Turnout for summer program adds power to Indians' football

Southeast Missouri State University continues to see an increase in its football team's voluntary summer strength and conditioning program.

That kind of commitment offers hope that the program's building process is headed in the right direction, coach Tim Billings says.

About 50 players are currently participating in the voluntary summer strength and conditioning program and that total should jump to about 65 by early next month, which would mean roughly a 90-percent participation rate.

"Every year it's increased and this is the largest group we've had. I'm excited about that," said Billings, about to enter his third season as the Indians' coach. "Just about everybody that's going to play this year will probably be here in the summer.

"Like anything else, the more you put into it, the harder it is to give it up. It shows you the kind of commitment our players have made."

Southeast players generally lift weights four times a week and do various conditioning, agility and speed work twice weekly. They put in about two hours each day under the direction of Paul Helsel, the strength and conditioning coach for all Southeast sports.

Helsel, hired late last summer, worked with Billings at Marshall. Billings has credited Helsel with helping develop a strong weight program at Southeast and Helsel likes what he has seen from the Indians so far this summer.

"We're so much bigger and stronger than we were last year," Helsel said. "Our skill players have put on anywhere from five to 12 pounds and our linemen anywhere from 15 to 20 pounds, all good weight.

"We won't test until the end of the summer, but the numbers in some of our lifts have gone up 20, 30, even 40 pounds."

Helsel, who was hired too late to direct last year's voluntary program, said the players' choice to not go home for the summer shows him a lot.

"The thing is, these are voluntary workouts. By NCAA rules, we can't make them be here," he said. "I know this is the biggest group we've had stay here and it shows their level of commitment.

"This is the time of the year when leaders emerge. We stress to them if they want to win championships, they have to come together as a team and this is a big part of that."

Junior-to-be Eugene Amano, already a two-year starter on the offensive line, is from California but he elected to stay in Cape Girardeau the past two summers.

"It's a team thing," he said. "We're working together toward one goal. That's why we're out here.

"It really builds team unity. Championships are won in the weight room. It's where it happens, right here."

O.J. Turner, a linebacker who had a solid freshman season last year, is a Central High School product who would be in Cape Girardeau over the summer anyway. But Turner said he's impressed by his many teammates who made the commitment.

"A lot of people are a long way from home, but they're staying here," he said. "That's really something and I think it's going to make us a better team."

mmishow@semissourian.com

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