Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

CONWAY — After a disappointing season in 2009, Clint Conque and the University of Central Arkansas Bears reevaluated. They learned a lot about themselves during spring drills.

“A lot of our younger players got an awful lot of work, invaluable individual instruction and video instruction,” Conque said. “We found out we’ve got a strong running game. I came in here spinning it all over the place 11 years ago, and the last four or five years the running game has become an important part of our offensive attack.”

UCA finished 5-7 overall and 2-5 in Southland Conference play in ’09. The Bears graduated 23 seniors but return 40 lettermen and 10 starters, in addition to 12 who have started at least once.

They will open the season at Estes Stadium on Sept. 2 against Elizabeth City State and will be eligible for postseason play in the Football Championship Subdivision for the first time.

One reason so many young players got so much spring work was because of the absence of several starters for various reasons — primarily surgeries and rehabilitations. There were several spring injuries, though, including receiver Dominique Croom, who went down with a knee injury the first day of spring practice. The bad luck was eerily reminiscent to Willie Landers’ season-ending injury, also at receiver, on the first day of fall drills last year.

Offensively, Conque said his team was still searching for an identity. For the second straight year, the Bears graduated a senior quarterback, but junior Nathan Dick, the second-year transfer from Arkansas, emerged as the leading contender after spring drills.

Expect running backs Jackie Hinton, Terence Bobo and Anthony Blackmon to all see playing time.

“Those guys give us different running styles, explosion and speed,” Conque said. “We’ve been little back there [in recent years], but these guys give us some size and will complement each other. And they can all catch the ball out of the backfield.”

Conque said the Bears would be deeper on the offensive line than they’ve been. Two senior tackles graduated, but he said he liked the depth, competition and talent level with Rogeric Govan, the Little Rock Episcopal Collegiate product who started his career at Middle Tennessee, and Matt Dickerson on the left side and Brad Jakel and Dominique Allen on the right.

Logan Roubique and Nathan Richards are battling at center. Two starters return at guard in Austin Emerson and Corey Howard, with Joe Lehocky providing depth.

Rico Moss started all 12 games there last year, but missed the spring with two knee cleanups. Conque also said he liked Brennan Rushing, Josh Ragland and Jeremy Jester.

But with the marquee receivers out, Conque said his team couldn’t grow in the passing game like he’d wanted. Still, he’s optimistic.