Eastern Kentucky University head football coach Roy Kidd and his staff will welcome back 15 starters among the 35 lettermen returning for the upcoming 2000 season as the Colonels hope to improve upon last year's 7-4 overall record and 4-3 mark inside Ohio Valley Conference competition.

Kidd begins his 37^th season at the helm of the Colonels, just seven wins shy of becoming the seventh coach in NCAA history to collect 300 coaching victories. Kidd's collegiate coaching record, all at Eastern, stands at 293-112-8.

Seven weeks into the 1999 season, Eastern was leading the OVC at 3-0 and stood 6-1 overall with a top 25 ranking in all three I-AA polls. But Eastern's top two quarterbacks - Waylon Chapman and Chad Collins - were hobbled by injuries the rest of the way. EKU, for the third time in the past four years, also lost star roverback and team leader Scooter Asel to a season-ending injury (broken leg).

EKU could not recover from these setbacks, dropped three of its last four contests and finished the season tied for third place in the league standings.

Enthusiasm abounds, however, in the Colonel camp for 2000 as seven starters return on each side of the football, plus punter Luke Anderson is back.

Senior tailback Corey Crume (5-11, 222) returns after receiving second-team All-OVC status, leading the Colonels in rushing and finishing second in the league in this category with 942 yards and nine TD's. He stands as the school's 12^th all-time leading rusher (2,259) and has rushed for 28 TD's in his Colonel career.

Also returning for the Colonels are Chapman (6-3, 224, senior) and Collins (6-0, 208, senior) at quarterback.

Before being injured in the eighth game of the year against Tennessee State, Chapman was among the conference leaders in pass completion percentage and was on a pace to break the school record for TD passes thrown. He finished the year hitting 100-174 passes (.575 percentage) for 1,295 yards and 13 TD's, playing in parts of 10 games.

Collins, who was only able to play in seven games, hit 43-71 (.606) passes for 458 yards and four TD's. Battling these two for playing time at the signal-caller slot will be redshirt freshman quarterback Shedrick Wright (6-1 ½, 215).

Completing the backfield for the Colonels will be returning sophomore fullback Chad Culver (5-11, 242) who rushed for 123 yards and scored a touchdown, while providing excellent blocking for the Colonel tailbacks.

Perhaps, the strength of the team lies in the excellent corps of receivers back for the Colonels as EKU's five wideouts from last season all return.

This talented group is led by senior flanker Tyrone Browning (6-0, 187) and senior split end Alex Bannister (6-5, 202). Browning, with a late season's rush, edged Bannister for the team lead in receptions with 45 catches for 486 yards and five TD's. Bannister finished the year with 44 catches for 661 yards and eight scores.

Other Colonel receivers back include senior flanker Anthony Boggs (5-8, 179), 16 catches for 306 yards and three TD's; junior split end Nick Towns (5-10, 171), 13-151-0; and senior flanker Matt Sharp (5-11, 197), 7-83-0.

Two starters, senior tackle Lewis Diaz (6-1, 258) and senior guard Brett O'Buck (6-4, 290), return along the offensive line for Eastern. Diaz was a second-team All-OVC selection in 1999.

Other lettermen returning for Eastern on offense are senior tailback Maurice Clark (5-10, 207); junior Jacob Johnson (6-3, 301) who has moved from offensive guard to center for the 2000 season; junior longsnapper Jake Sims (6-4, 249); sophomore fullback Corey Pritchard (5-10 ½, 215); sophomore tight end Antonio Brooks (6-3 ½, 255); and junior offensive tackle Howard Jones (6-2, 314).

Defensively, starters returning include senior end Shorty Combs (6-1, 250), sophomore end Nick Hill (6-0, 236), junior linebacker Nick Sullivan (6-2 ½, 220), senior linebacker Adam Rader (5-11, 213), sophomore free safety Yeremiah Bell (5-11 ½, 187), junior strong safety J.D. Jewell (6-0, 188) and senior cornerback Kris Nevels (5-9, 165), who is Eastern's leading returning tackler from a year ago with 74 hits (44 tackles, 20 assists).

Bell, Nevels and Jewell each had an interception last season. Bell had 62 tackles, Rader collected 60 hits, Combs had 40 and Hill totaled 38 hits. Hill was also second on the team in tackles for loss (8 for 55 yards) and third in QB sacks (3.5 - 21). Combs was third in tackles for loss (7-42) and led the team in quarterback sacks with 4.5 for 31 yards in 1999.

Lettermen who were part-time starters last year for the Colonels on defense were sophomore Sunsett Graham (5-8 ½, 195), senior tackle Chad Carpenter (6-4, 266), senior linebacker Tim Gibbens (6-1, 240) and junior end Randy Lawrence (6-1, 252).

Other lettermen back for Eastern on defense include sophomore linebacker Jason Crockett (6-1, 231), sophomore linebacker Marcus Hopkins (6-2, 226), sophomore cornerback Jonathan Jackson (5-9 ½, 186), sophomore linebacker Thomas Morgan (5-10, 223), sophomore strong safety Tim Roberts (5-10, 186), senior linebacker Butch Printup (6-0, 212) and senior free safety Lawrence Walls (5-11, 192).

Back to handle the punting chores for Eastern is junior Luke Anderson (6-3 ½, 225), who finished last season with a very respectable 39.8 yard average, good enough for fourth in the league. He and his punt coverage teammates combined to place second in the conference in net punting (37.8).

Others who saw playing time last season for the Colonels were sophomore defensive tackle Graham Trimble (6-3, 261), junior offensive guard Keionne Mangram (6-1, 299), junior tackle Brent Fox (6-3, 278), junior offensive guard Jason Strothman (6-0, 290), senior defensive end Reggie Montgomery (6-0, 257), junior defensive tackle Chris Thurman (6-0, 275) and sophomore defensive end Joe Herbert (6-2 ½, 250).

Stepping up this season to collegiate football after being redshirted their first season at Eastern are defensive back William Randle (5-10, 183), placekicker Jamie Flynn (5-9, 181), tailback Aaron Murray (5-9, 200), center Mike Dunn (6-3, 244), tackle Clay Guillaume (6-3, 279), tackle Andy Miller (6-3, 309), defensive tackle Adam Green (6-4, 267), guard Saint Martin (6-1, 298) and defensive end Brad Thomas (6-1, 228).