SHAWNEE – It's football time on Bison Hill and another season on the gridiron for Oklahoma Baptist. With the 2022 season in the rearview, a rejuvenated OBU club looks to turn the tide and wipe the slate clean of last year's result. It all begins with a matchup against conference-foe Arkansas Tech on Thursday at 7 p.m. inside Crain Family Stadium.
OBU holds an all-time 6-3-1 record against the Wonder Boys and has not beaten the squad since 2019. That 43-31 victory in Russellville marked the first win in the state of Arkansas in OBU's short history on the Division II level. The clubs met for the first time on October 28, 1927, which resulted in a 0-0 tie.
Live video of Thursday's contest will be available on The Bison Sports Network with purchase and fans can listen to the broadcast on the Bison Radio Network with the trio of Todd Miller, John Brooks, and Scott Wanish. For more information regarding BSN purchasing options, click here.
Reserved tickets for the game will be sold online only, while general admission tickets are available on-site or online with credit-card transactions at the OBU box office. The box is office located at the Southeast corner of the stadium. There will no cash transactions. Additionally, fans are encouraged to visit the
Football Game Day information to view clear-bag policy and tailgating policies.
Game Notes
RE-JUVENATED AND RE-ENERGIZED
- Oklahoma Baptist has a spring in its step leading up to week one, feeling re-energized with the talent on this year's roster. OBU signed a plethora of young players in February to help fill the void of positions in need. Last year's struggles resulted in a mass exodus of Bison football players due to the one-time NCAA transfer rule. With that, roughly 53 percent of this year's team is new. Going into game one versus Arkansas Tech, there are 127 players, with 67 of those representing first-timers on Bison Hill.
- The offensive line, a position group that suffered many injuries last season, inked 12 on national signing day. OBU has a total of 23 linemen coming into Thursday's contest. That group consists of 15 freshmen, four sophomores, and four juniors. Five of which logged significant time in the trenches a season ago. The four returning starters are right tackle Jake Sitsler, right guard Andrew Sawyer, center Yonas Daniel, and left tackle Jordan Allen. Daniel and Sawyer, both sophomores, stepped into true freshman roles following injuries to a couple of upperclassmen. Allen and Sitsler, the group's elders, bring a combined 20 starts on the offensive line.
- The coaching staff also went through some changes. Two new coaches, Phillip Spess and Tyler Roberts, begin their tenure on Bison Hill. Spess, a former member of the football team from 2012-16, returns to Shawnee to coach safeties, while Roberts will coach outside linebackers.
QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED
- In 2022, the Bison saw five different players take a snap at quarterback. Despite the inconsistency at the position, mainly due to injuries, OBU racked up nearly 2,500 yards and 17 touchdowns through the air. More than half of those passing yards came from Dayton Wolfe, who has since departed from the program. The next two signal callers with the most yards were junior Seth Streeter and redshirt sophomore Aidan Thompson. Streeter started four games and threw for 480 yards and two scores while rushing for another 101 yards. Thompson, who initially earned the job from Wolfe in the second game of the season, had his year cut short due to an injury after piling up 321 yards and one score.
- Going into Thursday, the depth chart lists Thompson as the starter, with redshirt freshman Camden McCrary as the backup. McCrary, a three-time state champion at Bixby High School, has not taken a snap for the Bison up to this point. The looming question is, can Thompson bring respect back to a historical position, once held by OBU legend Preston Haire, at Oklahoma Baptist.
REPLACING A GIANT
- Perhaps the most significant loss to last season's team is wideout Keilahn Harris. The standout set unprecedented marks for the Bison, ending his career as the all-time leader in all-purpose yards, receiving yards, receptions, and kick-return yards. He has since made his stamp on the NFL, clearing space for a new head-man, Michael Marshall. Marshall, a redshirt junior and no stranger at all has 23 games under his belt at OBU. He has 485 yards, four touchdowns, and 45 receptions in his career after a year in 2022. Others listed as starters at the position, Jaiden Henry and Charles Whitebear, will need to step up as well to round out the solid group. Henry and Whitebear hauled in a touchdown catch last season.
AN INTERESTING BACKFIELD
- As it stands right now, these are the top-three running backs on the depth chart: sophomore EJ Moore, University of Oregon transfer Aaron Smith and freshman Caden Peevey. Each brings a different element. Moore was a physical runner last year, totaling 326 yards and three scores. As for Smith, who redshirted at Oregon, during his high school days at Harker in San Jose, Calif., he had a 1,400-yard rushing season in 2017 and was an All-State selection. Peevey is the speedster of the group. A native of Shamrock, Texas, he once ran the 100-meter dash in a highly respectable time of 10.6 seconds.
FOUR'S A CROWD
- Scooter Baker, Rian Fields, Tainique Taylor and Taylor Jacobs. These are four new faces for the Bison defense, all of whom will start. Make no mistake about it: they will be counted on heavily. Two seasons ago, Baker, a linebacker, was a First Team All-GAC performer at Southeastern Oklahoma State before playing two games last year at Incarnate Word (D1). With the Savage Storm, Baker led the team with 79 tackles and two forced fumbles. Fields, a 6-foot-6 linebacker, comes from Fresno State where he played in 19 games. Taylor was also a member of the Southeastern squad two years ago. He'll be along the boundary at corner. The final player of the grouping, Jacobs, comes from North Texas. Coming out of high school, ESPN rated him as the No. 29 inside linebacker in the nation.
AN IMPOSING SECONDARY
- It's a cliché but coaches do like taller secondary players. The current depth chart has Tainique Taylor and Chase Whitebear occupying the corner positions while Jaxon Canard and Tyler King filling the safety spots. Their heights range from 5-foot-11 (Taylor) to 6-foot-4 (King).
- One of the bright spots for the Bison defense last year was Whitebear. The Haslet, Texas native started in all 11 games and recorded three interceptions. He was just the second OBU freshmen to do that in a season. He also notched four pass break-ups and ranked second on the team with 4.5 tackles-for-loss.
A TOP PRIORITY
- As head coach Chris Jensen said to OBU play-by-play voice Todd Miller in the season preview, the run defense was a heavy focus in the offseason and in training camp so far. And for good reason: last season's rush defense ranked as one of the worst in Division II. In addition to the newcomers mentioned above, Brett Karhu, Nick Carpin, Xavier Lott, Ameer Johnson and Triston De La Rosa will play a vital role in helping the Bison improve.
- Carpin, Lott, and Karhu have the veteran presence up front. Carpin, a junior, led the trio with 36 tackles, 4.0 tackles-for-loss, and 2.0 sacks in 2022 before a season-ending injury. In his career, he totals 47 tackles, the most of any Bison defensive lineman on the roster. Lott, also a junior, turned in 22 stops with 2.5 TFLs and 1.5 sacks a season ago. He leads the defensive lineman with 6.5 career tackles-for-loss and is tied with Carpin for the most sacks (4.0). Karhu had an outstanding freshman campaign, tying for the third-most tackles-for-loss (3.5) in 2022.
THE KICKING GAME
- An emphasis had to be put on recruiting specialists after the Bison spent last season with one kicker. Four new kickers were brought to provide depth to a position in need. Ian Villareal, a freshman out of Frisco, Texas earned the starting spot going into this week's matchup and will take care of field goal duties. Villareal was a First-Team All-District selection at Memorial High School in 2022. Taking over the punting responsibilities will be Luke Watkins, a freshman out of McKinney High School in Texas. He was an All-District honoree last year.
SCOUTING THE WONDER BOYS
- Arkansas Tech enters its fifth season under head coach Kyle Shipp, who owns a career coaching record of 12-21. ATU was picked to finish seventh in the Great American Conference Preseason Coaches Poll following a 5-6 season in 2022. The Wonder Boys return 10 starters, including six on offense and four on defense.
- Coach Shipp nearly cleaned out his coaching staff by hiring eight new faces. Kurt Corbin, the lone returnee and longest-tenured coach on staff, returns for his 12th season with the defensive line. Shipp has appointed Dom Mirocke, who spent the last six seasons at Henderson State, as the offensive coordinator and Kendrick Van Ackeren as the defensive coordinator.
- The Wonder Boys had the seventh-best offense in the GAC in 2022, accounting for 391.0 total offensive yards per game and 37 touchdowns. ATU succeeded in its run game, which produced 2,269 yards (206.3/g) and 27 touchdowns. Not as much positivity was found through the air as the squad had the third-least passing yards (2,032) and second-least touchdowns (10). Under a new offensive scheme, Tech aims to replace its workhouse in running back Devontae Dean, who ran for over 800 yards a season ago. Luckily, they return their second-leading rusher, Deon Simmons, and red-zone threat Jordan Edington. Simmons compiled 511 yards with five scores, while Edington led the team with seven rushing touchdowns.
- Defensively, the Wonder Boys allowed an average of 454.7 yards and 34.5 points per game. They were near last in the GAC for passing defense, giving up 219.2 yards per contest. The defense gets back its second-leading tackler in Matthew Minnix. Minnix, a native of Jenks, Okla., turned in 68 stops and with 2.5 tackles-for-loss a season ago. On the backend, Willie Miles returns at defensive back after turning in the third-most tackles (30.0) in 2022 at the position. Up front, defensive tackle Braxton Johnson comes back after collecting 2.0 sacks and 4.0 tackles-for-loss in his freshman campaign.
- The last time the two met on October 9, 2022, ATU bested OBU 34-13 in Shawnee. Tech racked up 517 yards of offense, including 320 yards on the grounds with three scores. Conversely, the Bison found the endzone twice through the air, netting 249 passing yards.
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