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/ FootballPhoto by: Gary Rhodes
Inexperienced offense will have to learn on the fly in 2014
8/20/2014 11:45:00 PM | Football
Depth chart to be released Monday, Aug. 25
The ACU Wildcats will field one of their most inexperienced offensive units since current head coach Ken Collums became the offensive coordinator in 2005, and it just happens to coincide with the team playing the toughest regular-season schedule in program history.
The Wildcats lost a record-setting quarterback in senior John David Baker, three of the best wide receivers in ACU history in seniors Taylor Gabriel, Darrell Cantu-Harkless and Darian Hogg, one of the fastest and most productive running backs in Wildcat football history in senior Charcandrick West and three offensive linemen who started 22 straight games together in seniors Josh Perez, Blake Spears and Will Latu. Add it up and that's eight starters gone, including five skill-position players that helped the Wildcats average more than 485 yards and 45 points per game in a 6-5 campaign in 2013.
Now in the program's first season as a full-fledged member of the Southland Conference since 1972, Collums – entering his third season as the head coach with a record of 13-9 – must piece together an offense capable of moving the ball and putting up points against a schedule that posted a combined record of 72-67 last year and saw three teams reach the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs. Take away Georgia State's 0-12 record in 2013 and the combined record is 72-55 with eight of 12 teams finishing at least .500 or better.
Collums and second-year offensive coordinator Nathan Young certainly have a track record of offensive excellence, but with a youth movement in full swing in the program's second season at the FCS Division I level, putting up the kind of numbers that Wildcat fans have grown accustomed to seeing over the last eight seasons could be the toughest challenge Collums has faced in his ACU tenure.
The biggest position battle on the offense has been at the quarterback position where sophomore Parker McKenzie will open the season as the starter. McKenzie has been "efficient" in practices and has improved since the Wildcats' first scrimmage two weeks ago.
"Parker has done a much better job protecting the ball, and that's what we want our guys to do at that position," Collums said. "He's an accurate passer and he's doing a really good job leading our offense."
True freshman Dallas Sealey is listed as the backup to McKenzie going into the season-opener, having supplanted redshirt freshman Kade Munden with a big arm and a knack for using different arm angles to get the ball where it needs to go.
"Dallas hasn't been a surprise to anyone who watched him on film and saw him out here this summer," Collums said. "He's one of the most accurate rookie quarterbacks I've ever been around. He's got a big arm and when he throws it, the ball ends up where it should. That's rare in a young player when they're overwhelmed with a new offense and trying to figure out college life.
"He's extremely accurate on the run, and we knew that from watching him in high school," Collums said of Sealey. "But there's a big difference in taking that from high school to college, and so far he's been able to make plays on the run."
The Wildcats are extremely young on the offensive line, but at an average of 6-4, 300 pounds per player, are considerably bigger across the board than they've been in recent seasons. Of the 10 players on the two-deep entering the season, eight are either redshirt freshmen, true freshmen or first-year transfers to the program.
The only two returning starters from last year are senior center Logan Hoppenrath (6-4, 315) and senior right guard Colton Carnes (6-2, 310), both of whom have been solid in fall camp. The other three starters for the opener against Georgia State appear to be sophomore transfer Codey Funk (6-5, 320) at left tackle, redshirt freshman Chance Rieken (6-5, 295) at left guard and redshirt freshman Riley Mayfield (6-7, 315) at right tackle.
The backups are freshman Colton King (6-6, 280) at left tackle, junior college transfer Parker Whitney (6-3, 300) at left guard, redshirt freshman Hayden Wall (6-3, 290) at center, redshirt freshman Austin Hisler (6-3, 285) at right guard and freshman Cole Baughman (6-5, 290) at right tackle.
"Being big isn't the key to good offensive line because everybody at this level is big, and they're even bigger at the next level," Collums said. "We've just got to give these young guys time to play together and build that bond that turns a good offensive line into a great one. But that group has gotten better every single practice, and I think we have the core of what could be a really good offensive line."
Funk has been the fastest riser in the group. He transferred to ACU after spending last season at Western Illinois. A standout basketball player in high school, Funk has put those quick feet to good use protecting the blind side of the ACU quarterbacks.
"He's a big, athletic guy who can really move his feet," Collums said. "When he puts it all together like he should, it looks really, really good. He's just got to be consistent because he's at a premium position."
Those young linemen will be blocking for what could be another in a long line of great ACU running backs in junior transfer Herschel Sims. The former Abilene High standout – who played at Oklahoma State in 2011 and Lamar in 2012 – will have gone 682 days between games when ACU takes the field against Georgia State, but he's already gotten everyone's attention on the practice field.
"Our strongest point on offense is obviously the running back position," Collums said of Sims, who last played on Oct. 13, 2012, as a Lamar Cardinal against McMurry. "Herschel is a really, really good football player who gives us a home run threat every time he touches the ball. I'm sure he'll have some rust on him early, but hopefully we can get that knocked off in a hurry and turn him loose."
Redshirt freshman De'Andre Brown has had a very good fall camp and will get his touches as well, sometimes sharing the field with Sims and playing in the multiple threat role that suited Cantu-Harkless so well from 2010-13.
"De'Andre has been very good since he got here, and we're expecting a lot of great things from him," Collums said. "Both of our running backs are guys who can get through tight spaces, make people miss, pick up chunk yards and score touchdowns. And if you're going to win games consistently, you'd better have guys in the backfield who can do those things."
The Wildcats – who are one of the few teams in today's fast-paced college football world to still use a fullback on a consistent basis – have a stable of players who can rotate between both fullback and tight end, led by seniors Jonathan Parker and Noah Cheshier and junior Jamie Walker. Parker is listed as the starter at tight end with Walker and freshman Liam Flowers behind him, while Cheshier is listed as the starter at fullback with Parker behind him. However, all of those players will rotate between the two positions. Collums is high on Flowers, the 6-3, 240-pound freshman from Arlington Lamar High School.
Wide receivers coach Kendrick Holloway said after a recent practice that his group had made "big strides" over the last week of practices. The starters – depending on the formation the Wildcats trot out against Georgia State to start the game – will be junior college transfer Cedric Gilbert (who redshirted in 2013), senior Demarcus Thompson and junior Monte Green-Avery. The backups will be Jace Hudson, junior college transfer Jonathan Epps and junior Cade Stone.
"Our receivers are progressing," Collums said. "Monte Green-Avery has probably been the most consistent of the group. He's been here a few years and he's showing the consistency that's been lacking."
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