BELTON-Game week has arrived for UMHB Football. 2023 is in the rearview mirror, and 2024 presents a clean slate for The Cru. It’s a chance to reach the postseason once again and take back the title of American Southwest Conference champions from Hardin-Simmons, who won the league last fall.
The 11-week regular season kicks off in McKenzie, Tennessee on Saturday against Bethel University (TN), and UMHB certainly appears ready for the challenge at hand. It will be the second straight season in which The Cru begins with a road game, after three straight years (the abbreviated Covid season excluded) of season openers at home.
UMHB head coach Larry Harmon spoke with the media for the first time this fall on Monday morning, discussing a variety of topics as the regular season gets set to begin. Here are a few takeaways from that media availability.
On the mentality in facing an NAIA opponent
For the first time since 2011, UMHB is set to battle an opponent from the NAIA (more to come on that later this week), and they will do it in the season opener, something the program has done just twice before. Bethel (TN) comes into the matchup ranked No. 8 nationally in the NAIA’s Preseason Top 25, and won its home opener over Point University, 20-6, on Saturday.
Harmon was asked about how his team is approaching the matchup from a mental standpoint, considering the lack of familiarity in facing NAIA competition, especially a nationally-ranked NAIA program. Amongst the biggest differences between Division III and NAIA is the fact that NAIA programs offer athletic scholarships, whereas D-III programs are made up of entirely non-scholarship players.
“All our kids have to do is watch the film to see that they have a big test on their hands,” Harmon said. “Bethel is really big. They have three running backs that could probably start for any team we’ve played or will play this year. So [our players] understand that [Bethel] was 11-2 and that they do have scholarships. We’re looking at what a great challenge we have this weekend, and how we can make a name for ourselves by beating a football program that has scholarships.”
Of note, Bethel tallied 150 rushing yards in Saturday’s opener, with 10 of the Wildcats’ 18 first downs coming on the ground. They averaged 3.6 yards per carry, with four different players running the ball at least five times. Defensively, the Wildcats surrendered just 185 total yards of offense, and just 12 rushing yards on 15 attempts.
Thoughts from the preseason scrimmages
As has typically been part of the fall camp schedule, UMHB played scrimmages on each of the last two Saturdays, putting players in a game-like environment. There is a lot of value to that, for both the newcomers and returners, as well as the coaching staff, who is looking to finalize the 58-man roster.
“What you hope to get out of scrimmages is you want to get some conditioning,” Harmon noted. “And then you want to put your kids in some game-type situations where they’re having to think on their feet and maybe have to adjust to something that they weren’t prepared for. We played a lot of people, so for us, it was a great way to get an evaluation of who our 58 are going to be. So that was the main thing that I was looking for out of the scrimmages.”
He went on to speak to the success of both scrimmages, especially in the ability of his players to carry out halftime adjustments, and perform in pressure-filled game situations when the lights shone brightest.
“Our first scrimmage was supposed to be our 10th practice, and ended up being our ninth because we got rained out on Friday,” he said. “I didn’t think we played very well in the first half, but we came in and made a bunch of adjustments at halftime. Then we went out and four of our five drives in that second half ended up in touchdowns and we had two turnovers on defense. So I was really proud of how they were able to adjust, take the halftime changes and really play fast and hard.
“This past Saturday, I thought they did a good job of just going out and getting their conditioning. Then we put them in some situations in the second half with overtime, two-minute drill, and things like that. I think we got a lot of teaching value out of that. So I think we’ve done everything we can do to have ourselves at a point right now where this week, we can really concentrate on Bethel, play that first game, and hopefully not be in a situation in the game that we haven’t practiced as far as an overtime, a two-minute, down seven with 35 seconds left to play—those sorts of situations.”
Offense ready to take a step forward with added experience now on the roster
From the starting eleven who opened the 2023 season finale against Howard Payne on offense, six of those starters are back this fall, which provides a promising foundation on that side of the ball. While The Cru battled inexperience at a number of offensive positions last season, UMHB is deep at a variety of spots heading into this year, especially the skill positions. UMHB’s top three receivers from 2023—Jerry Day Jr., Jerry Cephus, and TJ Rone—are on the roster, as is quarterback Isaac Phe, standout tight end Christopher Gacayan II, and receiver AJ Williams III. Combined with transfers such as receivers Myller Royals (Texas Tech/Snow College) and Ranius Daramola (Hobart), the Crusaders have quite a few offensive playmakers available.
With that depth and experience comes more freedom to expand the playbook, something Harmon noted early in the press conference when he was asked how much different the offense would look in 2024 as compared to 2023, considering the additional talent.
“We’re doing a lot more with our personnel and formation-type stuff as far as shifts, sets, moving people around, helping people get open more,” Harmon said. ”We have a little more experience and a little more talent, to where we have a variety of sets and we’re running the same plays, but we have so many more different looks than what we did last year.”
Several transfers will be in position to make early contributions this season
Amongst the biggest takeaways from the offseason was UMHB’s successful recruitment of over 40 transfers, several of whom came to Belton from the Division I and Division II levels. Utilizing the transfer portal effectively can be a challenge, but UMHB brought in several players who already are poised to contribute well in Week 1.
Offensively, that includes running backs Asa Osbourn (Oklahoma State/Navarro College) and Kamerin Ferguson (Southwest Baptist), who Harmon said “will get the majority of the carries” and “add a lot to our offense”. Defensively, he mentioned that Ron Tatum (Oklahoma/Northeast Oklahoma A&M) and Billy Ferrell (Arkansas/Northeast Oklahoma A&M) are players he is looking forward to seeing on the field. Both were four-star recruits coming out of high school, and should help fortify the defensive line as The Cru looks to win the battle in the trenches against Bethel’s strong offensive line. And it won’t be limited to those four. Several transfers on both sides of the ball will start the season on the varsity roster, and there is plenty of optimism about the impact those players can have for the program.
“I think we really have improved our athletic ability, our length, our ability to rush the passer, our ability to run the ball, catch the ball, throw the ball. I’m excited. Now, anytime you have transfers, the hard part is getting them completely bought into your culture, and getting that relationship built with your returners and the new guys coming in. So, there’s a lot of stuff that we still have to get to gel as a team. In my anticipation, it’ll be Week 7 or Week 8 before we’re truly gelling.
“But you can’t help but come out and watch practice and get excited when you see the playmakers that we have. So we’re very excited about this season. We’re looking forward to preparing this week for Bethel, taking a plane trip to Tennessee, and playing a game.”
With a double round robin, I don’t think we can wait till week 7-8 to get things gelled. We will need that much sooner.
This definitely didn’t happen. We didn’t open up the offense and we didn’t show any signs of life.