Starting for the Cowboys will be Lawayne Ross, who earned preseason first-team all-Southland Conference honors at the position despite playing all last season at running back.

As a part of McNeese’s rushing attack, Ross tallied 218 yards and two touchdowns on 48 carries. He also caught 11 passes for 53 yards and a touchdown, which raised the eyebrows of some coaches who saw potential for him to fill a gap at tight end after the departure of Zach Hetrick.

The coaching staff’s idea behind putting the 6-foot, 264-pound Ross at the position is to use his surprising agility and size to either make secondary defenders miss or have him run through them.

Ross said he has the ability and size to make big plays.

“In open space against the little corners and safeties and stuff like that is where I’m most valuable,” Ross said.

Ross admittedly said he wasn’t thrilled about the position change when he first heard about it at the beginning of spring camp.

But after spending some time at the position, he began to see what his role would become and how he could help the Cowboys succeed.

“I got used to it in the spring,” Ross said. “At first, I wasn’t really into it at all. But I got a couple reps, started catching some balls and making some plays, so now I’m liking it. I feel comfortable.”

Behind Ross the Cowboys have junior Austin Nelson, who thought he may never play again due to a brain tumor doctors discovered in August of last year.

Nelson went to the doctor on his birthday last season with complaints of seeing double and trouble with vision in his right eye.

“My birthday is August 12,” said Nelson. “You don’t expect to hear you have a brain tumor on your birthday.”

Fortunately for Nelson the tumor was not cancerous and he was able to have the tumor removed with a low risk of reoccurring after extraction, doctors told him.

Nelson was forced to sit out last football season, but after a successful surgery in January and some time in rehabilitation, he was able to return to the baseball field where he served as a designated hitter for the Cowboys.

Now he’s back playing tight end for the football team, and says he has the respect of everybody in the locker room, especially head coach Lance Guidry.

“Man, it’s a thing of beauty,” Guidry said of seeing Nelson in pads again. “I can’t even imagine somebody going through that and being able to play baseball and hit a ball being thrown that fast at you.

“Then he comes out here and puts a helmet on his head, and he really don’t flinch. He’s just a tough kid. I guess they grow them tough in Sulphur.”

Now the duo of Ross and Nelson will try to help the Cowboys at a position neither was certain they’d be playing last season.

That’s particularly fitting for a team with the season motto “The Last Ride,” meaning players should treat every day, play and moment like it might be their last.

“You just never really know what’s ahead of you,” Nelson said. “I try to approach it like a new day. This this is the day I am in, and this is what I have right now. I’m just going to do the best I can.”