Last year, coming off a 9-2 season in 2014, the Reddies weren’t defending a title or expected to win one for the first time since the league was formed in 2011. But Coach Scott Maxfield adjusted their Spread offense to fit personnel more suited to run, and the Reddies won another GAC title.
The Reddies once again are the team to beat, and Maxfield said that’s a tad tricky to deal with in August.
“We would like to embrace it,” he said. “But when you’re expected to do something, you’ve got to do everything you can to carry out that task.”
Maxfield believes he has the team to hold off challengers Harding, which was picked second, and third-pick Ouachita Baptist, among others.
This year’s team includes six players voted first-team All-GAC last year, including running back JaQuan Cole, who rushed for 1,189 yards, scored eight touchdowns and was named the GAC offensive player of the year. The Reddies also return four offensive linemen, but Maxfield said don’t expect this year’s offense to mirror last year’s, when it ran the ball 56 percent of the time.
The quarterback job will go to either sophomore Andrew Black, who backed up Bentonville’s Dallas Hardison last year, or senior Michael Sanders, a transfer from Idaho State. Receivers Courtney Whitehead, a transfer from Central Arkansas, and Al Lasker, who was on the Reddies’ 2013 team before taking two years off, make Maxfield think the offense will be more dynamic than a year before.
Linebacker Josh Davis and safety Gary Vines return to a defense that led the GAC in scoring (15.8) and yards allowed (313.5).
“Our talent level we feel like is better than last year across the board,” Maxfield said.
Harding, which went 7-4 last season, returns its top three rushers from a team that averaged 366.9 rushing yards per game. Quarterback Park Parish and running backs Michael Latu and Zach Shelley combined for 2,380 yards and 34 touchdowns.
The Bisons were picked to win the GAC last year and started 4-0, but losses to OBU and Henderson State in consecutive games and two more in their last three games knocked them out of a postseason game for the first time since 2011.
OBU was picked third after going 7-4 last year, the Tigers’ eighth consecutive winning season.
Southern Arkansas returns 15 starters from last year’s team that won its final two games of the season to finish 7-4. Sophomore quarterback Barrett Renner was named first-team all-GAC in 2015, after completing 62.2 percent of his passes for 3,333 yards and 33 touchdowns. He’ll have four of his top five receivers last year back in the fold, as they try to post their fourth winning season in the past five seasons.
Arkansas Tech’s 9-3 finish, which culminated in a victory over Eastern New Mexico in the C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl, was its best since 2009. The Wonder Boys lost quarterback Arsenio Favor and leading tackler Logan Genz of West Fork, but they return their top three rushers and three first-team all-GAC players.
Great American Conference
Preseason coaches poll
PL.;SCHOOL;POINTS
1.;Henderson State;120 (10)
2.;Harding;100 (1)
3.;Ouachita Baptist;91
4.;SW Oklahoma State;88
5.;Southern Arkansas;88
6.;Arkansas Tech;79
7.;East Central (Okla.);65 (1)
8.;SE Oklahoma State;63
9.;NW Oklahoma State;33
10.;Oklahoma Baptist;32
11.;Arkansas-Monticello;28
12.;Southern Nazarene;11
Great American Conference
Six players to watch
POS.;PLAYER, SCHOOL;COMMENT
RB JaQuan Cole, Henderson State;GAC offensive player of the year, with a league-high 1,189 rushing yards
QB Barrett Renner, Southern Arkansas;First-team all-GAC pick after passing for 3,333 yards and 33 TDs
RB Kris Oliver, Ouachita Baptist;Tied for the GAC lead with 19 rushing TDs as a freshman
QB Park Parish, Harding;Led the GAC’s top scoring and rushing offense while scoring 19 rushing TDs
RB Bryan Allen, Arkansas Tech;Led the GAC with 115.0 rushing yards per game as a freshman
RB Jeremy Jackson, Arkansas-Monticello;Sixth in the GAC with 110.5 all-purpose yards per game