CONWAY -- Steve Campbell, Nathan Brown and the rest of the Central Arkansas coaching staff spent the early parts of the summer drawing up plays on the white boards in their offices.
But even with a returning quarterback and two all-conference wide receivers, fantasizing about potential got old quickly.
Returning targets
Central Arkansas returns five of its top eight wide receivers from last season, including Desmond Smith and Jatavious Wilson, both of whom were named preseason all-Southland Conference picks. But coaches aren’t ready to say what that means for the Bears’ offensive look heading into this season.
PLAYER YR CATCHES YARDS AVG. TD YARDS/G
Desmond Smith Sr. 67 817 12.2 2 74.3
Jatavious Wilson Jr. 49 536 10.9 4 48.7
Brandon Cox Jr. 16 99 6.2 0 9.0
Jacquez McMillian Sr. 14 157 11.2 1 17.4
Jose Moore Jr. 7 107 15.3 0 9.7
NOTE Smith led the Southland in receptions and yards per game, while Wilson was fifth in receptions per game and 10th in receiving yards per game.3 to become first athlete to run under 10 seconds in the 100 and under 13 seconds in the 110 hurdles.
"About two weeks," Brown said with a laugh when the Bears' offensive coordinator was asked Tuesday how long it took for coaches to want to stop developing plays and begin implementing them.
Campbell and Brown finally got the chance Tuesday, when the Bears opened practice in preparation for their Sept. 1 season opener against Houston Baptist.
"I'm a field coach, and Coach Campbell is, too," Brown said of UCA's third-year head coach. "You have to sit in the office and just draw plays, and that's part of it, but there's nothing like getting out there on the first day and getting guys sweating and catching balls and breaking tackles.
"That's what football is about."
There was plenty of familiarity on the grass practice field. Junior Hayden Hildebrand started eight games at quarterback last year; Desmond Smith led the Southland Conference with 74.3 receiving yards per game; and Jatavious Wilson was an all-Southland pick at both receiver and kick returner.
At receiver, the Bears also have Brandon Cox, a former Arkansas State player who averaged 12.3 yards per punt return for the Bears last year, and Jakari Dillard, who transferred from Texas Tech this summer.
Will all of that experience dictate UCA's offensive identity, especially considering it lost its top three rushers and four offensive linemen from last year? Not necessarily, Campbell and Brown both said.
"You always like to play to your strengths, and we've got playmakers at receiver," Campbell said. "But, who knows? If I told you we were going to do this, we'd probably lead the other way. My experience is you never really know until you get into it."
That's what this month is for. As much as fall camp helps players get ready for the season, it's just as valuable for Campbell and Brown to figure out an effective offensive identity.
The experience at receiver -- Smith and Wilson combined for 116 catches for 1,356 yards and 6 touchdowns -- would indicate the Bears would rely on Hildebrand's arm.
But Campbell boasted in the spring and again Tuesday about junior running back Antwon Wells, who could pick up the slack from the departed Blake Veasley, Dominique Thomas and Jeff Thomas. This summer, they added Jarvis Cooper, a West Memphis native who transferred from Memphis.
In two seasons under Campbell, a former offensive line coach, the Bears have run on 56 percent of their downs.
"You can throw it all you want, but if you can't run it at some point in time it's going to come back to bite you," Campbell said. "We want to be balanced, which means we need to run it when we need to run it and throw it when we need to throw it. And it may be 60-40 pass, or it may be 60-40 run."
The players aren't quite sure how the offense will look come Sept. 1, but they indicated that's fine.
"Coach Campbell loves to run the football," said Hildebrand, who completed 63.5 percent of his passes for 1,707 yards with 12 touchdowns and 4 interceptions last year. "But, he'll pass the ball, too. It's hard, especially with the receiving corps we have. We're definitely going to throw the ball. You've got to."
As one of the most experienced players up front, junior guard Stockton Mallett sees benefits in both. He started all 11 games last season when the Bears rushed 509 times, second most in the Southland. But he also started eight games in 2014, when they had the Southland's second-best pass offense at 282.2 yards per game.
He was confident of only one thing Tuesday.
"We're not going to have too many three and outs this year, and that's good to know," Mallett said.
Neither Campbell nor Brown was that boastful quite yet.
"We've got a talented team," Brown said. "And we need to continue to gel and grow and put a polished product on the field."
Sports on 08/03/2016