The buzzword around football practice at the University of Arkansas at Monticello has been physicality.
“Fall camp, for me, is more physical than it’s ever been,” redshirt junior defensive tackle K.J. Wells said. “More people are getting into things that we need to get done. We’ve brought in an attitude of just ‘Come in and win right now.’ Fall camp really has been a great experience this year.”
Redshirt junior defensive back Cayden Dominey, who joined Wells on campus in 2022, thought back to that first year on campus to reflect on how far he believes UAM has come.
“The difference between fall camp in 2022 and now in 2025 — it’s just incredible, the guys we have in,” Dominey said. “The competition we’re bringing in, and we’re just competing every day. It’s been an enjoyable fall camp because we’ve been competing against each other and not hanging our heads down. We know we’re a good team now and we know we can compete with teams in the conference.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The theme of physicality carried into the Boll Weevils’ online media day, but for 15th-year Coach Hud Jackson, the goal of such intensity is to carry it over into the Weevils’ season kickoff at Southeastern Oklahoma State.
“We just got to a point where fall camp has been really physical,” Jackson said Tuesday. “Every day was a grind. It was mentally and physically fatiguing.”
Jackson said he wanted it that way because he felt the Weevils, 4-7 last season, were “too soft” in previous camps.
“We had to change the mentality and we did,” he said.
Kickoff against the Savage Storm is at 6 p.m. Thursday in Durant, Okla. KHBM-FM 93.7 will broadcast the game, with live video available on the GoSoutheastern YouTube channel. Jackson said he lessened the intensity just a little in preparation for kickoff to allow the Boll Weevils to “get their legs under them.”
Hearing what the players said about camp, Jackson remarked: “I think the goal is accomplished.”
Jackson identified a starting quarterback in Tavion Faulk, the junior transfer from Itawamba Community College in Mississippi. Faulk threw for two touchdowns to Chasden Collins, who last played at East Mississippi Community College, in a scrimmage nearly two weeks ago.
Jackson also remains confident in top backup Tyler Webb, the former Kilgore (Texas) College QB, and redshirt sophomore Austin Wadsworth, who last took a snap in 2023.
Depth at every position was another item on Jackson’s to-do list through the offseason, but that is already challenged at running back. Two Football Championship Subdivision transfers — Isaiah Broadway from Central Arkansas and Travelle Anderson of North Alabama – will miss Thursday’s game due to unspecified injuries. Three other running backs — third-year letterman Glen Cage, Itawamba transfer Jaylen Sulton and Hamburg redshirt freshman Willis Robinson – are on UAM’s number roster.
Ten Southeastern players named All-Great American Conference last year return to their team, including senior D.J. Brown, who rushed for a team-high 784 yards and 3 touchdowns as a junior. Brown was one of the top seven receivers for the Savage Storm — all of whom are back in Durant and are led by senior Kobe Jennings (518 yards, 5 touchdowns last year).
Senior linebacker Braeden Winters (76 tackles, 3 sacks) and lineman Dylan Sebock (4.5 sacks) lead the Savage Storm defense.
IT’S HOW YOU START AND FINISH
UAM hopes to continue a trend of quick starts to the season. The Weevils are 5-0 in season openers since 2019 and started 2-0 each of the past three years. Neither of those streaks have been parlayed into a winning season.
Southeastern is looking for its first season-opening win in three years, after narrowly missing victory last season against Southern Arkansas (36-31) and losing to the Muleriders 34-19 in Magnolia in 2023. Southeastern has finished each of the last two seasons 5-6, ending 2024 on a 3-game slide (losses to Harding, Arkansas Tech and East Central).
Southeastern has won four straight against UAM in a series dating back to 1979. The Weevils, who trail the series 10-4, last beat the Savage Storm 9-7 in 2019 and were shut out 27-0 on UAM homecoming day last season. Southeastern also beat UAM on a last-play touchdown at Durant in 2023.
But both UAM and Southeastern have replenished their rosters, which makes for a guessing game in scouting despite having experienced head coaches. Bo Atterberry is in his third year back at Southeastern, previously leading the Savage Storm from 2014-18.
“I just think the landscape of the NCAA has changed a lot of stuff,” Jackson said, referring to the availability of players through the NCAA transfer portal. “We don’t know exactly what Southeastern is going to run with their players, and they don’t know what we’re going to run with our players.”
STADIUM CHANGES
Paul Laird Field at Spend Life Wisely Stadium is the scene of battle Thursday night. Both Southeastern and UAM have received notable gifts for their football complexes in the offseason.
In Monticello, the Owen family donated to the creation of two bronze Boll Weevils. A 5-foot-tall Weevil stands outside the front of the Judy and Jack Lassiter Indoor Practice Facility, next to Willis “Convoy” Leslie Cotton Boll Stadium. On the northeast corner of Cotton Boll stands a smaller Weevil with the names of every UAM football senior since 2011, Jackson’s first season as head coach.
UAM’s home opener is Sept. 13 against Southeastern’s archrival, East Central. Jackson said in August the goal is still to upgrade 90-year-old Cotton Boll by 2026.
First United Bank and the Massey Family Foundation in Durant made an unspecified donation to Southeastern in March to renovate Paul Laird Field, which opened in 1939. Southeastern has installed new turf and wrought iron surround fencing, with expanded seating over the current facility and a three-level John Massey Press Box to come by the 2027 season. “Spend Life Wisely” is a slogan of First United.
THIS WEEK IN THE GAC
All 12 Great American Conference teams will start their season Thursday. In addition to UAM-Southeastern, kickoff for Oklahoma Baptist at Southern Arkansas, Harding at Northwestern Oklahoma State, Arkansas Tech at Southwestern Oklahoma State, and Southern Nazarene at Henderson State is at 6 p.m. Ouachita Baptist at East Central will kick off at 7 p.m.
Harding is ranked No. 2 in the American Football Coaches Association Division II poll, just one spot behind defending national champion Ferris State (1-0) of Michigan. Ouachita is No. 15.
This article was originally titled: UAM football gets ready for season