April 7, 2009

RUSTON -- The captains have been chosen, the teams have been drafted and the line has been drawn heading into Louisiana Tech's T-Day Spring Game Saturday at Joe Aillet Stadium at 1 p.m.

Louisiana Tech's football staff meeting room turned into a War Room Tuesday night following the Bulldogs 13th practice of the spring as head coach Derek Dooley sat at the head of the table surrounded by this year's senior-class-to-be.

The task in front of those Bulldog players ... to draft their teammates for this weekend's event which is free and open to all LA Tech fans.

With a flip of a coin, the White Team -- who is captained by seniors Thomas Graham, Ben Harris, Kwame Jordan, Dustin Mitchell, Shawn Simmons, D'Anthony Smith, and Deon Young -- earned the coveted first pick of the draft and took junior quarterback Ross Jenkins.

"I feel really good about our team," said Graham, who served as the official spokesman during the draft for the White Team. "We drafted a lot of guys off the starting defense, and we got Ross at quarterback who is 2-0 in these games so far.

"We have pretty much the entire starting defensive line who I think is going to dominate that Randy guy or whoever is starting at quarterback for them."

And with that, the official trash talking started.

"All I got to say is I wish the other team luck because it's going to be hard to try and tackle me," said running back Daniel Porter who is one of seven captains for the Red Team, joining teammates Antonio Baker, Zach Booker, Joel Hall, Adrian Logan, Dennis Morris and Brian White.

"I'm going to be running hard, full speed, and right at them. Be looking for me to run all over their defense."

Porter and Co. countered their opposition's selection of Jenkins by selecting his normal snapping partner in starting center Lon Roberts with their first pic. It was the first of a number of strategic selections during the hour-long event.

Graham and the White Team's strategy was to keep Porter -- a first team all-WAC selection last year -- in check by drafting a majority of the Bulldogs starting defensive linemen, including Mason Hitt and Matt Broha who will also team up with Smith and Jordan up front.

"I know Porter is probably talking a lot of trash about how many touchdowns he is going to score, but I think our defense is going to shut him down," Graham said.

Smith agreed with his teammate's assessment.

"I think we did pretty well," Smith said. "We got pretty much the entire D-Line on our team, and I think three out of the five starting offensive lineman and that s where it starts, in the trenches."

In addition to drafting their teammates, the two teams also selected coaches, support personnel and athletic administrators.

Nick White and Sean Fox who will serve as the guest media head coaches were also selected as White will lead the White Team while Fox will walk the sideline for the Red Team.

"I feel especially good about our head coach Sean Fox," Porter said. "I mean it's his show, it's named after him so he must be good. He's a real cool guy on the radio so we're excited to have him."

Graham was touting his head coach as well.

"I'm real excited about our coach Nick White," Graham said. "He's not afraid to tell it like it is and that's what we need in our head coach. I know him and Fox get into it on the show a lot, and I think Nick is going to come out on top in this one.

"I think he has a good idea about the game and I think he knows how to handle the pressure of being a head coach better than Fox does."

The contest will be comprised of four 10-minute quarters with a 15-minute halftime.

Season ticket for the 2009 Bulldog season are on sale and can be purchased by calling 318-257-3631, emailing techtickets@latech.edu or logging onto www.latechsports.com.

Red Team

3 Randy Hardin QB

4 Tarence Calais DB

5 Dale Wallace K

7 Steven Ensminger QB

9 Cruz Williams WR

11 DeMarcion Evans DB

16 Darrius Terry DB

18 Adrian Linwood WR

19 Sumner Ellis DB

20 Daniel Porter RB

24 Andrew Guillot RB

29 Zach Booker RB

32 Joel Hall K

34 Antonio Baker DB

35 Olajuwan Paige CB

36 Brian White LB

40 Kiamni Washington LB

42 Tristan Broussard FB

44 Adrien Cole LB

48 Dusty Rust LB

49 Dennis Morris TE

55 Jonathon Zeno LB

59 Kevin Saia OL

60 Lon Roberts OL

61 Jared Barron DL

64 Corbin Best OL

72 Will Taylor OL

75 Michael Lacy OL

76 Cudahy Harmon OL

79 Kris Cavitt OL

83 Adrian Logan DE

85 Randy Grigsby DL

86 Eric Fiege WR

87 Clayton Chambers TE

92 Philip Longino DL

93 Christian Lacey DL

94 Ramone Randle DL

Coaching Staff

Stan Eggen -- LBs

Chino Fontenette -- RB

Sean Fox -- Guest Media Coach

Ed Jackson -- Strength and Conditioning

Terry Joseph -- DBs

Ben Larson -- GA

Pete Perot -- OL

Frank Scelfo -- OC/Quarterbacks

Support Staff

Keith Bunch -- Athletic Trainer

Dennis Carr - Custodial

Kurt Demars -- Student Equipment Manager

Missy Farrar -- Student Success Specialist

Tyler Ingram -- Student Video Coordinator

Ryan Jones -- Media Relations

Leslie Kiletico -- Recruiting Office Coordinator

Jon LeBlanc - Student Video Coordinator

Brett Ritter -- GA Athletic Trainer

John Sella -- Media Relations

Jeff Springer -- Head Equipment Manager

David Snyder -- Head Video Coordinator

Dawn Jason -- Student Academic Assistant

Administration

Eric Buskirk -- Associate AD/External Ops

Mason Ellenberger -- GM LA Tech Sports Properties

Lori Hamilton -- Assistant to Athletic Director & COO

Dana Petitt -- Athletics Accounting Technician

Tommy Sisemore -- Facility Director

Bruce Van De Velde -- Deputy A.D./COO

Zach Williams -- Assistant AD/Ticket Operations

White Team

1 Richie Casey WR

5 D'Anthony Smith DL

6 Phillip Livas WR

8 Shawn Simmons S

8 Tym Toussaint DB

10 John Hinton K

10 Colby Cameron QB

10 Lamar Haddox WR

11 Ross Jenkins QB

14 Cade Glasgow K

15 Josh Victorian DB

18 Todd Pfaffenberger K

20 Alex Anglin DB

21 Dominique Faust LB

24 Todd Spence DB

25 Deon Young DB

26 Myke Compton RB

28 Terry Carter DB

30 Drexel Perkins DB

32 Allen Gilbert RB

39 Roosevelt Falls FB

41 Cornelious Nickelson RB

43 Dustin Mitchell TE

45 Jay Dudley LB

50 Jacob Miller OL

52 Thomas Graham DS

53 Adam Hymel OL

56 Solomon Randle LB

62 Ben Harris OL

63 Steven Warner OL

67 Jared Miles OL

68 Chris Tusch OL

73 Josh Parrish OL

74 Rob McGill OL

80 Houston Tuminello WR

83 R.P. Stuart WR

89 Chandler Spence TE

90 Mason Hitt DL

91 Matt Broha DL

96 John White DL

97 Kwame Jordan DL

98 Eric Harper LB

Coaching Staff

Jimmy Brumbaugh -- DL

Damon Harrington -- Strength and Conditioning

Conroy Hines -- WR

Aaron Lips -- Strength and Conditioning Intern

Kyle Manley -- Strength and Conditioning GA

Tommy Spangler -- DC

Mark Tommerdahl -- TE/Special Teams

Nick White -- Guest Media Coach

Support Staff

Cody Bell -- Assistant Equipment Manager

Bradley Choate -- Student Equipment Manager

Jeff Cooper -- Grounds

Michele Dummett -- Athletic Training

Greg Greathouse -- Student Video Coordinator

Linda Lewis -- FB Operations Office Coordinator

Anthony Palmore -- Custodial

Patrick Pierce -- Custodial

Kyle Roberts -- Media Relations

Marvin Roberts -- Student Video Coordinator

Masahiro "Hagi" Takahagi -- GA Athletic Trainer

Aaron Thacker -- Assistant Video Coordinator

Natalie Fasullo -- Student Academic Assistant

Administration

Leah Beasley -- Assistant AD/Marketing

Malcolm Butler -- Associate AD/Media Relations

Mary Kay Hungate -- Deputy Athletic Director

Kayla Hunt -- External Affairs Assistant

Lisa Merritt -- Assistant AD/Academics

Josh Perot -- Account Executive/LA Tech Sports Properties

Marie Pipes -- Chief Financial Officer

Chance Snow -- Ticket Office Associate