What a difference a year makes.

When Miles kicks off its Spring Football Game on Saturday, head coach Sam Shade will be far more comfortable than when he led the Golden Bears through the 2022 iteration of the spring practice finale.

"We've had a chance to take our players through an entire offseason this year," Shade said "Last year, we didn't start until mid-February. We were still putting our staff together. Our coaches were installing our offense and defense during spring practice last year."

Playing the catch-up game didn't bode well for the Golden Bears, who won just one game in Shade's first season. But he, nor his team, are dwelling on the 2022 campaign.

"People should be excited. It's a new year. The 2023 edition of the Miles College football team is 0-0. This year starts (Saturday) with the Spring Game."
Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Albert J. Sloan-Alumni Stadium and there is no charge for admission. The format of the game will feature the offense versus the defense with four 12-minute quarters using a running clock. The defense will start the game with a 24-0 lead. The offense will look to overcome the deficit.

"We want to challenge our offense to score points," Shade said of a unit that scored just less than 14 points per contest in 2022. "When I played, we talked about holding a team to 17 points. The way the rules have changed, that number has been pushed up to about 24 points. We want to score at least that many to win games."

The Golden Bears are looking for a new quarterback to run that offense this season and three of them will be prominently featured on Saturday. Dexter Scott, a redshirt freshman who was on the team last season, and transfers Mekhi Norris – a junior from Cahoma Community College – and Kam Ivory, a Ramsay High graduate coming in from Alcorn State, are atop the depth chart heading into the Spring Game.

"They've all showed some good things," Shade said. "We just need to see some more consistency out of them."

The defense played well in spurts last season and will be anchored by a defensive line that features Roosevelt Thompson, Zion Sharpe, JaMichael Rogers and Roc Dowdell. But Shade said he is looking for new names on both sides of the ball to push Miles back into SIAC championship contention.

"After 15 practices and morning workouts, we have a good idea on who can help us in the fall, and who might be a year away. We want to see who's going to play for us," Shade said.

"But I can tell you that we're in much better shape than we were last year. We're way ahead of where we were last year."