Life University will visit Charlotte this coming weekend to take on Air Force and Navy coming off two games where the Running Eagles scored 195 points.

Head Coach Scott Lawrence is pleased with the opening of the 2016 portion of the season, and while those two blowouts were against well-regarded South Carolina and Clemson, Lawrence dismissed the significance.

“We’re probably in a better position in our buildup than they were,” Lawrence told Goff Rugby Report. “I don’t think they’ve had much time together.”

Generous words from a Head Coach who expects precision in all things. Despite running in all of those tries, Life was “not as precise as we wanted to be, certainly in defense,” said Lawrence. 

But it’s all good considering the players had to deal with the change of coaches - Tui Osborne moving to Buffalo and Lawrence coming in. 

They handled it well, said Lawrence. 

“Each team finds its way, and we’ve had a lot to adjust to - we’re freshman-loaded and they were adjusting to school and the demands of being a student-athlete,” explained Lawrence. “Now, with the fall behind them, the personalities come out a bit more. We’ve got a really strong leadership crew.”

Lawrence asked for upperclassmen to take younger players under their wing, and, he said, “the response was a bit overwhelming. I was really pleased with how the older players wanted to see others succeed.”

It was a kind of mentoring relationship that the coaching staff halfway planned and halfway found their way into, explained Lawrence, and it is working. This isn’t necessarily a squad of marquee players, but they are becoming a marquee team nonetheless.

“We’re just a hard-working crew,” said Lawrence.