Teddy Keaton took Stillman College to a 7-4 record in 2011 in his first season as head coach, an improvement of four victories over the previous season. But Keaton, who previously served on the Stillman staff as an assistant, doesn’t want to rest on last year’s record.

“The history at Stillman is we have a good record every four or five years and then we’d fall back,” Keaton said. “The thing this year is, do we fall back or do we take the next step forward.”

The Tigers return 16 total starters and should have the luxury of depth this season. The question is how well Keaton and his staff can prepare the team to get through the entire season — Stillman lost three of its last four games last season after a 6-1 start.

“Depth is a key impact for us,” Keaton said. “The biggest thing is to try to get them to become mentally tough. The goal is to go 1-0 each week. We want to be consistently consistent. We’ve been, in the last, what I would call consistently inconsistent.”

Stillman has 120 players out for football this fall and had 96 participating in the early part of preseason camp. Keaton wants to identify which players can help the team this season so he can concentrate on building a depth chart.

“What it equals is you have some experience,” Keaton said. “We’re stressing fundamentals. Limiting mistakes is the biggest thing. They do a better job of understanding everything.”

All-America defensive tackle Jeremy Hall, wideout Roger Dixon, running back LaKevin Camp, offensive lineman Robert Weekley, linebacker Larry Harris and safety Robert Crosby are the players Keaton expects to provide leadership. read more…