Spring football practice reached the midway point on Thursday for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff as the competition to replace Mekhi Hagens as the starting quarterback continues.
“It’s probably the most competitive position group on the field,” offensive coordinator Tony Hull said after practice. “All five guys are grading out daily right around each other. We got a great mixture of individuals.”
This is the third straight offseason the UAPB football team has a quarterback battle. Hagens started every game last year but transferred to Lamar after the season.
Redshirt junior DJ Stevenson was Hagens’ backup and appeared in four games. He completed 9 of 17 passes for one touchdown and one interception while rushing 11 times for 19 yards and a score.
The junior college transfer is the only quarterback still on the roster who participated in last year’s spring practice and has been in Hull’s system the longest.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“He can run the offense himself,” Hull said. “He can call it. He can run it. He knows all the checks. He runs the player-led position meetings. He’s everything you want in a quarterback and a college Division I football player. So, I’m excited.”
Stevenson is one of three quarterbacks returning from last season. Redshirt freshman Landon Holcomb and redshirt senior Tysan Robbins joined the team for fall camp. Both played late in UAPB’s 73-0 win against Arkansas Baptist. They spent most of their outing handing the ball off, but Holcomb, a Pine Bluff native, scored a touchdown on a 15-yard run.
Two newcomers are joining the battle this spring. Shaw University graduate transfer Christian Peters brings plenty of experience with him from the Division II ranks. He completed 51.9 percent of his passes over four seasons with 30 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Last season, he threw 18 touchdowns with five picks to go with 1,478 yards.
On the other end of the experience spectrum is freshman Garrison Davis, who UAPB signed from Holmes County Central High School in Lexington, Miss. As a high school senior last fall, he threw for 3,518 yards and 41 touchdowns.
UAPB head coach Alonzo Hampton said Davis has been one of the biggest surprises for him so far this spring.
“That kid came in here, his dad’s a coach, obviously,” Hampton said. “He has a white board in his room. He’s different, man. He thinks like a coach, and he’s been prepared for this moment from his parents. You can tell he takes every practice serious. If he makes a bad play, he don’t make the same mistake twice, which is a good thing for him.”
UAPB isn’t just looking for a new starting quarterback. The Golden Lions must also replace last year’s star wide receiver, JaVonnie Gibson, after he transferred to Oklahoma.
Hampton and his staff signed four wide receivers out of the portal, including Maryland transfer Josh Richards, who Hampton mentioned alongside Livingstone College transfer Bryce Robinson as two players who have impressed this spring.
The standout receiver of the spring so far, though, may be Kareem Burke. Both Hampton and Hull mentioned him Thursday as a player who impressed them through the first seven practices
Burke transferred to UAPB a year ago from Florida A&M. He caught eight passes for 91 yards and was largely overshadowed by several others, but Hampton said he is starting to look like the player UAPB expected him to be.
“KJ has done a great job, a guy that we thought would have done what JaVonnie did last year, because he had played at FAMU and won a national championship,” Hampton said. “But then now, man, he’s really taken a leap. He’s starting to grow, starting to mature. He’s made every practice, which he didn’t do last year. So, he’s growing.”