LORMAN &045; Way back in 2001 as a freshman, Dwan Wilson played a considerable amount and showed what kind of potential he had.

Four years later after playing in his final game, he can see the same thing in some of his teammates. No area on the 2004 Alcorn State team had more young players than the defense, including a number of true freshmen at starting slots.

But when the Braves left Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium Saturday following their season-ending win over Jackson State, there was a twinge of optimism for things to come next season and beyond.

&uot;Lester Mosley did a great job playing (strong outside) linebacker,&uot; Wilson said of the true freshman. &uot;We had two freshmen out there (against JSU), and they stepped up big time. If everybody stays together, they’re going to be all right. They’re growing tremendously. They stepped up and helped us out.&uot;

The Braves may not have planned the season to go that way, but a number of true freshmen picked up valuable playing time in 2004 and earned starting spots. The biggest roles were on the defensive line, where three freshmen rotated in the two tackles slots alongside a new starter at one defensive end.

Then there was the middle linebacker position that featured Mosley and Antonio Cooper, both true freshmen, before Leo Nobles moved there with first-year Braves Terrance Barnes moving to Nobles’ previous spot at strongside linebacker.

&uot;They produced, didn’t they?&uot; Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas said. &uot;Our freshmen played extremely well. They just rose to the occasion. Our defensive line is freshmen. They’re talented but inexperienced, and they rose to the occasion for us (against JSU).&uot;

The inexperience and the transition up front made the Alcorn defense a target for bullish running games from the opposition. The unit suffered its first bad break during the offseason when returning defensive end Michael Howleit was declared academically ineligible, and the Braves went with undersized sophomore Bryan Woods at his position.

Throw in freshmen Robert Browne, JoJuan Johnson and Oren Long at tackles and a freshman at middle linebacker midway through the season, and run-oriented teams may have foamed at the mouth.

But the unit got better, and the freshmen got better each game. Against Jackson, Johnson tipped up a Steve Haren pass and came down with for a rare interception by a defensive lineman.

Cooper also came up with an interception against Jackson.

&uot;They’ve grown tremendously,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;We made (Jackson) one-dimensional and were able to put pressure on the quarterback. We just had an outstanding effort from all of our defensive guys, and we’re happy about that. I’m talking about the entire group &045; our defensive line played well, our linebacker played well and our defensive backs played well.

&uot;When we had to shut down the run, we shut down the run. Cooper came in and did a great job for us.&uot;

The freshmen on the defensive side were only part of the youthful picture for the Braves in 2004. The offensive line had freshmen at guards in Justin Telemaque and Rashaud Cole with first-time starter Chris Seymour at center and loses only Jon Herman at tackle.

The offense has a number of players back, including game-breakers Nate Hughes and Charlie Spiller at receiver. The Braves lose four years of experience in Donald Carrie at quarterback, but Oliver Bozeman showed Saturday he may be ready to accept the starter’s position.

&uot;I feel we’ve got people on both sides of the ball who can make big plays,&uot; Bozeman said. &uot;We have freshmen on offensive line and defensive line, and we’ve got our receivers coming back and our DBs coming back. I feel like we can come together to win a championship for the seniors that left this year.&uot;

The offense didn’t have the rushing attack it had hoped for, but injuries played a big part in that. Yet the Braves lose just one man in their three-back rotation with Robert Lester leaving and Vernardus Cooper and Jeremy McCoy returning.

But others are waiting in the wings, many of which didn’t play this season behind seniors. The coaching staff was plenty satisfied back in February when they reeled in well over 30 solid recruits in what was their biggest class ever.

Now the challenge is to keep everyone together, and they’ll determine later how good the class really was. The Braves have knocked on the door of the SWAC Championship in each of the last two seasons and are certainly heading in the right direction after finishing off their fourth straight winning season.

&uot;We won’t know,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;We’ll determine their success with their amount of championships you win. We haven’t won a championship yet. They’ve got to stay four or five years. Once they leave here, we’ll know where they stand whether they were the best we recruited or not.&uot;