UCA's Clint Conque Believes ‘Pieces Are There' for Bears To Be Contenders
7/12/2010 at 12:00am
CONWAY — After a disappointing season in 2009, Clint Conque and the University of Central Arkansas Bears reevaluated. They learned a lot about themselves during spring drills.
“A lot of our younger players got an awful lot of work, invaluable individual instruction and video instruction,” Conque said. “We found out we’ve got a strong running game. I came in here spinning it all over the place 11 years ago, and the last four or five years the running game has become an important part of our offensive attack.”
UCA finished 5-7 overall and 2-5 in Southland Conference play in ’09. The Bears graduated 23 seniors but return 40 lettermen and 10 starters, in addition to 12 who have started at least once.
They will open the season at Estes Stadium on Sept. 2 against Elizabeth City State and will be eligible for postseason play in the Football Championship Subdivision for the first time.
One reason so many young players got so much spring work was because of the absence of several starters for various reasons — primarily surgeries and rehabilitations. There were several spring injuries, though, including receiver Dominique Croom, who went down with a knee injury the first day of spring practice. The bad luck was eerily reminiscent to Willie Landers’ season-ending injury, also at receiver, on the first day of fall drills last year.
Offensively, Conque said his team was still searching for an identity. For the second straight year, the Bears graduated a senior quarterback, but junior Nathan Dick, the second-year transfer from Arkansas, emerged as the leading contender after spring drills.
Expect running backs Jackie Hinton, Terence Bobo and Anthony Blackmon to all see playing time.
“Those guys give us different running styles, explosion and speed,” Conque said. “We’ve been little back there [in recent years], but these guys give us some size and will complement each other. And they can all catch the ball out of the backfield.”
Conque said the Bears would be deeper on the offensive line than they’ve been. Two senior tackles graduated, but he said he liked the depth, competition and talent level with Rogeric Govan, the Little Rock Episcopal Collegiate product who started his career at Middle Tennessee, and Matt Dickerson on the left side and Brad Jakel and Dominique Allen on the right.
Logan Roubique and Nathan Richards are battling at center. Two starters return at guard in Austin Emerson and Corey Howard, with Joe Lehocky providing depth.
Rico Moss started all 12 games there last year, but missed the spring with two knee cleanups. Conque also said he liked Brennan Rushing, Josh Ragland and Jeremy Jester.
But with the marquee receivers out, Conque said his team couldn’t grow in the passing game like he’d wanted. Still, he’s optimistic.
“We want to spread it out, throw it, take advantage of the numbers, run the ball and still be diversified with our offense,” Conque said.
“We’re still under construction on offense, but we really believe the pieces are there.”
Even though the line was shorthanded in the spring, Conque said he thought it had a chance to be the strength of the defense. Conque said defensive end Markell Carter had benefited from the success of the graduated Larry Hart, a recent fifth-round NFL pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Trey Lippe looks to man the other end. Tackles Hutton Andrew and Justin Williams suffered spring injuries, but are expected to vie for a starting tackle position. Kit Coleman is set at nose guard. Conque said with junior college transfer Jermayne Lett and some other newcomers, depth shouldn’t be a problem.
Linebacker is the concern area after the Bears lost two starters. Justin Heard, a redshirt freshman, beat out junior Lamar Moore at the strong-side spot. Junior Frank Newsome is listed to start at middle linebacker ahead of redshirt freshman Keaton Stigger. Senior Toks Opeloye is the man at the weak-side, ahead of junior Jessie Sims. The Bears need some newcomers to provide depth.
Despite having just one returning starter in senior cornerback Henry Minor, Conque said he loved the athleticism, competition and depth of his young secondary. He said Radarious Winston, a sophomore from Bastrop, La., could be huge at free safety. Seth Allison, a former walk-on from Stuttgart, and Desmond Wilcox from Beaumont, Texas, are also expected to be in the mix at strong safety and corner, respectively.
Eddie Carmona returns at place-kicker and will also add punting duties unless Conque can find someone to take that role.
Conque said the 2009 results led to a greater sense of urgency for the Bears in the off-season.
“We re-evaluated everything we were doing,” he said. “We don’t just change to change, but we made some subtle changes in the program that we hope will make us more efficient and a better football team, a more cohesive football team. We felt like some of our cohesion was lost last year.”Bear Notes
Former Hogs at QB
Nathan Dick came out of spring drills as the frontrunner to lead the University of Central Arkansas at quarterback, and he’ll have some competition from a fellow Arkansas Razorback transfer.
Jim Youngblood, who had been recruited by the Bears out of Camden Fairview, spent two seasons at UA and lettered at H-back in 2009, but UCA Coach Clint Conque said he would move back to his more natural position.
“He’ll give us some depth and some competition,” Conque said. “We’ll throw him in with Dick and [Wynrick] Smothers and a signee, so we feel like that will be a real strong position for us.”
Dick will be a junior, Youngblood a sophomore and Smothers a redshirt freshman.
“Dick made a big jump in the spring,” Conque said. “The coaching staff gained some confidence in him, and more important, he gained confidence in himself, and his ownership of the position allowed the players to gain confidence in him. [Smothers] continues to grow and have a role in the offense as a dual threat, and with Youngblood coming in, that makes for good competition.”
UCA @ NFL
When Larry Hart was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fifth round of the NFL Draft, he marked the second defensive end from UCA taken in the draft since 2007. Jacob Ford remains with the Tennessee Titans.
“This now gives us three active NFL players, including Marquez Branson, who is with the Denver Broncos,” Conque said.
Reception Room
Although receivers Willie Landers and Dominique Croom missed the spring with knee injuries, Conque said he expected them to be ready for the fall.
“If the spring game had been a real one, Croom would’ve played,” the coach said shortly after spring practice.
“Willie is probably 85 percent, and if we could get him back to 90-95 percent of what he was in 2008, we’ll be in good shape.”
Tagged: Jim Youngblood, Eddie Carmona, Desmond Wilcox, Seth Allison, Radarious Winston, Henry Minor, Jessie Sims, Toks Opeloye, Keaton Stigger, Frank Newsome, Lamar Moore, Justin Heard, Justin Williams, Hutton Andrew, Trey Lippe, Markell Carter, Jeremy Jester, Josh Ragland, Brennan Rushing, Rico Moss, Joe Lehocky, Corey Howard, Austin Emerson, Anthony Blackmon, Terence Bobo, Jackie Hinton, Nathan Dick, Willie Landers, Dominique Croom, Football Championship Subdivision, Estes Stadium, Southland Conference, UCA Bears, UCA, University of Central Arkansas, Clint Conque
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