Roles for Southern U captains expanded

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- After rigorous weightlifting and a slew of sprints and other conditioning exercises, the Southern football team’s June 15 voluntary summer workout was over. Well, it should have been.

Instead of a stroll back to the locker room, a refreshing shower and some grub to recover from their 5:30 a.m. session, the 30 or so players had to drop to the ground, do a push-up and hop back to their feat, over and over.

More up-downs, and this time, it was by choice. Why? “Somebody was late,” offensive lineman Chris Browne said. That kind of self-meted punishment is one example of a team that’s gearing up for 2012 intent on having more leadership and better discipline than in the first two years under coach Stump Mitchell.  Mitchell said those two areas are among the main culprits that ...

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