FARMINGTON -- The brand new state-of-the-art $16 million Farmington Sports Complex and Cardinal Stadium provides an excellent launchpad for the football program.
OFFENSE
Quarterback
Projected starter Tate Sutton is out with an injury. Quick senior wide receiver Marqueveon Watson (5-7, 150), and speedy junior Ian Cartwright (5-11, 170) are battling for the starting job.
"They both have some speed so that's a dimension we haven't had here at quarterback in a little while so that will be something to take advantage of," said head coach Mike Adams.
Sophomore Myles Harvey (6-0, 165) also has a shot at earning some playing time.
Tailbacks
"Senior Jaden Schrader has been a guy who's been a receiver all the way through his career up until this (past) off-season when we moved him to tailback," said Adams. "He's a big kid, he's grown. He's a little over 6-1 and weighs 212. He runs downhill, a hard, power runner so we kind of got the pitch going well in our offense."
Sophomore Caden Elsik (5-10, 155) has good speed with ability to make tacklers miss. Junior Josh Cartwright (5-8, 145) missed a large part of camp with a concussion, but may be the best zone runner. Junior DeCory Thomas (6-1, 140) looked good during the fall.
Fullbacks
Senior Josh Stetmier (6-2, 220) and Terrion Swift (5-11, 230) are both among the strongest Cardinals.
"We feel like that position's in good hands right there," Adams said.
Receivers
While admitting he's biased, Adams said he hasn't seen a better receiver in Arkansas than senior Drew Sturgeon (6-0, 165), who has improved his physical stature and plays like it.
"He's grown a little bit, he's got a little bit bigger. He's had two or three pancake blocks during fall camp. He's become a more physical player, but he's always had the great hands, good route running, fantastic body control and good speed," Adams said. "All of those things combined, he's a weapon that we got to get the ball to."
Sophomore Devonte Donovan (6-2, 170) is one of the fastest Cardinals gifted with soft hands. Tate Pickens (5-8, 130) is another sophomore with great hands. Pickens had three punt returns for touchdowns as a freshman last year playing junior high football. Junior Collin Hummel (5-10, 145) is also in the mix.
Tight end
Returning starter senior Ben Macedo (6-4, 225) trimmed down. Sophomore Chase Brown (6-2, 175) is a little light and needs to improve his blocking, yet plays leverage and catches the ball well. Sophomore Caleb Matthews (5-10, 180) makes the position three deep.
Offensive Line
Adams said offensive line is probably the Cardinals' biggest question mark along with quarterback going into the second week of scrimmages. Three-year returning starter Hayden Grantham (6-0, 275) tore an ACL in April. The senior is working hard to get back.
Smart junior Jared Jowers (6-1, 220) had a good fall camp playing center. Senior Trevin Beaver (6-0, 270) has never started in his career, but has come on with physical play during camp. Junior Harry Riffel (6-1, 190) has grown and has good feet with good technique. Aggressive, powerful sophomore Jackson Boudrey (6-1, 240) played in the last two 2018 varsity games and started against Harrison in week 10.
Senior All-Conference linebacker Colton Kilgore (6-1, 210) adds depth while classmate Trey Williams (5-9, 255) is the strongest Cardinal and plays tackle. Sophomore Braden Bullington has taken snaps at center. Intelligent Deklen Gardenhire went from a 5-10, 170-pound ninth grader to 6-1, 230-pound sophomore and does things right.
"We need to develop some depth, but we got to find a unit out of those guys to make one cohesive unit and have some guys play backup," Adams said.
DEFENSE
Defensive Line
Adams touted Swift for having a super camp making himself very difficult to block. Matthews switches from linebacker to defensive end after demonstrating big gains in the weight room. Macedo and Bullington, whom Adams describes as "just a ferocious guy defensively" will play.
Brothers, Josiah Ingraham (6-2, 295) and Will Ingraham (5-11, 225), moved into the district. Josiah plays nose guard while Will works at defensive end as well as defensive tackle.
"Both of them have shown some flashes of being able to give us some depth there," Adams said.
Linebackers
Outside linebacker Andrew Wood (5-9, 180) played some as a sophomore in 2018 and is really smart, always in the right place and physical. Stetmier is big and strong and hard to block. Junior James Payne (5-11, 170) excels at pass defense. He picked off passes during 7-on-7 over the summer.
Two starters return at inside linebacker in Kilgore and junior Hayden Cox (5-11, 190). Senior Kaustin Manary (5-10, 180) has come on. Schrader is available as is Brown.
Secondary
Thomas returns as a starter at cornerback although he's missed time due to injury. Pickens has taken a lot of reps and done a good job. Hummel is fast and looks good at cornerback. Senior Jayden Pitts (5-8, 130) shows physicality.
"He's not afraid to come up and tackle," Adams said.
Adams singled out senior Kyle Welkley for being the best player on defense in the spring at strong safety.
"He's a little bit of nothing. He's 5-7 and about 145 pounds, but he's a tackling dude. He'll come up and get after you."
Donovan plays free safety along with junior Zach Akridge (6-1, 175). Sturgeon also works at safety.
Sports on 08/28/2019