GAC PREVIEW OUACHITA BAPTIST

Harris quietly does it all for the Tigers

Ouachita Baptist’s Drew Harris scored 26 touchdowns last season, including seven in the regular-season finale against Henderson State.
Ouachita Baptist’s Drew Harris scored 26 touchdowns last season, including seven in the regular-season finale against Henderson State.

ARKADELPHIA -- Todd Knight did not introduce Drew Harris as the guy who produced an all-time Ouachita Baptist University football highlight reel when he scored seven touchdowns in last season's 49-42 victory over Henderson State in the Battle of Ravine.

Ouachita Baptist glance

MASCOT Tigers

COACH Todd Knight (100-94 in 19 seasons) at OBU; 128-126-2 in 25 seasons overall

LAST SEASON 9-3, lost in first round of Division II playoffs after winning the Great American Conference championship

OFFENSIVE PLAYERS TO WATCH QB Brayden Brazeal, WR Drew Harris, WR Allie Freeman, RB Kris Oliver

DEFENSIVE PLAYERS TO WATCH DBs Tevin Jones and Keandre Evans, DL Ernest Reed

NOTEWORTHY Tigers were picked in the coaches poll to finish second in the Great American Conference, behind Harding. OBU received two first-place votes, behind Harding’s eight. They are ranked No. 24 in the Division II preseason poll. … Knight won his 100th career game as OBU head coach in last season’s Battle of the Ravine against Henderson State. His teams have posted 10 consecutive winning seasons and have won 4 conference titles during that period after posting 9 consecutive nonwinning seasons from 1999-2007. … Harris, a senior from Benton, led the conference in scoring with 26 TDs, 7 coming in the regular-season finale, a 49-42 victory at Henderson State. He scored in every game except a 24-19 season-ending loss to Ferris State (Mich.) in the first round of the NCAA Division-II playoffs. He finished fourth in the GAC in receiving and yards (46-785, 6 TDs), and scored 20 TDs while operating as a quarterback in the Wildcat formation. … Freeman was second in the GAC in receiving and yards (70-928, 9 TDs) and second in all-purpose yards (130.8 ypg). Offensive coordinator Jay Derby is entering his 20th season with Knight at OBU and is charged with developing Brazeal, a redshirt freshman from England who will be the only new offensive starter. … Tigers ranked second in the GAC in scoring offense (37.8 ppg) and third in total offense (441.7 ypg). They also ranked No. 1 in kickoff returns (25.4 ypa), No. 1 in net punting (38.9 ypa) and were the No. 1 team in red-zone scoring, 92.9 percent. … Roy Thompson takes over as defensive coordinator, inheriting a defense that was third in points allowed (26.0 ppg) but last (12th) in pass defense, yielding 259.9 yards per game.

2018 Football Schedule

DATE;OPPONENT;TIME

8/30;at NW Oklahoma State;6 p.m.

9/8;SW Oklahoma State;6 p.m.

9/15;at SE Oklahoma State;6 p.m.

9/22;E. Central (Okla.);6 p.m.

9/29;Arkansas Tech;12 p.m.

10/6;at Harding;1 p.m.

10/13;at Oklahoma Baptist;1 p.m.

10/18;Southern Nazarene;6 p.m.

10/27;at Arkansas-Monticello;1 p.m.

11/3;Southern Arkansas;1 p.m.

11/10;at Henderson State, 1 p.m.

2017 OBU results

9-3 overall, 9-2 GAC

DATE;OPPONENT;RESULT

8/30;NW Oklahoma State;W, 31-28

9/9;at SW Oklahoma State;W, 38-10

9/16;SE Oklahoma State;L, 41-35

9/23;at E. Central (Okla.);W, 45-14

9/30;at Arkansas Tech;W, 35-31

10/7;Harding;L, 31-28

10/12;at Southern Nazarene;W, 21-14

10/21;Oklahoma Baptist;W, 52-14

10/28;Arkansas-Monticello;W, 55-21

11/4;at Southern Arkansas;W, 45-42

11/11;Henderson State;W, 49-42

11/18;atFerris State*;L, 24-19

*Division II playoff game

Todd Knight

Year-by-year

At OBU (100-94)

YEAR;RECORD

1999;4-6

2000;2-8

2001;2-8

2002;2-7

2003;5-5

2004;5-5

2005;3-7

2006;2-8

2007;3-7

2008;7-3

2009;6-4

2010;6-4

2011;7-3

2012;6-4

2013;7-3

2014;10-1

2015;7-4

2016;7-4

2017;9-3

AT DELTA STATE

5 yrs.;28-32-2

OVERALL

24 yrs;128-126-2

Knight, entering his 20th season as the head coach at Ouachita Baptist, didn't brag about Harris' season total of 785 receiving yards or the fact that he led the Great American Conference with 26 touchdowns, 20 as a runner in the Wildcat formation.

Coaches don't do that, at least not in the preseason.

Instead, Knight focused on Harris the person as he motioned his all-everything offensive weapon over to a reporter.

"This," Knight said, "is one of the finest young men in the conference."

Harris, a 5-10, 185-pound senior from Benton, certainly comes across as one of the most humble heroes you'll ever meet.

Seven touchdowns against arch-rival Henderson? Aw shucks, it was nothing.

"It was just one of those games," Harris said. "You never go into a game thinking that's going to happen. ... It just happened, everything just fell into place."

To account for all seven of a team's touchdowns in its most important game of the season is nearly unfathomable, especially considering Harris came into the game as the GAC's leading touchdown maker. It's not like Henderson didn't know who he was.

He finished the game with 271 all-purpose yards: 58 rushing on 16 carries, 7 receptions for 153 yards and 3 kickoff returns for another 60 yards.

"It was nuts," Harris said, "but my favorite part about it was winning the conference title."

OBU, picked to finished second in the GAC, looks the part of preseason favorite. It has 10 returning offensive starters, all except departing fifth-year senior quarterback Austin Warford, a physical runner who passed for 2,295 yards and rushed for 659 yards, and his backup, fifth-year senior Lucas Reed.

The replacement will be Brayden Brazeal, a 5-10, 170-pound redshirt freshman from England, who studied under the two veteran quarterbacks last seasons.

Knight said it's the best situation a coach can hope for when breaking in a new quarterback.

"I'd hate to be breaking in a young guy without those veterans around him," he said. "Nobody likes having to start over at QB, but if you're going to, and we are, this is a great place to be."

Harris said he likes what he's seen from Brazeal in practice, and said he, returning slot receiver Allie Freeman (70-928, 9 TDs), along with running back Kris Oliver (152-857, 4 TDs) intend on making Brazeal's transition as seamless as possible.

"We're trying to take a little bit of stress off of him," he said. "Get the ball out to me and Allie as quick as possible and let us do our thing."

Brazeal is more of a drop-back quarterback than Warford.

"I think we're going to be able to do a lot of good stuff with him," Harris said. "I think we're going to be able to throw it around a little bit more, just because of what he brings to the table."

The defense has questions to answer.

The Tigers finished third in scoring defense (26.0 ppg) but were 12th in the 12-team GAC in pass defense, allowing 259.9 yards per game.

It's an area, under the direction of first-year coordinator Roy Thompson, that Knight said will be improved.

"We couldn't be in better hands there," Knight said of Thompson, who takes over after spending the past two seasons as the co-coordinator. "I think we're going to make big strides there because of maturity and guys who are back there, as well."

Knight said OBU, which returns 10 of its top 15 tacklers, will be improved defensively.

"There's no question about it," Knight said. "Now, we haven't played a game yet. I'm talking about what I see, how I feel."

One advantage for the OBU defense is that it doesn't have to play against its offense, a unit that averaged 37.8 points per game, with Harris leading the way.

GAC PREVIEW

Fourth in a series previewing the six Arkansas teams in the Great American Conference

Sports on 08/24/2018

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