Football joins new conference
This season, the University of Indianapolis football team will be returning many starters, but will face new opponents in a new conference.
Failing to make the last postseason, the Greyhounds returned to work on building what they had learned and apply it to the season ahead.
As the Greyhounds returned to the drawing board, this year’s team wanted to become both physically faster and stronger.
UIndy football team prepares for their first season in the GLVC conference, as their offense and defense scrimmages in their team portion of practice on Aug. 17. Photo by AJ Rose
“For us, our season never ends,” said Head Coach Bob Bartolomeo. “The big help to our football program, as well as our athletic program, I believe, is the addition of our strength guy, Steve Barrick. Steve has taken the weight room to a new level, and our kids have bought into his method of strength training and training in general—not just the strength part of it, but the flexibility and all the things that go into play, in terms of being a better athlete.”
The end of the last school year brought new changes.
In recent years, the football team typically prepared for competition within the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
This year, however, the Greyhounds prepared for new opponents, in what will be the inaugural season for football in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
The teams included in this conference are programs such as Urbana University, William Jewell College, Saint Joseph’s College, Quincy University, McKendree University, Missouri S&T, Kentucky Wesleyan College and Central State University.
Following the conclusion of the first annual GLVC Football Kickoff, held this past July in St. Louis, the UIndy football team was heavily favored by the GLVC football coaches to win the inaugural GLVC football championship this fall.
“Being in a new conference is exciting, because UIndy has been in this conference [GLIAC] for so long,” said senior wide receiver Mar’quone Edmonds. “It’s just time to have something new, and just to face new competition. As far as being voted No. 1, I feel like that’s better for us because it puts the pressure on us to compete every day in practice and work hard, because we know other teams are going to work hard to beat us.”
Bartolomeo said that the team was happy about the No. 1 vote, but until the team went out to play their schedule, nothing mattered.
“They [GLVC opponents] know each other a little bit better,” Bartolomeo said. “You can watch as much film as you want, but until you play somebody, you really don’t know them.”
Although so much of this season will be new for the UIndy football team, this year’s roster features 16 returning starters.
On offense, nine starters will return to the lineup, led by junior quarterback Chris Mills and Edmonds. On defense, seven starters will return to the lineup, with senior linebacker Max Davis leading the defensive side of the ball once again.
Bartolomeo said this year’s team will be exciting to watch.
“In terms of what people can expect, they’ll expect a competitive team,” Bartolomeo said. “One [team] on offense that will be able to throw it [the ball] and run it. We have some explosive players, starting with the quarterback and really starting with the offensive line, which doesn’t get a lot of credit. Those guys have all played a lot of football. Defensively, we will be a ‘get after it’ defense. One that will fly around and make some plays and play with a lot of enthusiasm.”
While the Greyhounds are predicted to emerge victorious at the conclusion of this inaugural GLVC football season, Edmonds said that meeting this expectation is the team’s No. 1 goal, and with that hopefully a few more additional wins.
“We want to win that [GLVC championship], that’s our number one goal; we expect to win,” Edmonds said. “Then with us winning the conference, we want to take a shot at the playoffs and hopefully get to a national championship.”
Bartolomeo said that the team can go as far as they are willing to take themselves, a message that he and his staff stressed to the players early on in the season.
“The sky is the limit for this team, and we told them that in January,” Bartolomeo said. “We were inches away last year, and I think we learned a valuable lesson from that last game.”
Bartolomeo said that the team’s experience would also give them a great chance towards the end of the season to be successful.
“We’ve got a chance,” said Bartolomeo. “Everybody has a chance. But you know with the numbers back, ours is as good as any.”
The Greyhounds’ season gets underway when they play Ashland University on Aug. 30 at 7 p.m.
