Return of Saturday Night Lights: Corsairs seek to continue conference streak
The Santa Monica College Corsairs' football won all seven of their conference games in the 2014-15 season.
After four seasons consisting of 27 straight Western State Conference wins and four consecutive conference championships for the Corsairs, led by coach Gifford Lindheim, are looking to add a fifth title to the resume.
"In order to continue to be successful, we have to stay true to the process," said Lindheim.
Coach Lindheim's winning formula has proven to be a success by translating into wins on the field.
"[We] recruit the very best players and people we possibly can and coach them as well as we possibly can," Lindheim said.
During his four year reign at the top of the WSC, Lindheim collected four consecutive Coach of the Year honors.
Coach Lindheim's process of bring out the untapped potential of his recruits, has proven successful by giving a stage for talented players to shine and find a way to continue on their football careers at NCAA Division-One programs across the nation.
His alumni include: Paris Bostick (Oregon), DeJuan Butler (Hawaii), Melvin Davis (Hawaii) from the 14-15 season; QuJuan Butler (Iowa State), Dontae Livingston (East Carolina) from the 13-14 season; Alfonso Medina (Weber State), Marcus Manley (California) from the 12-13 season and Alexandru Ceachir (UCLA), Aaron Boesch (San Diego State) and David Mayo (Texas State/ Carolina Panthers draft pick) from the 11-12 season.
"At a JC where there is basically a 2 year player cycle, the only thing guaranteed to happen is change. Our roster is constantly changing for various reasons. That's the nature of Junior College," elaborated Lindheim.
"We're always trying to find the pieces to the puzzle each year and continually looking to upgrade our personnel and our program."
Lindheim is confident of the talent of the team he sees thus far. "Our strength looks to be at QB and WR, DL, and CB," Lindheim said.
For the upcoming season, the Corsairs look to be lead by recent University of Washington transfer, former #1 high school dual-threat quarterback in the nation back in 2013, Troy Williams.
Williams experienced playing in several Division-One football games while at Washington; getting to play against ranked teams, Arizona State and University of Oregon last season.
In the wide receiver position, SMC will utilize the talents of two players receiving plenty of interest from higher level football programs across the country. Deon Hall and Cameron Chambers are attracting the attention of scouts from universities from University of Southern California to University of Colorado and Louisiana Tech.
Both of those players will likely continue on to play higher levels of football in the near future.
Returning for the defensive line for the Corsairs, Freeman Coleman from Omaha, Nebraska, a player who out of high school attracted the interest of grandfather programs like University of Nebraska and Michigan.
Impact player, defensive back, Keino Mitchell will look to shine in the secondary. Previously in high school, he caught the eyes of Boise State, Utah, Arizona and San Jose State but never got the chance to play for any of those programs.
Tentatively those are simply a few names to watch out for, but as Lindheim puts it, "we still have many players that are scheduled to join us this summer. There is a lot of competition that needs to take place this Summer and through Fall camp."
"One of the things that we do is to coach the entire football team each and every practice," Lindheim stated.
Will the Corsairs football team be able to continue it's success and conquer the conference again?
Coach Lindheim is definitely coaching up each and every player on his team because as he puts it, the growth "allows us to be better prepared for uncertainties."