Although he was named the Great American Conference’s Offensive Player of the Week, Tavion Faulk doesn’t quite hold the belief that a big target is on his back.
“I still feel like I haven’t proven anything,” said Faulk, the University of Arkansas at Monticello’s junior transfer who threw for 390 yards and three touchdowns and engineered a successful fourth-quarter comeback last Saturday.
The 31-24 win at Arkansas Tech University helped the Boll Weevils break a five-game slide dating back to last November.
“The GAC Offensive Player of the Week, I’m blessed for it,” said Faulk, who recently transferred to Monticello from Itawamba Community College in northeast Mississippi. “But as an offense, being 1-0 every snap, that’s the standard.”
The Weevils (1-3 overall and Great American) will try to hold themselves to that as they host Southern Nazarene University for homecoming Saturday. The coronation of the queen is scheduled for 1:30 p.m., followed by a 2 p.m. kickoff with KHBM-FM 93.7 airing the game and the UAM Sports YouTube channel streaming it.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
UAM hasn’t won two in a row since the start of last season, but another offensive explosion and turnover-free game could help the Weevils start a new streak. Not turning the ball over, which UAM had done 10 times in its first three games, was the first step in winning last Saturday, Coach Hud Jackson said.
“Secondly, we got a quarterback playing with confidence,” Jackson remarked. “He doesn’t force anything. He lets the game come to him.”
That’s an important step for a young man who won a state championship out of the Veer offense at Carencro (La.) High School five years ago. Faulk started his college career at Louisiana State University, where his uncle Kevin was an All-America running back in the 1990s, before moving on to Itawamba.
Weevils offensive coordinator Josh Qualls said it’s not an easy job to compete for the starting job, but added it was natural for Faulk to succeed in that challenge and earn a team captaincy.
“The first three weeks, he progressed a little bit each week,” Qualls said. “The second week, he was seeing (plays develop), but turnovers killed us. By the fourth week, he was recognizing coverages pre-snap and post snap. But at the beginning of the year, he was trying to figure out the system.”
UAM is also looking for its first home win since beating Oklahoma Baptist University 24-20 last Nov. 2, the game before Southern Nazarene’s 24-21 win started the Weevils’ long skid.
Southern Nazarene (1-3), from Bethany, Okla., picked up its first win of 2025 two weeks ago in nearby Ada against the same East Central University team that licked UAM 38-13 on Sept. 13.
“Southern Naz is a heck of a ball team,” Jackson said. “They play hard and they play fast. Their tanks are empty when the game is over. We lose to ECU and they go in and beat ECU.”
Aside from being tied for eighth in Great American standings, the Weevils and Crimson Storm have their similarities.
They rank eighth and ninth – UAM is higher – in points per game at 18.8 and 17.3. Southern Nazarene’s offense has been stingier, allowing 28.5 points per game, while UAM’s 38.5 allowed is the worst in the 12-team league.
Faulk threw for as many yards against Arkansas Tech as Southern Nazarene allows on defense per game, but the Crimson Storm still rank higher than the Weevils (421.1) in that category. Offensively, UAM’s 336.5 total yards per game is well ahead of Southern Nazarene’s last-place 222.5.
For all of their early-season struggles, Jackson has the Weevils going into homecoming with a clean slate.
“We’re 0 and 0. That’s our mindset,” he said.
Great American Conference football standings
NOTE: Each game counts toward standings. Numbers in parentheses reflect rankings in the American Football Coaches Association Division II poll.
Team;Record
(2) Harding;4-0
Arkansas Tech;3-1
East Central;3-1
Henderson State;3-1
Southern Arkansas;3-1
Southeastern Okla. State;2-2
Southwestern Okla. State;2-2
UA-Monticello;1-3
Oklahoma Baptist;1-3
Ouachita Baptist;1-3
Southern Nazarene;1-3
Northwestern Okla. State;0-4
Saturday’s games
Oklahoma Baptist at Ouachita Baptist, noon
East Central at Harding, 2 p.m.
Southern Nazarene at UAM, 2 p.m.
Henderson State at Southwestern Okla. State, 2 p.m.
Southern Arkansas at Northwestern Okla. State, 2 p.m.
Southeastern Okla. State at Arkansas Tech, 6 p.m.