Thomsen, ACU anxious to kick off 2007 season
8/9/2007 4:00:00 AM | Football
ABILENE -- ACU head coach Chris Thomsen and the rest of the Wildcat coaching staff welcomed more than 150 players Wednesday on reporting day as the Wildcats officially began a 2007 season that could be one of the program's best in years.
ACU is ranked in the top 25 in NCAA Division II by two national magazines, and, coming off an 8-3 record and the program's first NCAA post-season appearance, is the favorite to win the Lone Star Conference South Division championship. Thomsen, ACU's third-year head coach who was the LSC South Division Coach of the Year in 2006, saw 153 players take physicals and pick up equipment in anticipation of Thursday's 4 p.m. workout. Thursday's practice is the first of 23 that will ready ACU for the Sept. 1 season-opener at Central Oklahoma.
"It's great to see everyone back ready to go," Thomsen said. "We've got a lot of great returning players, and we're anxious to see how the newcomers fit in with those guys. We've got a good group of talented transfers and high school players who we believe will add a lot to our program.
"We know that as soon as the starts that no one we play is going to care about our pre-season ranking or what we did last year," he said. "The thing our players have to understand is that we had better be ready to get after it for 11 weeks or we won't be playing past that."
Headlining the returning players is junior quarterback Billy Malone, the LSC South Division Pre-Season Offensive Player of the Year. Last year the junior from Paris, Texas, threw for 3,136 yards and 27 touchdowns on his way to first team all-LSC South Division and all-region honors. Also returning are pre-season all-America defenders Travis Carpenter (defensive end) and Cody Stutts (middle linebacker), as well as senior offensive guard Nathan Young.
Other key returning players include senior wide receiver Jerale Badon, senior running back Chancy Campbell, junior running back Taber Minner, junior fullback Chris Conklin, junior wide receiver Chris Morris, senior nose tackle Jacob Passmore, senior cornerback Corey Jordan and senior safety Bobby Tatum.
The Wildcats also welcomed junior running back Bernard Scott, who is transferring to ACU after leading Blinn College to the junior college national championship in 2006. Scott, who played at Central Arkansas in 2004 when Thomsen was the offensive line coach for the Bears, rushed for almost 1,900 yards last season, and he'll compete with Campbell and Minner for the starting running back job.
Other key transfers include defensive backs Michael Diggs (Ranger College), Nick Fellows (Baylor) and Josh Henry (Stephen F. Austin), defensive end Julian Humble (Texas State), linebacker John Starnes (Angelo State) and wide receivers Marcus Franklin (Wyoming) and Rodney Freeman (Stephen F. Austin).
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