Powell brings more RB success to UCA
CONWAY — With all the new faces at Estes Stadium on Monday, there’s one different than the rest for the University of Central Arkansas football team.
Whether it was the number of first-team reps he received in his fourth practice as a Bear or the comments made by teammates — particularly those from defenders he was running by and around, the reigning ASUN Offensive Player of the Year is making quite the impression two weeks into spring camp.
ShunDerrick Powell won the ASUN Offensive Player of the Year last season as a running back with
North Alabama, rushing for 1,508 yards and 18 touchdowns.
UCA got a first-hand view of what Powell could do when he went for 159 yards and two touchdowns in Conway on Oct. 29.
With North Alabama going through its second coaching search in three years after the 2022 season, Powell felt it was best to play his junior year elsewhere and entered the transfer portal on Nov. 28.
“I gave them my all that year, man,” Powell said. “As a freshman coming in, we had new coaches going in, and after last year, we got other new coaches. And I was like, ‘I don’t want to go through that again. I just want to be around a staff that has been there for a couple of years.”
A month later, when UCA Coach Nathan Brown was wrapping up his early national signing day duties, he was waiting on one last decision — Powell’s.
Within hours of Powell’s announcement that he intended to transfer, he received more than a dozen scholarship offers. The number eventually rose to 22 before he chose the Bears over nearly every other ASUN school, Arkansas State University, Louisiana Tech and Utah State.
“I had a lot of schools [show interest], and I just felt like Conway was home,” Powell said. “[Running back coach Nelson] Gunnell, he’s a great dude. I really appreciate him giving me the opportunity to come down and try to play. … I really appreciate those guys [showing interest], but Conway, it just felt like it was real.“
This was actually the first time being recruited by UCA for Powell, a Hoxie native. But it wasn’t his first time seeing how the Bears handled business.
Despite rushing for 1,829 yards and 28 touchdowns as a senior in 2020, UCA didn’t recruit Powell. The Bears did, however, recruit his brother Daylon.
Both brothers eventually signed with North Alabama.
With Powell on an Arkansas campus three years after leaving, he said he’s just happy to be home and that there are no hard feelings.
“It’s a blessing, man. I just love Arkansas,” Powell said. “My parents can come and see me. Now my parents don’t have to drive so far.”
For someone who was statistically the best running back in the conference in 2022, one would think Powell’s path to playing time would be guaranteed. But he joins arguably UCA’s strongest position group alongside Darius Hale and Kylin James.
Hale was the 2021 ASUN Freshman of the Year over both James and Powell. James and Hale ranked fourth and fifth respectively in all-purpose yards per game last season in the ASUN behind Powell’s league-leading 160.5.
Brown knew what he was getting himself into by bringing Powell into an already crowded room, but he said the potential of those three weapons on the same team was too good an idea to pass on.
“We’ve got to find ways to get those guys the ball,” Brown said. “You see that the ability we have on offense to be explosive. It’s our job as coaches to figure out what the best approach is on personnel and getting those guys the ball as many times as we can in the game.
“[Powell] came in to compete. He knew our running back room situation. He could have picked someplace else that didn’t have the running back room we have, but he didn’t. … That’s a special room, and what I’ve seen it do is elevate Darius Hale. I’ve seen it elevate Kylin James. I mean those guys are special, special players, and bringing in a guy like ShunDerrick, it’s just gonna make them even better.”
The good thing for Brown and his staff in drawing up plays for the trio with different skill sets. Hale stands 5-11, 225 pounds, and is a bruising force between the tackles. Powell is 5-7, 175 pounds, and is someone Brown described as a “slash and dash” type of player. James is somewhere in between at 6-foot, 220 pounds.
When asked about the potential of this backfield, James and Hale said they’re still working on finding a “new identity.”
“All of us got our own different talents,” James said. “We are of course good, so [we’re] just trying to fit it all together.”
“First it’s difficult for us as an offense because we got to figure out how to put it all together,” Hale said. “Once we have it figured out, we’ll probably have one of the best offenses in the country.”
The level of competition between Hale, James and the rest of the running back room was as high as any position on the 2022 UCA roster. With Powell in the mix, James said they’ll all have to find another level to take it to.
“Bringing somebody in, it ain’t time to get comfortable,” James said. “You gotta keep trying to take your game to the next level. We got to get our reps, so you got to up your game. Competition level just went up.”