CONWAY -- Eighteen Central Arkansas seniors will play their final game at Estes Stadium on Saturday afternoon. For eight of them, the circumstances aren't exactly what they signed up for.
The Bears (8-1, 7-0 Southland Conference) are off to their best start since the program jumped from NCAA Division II to Football Championship Subdivision in 2006. They are ranked 13th in the FCS coaches poll and tied for first in the Southland with longtime FCS powerhouse Sam Houston State.
UCA is scheduled to complete its home regular season against Nicholls State at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
"I don't think we have a weak spot," senior defensive tackle Dawson Hadnot said. "I think if we play to our potential, the sky's the limit for this team. The only people who can get in our way are ourselves, but no one on this team gets down when bad things happen. I've never been on a team that faces adversity the way this team does."
Third-year UCA Coach Steve Campbell has guided the current success, and the great bulk of his team was put into place from the start by him and his assistant coaches.
Eight seniors preceded Campbell having signed under former UCA Coach Clint Conque, who now coaches at Southland rival Stephen F. Austin. When the change came at UCA near Christmas after the 2013 season, anxiety reigned for all involved.
"When any team gets a new coach, I feel like all the players are going to think, 'Oh, gosh. What's going to happen? Is he going to change up the whole system?' '' senior wide receiver Desmond Howard said.
Hadnot said he and most of his teammates learned of Conque's departure through text messages or social media.
"We were all trying to figure out what's going on, if anyone had heard anything that someone else may not have," he said.
The players said it didn't take long for Campbell to win them over.
"He came in and told us straight out how it was, and I guess the rest is history," Hadnot said. "When we saw how energetic he was, and how much passion he has for the game, it made us want to show that same sort of emotion."
Campbell knows the challenges any new coach faces.
"The big thing I told these guys is that they didn't get to choose me, but I got to choose them, and they're a special group," Campbell said. "We had such a great group that it was an easy transition."
UCA offensive coordinator Nathan Brown worked under Conque and was offered the chance to move with him to coach at Stephen F. Austin, but he said his wife, two children and the fact that much of his extended family lives in nearby Russellville encouraged him to stay put. One visit with Campbell sealed his decision.
"It was a blessing that Coach Campbell got hired and believed enough in me to give me the opportunity that he gave me," Brown said.
Campbell has coached two teams to national championships. Delta State won the 2000 Division II championship and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College won the National Junior College Athletic Association co-championship in 2007.
But, Campbell said, his current UCA team -- position by position and unit by unit -- is close to his best. That comparison includes his team at Mississippi Gulf Coast that had seven defensive players who later played in the NFL.
"This team on defense right now is playing better than that team," he said. "We just have to keep it going. Offensively, we're putting up good numbers. This team, all together, we've got the chance to be the best team I've been around."
Sports on 11/11/2016