Tallahassee, FL - Willie Brown's been having trouble sleeping lately, but he doesn't mind. He's in his first year as the head baseball coach at FAMU and he's enthralled about all the talent on his roster.

"I'm enjoying it. I left the Maclay School to come back home and I love it," he said. "It feels great putting on Orange and Green every morning."

Brown's attitude has been contagious at FAMU's preseason camp.
Players say it's a big difference between last year's 6-12 record in the conference and the upcoming season.

"He's doing a lot of things by example," senior outfielder Jarryd Reid said. "I can see a lot of the young guys needed that."

"Coach Brown's awesome," sophomore first baseman Dylan West said. "He definitely keeps us on our toes. He's a lot different than a lot of coaches because he interacts with the players."

Despite the letdowns the past few years, Brown expects the Rattlers to contend for a MEAC title. And Brown said it starts with defense.

"We just gotta make the routine play. We gotta make the routine play every time," he said. "We're not gonna be the team that's just gonna blow you away by hitting the long ball. We're gonna play small ball."