2014 Southland Conference Football Media Guide (PDF)
2014 Sam Houston State Football Media Guide (PDF)
Sam Houston State
STORYLINES
• New head coach K. C. Keeler and new offensive coordinator Phil Longo installed a high tempo offense during 2014 spring ball. Longo’s “Air Raid” offense at Slippery Rock averaged 43.3 points and 536.5 yards per game.
• Sam Houston set more than 45 school offensive records and nine Southland Conference offensive marks during the past three seasons with an attack that featured the league’s all-time rushing and scoring leader Timothy Flanders (5,664 yards rushing and 420 career points) and SHSU all-time passing & total offense leader Brian Bell (8,655 career passing yards and 7,080 total offense). Don King III and Keshawn Hill emerged from spring football as the starting quarterback and running back for the Bearkats.
• The Bearkat must rebuild the defense with only three starters returning (safety Michael Wade, cornerback Desmond Fite and defensive lineman Sione Latu). Gary Lorance, all-Southland defensive lineman in 2012, returns after red-shirting in 2013.
• Sam Houston’s 22-game home winning streak at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium is the longest current home winning streak in FCS football
• Sam Houston and Eastern Washington will play the first college football game of the 2014 season on August 23 in Cheney, Wash, in a nationally-televised contest on ESPN. Three of the last four years either Sam Houston or Eastern Washington has been in the FCS national finals at Frisco.
OFFENSE
• Senior running back Keshawn Hill has produced three-year career totals of 1,396 yards rushing and 2,312 all-purpose yards as a two-time honorable mention All-Southland honoree. He has scoring runs of 57 and 60 yards to his credit and posted a 93-yard kickoff return in last year’s “Battle of the Piney Woods” with SFA at Reliant Stadium last year.
• Sophomore quarterback Don King III ended spring ball as the No. 1 quarterback for the Bearkats. As a red-shirt freshman, King played in seven games, rushing for 85 yards and passing for 82. His father, Don King II, was an All-Southwest Conference quarterback for SMU.
• Offensive tackle Donald Jackson III, a first team All-Southland selection in 2013 and College Sports Journal Freshman All-America in 2012, will anchor a young offensive line. Jackson has started 25 games in a row for the Bearkats
•Junior wide receiver Chance Nelson has caught 57 passes for 978 yards and 12 touchdowns in 20 games as a starter the past two years. A deep threat, the Baytown Sterling product has touchdown receptions of 70 and 61 yards to his credit.
DEFENSE
• Two-time All-Southland defensive lineman Gary Lorance is back for fifth year after missing 2013 with injury in season opener. Lorance has totaled 96 tackles including 12 for losses and nine sacks in his career. The New Boston product has started 35 games for the Bearkats, playing on two Southland championship teams.
• Second-team All-Southland free safety Michael Wade, SHSU’s second-leading tackler with 105 stops last year, returns to lead a young Bearkat secondary. Wade started every game during the 2013 season, returning a pair of interceptions for a total of 71 yards.
• Nineteen players who played in backup roles for SHSU defense in 2013 return to compete for starting berths in 2014 preseason camp.
SPECIAL TEAMS
• Senior Keshawn Hill has averaged 23.9 yards on kickoff returns the past two seasons (33 returns for 790 yards) including a long return of 93 yards in victory over Northwestern State last year
• Sophomore kicker Luc Swimberghe was the Bearkats’ leading scorer as a true freshman in 2013 with 97 points (eight field goals, 73 PATS), the third highest kick-scoring total in SHSU football history. He was successful on eight of 11 field goal attempts with a long of 45 yards.
• Swimberghe averaged 59.6 yards per kickoff in 2013.
• Junior Lachlan Edwards and senior Brad Dunavant shared punting duties last year, averaging 42.3 and 41.7 yards per punt, respectively. The Bearkats limited opponents to only 4.8 yards per punt return in 2013.