Football Season Preview: Sam Houston State
About the Bearkats (PDF)
In the 96-year history of Sam Houston State football, there has never been a year like 2011.
The Bearkats rolled up 14 consecutive victories to earn the program’s first No. 1 ranking in Division I and a berth in the NCAA Division I Championship Game. The Bearkats were the only FCS team to go 11-0 through the regular season.
Sam Houston won the Southland Conference championship with a perfect 7-0 mark, out-scoring league opponents 308-67. The Bearkats led the league offensively in rushing, scoring and pass efficiency and defensively in rushing, total defense, scoring, pass efficiency and turnover margin. Nationally, Sam Houston ranked No. 1 in rushing defense, No. 2 in scoring defense and turnover margin, No. 4 in scoring offense and pass efficiency defense and No. 6 in rushing offense.
The only blemish on the Bearkats’ record was a 17-6 loss to North Dakota State in the NCAA Division I Championship Game in Frisco, Texas in a hard-fought defensive battle.
In 2012, Bearkat head coach Willie Fritz and his staff return 50 lettermen including 19 starters. That includes five of the seven players who earned All-America honors, 14 of the 18 all-conference selections and all three of the league’s major award winners.
Running back Tim Flanders, “wildkat” Richard Sincere and safety Darnell Taylor were named, respectively, as conference player of the year, offensive player of the year and defensive player of the year.
Flanders was named to six All-America squads including American Football Coaches Association first-team and Associated Press second-team honors. He finished seventh in voting for the Walter Payton Award. In two years, Flanders has rushed for 2,592 yards and 35 touchdowns. He has set 18 school records. His 24 touchdowns and 144 points in 2011 set a Southland season mark. His 2011 rushing total of 1,644 yards broke the old mark of 1,593 yards by Claude Mathis of Texas State in 1997.
Sincere produced 1,464 all-purpose yards and scored 13 touchdowns, rushing for 979 yards in Sam Houston’s “wildkat” formation and catching 26 passes for 485 yards as a wide receiver. Flanders and Sincere combined for 43 plays of more than 20 yards during the 2011 season.
Taylor also was named to five All-America squads last year and led the Southland’s top defense with 128 tackles. He enters his senior season ranked No. 10 in Bearkat career tackles with 236 stops.
Defensive tackle J.T. Cleveland and safety Kenneth Jenkins also were 2011 first-team all-league selections. Cleveland was named to Phil Steele Magazine’s All-America squad. Jenkins stands No. 9 in Sam Houston career stops (240) and was the second-leading tackler for the 2011 team with 240 including 16 for losses.
End Andrew Weaver, cornerback Robert Shaw and safety Daxton Swanson also are returning senior starters. Shaw has scored five touchdowns including two on punt blocks and three on interception returns. Swanson led the Southland and ranked No. 3 nationally with eight interceptions last season (a school record). Weaver totaled five sacks.
Junior tackles Gary Lorance, end Jarrett Brown and cornerback Bookie Sneed round out the list of returning Bearkat defensive starters. Sneed, Swanson, Lorance and Weaver all were second-team all-league selections in 2011.
Fourteen other lettermen return defensively. Four of those players – defensive end Preston Sanders, linebackers Eric Fieilo and Darius Taylor and safety Mike Littleton – have starting experience. Overall, the Bearkat defense features players that have made a total of 131 starts.
The offensive outlook is bright as well. Second-team all-Southland quarterback Brian Bell returns. The junior who has passed for 3,450 yards and 27 touchdowns has directed Sam Houston to 19 victories in 23 starts. Junior Torrance Williams, who caught 33 passes for 450 yards and three touchdowns, returns at wide receiver while seniors J.D. Standley and T.J. Jones are back at tight end. Senior tackles Kaleb Hopson and Riley Smith and junior guard return in the offensive line. Hopson was a second-team all-Southland selection and is a three-year starter. The Bearkats lost two All-Americans and first-team all-Southland lineman in center Travis Watson and guard Chris Crockett.
Second-team all-conference punter Matt Foster (40.2 average), kicker Miguel Antonio (career totals of 98 PATs and 31 field goals) and long snapper Ken Jones return on special teams.