Quarless welcomes more than 60 players into camp for spring drills beginning this afternoon at McAndrew Stadium. The team is scheduled to have 63 participate in spring drills, including 32 returning lettermen.

Included among the offensive returnees are senior quarterback Kent Skornia, junior wide receiver Cornell Craig and running backs junior Karlton Carpenter and senior Bryan Nolbertowicz. Defensive returnees include linemen sophomore Tavita Tovio and senior John Evans, defensive backs senior Sam Wilkerson, sophomore Jean Baptiste, and senior Dan Gutierrez, and sophomore linebacker Dante Stovall.

Quarless also lost six players from last year’s returnees. Juniors Kris Fisher, Jaton Jackson and Kareem Vaughn and sophomore Mike Teiber chose not to return, while Marcus Capone and Doug Reicherter left the team for personal reasons.

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Quarless also has 12 recruits who are expected to join the squad in August after signing national letters of intent this spring. But he is cautious to announce the end of depth problems that plagued the team during a 3-8 campaign in 1997.

Improving our overall team depth and rushing defense will be two major goals this spring along with developing offensive consistency, Quarless said. We’re also hopeful of having better numbers when we open camp next August, but that’s still a concern as bodies alone aren’t the answer.

This is a tough, strong Division I-AA league and we need to improve our overall skill level and experience before we’re ready to make a serious move up.

Roundtables set for Tuesday and Wednesday

A pair of roundtables on the SIUC campus featuring former professional team and SIUC baseball team members highlight the school’s celebration of the American pastime.

The roundtables are conducted in recognition of the 30th anniversary of the Saluki baseball team’s first appearance in the College World Series and the inauguration of the Writing Baseball series at SIU Press.

The first roundtable, set for 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Lesar Law Auditorium, will feature four former major league officials and players who will discuss baseball policy. Participants include Gene Callahan, former Director of Government Relations for Major League Baseball; John Haddock, co-producer of Black Diamonds, Blues City:Stories of the Memphis Red Sox; Josh Johnson, former Negro League player; and Jerry Mileur, former owner of the minor league Harrisburg Senators.

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Richard Peterson, editor for Writing Baseball, will serve as moderator. A screening of Haddock’s 56-minute movie is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m.

The second roundtable, set for 10 a.m. Wednesday at the SIUC Museum Auditorium in Faner Hall, features four current and former SIUC team members who will discuss college baseball. Participants include Dan Callahan, SIUC baseball coach; Brad Benson, Saluki senior baseball player; Itchy Jones, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign baseball coach and former SIUC baseball coach; and Kevin Waldrop, former professional baseball player and member of the 1977 SIUC College World Series team.

SIUC Sports Information Director Gene Green will serve as moderator. The Salukis then battle UIUC at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Abe Martin Field.

For information, contact 453-6824. These events are co-sponsored by the Saluki Athletic Department, the Public Policy Institute, Black American Studies, the College of Liberal Arts and SIU Press.