Local Sports
Top 10 Sports Stories of 2006: Bomar becomes a Bearkat
Dismissed from Oklahoma, talented QB finds new home in Huntsville
This past season, the Sam Houston State football team was making headlines across the country, and it had nothing to do with what was happening on the field.
All the attention swirled around former Oklahoma quarterback Rhett Bomar and his decision to transfer to SHSU on Aug. 28 after being dismissed from the Sooners program because of an NCAA violation.
He and former Sooners teammate J.D. Quinn were dismissed from Oklahoma on Aug. 3 after a university investigation revealed both had received pay for hours not worked at a Norman, Okla., car dealership.
After looking around some, Bomar decided to go the Division I-AA route because he would have had to sit out a year on top of the suspension he received had he transferred to another I-A school.
“It was a tough decision. I considered everything — Division I, Division I-AA and things like that — but based on waiting for the NCAA to make a decision, I just wanted to play some football this year,” Bomar said the day he enrolled at SHSU.
Bomar considered transferring to several universities, including the University of Houston, Stephen F. Austin and North Texas, but in the end SHSU was the school that landed the nation’s top recruit in 2004.
Unfortunately for the Bearkats, Bomar never stepped on the field this fall because the NCAA suspended him for the season on Nov. 1. The NCAA reinstatement staff ruled that Bomar had to sit out a season, lose a year of eligibility and pay back thousands of dollars in improper pay as part of being reinstated.
“I am happy to get this behind me,” Bomar said in a prepared statement released by the SHSU athletics department. “I look forward to having the opportunity to represent Sam Houston State.
“Right now my top priority is seeing this team win some football games. This decision today will help take the focus off me and put the focus on the team.”
Bomar was a top-rated recruit out of Grand Prairie High School. He took a redshirt in 2004, then started Oklahoma’s final 11 games in 2005 and set a Sooner freshman passing record with 2,018 yards. He also threw 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, guiding Oklahoma to six wins over the final seven games, including a Holiday Bowl victory over Oregon.
Another factor that drew Bomar to Huntsville was the Bearkats’ successful history of transfer quarterbacks. Josh McCown left Southern Methodist and led the Kats to a Southland Conference title in 2001. He also was selected in the third round of the NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals and is currently playing for the Detroit Lions.
Dustin Long also led SHSU to a conference title and into the semifinals of the I-AA playoffs in 2004. He set an SLC single-season record for passing yards (4,588) and touchdowns (39) in his only season with the Bearkats.
Chris Chaloupka transferred from Oklahoma State and was named Southland Conference Player of the Year in 1999.
“You look at (Long and McCown) and see all the success they had in just one year,” Bomar said. “I could play this year and then would have two more years at Sam. They had a lot of success, and it was in basically this same system. That was something I looked at when I was making my decision.”
Even though Bomar didn’t get to play in 2006, he got a lot of valuable work in during practice. He had the chance to learn the SHSU system and become familiar with his teammates and coaching staff.
Now, he just has to wait until spring drills roll around to get his chance to lead the Bearkat football squad.
“Rhett has fit in well with the team here at Sam Houston,” Bearkats coach Todd Whitten said after receiving news of the NCAA’s suspension. “Obviously, we would have liked for him to be able to play in games this season. But with his experience working with the squad this fall and spring training ahead next year, we look forward to having him as a Bearkat for the next two seasons.”
- Local Sports
-
-
Final rehearsal
As the 2010 football season creeps closer, the Bulldogs are doing everything they can to make things difficult for opposing teams.
During this week’s practices, head coach M.K. Hamilton has started to apply his passing game influence to the Bulldogs’ offensive game plan, while still sticking to the ground attack.
“It kind of reminds me of Texas Tech’s offense; that’s what it seems like to me,” Bulldogs senior quarterback Micah Bohannon said following Wednesday’s practice. -
Fearsome foursome
Last season, the Sam Houston State defense went through a lot of growing pains under new coordinator Scott Stoker.
The former Northwestern State head coach brought his blitz-heavy scheme with him to Huntsville, and at times, the young Bearkats looked like fish out of water with a number of busted assignments which led to big plays for the opposing offenses.
But there was one unit that stood out above the rest and it very well could be Sam Houston’s deepest and most talented group in 2010. -
Looking for payback
Even nine months after the fact, it doesn’t take much to conjure up the sour memories from last season’s short-lived playoff run.
In what was essentially a home game, playing just 15 minutes away from home at Bowers Stadium, the New Waverly Bulldogs were stymied all game on both sides of the ball. What resulted was New Waverly’s worst offensive production of the season and an early exit from the playoffs. -
All grown up
It is no secret that one of Sam Houston State’s biggest weaknesses last season came in the secondary.
The Bearkats started three freshmen, two safeties and a cornerback, who got on-the-job training while taking their fair share of lumps. -
Sizzling start
The Lady Hornets’ 2010 debut — and their new head coach’s first match in Huntsville — was a swinging success.
Playing Lufkin in a nondistrict volleyball match at the Paul Bohan Hornet Gym, Huntsville took charge early Tuesday, played well throughout the match and thoroughly dominated in a 25-10, 25-12 and 25-10 victory. -
Football coach not coming to New Waverly
It turns out that Ricky Tullos is not going to lead the New Waverly football team after all.
All set for his first day of football practice with the Bulldogs, Tullos, who was hired late last week to replace former head coach Ken Craig, reported to New Waverly Superintendent Clay Webb on Monday morning that he would be unable to take the position.
-
Back to work
Tick tick tick. Tick tick tick tick.
It won’t be long until the alarm goes off early Monday morning, signaling the start of high school football practice in Huntsville.
Freshmen hit the field at 8 a.m. Monday and Hornets head coach Shane Martin can’t wait. Huntsville’s defensive coordinator the past two years, Martin has been waiting seven long months for the first day of serious summer workouts. -
‘This is not right’
NEW WAVERLY — It didn’t take long for news of the late-night hiring of a new head football coach and athletic director to reach the ears of Bulldog fans. It wasn’t the kind of news some people here were anticipating and New Waverly has been in an uproar since.
“It’s kind of shocking because I didn’t know it was going to turn out like that, but hopefully with all the changes, we’ll be able to work through it,” said junior Cody James, who plans on participating in football, basketball and track in the upcoming school year. -
Time to crank it up
Sam Houston State head coach Willie Fritz knew coming into the season that he was going to have his hands full turning around the Bearkats’ football program.
The rest of the coaches in the Southland Conference apparently agree.
Coming off a 5-6 season, a fifth-place finish in league play and the loss of 15 starters, Sam Houston State has been tabbed to finish seventh in the SLC preseason coaches’ poll, which was announced Wednesday during the Southland Conference Football Media Day at the L’Auberge du Lac Resort. -
Lamar’s start-up football program has fans in Golden Triangle anxious, excited
In a matter of weeks, football season will finally be here.
While most players will be returning to their campuses looking to improve, or for defending Southland Conference co-champions McNeese State and Stephen F. Austin, maintain last fall’s success, there’s a different type of anticipation in Beaumont. - More Local Sports Headlines
-
