how old your. If you can beat the seniors you can play.”
Stevenson brings the most FBS experience to the Owls. He played in 11 games during three seasons at Connecticut. Coaching changes there led him come home, where he starred at Stephenson High, so that he could play his final seasons in front of his family.
Though he is a transfer with more FBS experience than any other player currently on the roster — there are unnamed transfers expected this spring and this summer — like the other four seniors he isn’t on scholarship.
But Stevenson talks as if he wants to be a captain as he explains what he is trying to teach the less-experienced players. It sounds just like what Bohannon wants to see.
“It’s a great deal of responsibility to teach the younger guys how to carry themselves, how to approach practice and how to approach the game,” he said. “They have to bring it every day. You have to earn everything that you get. If you did it once yesterday you have to do it again today to keep getting better.”
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