CARTERVILLE – The John A. Logan Volunteers officially open practice on Monday, Oct. 2, and coach Kyle Smithpeters is optimistic about the upcoming season, but knows there is a lot of work to do with his young squad.

Logan returns only one player, 6-11 Aaron Twist, from last year's team that finished 24-7 and won the Great Rivers Athletic Conference.

"I like the talent and desire of our players, but we have to do a lot of teaching to get in our offense and defense," Smithpeters said.  "Everything is new, but the players are ready to learn.  I was impressed with their work ethic during fall conditioning drills.  They worked extremely hard and they want to be good."

Despite having only one player back the Vols do have several transfers with collegiate playing experience.  Ronnie Carson, 6-1, played at Three  Rivers, Jaiveon Eaves, 6-3, at the University of Evansville, Ben Moss, 5-11, at North Iowa College, and Derek Hawthorne, 6-3, played at Marian University in Indiana.

Two players are coming off high school state championship runs.  Damion Taylor, 6-7, played on Vashon's 2016 state championship team in Missouri and Romelo Burrell, 6-6, played on Morgan Park's 2017 Illinois state championship squad.

"I'm excited to get started," Smithpeters said.  "We will get an early look at our team in the second annual Midwest Jamboree on Oct. 22 at the SIU Recreation Center.  There will be 12 top junior college teams in attendance."

Logan will play Southwest Tennessee, and Moberly and Mineral Area from Missouri.

The Volunteers will open the regular season on Nov. 1, hosting the Bethel College JV team.