Fall Camp Notes:UCA

[Seminole Indian]

CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears will have their first fall scrimmage beginning at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.

    The Bears, who open the 2017 season in one month at Big 12 Kansas State, will use practice No. 7 as their first scrimmage, which is set for approximately 110 total plays.

    "I've been pleased with practice so far,' said fourth-year head coach Steve Campbell, "a lot of good stuff right now. But we'll find out a lot more Saturday with the first scrimmage. I remember a year ago, the first scrimmage, it was tough sledding. We had a long, long way to go.

    "So we'll see where we're at. I think right now we're a little cleaner, and we need to keep being that way.'

    Campbell was happy with Wednesday's practice, the first in full pads.

    "For the first day in full gear, I was pleased with the execution,' said Campbell, who led the Bears to a 10-3 mark and a second-round FCS Playoff run last season. "I think we may have had one snap that was little off, but we didn't put balls on the ground. I know during the blitz period, (senior QB) Hayden (Hildebrand) did a good job avoiding the rush. We have some guys that can rush the quarterback and I don't think he took a sack.

    "Hayden has been practicing at a real high level over the first five days. I'm pleased with some of the backs. (Senior) Jarvis Cooper is a different guy than he was a year ago. He's lost 25 pounds and is much quicker. He needs to keep coming on but I'm excited about how he's been. I like the way that group is working.

    "Some of the receivers... Lester Wells stepped up and made a big play today. Roman Gordon made a big play. There are some guys out there that I'm pleased with, that need to step up and are stepping up.'

    The receiving corps has to replace two all-time greats in Desmond Smith, the leading career receiver, and Jatavious Wilson, the career leader in all-purpose yards.

    "We've got a long way to go, but the guys are working hard,' said Campbell. "It's been a really good first five days. I would say, since I've been here, it's been our cleanest first five days. And it ought to be that way. This is Year 4 here and the guys know the system. We've got all of our coaching staff back from a year ago. So everybody has a good handle on what we want and how we want to do things.'

http://ucasports.com/news/2017/8/4/football-bears-first-scrimmage-set-for-saturday.aspx

[Seminole Indian]

EXPLOSIVE PLAYS, STINGY RUN DEFENSE ON DISPLAY SATURDAY

CONWAY, Ark. _ A big-play offense and a stout rushing defense highlighted the University of Central Arkansas' first fall scrimmage on an unseasonably cool Saturday at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.

    The UCA offense completed numerous long passes, including touchdown tosses to seven different receivers. However, the running game, utilizing a host of running backs, new faces and old, was held in check by the Bears' retooled defensive front.

    "I saw a lot of good things. I saw some explosives in the passing game,' said UCA head coach Steve Campbell, entering his fourth season at UCA. "We didn't get the explosives out of the running game that we were hoping for. But the positions where we had big question marks, which is interior D-line and receiver, we had guys step up.

    "We still have a long way to go and the jury is still out and all that, but I saw a lot of positive signs. That D-line, short yardage, it was tough sledding in there on the inside against those guys. I would have liked to have thought we could run the football better, but I think our interior D-line and linebackers did a good job of holding up.

    "Offensively, we put too many balls on the ground and too many negative plays.'

    Campbell said one position on the defensive side is still a work in progress.

    "Some of the question marks were at corner(back), with Tyler Williams being gone. I'm not sure we've answered that question yet. We put those guys in one-on-one... we need to keep getting better there. Defensively, we gave up too many big pass plays.'

http://www.ucasports.com/news/2017/8/5/football-explosive-plays-stingy-run-defense-on-display-saturday.aspx

[Seminole Indian]

UCA #15 in STATS FCS poll



http://ucasports.com/news/2017/8/7/football-bears-picked-15th-in-stats-fcs-preseason-poll.aspx

[Seminole Indian]

University of Central Arkansas head coach coach Steve Campbell apparently like what he saw in the Bears 2nd scrimmage Saturday.

"All in all, I was pleased,' said Campbell, going through his fourth fall camp with the program. "It was a good second scrimmage. "

"The 1s and 2s had zero turnovers, so that's something I'm very pleased with this time of year,' said Campbell. "I thought we ran the ball a lot better this week than we did a week ago."



http://www.ucasports.com/news/2017/8/12/football-bears-make-most-of-second-fall-scrimmage.aspx

[Seminole Indian]

The talented Bears wrapped up a successful Fall Camp with Saturdays scrummage and get ready to turn their attention to Kansas State.



CONWAY, Ark. _ University of Central Arkansas head coach Steve Campbell liked what he saw from his cornerbacks and from his running backs, among others, at Saturday's third and final scrimmage of fall camp.

    The Bears went approximately an hour and a half on a hot, muggy day on "The Stripes" and got a spark from those two position groups.

    "I was very pleased with our corner play,' said Campbell, who saw senior corneback Tavion Garrison intercept a pair of passes. "We had gone after our corners in all three scrimmages, and I really thought they played well today. That was something that I was glad to see. Because we lost a good corner (Tyler Williams) there. We had lost some pass rushers, and I thought our pass rush was better today. So we're coming on in some areas we needed to come on in.'

     Campbell said he saw some bright spots from several younger players after the experienced guys had been showing up more regularly in the first two scrimmages.

    "I thought the young guys played well on both sides,' he said. "Our (No.) 2 defense got off the field against the 1 offense. Our 2 offense scored against the 1 defense. I don't know if that means something good or bad, but it is what it is. That means there's some young guys doing well, because I've seen that 1 offense do some good things, and I know that 1 defense has some good players on it, I've seen them play well. So there were some young guys stepping up and making some plays.'
   
    One of those was redshirt freshman running back D'erek Fernandez, who scored twice for the UCA offense.
   
    "D'erek Fernandez really ran the ball hard,' said Campbell. "(Redshirt freshman) Dylan Smith continues to gain yards whenever we give him the football. Carlos (Blackman), we tried not to run him too awfully much. But Fernandez ran the ball well, I thought (redshirt freshman) Kierre Crossley, again, I think he had another good day. There were some positives there. Some definite deals where some guys stepped up, and I was proud to see that.'

    Senior quarterback Hayden Hildebrand had a rushing touchdown and tossed a touchdown pass to true freshman Brandon Myers in his final preseason scrimmage.
    "It wasn't Hayden's best day, but Hayden's best day is really, really good,' said Campbell. "But I thought he came back after a little bit of a rough start and pulled that group together and got that group going. Hayden is a good football player. Today was not his best day. When Hayden plays his best day, you don't punt. So that's our expectations for him, and that's the level he has been performing.'

    Defensively, Campbell singled out several returnees and one newcomer., true freshman Vidal Scott from Pensacola, Fla.

    "I tell you, (redshirt freshman end) Nathan Grant has showed up a lot to me,' he said. "(Senior tackle) Eric Jackson on the defensive line. Eric is a really good player. (Tackle) Vidal Scott, we just got cleared through the NCAA Clearinghouse. I don't know if ya'll noticed him, but I flat sure did. We had a hard time blocking him. He's very twitchy and explosive and got upfield fast. A lot of times he was going against some younger guys, but that may be why those younger guys were executing earlier and not executing today. He definitely made his presence felt.'

    Campbell was also pleased with the play of his linebackers, led by senior James Graves, UCA's third-leading returning tackler.

    "Roy (Sutton) is a very passionate football player. And Roy always lifts the level up over there,' said Campbell. "Those linebackers, very, very solid with James Graves,  Raphael Garner and Roy. Then you throw in (transfer) Reggio (Dean), I thought he had a couple of plays, and Matt Hall today.'

    What did not please Campbell were several mistakes and miscues on the offensive side.

    "There was a lot of good and then a lot of stuff you see we still need to work on. It wasn't our cleanest scrimmage,' he said. "We had more balls on the ground than we've had the first two weeks combined. I'm going to attribute that just being the third week of a three-week camp. Those are things we need to get corrected and that you don't need to have. I've seen us play cleaner than this.'


    Now the Bears' full attention turns to its first opponent, the Big 12 Kansas State Wildcats on Sept. 2 in Manhattan, Kan.

    "Now we're going to flip the switch big time to Kansas State,' Campbell said. "This has been a long camp. This is my 30th year and this was our longest camp. But I think it was our best camp. And I think the kids, the ones who have been around awhile, would say that spreading it out probably helped it. It's been three full weeks and we've had, I think, three full days off.

    "Now, we've worked against ourselves as much as we need to at this point. Now we need to flip the switch and that will give us two full weeks... we play two weeks from today. So it's kind of like an open week and then a game week. We need to go ahead and get well introduced to Kansas State (this week), and then have a good game week. The attention and focus will definitely switch to them after today.'

    The fall semester begins Thursday at UCA as the Bears settle into their normal weekly routine. UCA will be on the road the first two weeks of the season before hosting Southland Conference foe Southeastern Louisiana in the home opener on Sept. 16.

http://www.ucasports.com/news/2017/8/19/football-bears-wrap-fall-camp-with-final-scrimmage.aspx

[GoHogs1091]

It won't be easy for Kansas State on the line-of-scrimmage against UCA.

Here is the possible line-of-scrimmage matchups.

UCA OL                                                                               Kansas State DL

LT:  Camp   6'4"  308 lbs.  Sr.                                          DE:  Walker   6'2"  242 lbs.  So.

LG:  Mallett   6'3"  302 lbs.  Sr.   All Conf.                      DT:  Geary   6'0"  306 lbs.  Sr.

C:    Garcia   6'2"  303 lbs.  Sr.                                         DT:  Dishon   6'2"  311 lbs.  So. 

RG:  Cook   6'4"  325 lbs.  Jr.   All Conf.                        DE:  Wood   6'5"  260 lbs.  Sr.

RT:  Watts   6'8"  332 lbs.  So.

Avg. lbs.   314 lbs.                                                           Avg. lbs.   279.75 lbs.


UCA DL  (UCA utilizes a 3-4 Defense)                             Kansas State OL

DE:   Best   6'3"  250 lbs.  Sr.   All Conf.                           LT:   Frantz   6'5"  297 lbs.  So.

NG:  Williams   6'1"  360 lbs.  Sr.                                      LG:   Beecham   6'3"  320 lbs.  Jr.

DE:   Andry   6'0"  283 lbs.  Jr.                                           C:     Holtorf   6'4"  293 lbs.  So.

                                                                                              RG:   Mitchell   6'4"  307 lbs.  So.
                         
                                                                                              RT:   Risner   6'5"  300 lbs.  Jr.

Avg. lbs.   297.66 lbs.                                                        Avg. lbs.   303.4 lbs.   

Kansas State's projected starter at Center, Najvar (a Senior) has decided to forgo this season due to an injury.  If Najvar was playing, it would have made their OL average lbs. be 303.8 lbs.

[Seminole Indian]

UCA is just a good football team .................by any measure.

[DeltaBoy]

Good luck bears against K State.