Sam Houston holds first fall camp in CUSA

Aug 2, 2023
HUNTSVILLE — Football season is officially back for the Sam Houston Bearkats as its fall camp opened on Wednesday morning for the 2023 season.
The Bearkats hit the field in preparation for their first Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) season after joining Conference USA on July 1, 2023.
With just a month left until the regular season, the Bearkats have 31 days to get ready to open the season against BYU on Sept. 2.
“I love our roster and thought we had a phenomenal summer,” Sam Houston head coach K.C. Keeler said. “Now it is a matter of taking all the work we did in the spring and summer and start putting it together to build a team that can beat BYU.”
Getting back into practice allowed for the return of 15 members from last season. The Bearkats brought back several members that redshirted last season and now have experience from them and the guys behind them.
One of those players is wide receiver Ife Adeyi — who had the game winning national championship reception — after missing him last year in five of the Bearkats nine games.
Adeyi was able to sit back last season and watch from the sidelines in a different role. Adeyi was capable of helping develop the younger receivers along with Noah Smith to create even more depth for the Kats.
Now Sam Houston returns a guy with 1,967 career yards and 18 touchdowns through the air.
“It helped me mature for sure from a leadership standpoint because I had to help the younger guys,” Adeyi said. “It was fun being a teacher but not getting to play kind of sucked but there is a bigger experience around it.”
Getting a couple receivers back isn’t all the Bearkats get help with. After make-shifting an offensive line last year, Keeler now has the o-line he has experience with but missed a lot of time last season.
One of the main o-line men being Ethan Haglar, who is expected to be the center for the Kats comes back after being in the right guard spot. But the movement means the Bearkats have to relearn how to play with each other.
Last season, D’ary Patton played center but is now expected to shift back over to the right tackle spot. Tyler Junior College transfer Graceson Jackson-Smith is also expected to fill a hole at left guard in his first season with the Bearkats.
“I like our talent on the offensive line and I think we have seven or eight that can play,” Keeler said. “This is such a critical time that they gel. I like the raw talent we have, we just have to get these guys playing together.”
Another thing Keeler is paying attention to is the quarterbacks. Last season, Georgia Tech transfer Jordan Yates won the starting gig but was benched after three games in favor of Keegan Shoemaker.
Shoemaker was taken as the Bearkats offensive representative to media day despite being in a battle with transfer quarterback Grant Gunnell from the University of North Texas. Gunnell is from the Woodlands where he attend St. Pius X High School and holds the record for most career passing yards with 16,108 yards.
“That is one of the reasons we took [Keegan] to media day, this is his team. Now will he compete for the starting job, absolutely,” Keeler said. “As he says to me ‘I’m singing for my supper,’ and I said absolutely, just like every other position on our team. He is such a great leader and his experience gives us a lot.”
This makes the second consecutive year the Bearkats have a quarterback battle and also the second year with a brand new offensive coordinator. Keeler hired former Texans receivers coach John Perry last season before demoting him.
Now, Brad Cornelsen takes over and has simplified the offense down for everybody.
“[Brad] has been doing great,” Shoemaker said at CUSA media day. “I think the spring went super well. I think it’s going to allow us to have great opportunities. It’s a little bit more simple than we had before, which I love. People are going to be able to play hard and fast without thinking as much.”
Defensively, Sam Houston returns several key products in Trevor Williams and Markel Perry. Associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator Clayton Carlin remains in charge the Bearkats expect to keep the defense as strong as they have been.
“You feel good that you redshirted those guys,” Keeler said. “I would hate to think about going into this season, especially having the 38th ranked schedule, without having redshirted the guys we did. Some of those guys are getting a year, others are getting second years. It was hard doing what we did last year, but in the long run it was something we had to do.”
Now all that is left is to continue to practice and prepare for what is the next and only game on the schedule. The Kats will open the season at 9:15 CT on Sept. 2 in Provo, Utah against BYU.