FB: American Southwest Conference

[Kelly Boggs]

UMHB is reporting 255 players reported for football.

[The Mole]

WOW. Do they share lockers? How do you conduct/evaluate with those numbers? Freshman and JV schedule?

UMHB is reporting 255 players reported for football.

[MUC57]

WOW. Do they share lockers? How do you conduct/evaluate with those numbers? Freshman and JV schedule?

UMHB is reporting 255 players reported for football.

Mole

Mount Union typically has 200-250 players on the first several days. After a few days in the August heat and finding out that the practices are more demanding than the actual games, that number goes down. Happens every year.
UMHB has become one of the top Dlll football programs in the country and will draw it's share of new players. So you have a bigger pool to draw from. Nice problem to have.

Go Crusaders and Go Raiders. Would love to see both teams in Canton.   

[BSCpanthers]

I thought Birmingham Southern's 150 or so players listed was a big number.  Of course that number drops immediately once they take the non returning players off the list in another week.

Update: we currently have 121 on roster.

[The Mole]

I get that MUC, but what does it drop to? 175? 150? But I am still curious about lockers being shared, if there is a frosh or JV schedule ? Bound to find some players with big numbers, and the formula has obviously worked....just curious not a critique

WOW. Do they share lockers? How do you conduct/evaluate with those numbers? Freshman and JV schedule?

UMHB is reporting 255 players reported for football.

Mole

Mount Union typically has 200-250 players on the first several days. After a few days in the August heat and finding out that the practices are more demanding than the actual games, that number goes down. Happens every year.
UMHB has become one of the top Dlll football programs in the country and will draw it's share of new players. So you have a bigger pool to draw from. Nice problem to have.

Go Crusaders and Go Raiders. Would love to see both teams in Canton.   

[crufootball]

This time of year UMHB uses every locker available, so there are some at the field house and then they use the home and away locker rooms at the stadium. As for a season, yes UMHB usually plays 5-7 JV games to get as many players actually game time.

[Ron Boerger]

This time of year UMHB uses every locker available, so there are some at the field house and then they use the home and away locker rooms at the stadium. As for a season, yes UMHB usually plays 5-7 JV games to get as many players actually game time.

This year, actually 9 games, though I'm not familiar with the "Prep" and "Academy" schools on the schedule.   https://cruathletics.com/sports/jv-football/schedule/2021

[crufootball]

This time of year UMHB uses every locker available, so there are some at the field house and then they use the home and away locker rooms at the stadium. As for a season, yes UMHB usually plays 5-7 JV games to get as many players actually game time.

This year, actually 9 games, though I'm not familiar with the "Prep" and "Academy" schools on the schedule.   https://cruathletics.com/sports/jv-football/schedule/2021

Forgot they had posted the JV schedule as well, pretty sure we have played DFW Prep in the past. Sadly wouldn't be shocked if it ended up being 7 games, seems like at least 1 or 2 games get canceled , always a bummer for those guys on both sides of the field.

[umhb2001]

Getting close to September 4! Hopefully the big new board will be completed. It could come down to days or hours...who knows.

Keys to the season for UMHB:

Returning the OLine. This group took HUGE strides last year and will be formidable providing running lanes for some bruising backs. Obviously, their pass blocking should be better as well.

What will the secondary look like? With a key CB transferring to a D1 team, the focus will be on several transfers coming to Belton to suit up for the Cru. The Cru got torched in the secondary a couple times, especially by ETBU who really feels that with the addition of transfer WR Caleb Eagans from UMHB that they have a shot to dethrone UMHB. They nearly pulled it off in the spring. UMHB has to get more pressure on the QB and play tighter on the WRs. It will be interesting to see if UMHB employs that 3-4 they went to a few times.

WRs...We always have a stable, but can we let them run?? UMHB seems to be feast or famine passing the ball. It seems they don't employ crossing patterns to their speed guys, and they rarely go over the top with their height. They key? TE Ruckman. He can own the center of the field and absorb hits. UMHB must work him in the middle, hit him on some wheel routes, and couple that with quick hitters to KJ Miller. Miller must get 10-12 touches a game. He has hands and speed to really do damage.

Outside of Bell County...

Can Howard Payne put it together with the hold outs from the Braxton Harris era? I think so. Look for them to compete.

HSU is putting their hopes in Kyle Jones. I'll be honest, he looked better than I gave him credit for. Seeing him against UMHB and comparing that to his previous matchups against the Cru and WITH the Cru against Mount Union in the 2017 Stagg, he made a lot of steps forward.

ETBU, as previously mentioned, adding Caleb Eagans, who touts amazing speed but never saw the field for UMHB, will be something to watch. The Cru secondary doesn't forget, and I think they'll be coming for him. Can their QB continue his lights out performance from last year?

I'd love to see Southwestern and their new logo get back to some high quality ball.

Should be an exciting season. Looking forward to my first Cru dog in my season ticket seat.

[Reverendbiker]

I haven't been on here for a couple days now, but just saw this. I can confirm Sims will not be back. He is currently pursuing pro options and the draft next year but has been working with former UMHB football player Bryson Tucker, who runs Sacrifice Training in Pflugerville. KJ should be back though. And as far as UMHB has told me, they're not planning on placing restrictions at games, though things can certainly change.

Riley, I don't know the source of your info but I know for a fact that Aaron Sims is back in class and I saw him going to practice so I believe he'll be back in uniform.

[Ron Boerger]

Can Howard Payne put it together with the hold outs from the Braxton Harris era? I think so. Look for them to compete.

I actually saw some site (that I'd never heard of before, so not going to promote it) ranking HPU in their top 25 this season, which seems a stretch.

[Riley Zayas]

I haven't been on here for a couple days now, but just saw this. I can confirm Sims will not be back. He is currently pursuing pro options and the draft next year but has been working with former UMHB football player Bryson Tucker, who runs Sacrifice Training in Pflugerville. KJ should be back though. And as far as UMHB has told me, they're not planning on placing restrictions at games, though things can certainly change.

Riley, I don't know the source of your info but I know for a fact that Aaron Sims is back in class and I saw him going to practice so I believe he'll be back in uniform.

Yes, Coach Fredenburg announced that publicly yesterday. I have an article that includes that out now:
https://truetothecru.com/2021/08/17/fredenburg-aaron-sims-is-back-umhb-enormously-confident-as-preseason-camp-gets-underway/

I had been told by multiple people this summer that he was pursuing a professional opportunity, but things can always change which is what seems to have happened here. Huge additon to the UMHB special teams unit with KJ Miller back there as well.

[Etchglow]

Getting close to September 4! Hopefully the big new board will be completed. It could come down to days or hours...who knows.

Keys to the season for UMHB:

Returning the OLine. This group to HUGE strides last year and will be formidable providing running lanes for some bruising backs. Obviously, their pass blocking should be better as well.

What will the secondary look like? With a key CB transferring to a D1 team, the focus will be on several transfers coming to Belton to suit up for the Cru. The Cru got torched in the secondary a couple times, especially by ETBU who really feels that with the addition of transfer WR Caleb Eagans from UMHB that they have a shot to dethrone UMHB. They nearly pulled it off in the spring. UMHB has to get more pressure on the QB and play tighter on the WRs. It will be interesting to see if UMHB employs that 3-4 they went to a few times.

WRs...We always have a stable, but can we let them run?? UMHB seems to be feast or famine passing the ball. It seems they don't employ crossing patterns to their speed guys, and they rarely go over the top with their height. They key? TE Ruckman. He can own the center of the field and absorb hits. UMHB must work him in the middle, hit him on some wheel routes, and couple that with quick hitters to KJ Miller. Miller must get 10-12 touches a game. He has hands and speed to really do damage.

Outside of Bell County...

Can Howard Payne put it together with the hold outs from the Braxton Harris era? I think so. Look for them to compete.

HSU is putting their hopes in Kyle Jones. I'll be honest, he looked better than I gave him credit for. Seeing him against UMHB and comparing that to his previous matchups against the Cru and WITH the Cru against Mount Union in the 2017 Stagg, he made a lot of steps forward.

ETBU, as previously mentioned, adding Caleb Eagans, who touts amazing speed but never saw the field for UMHB, will be something to watch. The Cru secondary doesn't forget, and I think they'll be coming for him. Can their QB continue his lights out performance from last year?

I'd love to see Southwestern and their new logo get back to some high quality ball.

Should be an exciting season. Looking forward to my first Cru dog in my season ticket seat.

I'm looking forward to the season too!  I'm super excited that the first few games are actually evening games instead of 1:00 PM kickoffs.  Might not be 1000 degrees. 

It will be interesting to see if Eagans can see the field at ETBU.  I was floored in Coach Fredenburg's interview before the championship game last year what he said about him.  From what I can tell, his one catch last year for 11 yards was his only varsity catch at the collegiate level.  I don't have any 40 numbers, but interestingly enough, Aaron Sims is a good bit faster than him on the track (6.88 vs 7.14 60, and 10.57 vs 11.53 100). 

I agree, Kyle Jones was pretty impressive last year. 

Here is a link to the interview, it goes from 1:03:00 ish to 1:10:00 ish: https://media.podserve.fm/media/episodes/user_1118/1643/08-16-2021_Game_Time.mp3

I'm excited to see what Cormier can do.  Between the LC game and HSU game he was a workhorse. 

[justafan12]

Can Howard Payne put it together with the hold outs from the Braxton Harris era? I think so. Look for them to compete.

I actually saw some site (that I'd never heard of before, so not going to promote it) ranking HPU in their top 25 this season, which seems a stretch.

I saw that as well and can't remember the site.  I think they were #25 which I agree is a stretch.  Versus Sports has HPU at #115.

[justafan12]

Actually #29

https://collegefootballamericapr.com/2021/07/26/mount-union-leads-college-football-america-yearbooks-2021-division-iii-preseason-top-30/