August is upon us, and that means one thing at Tarleton State University: football season is coming and practices are in full swing for the 2014 season. The Tarleton Texans are looking to not only repeat a season like last year’s but improve even more so to go further in the postseason. The Texans are coming off a 7-3 overall and a 5-1 Lone Star Conference record after winning the Lone Star Conference Championship – their first since 2009.

“For us, it’s about our unfinished business,” said head coach Cary Fowler in an interview with media relations. “We won the conference but…we didn’t play in the playoffs and our bowl game got canceled so it feels like we didn’t even win a championship because there was nothing at the end of it.”

In the offseason, the Texans have made several changes on the field both player and coach wise.  The Texans welcomed a new Offensive Line coach, Coach Mason Miller. The Texans also welcomed 40 new players, which included both freshmen and transfer students.

To help guide the Texans to a championship, preseason favorites are senior wide receiver Clifton Rhodes III and junior defensive back Charles Moore.

“We’re hungry and we want to win so badly,” said Rhodes. “We know how it feels to be called ‘champions’ but not to be able to play for anything. It’s going to drive us to take that next step.”

The Tarleton State Texans came out in the number one spot off the preseason polls and hope to take that number one spot with them for the rest of the season, with Fowler ready to lead the team to victory.

The Texans begin their season Sept. 13 in Canyon, Texas against West Texas A&M University at 7 p.m.