Questions fewer going into 2011 first practice
8/4/2011 7:36:00 AM | Football
Bearkats coach Willie Fritz had more questions than players when summer camp opened at Sam Houston State last year.
With a team that had only seven starters returning, Fritz answered those questions on the fly and found a way to win six of the Bearkats' final nine games. Surprisingly, Sam Houston finished tied for third place in the Southland Conference.
Fast forward to today. The Kats don't have the same kind of questions as they kick off their summer workouts. They are not looking to fill the quarterback, running back or secondary positions.
In fact, Sam Houston State is in an enviable spot in that it has nearly every starter in place from a team that came close to winning a conference championship. The youthful Bearkats lost three games last fall by a total of 11 points.
"We've got some pretty good depth at some spots. We've got a lot of guys who've seen a lot of minutes," Fritz said Tuesday morning.
Offensively, the Bearkats are well-established, having only to replace one guard on the offensive line.
With most of the line intact, the running game looks to flourish even more (2,051 yards and 24 touchdowns in 2010) with All-Southland first-team running back Tim Flanders, who rushed for 948 yards and 13 touchdowns in 10 games last season, and complementary backs Ridgeway Frank and Ryan Wilson.
"At the running back position, we have three guys that played a lot of football for us last year like Tim Flanders, who I think can be the top back in FCS football, and Ridgeway Frank, who unfortunately got hurt last year and was in and out of the lineup, and Ryan Wilson, who I think is a good back that can do everything well," Fritz said.
Though Brian Bell entrenched himself as the starting quarterback last season, he should receive some healthy competition from Emory Miller, who transferred in from Wyoming, senior Greg Sprowls and freshman Chris Grett from Oak Ridge High School.
"We picked up Emory Miller. He was projected as the starter going into the fall for Wyoming. He wanted to get back to Texas," Fritz said. "We're excited about having Emory. I think he'll pressure those guys. We'll have four talented guys coming into camp."
Fritz also emphasized that while wide receivers Kevin Matthews (20 catches for 274 yards and two scores), Richard Sincere (eight receptions for 192 yards and a touchdown) and Seth Patterson (35 completions for 360 yards and three touchdowns), are back, the Kats need to become more explosive at that position.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Bearkats have all but a defensive end and a safety coming back.
"We feel good about the depth that we have up front and the quality of players that we've got," Fritz said. "We're a lot deeper up front than a lot of teams I've ever coached. We've got Eddie Decambre and Preston Sanders, who played a lot for us, coming back at defensive end.
"We've also got J.T. Cleveland and Gary Lorance, who started almost every game for us on the inside. We've got some other guys who can provide depth, so we feel good about the depth that we have up front and the quality of players that we have."
At the linebacker position, Sam Houston has a couple of players in seniors Kash David and Will Henry who patrolled the middle of the field effectively last season. Fritz also said that Darius Taylor, Eric Fieilo and Jesse Beauchamp can also provide depth in that area.
The secondary was a spot that also had a lot of question marks last fall, but safeties Bookie Sneed and Kenneth Jenkins made solid contributions, as did cornerbacks Daxton Swanson and Darnell Taylor, all of whom return in 2011.
"Our secondary, we really feel good about one-deep, but we're going to need guys to provide depth and a lot of them were true freshmen," Fritz said. "They really took a step forward and they have to take another step forward if we want to be a great defense. I think we've got the ability to be a great defense, but we've still got a long ways to go in that area. Experience is going to help us."
Even with so many players returning who started or saw lots of action, Fritz said that during the first week of camp, his staff will take a look at all 95 players, then figure out who the best ones are at each position regardless of experience.
"One of the things our guys realize is that we're going to work with everybody this first week. Then we're going to start limiting repetitions for some guys and some guys are going to get more," the coach explained. "We're not running a day camp where everything's fair. The first week, we're going to work with everybody.
"Last year after three or four practices, it was apparent that Bookie Sneed could play at this level and could be darn good at this level. He started for us from that point forward. Flanders, we knew nothing about him and he came in and showed us that he should be a starter, so we started him.
"It doesn't matter to us if you've been here for four or five years or you've been here four or five days."
Last fall, the Bearkats effectively ran an offensive system focused on time of possession and ball control. With the offense having a full season to log experience and become comfortable with the system, the Kats plan on opening up the game plan up a little more.
"The thing was last year we had so many new guys playing for us, particularly on that side of the ball, and we were implementing a totally new scheme with a new coordinator and new position coaches and those sorts of things," Fritz added.
"We had to play the style we played and we did some great things offensively. Number one, we limited our turnovers and did a heck of a job holding onto the football. We did a nice job running the ball, too. But in order for us to take another step in our progression and become a great offense in this league, we'll have to throw the ball more effectively and we've got to run the ball a little bit better.
"We led the conference in rushing, but we feel like we're a 200-yard per game rushing team. That'll open up our passing game. Brian's a little more comfortable. The offensive line has a year under their belt. To throw the ball more effectively and run the ball more effectively, it takes all 11 players. We want to be more 50-50 this year running and passing, but doing the things last year, we want to maintain doing those things."
