Lamar Season Preview
Lamar, which has not fielded a football team since 1989, returns to the gridiron and will be playing as an independent in the Football Championship Subdivision in 2010. It will return to the Southland Conference in 2011. The Cardinals will play four Southland opponents this season, including McNeese State in the season opener Sept. 4. Lamar will also play road games at Southeastern Louisiana (Sept. 18) and Stephen F. Austin (Sept. 25) before a home game with Sam Houston State (Oct. 2).
Win or lose, the 2010 will be an historic season for Lamar University. For the first time since the finale of the 1989 season, a 22-17 home victory over McNeese State, Cardinal fans will have the chance to watch Lamar play football.
The Cardinals will play a full 11-game schedule that opens, ironically enough, against their last opponent, McNeese State. Lamar will play its first home game in more than two decades the following weekend against Webber International in the renovated Provost Umphrey Stadium.
Former NFL player Ray Woodard holds the reins of the Lamar program. Woodard came to Beaumont after one highly successful season as the coach at Navarro College, and prior to that spent several seasons as a coach and defensive coordinator at both the college and professional levels.
Woodard and his staff have signed two recruiting classes with several players spending the past school year on campus waiting for the opportunity to perform in a live game in front of the Cardinal faithful. The rosters features a mix of Division I transfers, junior college signees and freshmen.
Lamar will run a multiple-set offense which will allow the Cardinals to utilize a mobile quarterback and speed at the receiver position. More often than not Lamar will line up with only one running back.
Directing the Cardinal offense will be junior quarterback Andre Bevil, who is entering his fourth season playing for Coach Woodard. Bevil, who played two seasons at Navarro College, will use a strong, accurate arm and an elusive running style to lead the Cardinals.
Receivers J.J. Hayes, Barry Ford, Donte Lopez, Marcus Jackson, Josh Powdrill and Brent Walters will help stretch the field, while tight ends Billy Chavis and Kevin Davis will provide large targets.
The running back position may be the biggest question mark for the Lamar offense coming out of spring practice. Freshmen Jordan Nixon, Caleb Harmon and Keaton Parker, and senior transfer Kwabena Asante will battle for carries in the backfield.
Lamar will utilize a 4-3 formation on defense that will also have the flexibility to adapt to the different styles of offense that the Cardinals will face. It should prove to be an aggressive, attacking unit.
Junior transfer Mario Foster and redshirt freshman Jesse Dickson will lead an aggressive defensive line that will apply pressure to opposing quarterbacks. At 6-foot-2 and 312 pounds, Texas A&M transfer Adren Dorsey is the largest of the Cardinals on defense.
Jonathan Epke will be leaned upon to lead the Lamar linebacking corp. Former Beaumont West Brook teammates Jordan Garrett and Jacody Coleman have transferred back to their hometown university to add experience.
The defensive backfield is inexperienced at the college level, but continued to make solid strides throughout the spring season. Redshirt freshman Branden Thomas has proven himself to be a player to watch during his first year on the Lamar campus.
The specials teams units are the most unproven group on the team as there are all new faces at the key positions. It is an area that will have to be shored up before the season opener and will have more changes than any other phase of the team.