The offseason is over for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff as the Golden Lions begin preparations for their season opener.
The UAPB football team will hold its first practice of fall camp Tuesday morning. Players reported Sunday and held a walk-through Monday.
Coach Alonzo Hampton said at SWAC Media Day he likes the roster he has assembled ahead of his second season in charge, but there’s a lot of work to be done.
“Just like every team right now, you always feel good, right?” Hampton said. “Because it’s the beginning of the year, but we know starting out the year, we got the University of Arkansas. … We got 30 days of camp, and then we play four (non-conference) games. We’ll continue to build our team. We won’t get too high. We won’t get too low. We’re going to stay right in the middle, and all we gonna do is work.”
The first two practices will be in helmets only. Players will add shells Thursday, with the first full-pads practice scheduled for Saturday. UAPB will hold scrimmages each of the next two Saturdays, then hold a media day the following Saturday leading up to the Aug. 29 opener against Arkansas at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Tuesday’s practice will be the first in a UAPB uniform for a large group of newcomers, including Hampton’s first full high school recruiting class and around 20 college transfers who signed after the end of spring practice.
The additions come from both junior colleges and four-year schools, including a few from the Football Bowl Subdivision. One of the latest additions is Kasey Bonds, a sophomore defensive lineman from Middle Tennessee. UAPB had previously added two FBS wide receivers and a running back.
Bonds saw little playing time at MTSU, with the offensive players seeing none at their previous schools. In fact, many of the late transfer portal additions from four-year schools didn’t get much playing time, so Hampton said they come to UAPB with something to prove.
“They feel like they didn’t get their due at the places they (were),” Hampton said. “So, every person in our program, we just want to go out every week and earn our respect amongst our peers, and so that’s what we’re excited about doing.”
UAPB also picked up a recent commitment from a junior college defensive back, Liam Lindo from Erie (N.Y.) Community College. He intercepted five passes and made 22 tackles last season.
Like last year, UAPB enters fall camp amid a quarterback competition. Mekhi Hagens, the lone returner from last year, competed with DJ Stevenson during the spring. Pine Bluff High School graduate Landon Holcomb will join the battle in fall camp.
UAPB was expecting to have a fourth quarterback in the battle, Division III transfer Dorian Smith, but he announced on July 20 he was decommitting from UAPB.
Whoever wins that battle will have a receiver group led by Daemon Dawkins, who is entering his fourth season with UAPB.
In the transfer portal era, Dawkins is the rare athlete looking to complete his entire collegiate career at one school. He said at media day he wants to finish what he started, a common theme for the mindset he is taking into his senior season.
“We just want to finish, finish out,” Dawkins said. “Coach said for the first three quarters of games, we would be in the game, and then fourth quarter, we wouldn’t finish. So, just going through the mindset of finishing every game, finishing every play, finishing every block, finishing every catch. Just having that mindset to finish everything.”