Bears: Better ending needed

Central Arkansas reached the final week of the football regular season a year ago still with every thing to play for.

The Bears hosted Sam Houston State on Nov. 21, a chance on their home field to win a share of the Southland Conference title and, most likely, earn a berth into the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

It didn’t work out that way, though. Running back Blake Veasley left with an ankle injury in the first quarter and Sam Houston State ran away with a 42-13 victory, a share of the conference title and a FCS playoff berth in hand.

Eight months later, Coach Steve Campbell said that game spurned this year’s motto: Finish. The Bears were picked third Wednesday in preseason Southland polls made by league coaches and sports information directors, behind favorite Sam Houston State and McNeese State, which scored 21 fourth-quarter points in a comeback victory over UCA last year.

UCA returns 10 starters from last year’s team that went 7-4 overall and 7-2 in the Southland, but the returners are at key spots, which makes Campbell think they’re on the cusp of having a similar opportunity again.

“We weren’t able to finish,” Campbell said Wednesday at the conference’s media day in Lake Charles, La. “We were 7-2 in the league last year. In the fourth quarter we were leading McNeese, which was undefeated. We finish the fourth quarter we have at least a share of the conference championship.”

Two of the reasons Campbell is confident of a better finish joined him in Lake Charles in wide receivers Desmond Smith and Jatavious Wilson. Smith was second in the Southland in receptions last year and is a preseason first-team All-Southland pick. Wilson was picked to the second team as both a receiver and a kick returner.

Along with those two quarterback Hayden Hildebrand, who completed 63.5 percent of his passes with 12 touchdowns and 4 interceptions last year, and no established running back, the Bears could divert a bit from Campbell’s ground-game preference.

“I’m an O-Line guy by trade and we like to be physical and run the football,” Campbell said. “But whenever you have two outstanding receivers like we’re fortunate

enough to have combine back this year — these guys have a chance to be great weapons for us.”

Smith, a senior, redshirted in 2012, the last time UCA reached the FCS playoffs. He said his motivation is to end his career the way it began.

“That’s a drive to go push forward and push through,” said Smith, of getting back to the playoffs. “The rest of the guys, they haven’t been to the FCS playoffs. So everybody has got that real hungry feeling in them.”

The schedule is a bit tougher this year. The Bears travel to McNeese State on Oct. 15 and Sam Houston State to end the season on

Nov. 19. Campbell spinned a positive note, noting that the Bears open the season with three consecutive home games — Houston Baptist, Samford, Northwestern (La.) State — and then play at Arkansas State.

“I like the way the schedule sets up,” he said.

And while Campbell likes his quarterback and receivers, he likes his running backs, too, despite none of them playing a key role a year ago. The Bears lost leading rushers Veasley, Dominique Thomas and Jeff Anderson from last year. Kelton Warren, who had 29 rushes for 165 yards, and Darrien Daniels, who added 15 pounds after rushing 20 times for 83

yards, both return. As does Antwon Wells, who had just one carry last year but flashed positive signs in the spring. The Bears also added Jarvis Cooper this summer, a West

Memphis native who transferred from Memphis.

“I’m excited about what we can have in that backfield,” Campbell said. “There’s a lot of unlimited potential there.”

Campbell