SEWANEE, Tenn. -- Sewanee won one won football game in Robert Black's first season as head coach in 2007 and won two in his second year, and the former Sewanee player ultimately might be relieved to at least continue the pattern with three victories this season.

But it's clear he wants more, and it's clear he thinks accelerating the progress is very possible, even though the teams his Tigers beat the last two years are no longer on the schedule. Westminster (Mo.) was a nonconference victim each of the last two seasons but is off the slate for 2009, and fellow Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference member Colorado College dropped football earlier this year.

Sewanee opens the season Saturday at longtime interleague opponent Washington & Lee in Lexington, Va., which beat the Tigers 24-12 last year.

"It's a process. The entire deal is a process," Black said this week. "Everything we're doing is positive. Every year I've been here we've made improvements in every regard. The players are buying in, the coaching staff is settled and we've had consistent recruiting.

"But our great challenge is that we play seven games in a really good conference -- it's like the SEC of Division III -- and we start with a historical rivalry against Washington & Lee, which is a very good football team, and Hampden-Sydney, a top-20 team."

But Sewanee has some growing strengths of its own, most notably preseason All-America cornerback Chalankis Brown, who last spring set the SCAC record for the 100-meter dash, and senior Stuart Rast on the other side. Brown led the league with seven interceptions in 2008 and returned those pickoffs a total of 186 yards.

Jeremy Character from a very experienced defensive line was another All-SCAC first-teamer, and top tackler Alfonza Knight is bigger and faster and has been moved from linebacker to safety. Patrick Shelton is set for his third year as the starting quarterback and was second-team All-SCAC last year, and former Ridgeland High School standout Brient Hobbs has moved from quarterback to free safety for his senior year and is showing good instincts there, Black said.

Similarly, Trey Reliford has moved from running back to linebacker for his senior season, leaving sophomore Ben Cleveland from Texas to battle two freshmen, Tyner's Michael Poarch and Floridian Chuck Winfield, for carries.

Asked if Poarch, who was fourth in his high school class, is going to play a good bit, Black couldn't hold back a sly smile.

"He's going to run it a little bit," Black said. "We have a host of freshmen doing a great job. I think we have good competition at every position, and that makes a big difference."

Junior McLain Still from Baylor is the starting center after moving from defensive end, and senior Clayton Harrison from Ridgeland is back from a knee injury as a starting linebacker.

"I think we've got a good team, but our job is to win games," Black said.