Bears prepare to ‘flip switch’ to K-State opener

CONWAY — Central Arkansas head coach Steve Campbell liked what he saw from his cornerbacks and running backs, among others, at the third and final scrimmage of fall camp here Aug. 19.

The Bears went approximately an hour and a half on a hot, muggy day on “The Stripes” at Estes Stadium, getting a spark from those two position groups.

“I was very pleased with our corner play,” said Campbell, senior Tavion Garrison with two interceptions. “We had gone after our corners in all three scrimmages, and I really thought they played well today. That was something that I was glad to see because we lost a good corner (Tyler Williams) there. We had lost some pass rushers, and I thought our pass rush was better today. So we’re coming on in some areas we needed to come on in.”

Several younger players impressed Campbell after the more experienced Bears showed up more regularly in the first two scrimmages.

“I thought the young guys played well on both sides,” he said. “Our (No.

2) defense got off the field against the

1-offense. Our 2 defense scored against the 1 defense. I don’t know if that means something good or bad, but it is what it is. That means there’s some young guys doing well, because I’ve seen that 1 offense do some good things, and I know that 1 defense has some good players on it … So there were some young guys stepping up and making some plays.”

Redshirt running back D’erek Fernandez scored twice and, Campbell said, “really ran the ball hard.” Dylan Smith, Carlos Blackman and Kierre Crossley also impressed the coach, who said, “There were some positives there, some definite deals where some guys stepped up, and I was proud to see that.”

Senior quarterback Hayden Hildebrand ran for a touchdown and passed to true freshman Brandon Myers for another.

“It wasn’t Hayden’s best day, but Hayden’s best day is really, really good,” said Campbell. “But I thought he came back after a little bit of a rough start and pulled that group together and got that group going. Hayden is a good football player … (but) when Hayden plays his best day, you don’t punt. So that’s our expectations for him, and that’s the level he has been performing.”

True freshman defensive tackle Vidal Scott, just cleared through the NCAA Clearinghouse, “definitely made his presence felt,” Campbell said. Also impressing the coach defensively were redshirt freshman end Nathan Grant and linebackers James Graves, Raphael Garner and Roy Sutton.

After what Campbell called the longest camp in his 30 years of coaching, the Bears prepare for their Sept. 2 opener at Kansas State, ranked No. 20 in the preseason Associated Press top 25.

“We’ve worked against ourselves as much as we need to at this point,” Campbell said. “Now we need to flip the switch and that will give us two full weeks. … So it’s kind of like an open week and then a game week. We need to go go ahead and get well introduced to Kansas State (this week) and then have a good game week.”

The Bears’ home opener is Sept. 16 against Southland Conference foe Southeastern Louisiana