CONWAY — The Central Arkansas Bears have a lot of questions going into their fifth and final year of transition from NCAA Division II to the Football Championship Subdivision of NCAA Division I.
It starts under center for the Bears, where fifth-year senior Robbie Park steps in for four-year starter Nathan Brown.
Park has big shoes to fill in replacing Brown, who set most of the school's single-season and career passing records. But to hear Park tell it, that's not the task he's charged with.
"I can't try and replace Nathan Brown," Park said. "His legacy is set and what he's done here, you can't try and do that in one season."
Instead, Park said he'll focus on trying to help the Bears repeat their 2008 performance, which saw Central Arkansas finish with the best overall and conference record in only its second full season in the Southland Conference.
The Bears can't claim that they're trying to repeat as Southland Conference champions because of an NCAA rule that prohibits teams in transition from one classification to another from actually winning a conference title. But that doesn't mean the Bears don't feel something is at stake.
"This is our last go-round, and we want to make sure that we keep the standards at UCA high," senior running back Brent Grimes said.
A leg injury on the first day of fall camp cost the Bears all-conference receiver Willie Landers, leaving Grimes as the Bears' leading returning receiver. Grimes had 35 catches for 322 yards a season ago.
The Bears lost five offensive starters from last season, including another All American, tight end Marquez Branson, now a member of the Denver Broncos, and three offensive linemen.
"We're going to have some different faces on the offensive side of the football, that's for sure," said Conque, who begins his 10th season as the Bears coach Sept. 4 when Central Arkansas travels to Hawaii for the season opener.
The Bears have a seasoned and talented defense led by All-American Larry Hart, who was named the Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year in his first season at Central Arkansas in 2008.
"They are tough," Park said of the Bears defense.
"I've said it several times: I feel like every day in practice we are going up against the best defense in the Southland Conference."
The Bears return nine of their top 10 tacklers on defense and eight starters.
Conque said that he sees a lot of similarities between the Bears defense this season and the 2005 defense that limited opponents to 18.1 points per game and allowed 108.5 rushing yardsper game.
"That was a senior-led group, and there was a lot of talent on that unit as well," Conque said. "However, this group has a long way to go before they can be mentioned in the same breath with that group."
Hart, for one, appreciates any comparisons to former Bears defensive end Jacob Ford, who had seven sacks for the Tennessee Titans last season.
"I take those types of compliments very seriously," Hart said.
"I've spent a lot of time in the film room watching him, and I've tried to study how he played the game. I have a lot of respect for a guy like Jacob Ford, and it means a lot that people have mentioned Jacob and me in the same sentence."
The Bears also return three important parts of their special teams.
Sophomore place-kicker Eddie Carmona was fourth in the conference in field-goal percentage last season, and Jonathan Beard was third in punting average.
Kickoff returner T.J. Adams led the Southland Conference with an 26.6-yard average last season.
"We're a year stronger and smarter on special teams and, when you're facing a lot of different things on offense, that can be a big boost," Conque said.
Sports, Pages 32 on 08/30/2009