Bears place 12 on allSLC preseason squad

Central Arkansas, coming off a

10-win season, had a league-high

12 players named Thursday to the Southland Conference preseason football team.

The Bears outpaced defending SLC champion Sam Houston State, which had 11 picks.

UCA, SLC runner-up last year and 10-3 overall, had seven first-team selections and five second-team honorees. Five of the Bears’ first-team selections are on defense: senior cornerbacks Tremon Smith and Jaylon Lofton, senior rover George Odum, senior defensive end Cardell Best and senior punter Patrick Ponder.

Senior lineman Stockton Mallett and junior lineman John Cook represented UCA on the first-team offense. The Bears’ second-team selections were sophomore defensive end Chris Terrell, punt returner Smith, senior quarterback Hayden Hildebrand, senior lineman Gilberto Garcia and sophomore running back Carlos Blackman.

Odum, from Millington, Tenn., was a two-time SLC Defensive Player of the Week last season, leading the Bears and ranking eighth in the league with 86 tackles (league-high 60 solos). Smith, from Anniston, Ala., is a two-time allSLC cornerback who last year recorded 36 tackles, 11 pass breakups and two interceptions. He made the all-SLC preseason special team after returning a league-high 25 punts for a 9.0-yard average last year.

Hildebrand, from Bossier City, La., passed for 3,051 yards and 19 touchdowns last year, ranking seventh nationally and second in the SLC in passing yards. Blackman, from Gosnell, led the Bears in rushing as a true freshman with

616 yards, including a season-high

128 in a win over Samford. The Bears open the 2017 season Sept. 2 at Big 12 member Kansas State. Their home and conference opener is Sept. 16 against Southeastern Louisiana at Estes Stadium in Conway.