SEWANEE, Tenn. — More Sewanee football players than ever before reported for preseason practice Thursday, including an unprecedented group of 43 freshmen.

And not a single player failed to meet his informal camp-starting conditioning standard, which senior Chris Murphy said Friday was a first in his time with the Tigers.

“Everybody worked hard during the summer. Everybody’s on the same page,” said the 5-foot-8 wide receiver and kick returner from Sylacauga, Ala. “Everybody’s ready to go.”

Sewanee won its first game with Robert Black as head coach last year — 30-21 over a Westminster (Mo.) team that would win four games — but wound up 1-8. The Tigers lost eight league games for the first time ever, but four were by four points or less and two were by 14 and 10.

Even after two blowout defeats, they regrouped to lose by only two points to Birmingham-Southern and old rival Rhodes in the last two games. They went into the offseason determined to buy even more fully into Black’s and his assistant coaches’ teachings, Murphy and other players said, and their faith grew after Josh Taylor was hired from Samford as the school’s strength and conditioning coach and the linebackers coach for football.

With 49 returners in better shape than they were a year ago and freshmen from 17 states expected to produce some immediate impacts even beyond depth, the Tigers expect to turn some of those close losses into victories this year. The players chose the motto “finish” for the coming season.

“Finish a play, finish a drive, finish a game,” Murphy said in explanation. “There were a lot of times last year where one play made the difference in the game.”

Clayton Harrison, a junior linebacker from Ridgeland High School who led the Tigers in tackles last year, said the team wilted several times to opponents’ superior depth in fourth quarters.

“We were still tough,” he said, noting that star running back Blake Mears played the last three games of his senior season with a torn ligament, for example, “but we just couldn’t finish as well as those other teams.”

“We were really young,” said junior quarterback Patrick Shelton, who emerged from a competition for the starting spot a year ago and went 98-of-176 for 1,119 yards and six touchdowns, with eight interceptions.

He’s No. 1 going into this season, with Ridgeland grad Brient Hobbs also providing experience, and he said junior Trey Reliford from Jefferson County High is ready to replace Mears in the backfield.

Black said Sewanee should be more comfortable with the pro-style offense it used the last part of the 2007 season, focusing on high-percentage passes, but will keep the option game available as a change-of-pace.

“We got our teeth knocked in twice last year, but in the other six games we had the opportunity to win in the fourth quarter,” Black said. “We’re in a very tough conference and games are still going to be close, so that word ‘finish’ is very important. But we’re further along depth-wise, talent-wise and in experience.

“We asked our players in the offseason to do a lot of things they’d never done before. We can’t make them — we don’t own them — but they bought in to what we want and they worked hard. I’m really pleased with our returning upperclassmen. We have a small senior class, but I really like those guys.”

Harrison echoed that.

“We’re all confident with this group of seniors we have this year,” the linebacker said, mentioning center Ben Scott, defensive back Tyler Brantley — president of the school’s Honor Council — and Murphy and fellow receivers Bruce Bentley and Chima Ikwuezunma as “just some” of those.

Other steady seniors include place-kicker Andrew Gould from Murray County and offensive tackle Andy Jarrett.

Jarrett was second-time All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference last year, as were Murphy and fellow return man Chalankis Brown, a hard-hitting sophomore cornerback.

“I’m looking forward to this season,” Brown said. “It takes a team, and I want to give the team everything I have. We had some growing pains last year, but we learned a lot from that. It’s a process, and I think we’ve come a long way.”

The Tigers’ season opens Sept. 6 at Westminster in Fulton, Mo. They host Washington & Lee on Sept. 13 as part of Hall of Fame weekend.

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