CENTRAL ARKANSAS OFFENSE
LT—77 Hunter Watts 6-8 320 Sr.
LG—55 Adrian Harris 6-3 300 Jr.
C—63 Toby Sanderson 6-2 300 Jr.
RG—78 Jaylin Hendrix 6-4 330 So.
RT—73 Parker Ray 6-4 310 Fr.
TE—85 Jack Short 6-4 245 Jr.
WR—88 Tyler Hudson 6-2 185 Fr.
WR—6 Dwight Blakey 5-9 190 Jr.
WR—5 LuJuan Winningham 6-3 190 So.
QB—3 Breylin Smith 6-3 210 So.
RB—23 Carlos Blackman 6-1 228 Sr.
The Bears have remained mostly true to the script Clint Conque brought initially from Louisiana Tech in 2000. Nathan Brown has embraced the three-wide attack as a UCA quarterback (he was inducted into the school’s Sports Hall of Fame) and now as the Bears’ 20th head coach. “We tweaked and adjusted with the times,” Brown said. “A lot of what we’re trying to accomplish on a down-to-down basis are similar to years past.” It begins with quarterback Breylin Smith, a sophomore who received a UCA scholarship offer before he took his first high school snap. Smith was Southland’s pass-efficiency leader when he suffered a broken ankle in last season’s fourth game. But he has rebounded to complete 67.6 percent of his passes with eight TDs against one pick this season. “He can make every throw you ask him to make,” Brown said of Smith. Smith takes snaps from under center or out of the shotgun, is comfortable in the pocket or on bootlegs, and uses tag-team backs Carlos Blackman and Kierre Crossley as jump-cut runners, flat-level receivers or backfield blockers. Smith has mastered his brand of play-action by stepping forward and then throwing. LuJuan Winningham aligns in the slot or wide, gains separation with 4.5-second speed, and can post up defenders with a stack-the-back move. “He can really track the ball,” Brown said. “He can make adjustments when the ball is in the air. It doesn’t always have to be in the perfect spot for him to catch it.” The Bears have four returning starting linemen — a fifth, if Jack Short is counted. Short is an old-school tight end who sets up with a hand on the turf. He is used as an on-line and flex tight end, as well as fullback or H-back. “We run just about every formation you can run, but we would like to have the tight end in the game,” Brown said.
CENTRAL ARKANSAS DEFENSE
DE—50 J.W. Jones 6-4 268 Jr.
NG—97 Caden Brown 6-1 302 So.
DT—86 Austin Norris 6-5 285 So.
Ban—94 Nathan Grant 6-4 245 Jr.
LB—18 Malik Wilson 6-2 215 So.
LB—15 T.J. Campbell 6-1 232 So.
NB—13 Jaylin Small 5-11 210 Sr.
CB—1 Trai Mosley 5-10 175 Sr.
FS—12 Isaiah Macklin 5-10 178 Sr.
BS—4 Juan Jackson 5-11 190 Sr.
CB—9 Robert Rochell 6-2 176 Jr.
The offseason search for a defensive coordinator ended a few offices down the hall. To replace Max Thurmond, who accepted a job at Charlotte, Chad Williams was promoted from safeties coach. “I knew Coach Williams was the guy,” head coach Nathan Brown said. “He had done it before. He also has a great track record and experience playing in the NFL.” Williams played linebacker for three NFL teams, most notably with the Baltimore Ravens, where Ray Lewis, Deion Sanders, Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs were teammates. Rex Ryan was his defensive coordinator. Williams has embraced Ryan’s fusion of gap-sound schemes and all-point blitzes. “He’s got an aggressive nature to him,” Brown said of Williams. “He’s going to bring a timely blitz when you need to blitz.” Caden Brown is a nose tackle who prefers to align in the A gap. The bandit, Nathan Grant, charges into the backfield off three- or four-point stance. In a double move, the inside linebackers can sprint to the wings while the safeties slide into the tackle box to create a full-field press. Cornerback Robert Rochell’s closing speed (4.37 seconds over 40 yards at LSU camp) allows him to provide cushion on a receiver. Rochell has two of the Bears’ three sacks. The other one was snagged by Duke Upshaw, who has not played since making that leaping pick in the opener.
CENTRAL ARKANSAS SPECIALISTS
PK/KO—53 Hayden Ray 5-11 160 Jr.
H—59 Will Siler 5-10 210 So.
P—44 Taylor Wallace 6-0 200 Sr.
KR—28 Cameron Myers 6-1 205 Fr.
PR—88 Tyler Hudson 6-2 185 Fr.
The Bears went from gloom to boom. Matt Cummins’ graduation left a place-kicker opening that Hayden Ray seized. Ray is perfect on all 14 attempts — four field goals and 10 PATs. Ray connected on three field goals in last week’s 31-30 victory over Abilene Christian. “I knew (Ray) was very accurate,” head coach Nathan Brown said. “The only question you had is him being 100 percent the guy. How’s he going to respond to that? In three weeks, he’s done a good job and he’s stood up to the test at this point.”
HAWAII OFFENSE
LWO—23 Jared Smart 6-0 190 Jr.
LSB—10 Melquise Stovall 5-9 190 Jr.
LT—75 Ilm Manning 6-4 280 So.
LG—57 J.R. Hensley 6-5 320 Sr.
C—63 Taaga Tuulima 6-2 310 Jr.
RG—52 Solo Vaipulu 6-2 300 So.
RT—74 Gene Pryor 6-3 305 Jr.
RSB—6 Cedric Byrd 5-9 175 Sr.
RWO—9 JoJo Ward 5-9 175 Sr.
QB—13 Cole McDonald 6-4 220 Jr.
RB—21 Fred Holly 6-0 200 Jr.
Head coach Nick Rolovich, who calls the plays, went through the scorebooks of the 15 seasons the Warriors operated the run-and-shoot. Using different offensive categories to correlate and measure success, he came to these conclusions: Points do matter, interceptions not so much. “If you look at the best records in the run-and-shoot at this university, an interception is not an indicator as much as it is in other systems with wins and losses,” Rolovich said. “Points scored is the No. 1 indicator of wins and losses if you agree with my scientific method. Now that doesn’t take defense into account or special teams play. That’s just straight from an offensive thought process.” It is why quarterback Cole McDonald has maintained the coaching staff’s trust despite being picked off eight times in three games. But with McDonald at the controls, the Warriors are averaging 28.7 points per game and 2.7 points per possession. (Four missed field goals were on his watch.) McDonald, who was named a co-captain this week, has benefited from a vacuum-sealed pocket. Against Washington, he strayed from there only five times and was hit once. The starting O-line has remained intact for all but one series this season, and been penalized seven times in 244 snaps (2.8 percent). With Dayton Furuta recovering following last week’s ankle surgery, running backs Fred Holly III and Miles Reed are splitting the majority of the reps. Hekili Keli‘iliki, who is averaging 2.5 post-contact yards, is expected to get more work at running back.
HAWAII DEFENSE
DE—43 Mason Vega 6-3 280 Jr.
NT—55 Blessman Ta‘ala 6-1 300 So.
DT—95 Kendall Hune 6-3 285 Sr.
DE—96 Kaimana Padello 6-0 230 Sr.
LB—27 Solomon Matautia 6-1 230 Sr.
LB—12 Kana‘i Picanco 6-1 225 Sr.
NB—8 Eugene Ford 6-2 200 Jr.
CB—4 Rojesterman Farris II 6-1 185 Sr.
S—3 Kalen Hicks 6-3 215 Sr.
S—5 Khoury Bethley 5-10 200 So.
CB—18 Cortez Davis 5-11 180 Jr.
It has been a challenging first three games. The average start for an opponent’s drive is the 32. There have been 10 Warriors in the playing rotation who have missed time because of injuries or other circumstances. But the Warriors have received several boosts. Mason Vega, who missed spring ball because of an ailment, Pumba Williams and Jonah Laulu have solidified the strong-side-end position vacated with Zeno Choi’s graduation. In the spot known as “bandit,” they are required to seal the edge or slide inside to clutter the running lanes. “That’s a three-headed monster that has done some nice things at bandit,” defensive coordinator Corey Batoon said. Kana‘i Picanco can play both linebacker positions. “He’s a frickin’ grinder,” Batoon said of Picanco. “I love that kid.” Picanco is as comfortable in space as in roaming the tackle rectangle. “He’s bigger than you think,” Batoon said of Picanco, who is 6-1, 230 pounds and carries less than 10 percent body fat. “He’s a stay-after-meetings guy who is a tough, tough kid.” Kalen Hicks, a safety who began his UH career as the viper (DB-linebacker hybrid), leads the Warriors with 27 tackles. Hicks can play as the lone high defender or an in-the-box scrapper. “He has a background as a second-level defender,” Batoon said of Hicks. In an extended role against Washington, backup safety Donovan Dalton proved to be an adhesive one-on-one tackler.
HAWAII SPECIALISTS
PK/KO—17 Ryan Meskell 6-0 185 Sr.
P/H—9 Stan Gaudion 6-3 210 Jr.
LS—44 Wyatt Tucker 5-10 205 Jr.
KR/PR—10 Melquise Stovall 5-9 190 Jr.
KR—85 Lincoln Victor 5-10 165 Fr.
Melquise Stovall’s ability to catch kickoffs and punts stems from years of practicing as a returner. Those spin moves come from hours viewing YouTube videos of Reggie Bush. True freshman Lincoln Victor also is expected to get a shot at returning kicks. Ryan Meskell has misfired on five of his past six field-goal attempts. But his health and mechanics are fine, and he closed a recent practice when he drilled a 29-yarder while teammates yelled as an attempted distraction.
