The Sam Houston State football team began the third week of spring drills Monday afternoon, and so far, head coach Todd Whitten likes what he is seeing from some of the young guys.

The players are looking more comfortable and sharper during practice after shaking off the winter rust that came with a three-month layoff following last season.

The offense continues to show big-play abilities with new quarterback Rhett Bomar, All-Southland Conference tight end Blake Martin and four of the five returning offensive linemen from last year’s squad.

The Bearkats are trying to break in three new starting wide receivers and find some running backs to help feel the void left by D.D. Terry.

During team drills Monday, Martin, receivers Justin Wells, Catron Houston, Trey Payne and backup tight end Dustin Dziuk all made some spectacular plays, a number of which were 20-plus yard gains and a couple that would have put six on the scoreboard.

Running backs Chris Poullard, Olufemi Ogundare and TyMagic Robinson, who have been seeing a lot of action with Andrew Audelin out with a leg injury, also showed flashes catching the ball out of the backfield.

“I think we are having a great spring,” Whitten said after Monday’s practice. “I thought we made some big plays today offensively which is always a good thing. The running backs are young guys that are getting comfortable and getting things done. The receivers, none of them have every started here, but I still think we are talented enough to have a good group. I feel good about things offensively, we just have to get some more snaps under our belt.”

While things seem to be on course offensively, there are still quite a few holes to fill on the defensive side, mainly in the secondary.

The Bearkats are thin in that area with several veterans nursing injuries and only one starter back in Scorpio Babers. But returning contributors Byran Richmond, Carlton Cobey and Stanley Garrett, along with several underclassmen, have stepped it up this spring.

SHSU is also working hard to improve its pass rush which only registered seven sacks last season. Texas transfer Chris Brown has been as good as advertised, and the Bearkats have added some blitz packages from the secondary and other schemes in the offseason.

“Our offense has made some big plays, but on the flip side we don’t want to be giving those up,” Whitten said. “I think out pass rush is improving. We have been doing some new things, being more creative but it certainly presents problems for our protection schemes.

“We need to make sure we are up to speed on everything. We have some young guys that have stepped up (in the secondary). We have some walk-ons that have got in there and have been competing. We just need to get more reps, and I think we will be fine.”

The Bearkats will practice again Wednesday and Friday before having their second intrasquad scrimmage of the spring Saturday morning. The scrimmage will begin at 10:30 a.m. and last for about an hour and a half.



Capps steps down as UTA women’s basketball coach

Texas-Arlington announced Donna Capps has resigned as the head women’s basketball coach to accept an administrative position with the Mesquite Independent School District on Monday.

Capps was named the 2007 Southland Conference coach of the year after leading the Mavs to their first outright conference title and to the team’s second NCAA Tournament appearance in three seasons. The Mavericks went 24-9 and set a school and conference record for consecutive wins with 19.

“The opportunity to move into administration was something I could not pass up at this time,” Capps said in a press release. “I appreciate all the support the community and fans of our program displayed over the past seven years. I think we have built a program the University can be proud of.”

UTA athletic director Pete Carlon said a national search for a replacement will begin immediately.



Talk about Texas State moving to BCS a hot topic

With the Associated Student Government elections looming at Texas State-San Marcos, a hot topic among potential candidates surrounds the Bobcat football program making the jump from the Division I Championship Subdivision to the Bowl Championship Series division.

According to a story in the the University Star, Texas State’s school newspaper, student government presidential hopeful Reagan Pugh believes the school is ready for the move, possibly to Conference USA.

The deadline for Texas State to apply for the jump to the BCS is June 1.

“If we want to go in the right direction then on June 1, (Texas State President Denise) Trauth needs to sign off on us going Division I(-A),” Pugh told the Star.

“There’s no sports culture; look who we’re playing. No offense to McNeese (State), but think about if we had C-USA teams,” Pugh added. “You had friends who went to those schools. You almost went there or you transferred from there. It’s one of those things where it’s like, would you rather be losing to McNeese State or to Rice or SMU?”

But Texas State athletic director Larry Teis doesn’t believe the move is possible this year, but could be down the road. There are several factors that go into the transition, one of which is average attendance at home football games. In order to become a BCS team, a school has to average 15,000 fans at each home contest.

“There’s no way this school will be ready to go by June 1, because to do that, you’d have to go independent and you lose all your schedules and then you lose all your NCAA funding and all of your conference funding,” Teis told the Star. “The only way this school could do this down the road is to align ourselves with a conference. June 1 is basically impossible.”

“I’ve talked with conference commissioners and they’ve all told me, ‘You need to keep filling up those stands and if you want to talk about moving up, you need to make yourself attractive,’” Teis added. “It’s great to throw around that we have 28,000 students, but one of the conference commissioners said, ‘Well, then your stadium should be full every week.’”



Central Arkansas picks up first SLC baseball honor

Central Arkansas third baseman Zack Dickson hit five doubles and drove in eight runs to lead the Bears to a doubleheader sweep over Lamar on Friday.

For his performance, he also hit a pair of doubles in Saturday’s loss to the Cardinals, Dickson became the first UCA player to be named the Southland Conference hitter of the week.

The Bears are currently in their first season in the SLC.

McNeese State’s Derek Blacksher received pitcher of the week honors. The junior right-handed pitcher led the Cowboys to 2-1 victory over Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday. Blacksher tossed his third straight complete game in the win and struck out 14 Lion hitters.