BEAUMONT, Texas – Lamar University football wrapped up its 2025 spring camp Thursday – head coach Pete Rossomando's third at the helm of the program – with the inaugural Coach Payton Spring Game. Played in front of one of the largest crowd's for a spring game in program history, fans were treated to a defensive battle that saw the LU White squad defeat Lamar's Red team, 7-3.
 
The two defenses combined to force four three-and-outs before the White team got on the board with a one-yard touchdown from senior running back Xavier Coleman 10:30 into the first quarter.
 
Both defenses were tested early with quick turnarounds. After forcing a three-and-out, both squads were placed in a position of quickly returning to the field due turnovers early into the next possession and both squads responded with stops.
 
Nicholas Brown led the White squad with a game-high eight tackles, while Jackson Bandy added four. Alexandre Dedieu also added four tackles including two sacks. He was one of four players on the White squad to record a sack as the two teams combined for eight sacks.

"I thought from practice one to practice 15 that our defense has improved pretty much everyday," said Rossomando. "We had some flatlines moments but overall they have improved everyday. Offensively, I thought we hit our stride early in camp. You have to have some give-and-take or else you're going to be really bad on one side of the ball. We started to have some real give-and-take later on in camp and I think that is good. It shows that the defense has improved and that the offense had the ability to punch back. 

"We also lost a lot on our specialists but our three - Ben Woodard, Mason Stallons and Andres Sandoval - had a great spring. Ben is returning but we lost a punter and a snapper, and that was an area where we needed to improve and we did. We've work a lot on that in the spring," added Rossomando. 
 
The White team also forced a fumble, recovered two, broke up two passes and recorded a quarterback hurry.
 
The Red team was led by Dillon Dixon's seven tackles while Jamarion Evans added four stops. The Red Cardinals combined for three sacks, two quarterback hurries and six pass breakups.
 
 Redshirt freshman Aidan McCown started for the White squad and completed 5-of-12 passes for 38 yards and led the drive that ended in a touchdown. Lumberton native Lucas Powell completed 5-of-9 attempts for 48 yards. He also carried the ball twice for 12 yards.
 
The White team's touchdown – a Coleman one-yard plunge up the middle – was set up by a 52-yard scamper from Coleman just moments earlier. He finished the game with four carries for 55 yards (13.8 ypc). The White squad finished the night with 23 carries for 140 yards (Damien Moore had a game-high eight carries for 41 yards).
 
Senior Jakolby Longino got the start for the Red squad and completed 7-of-10 passes for 109 yards. Transfer Mekhi Hagens completed 6-of-14 passes for 37 yards. Lamar did not throw an interception from any of its four quarterbacks Thursday.

"I thought this was a good spring camp for us," said Rossomando. "We really accomplished a lot of things that we wanted to. We had some new coaches on the offensive side of the ball so it was good to get those guys working with their coaches. It was good to get through spring with a new staff and get those guys on the same page. I think we're really strong in a lot of positions but had to polish some things up. We had a lot of guys leave at certain positions, like inside linebaker, so we had to get some answers and I think we did. It's the same situation in the secondary. We graduated a lot and we've had some guys really step up."