Henderson State's fans, and perhaps more than a few of its players, enter the season eyeing a third consecutive Great American Conference title, another trip to the NCAA Division II playoffs and maybe even collecting the first Division II national title by a state school.
Just don't include Reddies Coach Scott Maxfield among those looking that far into the season.
Henderson State glance
COACH Scott Maxfield (60-36 in nine seasons at Henderson, 88-48 in 13 seasons overall)
LAST YEAR 11-1, 10-0 in Great American Conference
POSTSEASON Lost 40-35 to St. Cloud (Minn.) State in the first round of the NCAA Division II playoffs
OFFENSIVE PLAYER TO WATCH Senior QB Kevin Rodgers
DEFENSIVE PLAYER TO WATCH Senior DE Glennon Bobo
COMMENTS The Reddies will be going for their third consecutive GAC championship and enter the season having won 23 consecutive regular-season games. … Rodgers was a Division II All-American, the GAC Offensive Player of the Year and a Harlon Hill Trophy finalist the past two seasons. He holds school and conference records for career passing yards (10,076) and touchdown passes (91), and he needs 682 yards to surpass Arkansas State’s Ryan Aplin as the state’s all-time leader in passing yards. … Senior wide receiver Darius Davis was an All-America selection last season with 75 catches for 1,597 yards and 16 touchdowns. He holds school and conference career records for receiving yards (2,425) and touchdown catches (29).
SCHEDULE
DATE;OPPONENT
Sept. 6;at Southern Nazarene*
Sept. 13;at Nicholls State
Sept. 18;SE Oklahoma State*
Sept. 27;at East Central (Okla.)*
Oct. 4;NW Oklahoma State*
Oct. 11;at SW Oklahoma State*
Oct. 18:at Arkansas Tech*
Oct. 25;Harding*
Nov. 1;Arkansas-Monticello*
Nov. 8;vs. Southern Arkansas*^
Nov. 15;Ouachita Baptist*
*Great American Conference game
^at Memorial Stadium, El Dorado
"I'm not going to look ahead to something down the road that we haven't had a chance to achieve yet," said Maxfield, who is 60-36 entering his ninth year at Henderson State. "We better take care of this practice, the next practice and so on leading up to our first game.
"If you do that, you'll have a chance at the end of the year. If you don't do that, then we'll be sitting here talking about how we should have done things differently."
That said, the Reddies are heavily favored to repeat as conference champions, are ranked No. 8 in the preseason Division II coaches poll and are riding a 23-game regular-season winning streak. Their last regular-season loss was 28-3 to Division I South Alabama on Oct. 29, 2011.
They return several skill position players from last season's most prolific offense in Division II, which averaged 51.4 points and 576.4 yards per game, both tops in the nation.
Leading the list of returners is fifth-year senior quarterback Kevin Rodgers, 6-3, 215 pounds, a consensus D-II All-American last season and the unanimous GAC Offensive Player of the Year each of the past two seasons.
Even after sweeping through the regular season undefeated two years in a row, the Reddies have twice lost in the first round of the Division II playoffs. But Rodgers said he and his teammates must resist the urge to look ahead.
"I think that's the way you have to approach it," said Rodgers, who holds virtually every school and conference career passing record, including yards (10,078), touchdowns (91), completions (727) and completion percentage (.667). "We certainly have a huge target on our back, and it gets exponentially harder every year that you win to win again the next year."
Also back for the Reddies are seven of the top receivers from 2013, including All-American Darius Davis, 5-11, 212, who caught 75 passes for 1,597 yards and 16 touchdowns and averaged more than 133 receiving yards per game as a junior. Senior Dustin Holland, 5-9, 190,of Bryant caught 55 passes for 693 yards and 2 touchdowns, and senior Israel Valentin, 5-9, 185, had 39 receptions for 522 yards and 5 scores.
In all, 20 Reddies recorded catches last season and eight made at least 10 catches.
Only one starter returns on the offensive line, junior guard Deveron Powell, 6-4, 303, but Maxfield said he had confidence in the group.
"We've got experienced guys," he said. "They may not have been starters, but we've got experienced guys at all positions. It's not like we're counting on any true freshmen to come in here and play. They're all guys who have been in program two, three, four years."
Four starters return on defense. Linebacker Glennon Bobo, 5-11, 245, of Ashdown was first-team all-conference last year after finishing with 14 1/2 tackles for loss. Sophomore Trevon Del Rio, 6-1, 245, returns on the defensive line, while seniors Chris King, 5-10, 190, and Cameron Deveraux, 5-10, 190, are back at cornerback.
Junior linebacker Tim Llewellyn, 6-2, 220, was the league's freshman of the year in 2012. He struggled with injuries throughout much of 2013 but returns this season.
The Reddies ranked second in the GAC in total defense (345.8 yards per game) last season, but with their offensive prowess it's easy for the defense to get lost in the shuffle.
"We feel like we're a fairly well-rounded team," Maxfield said. "But any time you lead the NCAA in scoring for two consecutive years, it's probably going to happen that you have a little more notoriety on that side of the football."
Sports on 08/30/2014