UCA stockpiles prospects at QB

CONWAY — The Central Arkansas Bears went from having to worry about replacing one of the best quarterbacks in school history to trying to figure out what to do with five quarterbacks.

Central Arkansas introduced 19 signees and four midseason transfers on national signing day Wednesday, and among that group are two quarterbacks who will join the three already on campus this fall.

They will be looking to help replace Nathan Brown, last season's quarterback who in two weeks is expected to take part in the NFL Combine.

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"That's something that will work itself out," Central Arkansas Coach Clint Conque said. "We're trying to be like Southern Cal - not that I'm comparing us to them - but they have ParadeAll-Americans at every position, and yet nobody is running to get away from there."

Arkansas transfer Nathan Dick and quarterback Wynrick Smothers of Destrehan, La .,will join fifth-year senior Robbie Park and redshirt freshmen Trae Cook and Matt Hudson under center.

"Obviously, right now, Robbie is our starter," offensive coordinator Todd Cooley said. "But the nice thing about having five quarterbacks is that you don't have to worry about when one of them tucks the ball and runs with it. That's the way that we're going with our offense; everybody's doing it. If you look at the number of times that Nathan [Brown]ran the ball last season, he picked up some big first downs for us."

Dick and Smothers ran the ball effectively in high school. Dick rushed for 577 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior at Allen(Texas) High School in 2006, and Smothers rushed for 347 yards and eight touchdowns last season.

"I feel comfortable running with the football," Dick said. "I'm not an option quarterback or anything like that, but I can scramble around a little bit."

Dick said his decision to leave Arkansas was one that he came to over the last few months of last season. With Coach Bobby Petrino implementing his offense and bringing in quarterback RyanMallett, Dick sensed it was time to move on.

"It was just from everything that I was feeling and everything I was hearing, I just thought it was best that I move some place else in the spring so that I didn't lose any more time," Dick said.

Conque also pointed to a new philosophy in recruiting for the Bears.

"We're looking for athletes," Conque said. "We want guys that are 6-2 to 6-4, somewhere between 200-240 pounds that we can really mold into a position."

Conque said he looked back at the philosophy of coaches like Alabama legend Bear Bryant, who was noted for recruiting tight ends and quarterbacks out of high school to play various positions in college.

"If a guy can play receiver, he can probably be a pretty good defensive back and visa-versa," Conque said.