Jeremy Jackson spent three years as a running back for the University of Arkansas at Monticello.
He was the Boll Weevils’ second-leading rusher as a freshman. As a sophomore, Jackson averaged 5.2 yards a carry and ran for a team-high 413 yards. In his three years at the position, Jackson rushed for 838 yards and eight touchdowns.
But this season, Jackson has taken on a different role for the Weevils. The 5-8 senior from Hahnville, La., is making some huge contributions on the defensive side of the ball.
“He wasn’t getting as many reps as he had been getting,” Arkansas-Monticello Coach Hud Jackson said. “So we went to him and said, ‘Look man, will you be willing to make that move?’ He’s a natural at the corner position and he was excited to play there. He’s a team player.”
In Saturday’s 49-7 victory over East Central (Okla.), Jackson recorded six tackles, deflected three passes and returned an interception 76 yards for a touchdown. Jackson was named the Great American Conference’s Defensive Player of the Week.
“I’m really excited he got that honor,” Hud Jackson said. “He’s a special talent.”
Stumbling start
Paul Simmons says the Harding Bisons are suffering from “growing pains.”
After going 13-1 a year ago, Harding is 0-3. It’s the program’s worst start since the Bisons lost their first three games of the 1995 season.
“We lost 24 seniors who played a ton of snaps last season,” said Simmons, who is in his first year as the Bisons’ head coach after 11 years as an assistant. “We’ve got a lot of guys playing for the first time. But we’re growing and we’re going to get better.”
Harding has been hampered by eight turnovers and 219 yards of penalties so far this season. The Bisons lead the Great American Conference in rushing offense (284 yards per game) but are last in passing (71 ypg). They are last in the league in punting, averaging only 30.7 yards per kick.
“We’re last in the league in turnover ratio and we’ve really struggled with our kicking game, which is something we’ve really put some time into,” Simmons said. “We’re not playing clean.”
Southern Nazarene scored 14 points in the final 49 seconds Saturday to take a 28-27 victory in Searcy. The Oklahoma team defeated Harding for the first time in seven tries and won in Arkansas for the second time in its past 15 attempts. The winning touchdown — which came with 29 seconds left — came off of a deflected pass that went for 39 yards.
“I’ve never been a part of a game like that,” Simmons said. “There were several times we were about to put the game away and just didn’t.”
Sack time
Southern Arkansas officially had seven sacks in Saturday’s 38-14 victory over Southwestern Oklahoma State, but Muleriders Coach Bill Keopple said it should have been more.
“I thought it was pretty dang good,” Keopple said of the Muleriders’ defensive effort. “And there should have been two intentional grounding penalties called that would have given us more. The defensive line played really well and I thought our secondary did a good job.”
The seven sacks were the most for Southern Arkansas since it also had seven against Northwestern Oklahoma State in 1997.
Southwestern Oklahoma State managed only 2.7 yards a carry, rushing 40 times for a combined 109 yards. The Bulldogs finished with 278 yards of total offense, but 70 of those yards came on their final drive.
“Statistics can be skewed to make them look better than they are,” Keopple said. “They can be a little misleading.”
There was nothing deceptive about the play of junior defensive end Davondrick Lison, who posted three sacks for a combined loss of 28 yards. Junior lineman Anthony Washington was responsible for two sacks.
Leading the way
Ty Reasnor leads the Great American Conference in pass efficiency with a rating of 167.7.
The Arkansas Tech senior quarterback is second in passing touchdowns (8) and fourth in passing yards
(603), but he has attempted the fewest number of passes among the league’s top five quarterbacks. Reasnor is averaging 14.0 yards per completion.
“He manages the game really well,” Wonder Boys Coach Raymond Monica said. “He’s throwing the ball really well, but he’s doing a lot better job of knowing when to run the ball than he did a year ago.”
Reasnor has rushed for 67 yards and scored three rushing touchdowns this season. He is averaging 5.2 yards a carry.
Breaking news
Jalen Tolliver is nearing at least three receiving records for Arkansas-Monticello.
Tolliver, a 6-3 wide receiver from Rayville, La., needs 359 receiving yards, 58 receptions and 7 touchdown catches to match the program’s records.
“They’re all obtainable,” Coach Hud Jackson said.
Tolliver grabbed eight passes for a game-high 99 yards Saturday in the Boll Weevils’ 49-7 victory over East Central (Okla.). For the season, Tolliver has 20 receptions for 328 yards and 2 touchdowns, both of which came in last week’s victory.
He leads the conference in receptions and receiving yards.
Turnovers
Arkansas Tech has a plus-7 turnover margin, which leads the Great American Conference.
“It’s been good, especially as far as getting good field position is concerned,” Tech Coach Raymond Monica said. “And we done a good job of protecting the ball. Add to that, we had a blocked [punt] last week and I consider that to be a turnover.”
The Wonder Boys have recovered four fumbles and intercepted seven passes. They are the only team in the conference to not lose a fumble this season.