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The Hardin Simmons Cowboys are a team we need to be ready for opening day.
Head Coach Jesse Burleson had his best season as the Cowboys' head coach last year, 9 and 2, but he said that doesn't mean anything right now. This year's team is this year's team.
Coach Burleson said, "It's a culmination of almost nine months of work, so they understand, and they know what the expectation are, and they're not going to be satisfied. They know that last year was last year, and we've got to go prove it on the field every single week this year, and that's what we're looking forward to going and doing."
Burleson added no position is set in stone, and there are no returning starters, and that competition drives these guys.
Ryan Breton said, "Yeah for sure. I think the competition, it drives us, and it pushes us. It makes us work harder each day because, like we just finished talking about, nothing's set in stone. You have to earn your reps, and earn your playing time, and that's what we're out here doing. Just trying to get better each day."
Now the Cowboys might be ranked tenth in the nation right now, but that's just a preseason poll, and like most teams say, the numbers are just that. They're just numbers, and don't mean anything right now, so these guys are ready to get out there and prove themselves in 2016.
Breton said, "Those polls are just numbers, you know they don't mean anything. We haven't earned anything. Last year was last year, and that's something we've been kind of focusing on, that this is a new team, so we have to come out and earn it each week."
Cory Ward said, "We stay level headed. We don't like to get on there and look and see what rank we are. We just like to go out there play day by day."
The Cowboys get to start proving themselves on Saturday against Southwestern.
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