Bears heading into big year

This feels like it could be the Mercer football team’s year to take the next step.

And it makes sense. The Bears are entering their fourth season since their program rebooted in 2013, and they are entering their third season in the Southern Conference.

The first season was played without scholarships as the Bears opened their program with a non-conference setup in the Pioneer Football League.

But then the Southern Conference came calling, and that was too good for Mercer to turn down, so scholarships were added as Mercer left the A-Sun for a new conference and a perfect fit.

The 2014 season was played with partial scholarships, and the depth issues that can cause were easily seen as the Bears competed hard but came up just short in several conference games. That was still somewhat of an issue last year as the Bears won two conference games (they won one in 2014) but still suffered several close losses (eight of their 11 since joining the conference have been by single digits).

In 2016, depth should actually be an advantage for the Bears. Entering last season, Mercer returned just about everyone on its roster, but the rest of the conference’s teams had a ton of returners, too. This season, the Bears still have most of their key players back (22 offensive and defensive starters return), but the other conference teams have seen the regular turnover on their roster.

Granted, that kind of roster turnover will hit Mercer next year as there are 30 seniors on this roster. But that’s a problem for the Bears to address after this season. This fall, there is plenty of excitement surrounding the team, and it’s easy to see why.

John Russ is back under center at quarterback, and he has started all 35 games for this program. Alex Lakes is healthy at running back, and Chandler Curtis is healthy at wide receiver. The tight ends and offensive linemen are another year bigger and stronger.

Defensively, there is depth (there’s that word again) and competition all over the lineup. Those are two things that Lamb and his coaching staff haven’t enjoyed much of the past few seasons. The defensive front is strong and talented, while Tosin Aguebor leads a deep and versatile group of linebackers. And there are playmakers all over the secondary.

Lamb has talked this summer about holding his breath in past seasons and hoping starters didn’t get hurt. Lamb can exhale this season because of the program’s new-found depth, and that’s a big reason the excitement continues to build for the fall.

That starts right off the bat with the schedule. The Citadel, which shared the conference title last year and reached the FCS playoffs, likely will enter Five Star Stadium for the season opener as a ranked team. Next up is Mercer’s first game against an FBS program at Georgia Tech.

That’s a heck of a way to kick off the season, and it should be one heck of a season.

This story was originally published July 20, 2016 at 9:37 PM with the headline "Bears heading into big year."