ABILENE – First-year ACU head football coach
Ken Collums welcomed more than 120 players to summer camp Friday afternoon as the Wildcats began preparations for the 2012 season.
The 122 players who reported Friday afternoon went through introductory meetings and physicals before enduring a conditioning test Friday at 9 p.m. The first practice of the summer is set for 4 p.m. Saturday at the
Wally Bullington Practice Facility.
The Wildcats returned 36 lettermen from last year's 8-3 team that reached the NCAA Division II playoffs for the sixth straight season. ACU has been picked to finish second in the Lone Star Conference this season, its 40th in the LSC.
"We've got a lot of guys here who have been through our program and won a lot of games, so I feel good about our team from that standpoint," said Collums, who has been the Wildcats' offensive coordinator for the previous seven seasons. "We've got a quarterback (Mitchell Gale) who is a smooth operator and he knows what the deal is. He knows he doesn't have to be flashy; he just has to get the ball to the right places, and not many people have done that better than he's done it the last two seasons."
Defensively the Wildcats have added some beef in the middle of their line with the addition of transfer tackle
Melvin Shead to go along with returning tackle
George Woods. Transfer
Nick Finney also figures to play a key role on the defensive line.
ACU brought in several defensive backs during the off-season, including junior college signee
Eric Frain and transfer Jeremy Rivers from Elmhurst (Ill.) College.
"We've got to get some stops, and we've brought in some guys that we think will help us make that happen," Collums said. "Hopefully we'll be able to do a little better job controlling the run with those guys up front, and those guys in the back end have to be able to tackle people."
The Wildcats also welcomed Blinn Junior College transfer offensive lineman
Garrett Langthorp, who is eligible after some question about that in the spring. Also, former Louisiana Tech tight end
Noah Cheshier reported to camp on Friday and is expected to shore up that position, perhaps allowing sophomore
Jonathan Parker to move to fullback. Cheshier is the son of former ACU all-America offensive tackle Richard Van Druten.
OTHER REPORTING NOTES
• Active duty 1st Lt. Anthony Tipton – who is stationed at Dyess Air Force Base – reported to camp to try and make the football squad. Tipton, who said he had never played football before, is on three weeks of vacation, allowing him to be at practices during summer camp.
Tipton – who earned an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy in 2005 and graduated from the academy in 2010 – has never played football. He was a baseball player at Washington High School in Peoria, Ariz., where he graduated from in 2005.
"I've never played, but it's just something I've always wanted to do, and something I think I might be good at," said Tipton, who will be working toward a Master of Arts in Communication at ACU. "We'll see what happens, but I'm looking forward to it."
• Spencer Feasel – the son of former ACU all-America offensive lineman Grant Feasel – reported as a walk-on Friday. Grant Feasel – who enjoyed a lengthy NFL career – passed away suddenly last month in Fort Worth. Spencer Feasel played at Fort Worth Christian High School.
• Feasel's FWC teammates
Cade Stone (quarterback) and Hayden Smiley (the son of head coach Scott Smiley) also reported on Friday.
• The Wildcats lost one player from their high school signing class in February: linebacker / fullback Robbie Goldschmidt from The Woodlands, who gave up football to concentrate on baseball. His brother, Paul, is the starting first baseman for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
