Quarterback Porter’s return lifts Southern Nazarene’s spirit
BETHANY — Southern Nazarene hired Dustin Hada as head football coach in December 2019. And any day now, Hada will coach his first game.
Man, the pandemic has messed with the college football schedule.
We continue our series on state college football, by checking in on Southern Nazarene. SNU opens its season on Sept. 2 at Arkansas-Monticello, and Hada is looking on the bright side of the wiped-out 2020 season.
“Really allowed us to be ahead schematically,” Hada said. “Lot of our young guys, that first freshman class (fall 2020), got a lot of time in the spring to get acclimated. I feel like our young guys are really ahead. So it’s been real good.”
The Crimson Storm got in four major scrimmages in the spring — TexasPermian Basin, East Central, Missouri Southern and Central Oklahoma, with all but UCO being virtual games.
Better yet, Hada said attrition didn’t much affect Southern Nazarene. So the Storm could be in its best shape ever to compete in the Great American Conference.
SNU went 11-33 in Andy Lambert’s four seasons as head coach, 2016-19. Hada was part of those staffs, so he knows the challenge.
“First time in a long time, SNU is going to stack up better athletically in the Great American Conference,” Hada said. “We will be more physically competitive in the league week in and week out.
“It’s going to come down to playing great football and eliminating mistakes, and doing that series by series by series.”
Southern Nazarene is blessed by the return of quarterback Gage Porter of Elk City, who quarterbacked the Storm in both 2018 and 2019. He’s completed 57.3% of his passes and thrown for 1,828 yards. Porter also led SNU in rushing both seasons, with a combined 1,423 yards.
“It’s really valuable for us,” Hada said. “He’s a coach on the field. He knows the offense as good or better as anybody on the team, and he can communicate that. He’s one of the most competitive people I’ve ever seen. He loves to compete.
“For a quarterback, he’s an extremely physical dude. He’s a unique one. As a leader, he’s really really grown. His experience is invaluable for what we’re doing offensively.”
Hada said retention was good. He has 18 players currently in graduate school. Ten of those have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
“If you’ve got a career waiting on you, then go,” Hada said he told his players. “But we only lost seven guys, I want to say, that would have had a year left.”
Hada also will build around speedy cornerback Doryan Harris and 6-foot-5 wide receiver Reid Roelofs. Both are graduate students.