Bison Open Football Season Thursday at ECU

OKLAHOMA BAPTIST (0-0) at EAST CENTRAL (0-0)

7 PM | Thursday, Aug. 30 | Koi Ishto Stadium | Ada, Oklahoma

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SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist starts the 2018 season Thursday night at East Central, taking on a Tigers team that matched OBU at 2-9 last season.
 
The Bison and Tigers shared 11^th place in the preseason Great American Conference poll and both teams will be trying to open in the right direction in the 7 p.m. kickoff.
 
The game can be heard on the Bison Radio Network with Todd Miller doing the play by play with Oklahoma broadcasting legend John Brooks providing color commentary and OBU baseball All-American Scott Wanish working the sidelines. The pregame show beings at 6:30 p.m.
 
OBU returns the mainstays of its upper-league offense with four starting offensive linemen, two tight ends, two of the top three receivers and its starting backfield.
 
Fewer starters return on defense, which sports a very youthful look going into the season.
 
The Bison hope projected starting quarterback Preston Haire builds on the success he had as a redshirt freshman last year. Haire, despite not starting for several games at the start of the season, finished up with 2380 passing yards and was third in the GAC at 216.4 yards per game. He played in all 11 games.
 
Cagney Roberson was the No. 5 receiver in the league last season in terms of receiving yards per game at 65.4.
 
The offensive line has four returning starters, led by Brian Cornell at right tackle.
 
Defensively, the Bison project to start four redshirt sophomores and three redshirt or true freshmen.
 
Senior strong safety Jason Lee and graduate linebacker Gage Meisinger look to be the elder statesmen on the first unit of the defense.
 
The defensive line includes two redshirt sophomores, a redshirt freshman and a true freshman with nose tackle Ashton Vickers presenting the only in-game experience as a Bison.
 
Josh Arnold brings stability at linebacker. The redshirt sophomore led the Bison in tackles last season.
 
Myles Russell brings back a solid dose of experience for the secondary after starting the last seven games and playing in all 11 last year.
 
For the Tigers, senior Trinity Benson returns as an All-GAC receiver and ECU boasts 2017 league-leading rusher Ontario Davis. David Cornwell takes the helm at quarterback for his senior season.
 
Thursday's game marks the coaching debut of ECU's Al Johnson.