London a consistent force at LB for Bobcats
SAN MARCOS — Bryan London II has been a consistent presence for Texas State but has been overshadowed by the football team’s abysmal record in recent seasons.
London, a junior inside linebacker, has started 27 straight games and has recorded 280 career tackles, an average of 10.3 per game. That puts him on pace for nearly 500 for his career, which would surpass the school record of the 447 set by Gregg Pitts. It also would be the third-highest total in NCAA history, behind Houston’s Marcus McGraw (510) and Boston College’s Luke Kuechly (532).
This season, London has continued his steady approach; he leads the team with 28 tackles and has had at least nine in all three games.
How does he stay so consistent?
“Just preparation,” London said. “I just try to make all the tackles that I’m supposed to make. During the week, lots of film study so that we know what to expect from certain sets. Lets you have an idea of what the play is going to be before it is.”
The other constant for the Bobcats over the past four years has been losses. Including his redshirt season in 2015, the Bobcats have gone 8-31 since London arrived, with a 5-22 record in games he has started. As a starter, London has just one conference win.
“I see the progression, but progression only means so much,” he said. “At the end of the day, we need to see wins . ... Baby steps are cool, but at some point you have to take leaps and bounds to get where you want to go. I just feel like we’re at the point where it’s not enough to get better or progress. It’s time to put up or shut up.”
Texas State (1-2) will travel to UTSA (0-3) on Saturday.
Volleyball: For the first time since 1998, the volleyball team has won two tournaments in the same season.
The Bobcats (9-5) won all three matches at the Sparky Classic in Tempe, Ariz., last weekend, losing just one set the whole tournament. They started with a sweep of Gonzaga on Friday 25-18, 25-23, 25-15. Texas State dropped a set Saturday against Northern Arizona but won the match 25-17, 25-21, 16-25, 25-17 before sweeping host Arizona State that night 25-22, 28-26, 25-17.
Freshman Emily Dewalt took home MVP honors, her second tournament MVP this season, including the Creeds & Crests Classic in August, the other tournament Texas State won.
The Bobcats have two matches games in Louisiana this weekend, against Louisiana-Monroe on Friday and Louisiana-Lafayette on Sunday.
Soccer: The soccer team (3-5, 1-0 Sun Belt) started conference play with a bang, defeating Louisiana-Monroe 4-0.
Junior forward Kaylee Davis scored two of the four goals, at the 16:17 mark and again at 50:41. Davis has five goals on the season.
The other two goals were scored by junior defender Genesis Thurman (38:03) and sophomore midfielder Mackenzie Smith (63:17). It was the first goal of the season for each player.
Texas State’s game on Sunday at Houston Baptist has been canceled because of field conditions after heavy rain.