Backs give Kats daunting running game in 2015
8/16/2015 6:36:00 PM | Football
During Sam Houston's 2014 championship season, the Bearkats became only the ninth team in FCS football history to surpass 7,000 total yards in a single season.
More than half of those yards (3,866 to be exact) came on the ground as Sam Houston led the Southland Conference in rushing with the second highest single season total in school history.
As the Kats look defend their league title and return to the FCS playoffs for a fifth consecutive year, the offense features a group of five talented running backs who have the potential to put up amazing numbers again in 2015.
Seniors Donavan Williams and Ridgeway Frank, junior Jalen Overstreet, sophomore Corey Avery and freshman Remus Bulmer form an intimidating group ready to haunt opposing defensive coordinator's nightmares.
“In our up-tempo offense, when you have the opportunity to play more than 1,400 snaps in a season, it's like playing two seasons,” Sam Houston head coach K. C. Keeler said. “To have a chance to succeed, we need the depth at running back. It's nice to have the luxury.”
Williams and Overstreet, who both came to Sam Houston last year as transfers, combined for 1,387 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2014. A 6-2 212-pound athlete who played quarterback and running back for the Texas Longhorns, averaged 6.9 yards per carry for the Kats a year ago. Williams, a 6-0 212 junior college All-American at ASA College in New York, scored nine touchdowns and gained 5.3 yards every time he touched the ball.
Frank is in his fifth season as a Bearkat running back after an injury redshirt his true junior year in 2013. As a freshman, he started for Sam Houston against Baylor. Healthy now, he has played in 32 games in the Kat back field.
Avery and Bulmer both are newcomers who are picking up the Bearkats' fast-paced offense quickly. Avery, a Dallas Carter product, rushed for 631 yards and five touchdowns as a freshman at Kansas last year. Bulmer racked up 1,938 yards and 22 scores as an all-state selection on Ridge Point High School's 12-1 state playoff team in Missouri City, Texas, in 2014.
“As a group, any one of us can play any given down,” Frank said. “Each one of us is working hard and preparing for when we get our opportunity to carry the ball.”
Sam Houston offensive coordinator Phil Longo is pleased to have so many weapons in the backfield that can team up with a solid receiving corps.
“The ultimate goal in our offensive system is to force the defense to have to defend the entire field against every skill player that is in the game,” Longo said. “Last year nineteen players caught a pass. Eight of them has 10 or more catches. Four players rushed for almost 700 yards or more. That is balance to us.”
Each running back brings something special to the Sam Houston attack. The running backs are excited to see how each is going to be utilized in the team's spread offense.
“Ridgeway has the speed and I feel like I have the power,” Williams said. “Jalen has a balance of both. Corey has good speed too and Remus is a young player with a bright future.”
Each of the running backs is supportive of the others in the group.
“We're all very supportive of each one another,” Overstreet said. “When one of us scores the rest of us are right there celebrating with them. Friday's scrimmage was great because every one of us scored a touchdown.”
Combined with Sam Houston's strong passing game, the Bearkats look to sport an attack that is difficult to stop.
“The receivers we have and our offensive linemen make our job as running backs easier,” Overstreet said. “We just feed off each other.”
The Bearkats continue preseason training camp this week highlight Wednesday by the squad's second full-contact scrimmage on Wednesday morning.
Sam Houston opens the 2015 schedule on Saturday Sept. 5 in Lubbock against Texas Tech. The Bearkats' Southland Conference opener with Lamar on Saturday Sept. 19 marks the first of six home games at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium.
Season tickets for all six contests plus the 90th “Battle of the Piney Woods” at NRG Stadium in Houston are on sale now online at www.gobearkats.com and at the Sam Houston athletic ticket office located on the west side of Bowers Stadium. The ticket office telephone is (936) 294-1729.
