Hoffman excited about new players on Mercer roster

Bob Hoffman’s Mercer basketball team has plenty of new faces this season – eight, in fact.

But Hoffman joked he’s not worried about that as the Bears open practice Friday.

“Oh yeah, I’m old,” Hoffman said. “I’ve had lots of different groups. I think the strength of our team is going to end up being our depth, our ability to have different kinds of lineups. And I really think we have a chance to have the best shooting team we’ve ever had.

“Just energy, a different style of play. We’re going to be big. We can be big. We can be small. We’ll have more competition for positions than we’ve had the last two years. That always leads to better practices and more accountability.”

The Bears have three freshmen on the roster: guards Darius Roy and Ross Cummings and center Mac Brydon.

The rest of the new faces are transfers: Ria’n Holland, a junior guard from Indian Hills Community College; Rashad Lewis, a junior guard from Tallahassee Community College; Ryan Johnson, a sophomore guard from Tallahassee Community College; JJ N’Ganga, a senior center from New Mexico; and Stephen Gavin, a sophomore guard from Hilton Head Prep.

This story was originally published September 29, 2016 at 2:52 PM with the headline "Hoffman excited about new players on Mercer roster."