ASHLAND – Three weeks stand between the second-ranked Southern Oregon University football team and its 2016 opener at Frontier Conference rival Eastern Oregon. On Saturday, the Raiders took the field as a full squad for the first time as preseason camp began in earnest at Raider Stadium.

A few notes as SOU's sixth fall with head coach Craig Howard gets underway:

Inside the Numbers: In 2014, the Raiders started camp with 125 players, which at the time was the largest group in the Howard era. In 2015, after the program's first NAIA title, the number spiked to 140. To the delight of the coaching staff, it's down to a more manageable 108 this season. Included are 61 players back from last year's roster, 15 of whom redshirted, and a senior class of 18.

Introductions: Several changes to the coaching staff were announced at the beginning of spring practice, and again when James Gravelle was promoted to defensive coordinator following Berk Brown's departure, but Howard has made two additions to the staff since then: former NFL linebacker James "Buster" Davis and SOU alumnus David Zauher.

Davis will coach the defensive line, a role that was previously handled primarily by Brown. A native of Daytona Beach, Davis is connected to Howard (as well as offensive coordinator Ken Fasnacht) through their Florida roots. Davis played college football for Bobby Bowden at Florida State, where he was an All-Atlantic Coast Conference first-team selection and a second-team NCAA All-American as a senior in 2006. He was drafted in the third round by the Arizona Cardinals in 2007 before landing with the Detroit Lions. After a promotion to the active roster and an appearance in one game for Detroit, he played six games (and started three) for the Indianapolis Colts in 2008. His coaching career has included stops as an assistant at Glenville State (W.Va.) and University of South Dakota, though he's been a high school head coach the last few years. Most recently, he served as head football coach and athletic director at Massanutten Military Academy (Va.) in 2015.

After transferring to SOU from Shasta College, Zauher led the Raiders in tackles during both the 2003 (65) and '04 (97) seasons while starting every game at linebacker. The native of Redding, Calif., who earned a business degree at SOU, is back to assist with the linebacker corps. Before recently moving to the Rogue Valley with his wife, Alisha, and son, Alijah, he was the defensive coordinator at Anderson High, just south of Redding.

Filling the Gaps: Unlike last year, the coaching staff won't spend camp trying to pick a quarterback; senior Tanner Trosin, who finally tipped the scales with a breakout performance in the second half of SOU's second game, has that job firmly in hand. But offensive coordinator Ken Fasnacht and defensive coordinator James Gravelle have their eyes on two spots where the Raiders lost several key players: the receiver positions and the secondary.

The offense lost three of its top four in catches, with three-time Frontier Conference all-star Matt Retzlaff being the exception. Retzlaff moved to the outside last year out of necessity but should be able to move back to the slot thanks to the return of speedster Sean McShane – who totaled 500 yards and five touchdowns in 2014 but sat last year with an injury – and the addition of transfer Matthew Boudreaux, a deep threat who had 12 TDs and averaged more than 20 yards per catch last year at L.A. Valley College. Long redshirt-freshmen Jordan Suell (6-6) and Stanford Toloke (6-3) could also become factors out wide.

"Outside receiver will make or break us," Fasnacht said. "We used some smoke and mirrors last year to hide our lack of speed and had to move Matt when he's supposed to be our big inside guy. If the outside can develop, teams won't be able to take away some of the things they did last year and we'll have that element of fear out there like we did when we won the national championship."

In the secondary, the Raiders still have AJ Cooper, who emerged as a reliable starting cornerback midway through 2015, and Julius Rucker, who was named an All-American safety after his breakout junior season. Keegan Lawrence has transitioned from running back and is pushing for the other starting safety spot, Gravelle said, and the competition is on the corner.

"The emergence of a left corner is going to be big for us," Gravelle said, naming College of the Siskiyous transfer Drakkar Sweet, redshirt-freshman Clayton Jones and junior Kyle Alexander (who sat 2015) as possible candidates. "We have to find the best guy there, but overall I was really excited about the enthusiasm and how we moved around on the first day."

Briefly:

• Expect more touches at running back for Louis Macklin, who Fasnacht said is moving into a feature role after averaging 7.5 yards per carry on 55 attempts last year. He also noted the addition at tailback of Rey Vega, a product of Modesto, Calif., who spent the last three years at Portland State and was California's Division IV player of the year as a senior at Central Catholic High.
• The Raiders remain deeper and more talented at linebacker than any other position. They return nine who saw the field and five who started in 2015, including a healthy Tyson Cooper, who earned a starting job but was lost four games into his true freshman season due to injury.
• Howard and Fasnacht have both referred to Tylor King, SOU's 6-6 offensive tackle and Frontier all-star, as an All-American. King hasn't actually received that accolade yet, but he'll push for it in two sports this year: Last spring, in his first season on the Raider track and field team, he became the Cascade Conference shot put champ and placed 12^th at the NAIA Championships.

Coming Up: The Raiders will hold their first two-a-day practices on Sunday, the second of which will mark their first practice in full pads. Their first intrasquad scrimmage will be at 10 a.m. on Friday, and they'll host College of the Siskiyous for a scrimmage on Aug. 25.