ACU Fall Camp Update: Offense

The ACU football team is less than two weeks from the season-opening game, and many starting positions are still to be decided.

But one thing that has stuck out to Wildcat head coach Keith Patterson is his players' mental toughness during their two intrasquad scrimmages.

"One side may be down and they just never give up. They keep playing the next play mentality," said Patterson, who is the reigning United Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.

"A cord of three strands is not quickly broken," he said, referencing Ecclesiastes 4:12. "We want to stay together, and if we stay together, those relationships, the discipline and toughness will bond our team."

ACU has open competition at quarterback, running back, and offensive line as only three players who regularly made starts in 2024 return: All-UAC tight end Jed Castles, and receivers Javon Gipson and J.J. Henry.

The quarterback competition has narrowed to three older players: returner Quayde Hawkins, and transfers Stone Earle and Cade Fennegan.

Hawkins has been at ACU since 2023. He played in six games that season, but did not receive playing time in 2024.

Earle is a familiar name to Wildcat fans as the Ft. Worth-native returns to ACU following three seasons at the FBS level. Earle played in two games as a freshman during the 2020 season, and then was ACU's starter for the first half of 2021. He threw for 1,216 yards and 13 touchdowns before suffering an injury. Earle then transferred to UNT, and then headed to Marshall where he won the starting quarterback job in fall camp.

While Hawkins and Earle are experienced, Fennegan ups the ante. He turned 26 years old over the summer, is married and spent the 2024 season as a student assistant coach at BYU. He decided to "un-retire" from football and make one last go at-it.

"Honestly, any three of those guys could be in the game and I'm not going to blink an eye," said Patterson. "We haven't had that since I've been here. I think you're going to see a different style of offense; an offense that's built for moving the chains. [In 2024,] it was feast or famine. It can't be all or nothing. I want to see us attack the chains and extend drives."

Patterson feels it takes a commitment to running the football to have those extended drives. The Wildcats have several running backs fighting for playing time: Rovaughn Banks, Jr., Jordon Vaughn, and Deonte Dean, and transfers B.K. Jackson (East Texas A&M), E.J. Wilson (Temple), and La'James White (Kansas State).

"We have five running backs this year that I don't care which of them is out there. They all run behind their pads, they're running hard, and I'm excited about that group and our offensive line."

ACU will play five new offensive linemen as guards Alan Hatten and Jacob Thielen graduated, and Tay Yanta, Trent Pullen, and Dylan Kinney transferred to FBS programs.

"We lost our top eight offensive linemen from a year ago, but I'm not using that as an excuse. We've got about seven or eight new guys this year, and they get better and better every time we go out to practice."

Those new players include six coming directly from FBS programs: Luke Farr (Nevada), Brady Stephenson (Texas A&M), Anthony Rosas (UNLV), Kaden Carr (Texas Tech), and Luke and Landon Roaten (Washington State). George French II, a 6-foot-9, sixth-year player, made one start at left tackle in 2024.

At receiver, J.J. Henry is a Preseason Phil Steele Second-Team All-UAC selection. He caught 42 passes for 485 yards, including a 7-catch, 70-yard performance in the postseason at North Dakota State. Gipson made five starts last season and had a 100-yard game in the Wildcats' win at Northern Colorado.

New transfers include Langston Anderson (Texas State), Dallas Dudley (UNT), and J.B. Mitchell III (Eastern Michigan). Vilay Nakkoun, Jr., transferred from Rutgers and has moved from defensive back to receiver.

Castles is rated as one of the best returning tight ends in the FCS and leads a group that also sports Bryan "Itty" Henry, Chidubem Lebechi, transfer Nathan Jones, and Carson May, who moved from quarterback to tight end late last season.