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CARBONDALE (SIU ATHLETICS) -- The Southern Illinois football team begins Spring Ball practices on Wednesday, and head coach  met with the media today to preview the 2020 season. 

Saluki Athletics also announced the schedule and ticket pricing for the 2020 season. Season-ticket renewals will be mailed this week, and fans who renew early will be entered into  Renewals can be purchased on-line using Ìý²¹³ÙÌý. New season ticket buyers can select seats beginning April 4 at the Spring Scrimmage.

"When we play SEMO at home, a regional rivalry, there's no reason why that stadium shouldn't be filled," Hill said. "Our second home game is Family Weekend against Northern Iowa, who is probably going to be ranked third or fourth in the nation. Whether it's a point or a touchdown or a third-down stop, just because we had a full stadium and it was loud (could make a difference)." 

"For us to take that next step it's a collective thing, it's a school-wide thing, it's a community thing. At the end of the day, it's us going out there and doing it on the field."

Spring Ball Roster Breakdown

Quarterback (4): 3 Kare Lyles, 6 , 8 , 12 

Running Back (4):Ìý1Ìý, 15 , 36 Tremayen Lee, 38 

Tight End/Fullback (4):Ìý14Ìý, 18 Levin MItchell, 43 , 48 

Wide Receiver (8):Ìý2Ìý, 11 , 17 , 27, 81 , 83 ,Ìý

84Ìý, 88 

Center/ Guard (9):Ìý53Ìý, 59 , 60 , 62 , 63 , 64 ,Ìý

65Ìý, 66 , 73 

Offensive Tackle (7):Ìý56Ìý, 70 , 71 , 74 , 75 , 76 ,Ìý

79Ìý

Defensive End (6):Ìý11Ìý, 44 , 58 , 91 , 92 , 99 

Defensive Tackle (6):Ìý56Ìý, 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 98 

Linebacker (12):Ìý20Ìý, 21 , 28 , 29 , 31 , 33 ,Ìý

34Ìý, 40 , 42 , 45 , 52 , 54 

Safety (7):Ìý1Ìý, 6 , 16 , 24 , 32 , 35 , 37 

Cornerback (5): 4 , 18 , 19 , 22 , 26 

³§±è±ð³¦¾±²¹±ô¾±²õ³ÙÌý(4):Ìý47Ìý, 91 , 97 , 99 

Opening Statement

There's nothing like getting back out there on the field. Everything is equally important when you look at the 12-month calendar. Everything matters. The past six weeks, the off-season program with our strength program, have been really important for us. We've seen a lot of guys make big gains. We end our off-season training with a big lake run tomorrow, a 2.5 mile run, we open it up to the public, so if you want to get out there and come run with us, you're more than welcome to. We'll practice five times and then take a week off for spring break, then come back for our last 10 practices. Looking forward to getting into the details. I told our guys that's where we're going to make our strides in spring ball. Every day, every rep is important, those fundamentals, those little gains that we have to have individually and collectively � offense, defense and special teams � then we'll come out of spring ball a better team. It's a great opportunity to look at some of our younger guys that redshirted. We'll identify some guys who can really help us out this year who maybe didn't play as much this past season. Spring ball is a great time for a team to grow and get better. You have to be focused because you only get 15 practices and only 12 of them can be in pads. It goes by pretty quick. Our coaches have made some adjustments, some things we're going to look at schematically. 

°¿²ÔÌý at the NFL's Scouting Combine this weekend and speculation of him going has high as Round 1 in the April draft.

I think he has a great opportunity to show that he's one of the best athletes in the entire draft. I know that's what he's looking to do. I'm proud of him. When you start talking about first-round draft pick, you're talking about an elite level that doesn't come around much no matter where you play. It's life-changing for sure. Jeremy can handle it. That stage isn't too big for him. He has high expectations for himself. He's humble but confident and I'm excited for his future to sit back and watch him like a fan.

Will Karé Lyles be the starter at quarterback?

Karé's our starter going into the spring. I don't know if anything in life is set in stone. Everybody has to come out and compete and re-earn their job every single day � me, our assistant coaches, everybody. Karé will go out there and get the first snaps, he knows that, and everybody in the locker room knows that, but there's a lot of good quarterbacks in that room that will compete and push. That's what makes a great team. Every position has to have competitive balance, and we have to recruit that way.

Comparison with Spring Ball 2019.

There's a lot of continuity coming back. That's hopefully what you see out there at practice, getting lined up and working on details. This time last year, there were a lot of new parts � Karé and Stone (Labanowitz) competing (at QB), a brand-new defensive staff trying to get guys lined up. Now, in year two, you can start to dive into the details, work on some corrections.

Will there be a player who replaces Chinn or will scheme be adjusted?

I think it's our job to figure out what those guys can handle. We played several games without Jeremy � two this year where he was hurt. Joe (Patterson) came in and did a great job. Seeing what (Colorado transfer)  can do and what his strengths are. Moving those guys around, Coach (Jason) Petrino will do a great job with that. Scheme-wise � what does this team do the best and not getting too far away from what our beliefs are in what we do. 

On replacing the leadership from last year's team.

Every year you lose great leaders. D.J. (Davis) and Jeremy were two of the best leaders we ever had here. Coming off a tough season and starting 2-4, if we don't have those two men in the room, then we don't change it around. Last year we had 10 seniors. This year, with the two grad transfers, we have 21 seniors on our team. The guys who were in the 2016 recruiting class have been with me all five years. They should be able to get up and lead a team meeting the first day of spring ball. Some guys have to emerge and take over those roles.

On the linebacker corps.

We don't lose any linebackers off last year's team and I felt we played at a high level. Bryce (Notree) was lost for most of the season and got back and played in the North Dakota State game and ended up playing a lot more snaps than we thought. We want to have our three best linebackers on the field. Bryce has not played Sam as much but he did a pretty good job against NDSU. Makel (Calhoun) played well, had several tackles for loss. He's coming off of shoulder surgery. He and Lucas Giegling have both been productive players and done a lot of good things for us.  was doing a great job all last spring and tore his labrum and now he's back fully healthy. We have great depth. We'll probably hold off of Cody (Crider) as a sixth year player with those (knee) injuries. Last year at this time he was out there at running back trying to find out of he wanted to play football or not. He comes out and has an All-Conference season. He'll be involved in a lot of the coaching and installs. We're excited about the linebackers for sure.

On playing at Wisconsin in Week Two

That's a top-10 environment to go and play in. It's something they'll always remember. Those are things people look forward to, parents look forward to, alumni look forward to. We'll go up there just like we have, prepared to win the football game. Our guys will think no different. They're going to be a heckuva team, they're physical. To be honest with you, our main focus throughout the summer will be to prepare for UT Martin, and then we'll prepare for Wisconsin just like we would for any other team that's Week Two on your schedule. 

On using last year's playoff snub as motivation.

We've put the season behind us, but not forgotten about it, either. We don't need motivation. I heard (Virginia coach) Tony Bennett say, and I've used their team a lot as a reference, they went from the worst loss in college basketball history and had 365 days of thinking about it and used it the right way and went and won a national championship � same group of guys. He said, adversity, if used the right way, can buy you a ticket to somewhere you couldn't have been before. That's what we have to do. We have to use that adversity to make us better, sometimes recall on that feeling, to get you going when you don't feel like getting going. We have a great group of guys who will do that. There's no feeling sorry for us. We have to win more games, we have to concentrate on every rep and every day you have to get better. 

On his recent contract extension.

I'm excited to be a Saluki. I've been excited every day I've been here. That doesn't change. I'm grateful to represent the university I played for. I told our team in our book club, we were talking about what it means to be a Saluki and leave your legacy. In 2004 I came here. I'm proud to be a Saluki and represent this program. Until my keys don't work I'll continue to come to work and do the best job I can.

°ä²¹²ÔÌý ever return to the QB room?

He's a good passer. That's a key for us as a coaching staff of managing what we put on his plate and what feel like is best for this team, but you'll see him back there behind center quite a bit. 

How close is the program to challenging North Dakota State? 

What I see is a program that's ready to take that next step. It's just not going to happen � there's work to be done. When I sit in front of recruits and tell them the expectations are to win a National Championship, I feel like that's not just quotes on a wall, or saying that and not really believing it. I feel like our guys and our staff have a firm grip. We've been there and seen what has to be done and the players we have to recruit and we're set up here to get that done.