GAC PREVIEW OUACHITA BAPTIST

Defending champs eye forward progress

Ouachita Baptist coach Todd Knight.
Ouachita Baptist coach Todd Knight.

ARKADELPHIA — Before Ouachita Baptist played in the NCAA Division II playoffs for the first time last November, Coach Todd Knight said he didn’t have time to appreciate the program’s finest achievement.

When Knight was asked again not long after a preseason practice last month what it meant, he insisted the accomplishment was “in the past.”

OUACHITA BAPTIST At a glance

MASCOT Tigers

COACH Todd Knight (77-83 in 16 seasons at Ouachita Baptist, 105-115-2 in 22 seasons overall)

LAST SEASON 10-1 overall, 9-1 in the Great American Conference

OFFENSIVE PLAYER TO WATCH WR Ke’Vontae Pope

DEFENSIVE PLAYER TO WATCH DB A.J. Burton

COMMENTS Ouachita Baptist enters the season as the favorite in the Great American Conference and ranked 12th in the American Football Coaches Association preseason Division II poll. … Ouachita Baptist is 49-22 since 2008 and the only college team in Arkansas to post seven consecutive winning seasons. … Quarterback Kiehl Frazier and running back Steven Kehner, who exhausted their eligibility after last season, accounted for 83.7 percent of their total offense. … Junior Ke’Vontae Pope’s 1,052 all-purpose yards (564 receiving, 470 in kick returns, 18 rushing) are the most of any returning GAC player.

So did Knight or anyone at OBU take the time to enjoy a 10-1 season that included a Great American Conference title and the program’s first trip to the playoffs?

“Between then and Christmas, maybe,” Knight said with a laugh. “It was a great year. We enjoyed it, the kids enjoyed it, but that’s over.”

Knight’s players seem to think so, too.

“We had an entire semester to enjoy that,” senior offensive lineman Michael Russell said. “As soon as summer started, you’ve got to switch gears.”

The Tigers head into tonight’s season opener at East Central (Okla.) with a new quarterback, a new starting running back and their sights set on putting together another winning season. OBU’s undefeated regular season may have been the best mark in school history, but the program has been one of the state’s most consistent the past seven seasons.

Knight is 77-83 entering his 17th season as coach of his alma mater, but he is 49-22 since 2008 and the Tigers are the only college program in Arkansas to have posted seven consecutive winning seasons.

“These guys understand that there’s a standard that we’ve got to play at, and I think they’re trying to work to get there,” Knight said. “I think even the young guys, that’s what they expect. It’s all they know since they’ve been recruited, what we’ve done the last six, seven years.”

OBU made the leap from a 7-3 finish in 2013 to 10-1 and its second GAC title in part because of quarterback Kiehl Frazier, who transferred from Auburn to play his final season at quarterback in his home state. Frazier’s presence also helped Knight preserve a season of eligibility with this year’s starter.

Austin Warford, from Malvern, played sparingly as a freshman in 2013 but redshirted last season after Frazier’s arrival. Warford beat out Lucas Reed for the job this past spring and has held on to it over the summer. Warford said he wasn’t upset when asked to redshirt last season.

“I just kind of took a back seat, learned under him and his mannerisms,” Warford said. “There were times when stuff would go bad in a game, he didn’t one time put his head down. He got everybody fired up, and we went 10-1.”

Warford seems to have won over his teammates. Russell, a three-year starter, remembers a 2013 game against Arkansas-Monticello in which Warford was given a chance to run the offense.

“We ran the ball the entire game,” Russell said. “He was running. He was just hitting guys, just blowing them up. I’m like, ‘I can block for a guy like that.’ ”

Warford will have help from running back Brandon Marks. Steven Kehner is gone after gaining 1,183 yards and scoring 20 touchdowns, but Marks gained 705 yards and scored four touchdowns. Knight is also excited about freshmen Kris Oliver, Donelle Hoof and Matthew Berry.

“We feel like we’ll be travelling four backs this year instead of three,” Knight said.

The Tigers were picked by league coaches to win the GAC, which would be a third conference title in five years, and are ranked No. 12 in the American Football Coaches Association preseason poll and No. 19 by D2football.com.

Those accolades are a reminder of what they will face rather than what they did, Warford said.

“Whenever a team plays OBU, we know we’re going to see their best game,” Warford said. “We’ve just got to compete, starting the first game Thursday night.”

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