Prospective football players will get the chance to prove themselves when the program hosts its 12th annual open tryouts on the practice fields across from D.L. Ligon Coliseum April 6.

According to quarterbacks coach Adam Austin, the two-hour-long tryout will start at noon, and will be open to both high school and college athletes alike.

“Generally, the open tryout is for athletes who have been overlooked for the 2013 recruiting class and haven’t had any offers anywhere,” Austin said. “It’s also an opportunity for current MSU students who want to come out and tryout, and also for four-year university transfers and junior-college transfers that want to come show the coaches what they’ve got.”

The estimated 60-100 athletes in attendance will run through a gauntlet of agility drills, the 40-yard dash, the broad jump and position-specific drills in an attempt to gain a spot on the football roster for the 2013 season. Participants will also be measured and weighed, and the tryout will end with competitive, one-on-one drills.

While the dream for most high-school athletes is to continue their playing career into their college years, statistics are not on the side of the more than 1 million students playing high-school football, as a report done by the NCAA Eligibility Center estimated that only 61,000 will ever play on a collegiate football field.

However, these statistics that haunt would-be football players are only another obstacle on their way to glory.

According to Defensive Line Coach Randy Wilkins, while some guys that come out to the open tryout are wasting their time, there are a few gems discovered. Last year, three wide receivers found a spot on the football team, including Jaston Reese, a freshman in computer science.

“I was extremely excited when I made the team and realized that my hard work was just the beginning,” Reese said.

Reese only played two years of high-school football before his time at MSU. He played at Rockwall Heath High School during his sophomore year before transferring to a 1A Fulton School in Heath, Texas his junior year, where he had to sit out until his senior year.

Reese had offers to play at the University of the Incarnate Word, Oklahoma Baptist University and Mississippi College coming out of high school but instead chose to attend MSU and to attempt to walk on.

“I knew MSU had a very good football program,” Reese said. “My mom is the one who set everything up and encouraged me to go to the tryout.”

Reese said the tryouts were demanding.

“I went through one-on-one against a cornerback, a series of cone drills and they took my 40 time,” he said. “Just thinking about maybe one day being a MSU football player was enough motivation to make it through the tryout.”

Although he didn’t make the depth chart last season, Reese has been hard at work to change that this upcoming season, constantly working on getting faster, stronger and improving his footwork and blocking techniques.

“We’re in spring football right now, so it’s still being evaluated,” wide receivers coach Roderick Taylor said. “But (Jaston and the other receivers) are doing a pretty good job and they’re working hard.”

Along with the open tryouts, the football program is preparing for another tradition – the spring football game April 13.

While the time and location has yet to be announced, it will be played on either the MSU practice fields or at Memorial Stadium.

In the past, anywhere from 500-1,000 people from both the MSU and Wichita Falls communities showed up to get a sneak peek of the upcoming season’s team and supported MSU football. Maskill said that signees and potential recruits have also attended the game to see another side of the program.

The NCAA allows 15 days of fully-padded football practices in the spring for its sanctioned football programs, with the spring football game being the last chance for organized practices. So far, the football program has used nine of their 15 days. After the spring game, the coaches will focus on conditioning and weight lifting in non-organized practices.

“It’s the culmination of spring practice,” head football coach Bill Maskill said. “It’ll be like the end of a preparation of a week to play an opponent, but instead, it’s an intra-squad scrimmage. It’s also an evaluation tool for us.”

Maskill said even though it’s an intra-squad game, that doesn’t tone down the intensity or competitiveness of the game from both sides.

“We try to go out there and beat each other,” Maskill said. “That’s the only way you get better is if you’re competitive.”

Defensive coordinator Rich Renner said the competitiveness between the players and coaching staff made the annual game memorable for him.

“We usually split the coaching staff up and we have a draft,” he said. “That’s always fun, because you get to compete against the other coaches and staff.”

For Maskill, his favorite memory involves current graduate assistant, running backs coach Ben McMahan, who played quarterback for MSU from 2007-2009.

“Benny Mac played quarterback for us, and one spring game, he had the ball snapped over his head,” Maskill said. “He ran back and picked it up and heaved it down the field, and we got a 60-yard touchdown out of it.”

All potential players must register online at msumustangs.com before April 4, and they must bring their own workout gear, cleats, proof of physical taken since February 2012, unofficial high school transcripts, a copy of their SAT or ACT scores and a highlight tape or DVD.