Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team welcomed 100 newcomers to campus as the Cru kicked off the defense of its American Southwest Conference championship on Monday. The newcomers spent the day checking in, going through physicals and having team meetings. The 100 student-athletes will hit the practice field for the first time tomorrow morning at 8:45. The Cru’s 79 returning football players will report to campus on Wednesday and will join the newcomers for the first full team practice on Thursday morning at 8:45. An additional 24 newcomers are expected to report on the first day of classes next Wednesday to give the Cru a total of 203 players in camp for the fall. The players will put on the pads for the first time next Monday, August 20th, at 8:45 AM. This will be the second largest reporting class for the UMHB football team, trailing only the 220 players who reported for the first season of Cru football in 1998.

“We say it every year, but I am really excited about this class, because I think it is the best we’ve ever had,” UMHB head coach Pete Fredenburg said. “We have some really good size, good speed and some real athletes. We are so excited to get them on the field that we changed the way we do things to bring them in before the returners. That was we can get a better feel for what the new guys can do, because we think we can really count on some of them helping us out this season.”

UMHB returns 10 offensive starters and six defensive starters from a team that finished 10-3 overall last year. The Cru won the ASC after going 8-0 in league play and advanced to the national quarterfinals and finished 8th in all three of the major final national polls last year. UMHB will kick off the 2007 season with a 6:00 PM home game against Christopher Newport University on September 8th.