Bears Moving into Position of Being Everybody Else’s Target Now

ARLINGTON, Texas — Central Arkansas is making a splash in the UAC in just their second year. If you doubt that, just look at the preseason All-Conference team released Tuesday before Texas Live at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Now UCA coach Nathan Brown will be in the crosshairs and the target of the entire league instead of seeing who the favorite is and going after them. One look at the team that had six Bears on it and it’s not hard to understand why.

“We’re not sneaking up on anybody,” Brown said during the event, broadcast live on ESPN+. “Every game in this league is a four-quarter game. It’s flattering to be picked No. 1, but the goal is still be their around Thanksgiving. We’re not sneaking up on anybody.”

Unanimous selections for senior defensive end/outside linebacker David Walker, senior quarterback Will McElvain and senior running back ShunDerrick Powell. Junior offensive lineman Will Diggins, senior linebacker Demetrias Charles and senior safety TaMuarion Wilson were also named All-UAC.

UCA drew five of the nine first-place votes and 77 total points in the coaches’ poll. They were followed by Tarleton State (3 first-place votes, 74 points), Southern Utah (54), Eastern Kentucky (53), Austin Peay (1 first-place, 46), Abilene Christian (43), North Alabama (26), Utah Tech (19) and UAC newcomer West Georgia (13).

McElvain came into his own last year with some eye-popping stats and has passed for 5,029 yards in two seasons with the Bears. For his career, McElvain has thrown for 9,022 yards and 64 touchdowns. He completed 239 of 376 passes for 2,477 yards, with 24 touchdowns and just six interceptions last season.

“I’ll take it,” Brown said later. He wasn’t quit as keen on that no-look pass McElvain has done a couple of times that made for some interesting film sessions. “You just say that was a great pass, don’t do it again.”

As coaches on championship teams have told me for 50 years, that is what they say until it doesn’t work on that kind of stuff. If it blows up, the tone changes a little bit, but that’s just part of the game.

McElvain, who’s listed at 5-10, is part of a trend of quarterbacks managing to play at the highest level at that height. The list is growing from Drew Brees to Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield.

“I’m a shorter dude,” McElvain said during the broadcast. “But the game is trending in that direction now.”

Walker, from Stuttgart, Ark., who is a two-time conference Defensive Player of the Year in the UAC in 2023 and the ASUN in 2022. Despite being the only unanimous defensive selection on the preseason team, the Defensive Player of the Year choice was North Alabama defensive back Edwin White Schultz. He was named to three All-America teams.

Powell, from Hoxie, Ark. and North Alabama, has rushed for more than 1,000 yards twice in his career, including 1,009 yards last season while battling injuries in his first season at UCA. He also had 1,508 yards for UNA in 2022 and was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award and was the co-Offensive Player of the Year in the ASUN.

Diggins, a junior from Bryant, Ark., was the ASUN Freshman of the Year two years ago and will be a three-year starter in UCA’s offensive line.

WIlson, a senior safety from Bryant, Ark., has totaled 265 career tackles, including 15.5 tackles for loss, six interceptions, four forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Wilson was UCA’s third-leading tackler with 64 stops last season.

Charles, from Texarkana, Ark., was the No. 2 tackler for the Bears the past two seasons, with 72 total stops a year ago and 87 total tackles in 2022. Charles had a career-high 17 tackles in a victory over Stephen F. Austin last season, and had at least six tackles in eight of UCA’s 11 games.

UCA opens the 2024 season with consecutive road games at FBS Arkansas State on Aug. 31 in Jonesboro, Ark., and at Lindenwood on Sept. 7 in St. Charles, Mo. The Bears’ first of five home games will be Sept. 14 when they host Austin Peay on “The Stripes.”