Former Wampus Cats thoughts on UCA Spring

Former Conway High School teammates and UCA teammates quarterback Breylin Smith and Austin Norris are looking toward big things after a successful spring. Both Smith and Norris were a part of coach Steve Campbell’s 2016 recruiting class and were redshirted. Saturday, the two played major rolesin UCA’s annual Purple-Gray game. Norris, a two-star recruit and two-time 7A Central All-Conference and All-State player, who played with first defensive unit, felt good about about the final spring efforts. “Today was awesome,” he said. “It was good to be out on The Stripes. I made some plays today and really had a good time with our guys.” Overall, Norris feels good about how spring football progrewsed for him, but knows he has a way to go. “We’re a little short on depth, so we’ve been working really hard,” he said. “I feel like I’ve made a lot of progression this spring. I’m able to spring the shoes of Terrance Partee and Jordan Tolliver. Those are big shoes to fill, though.” He said though the defense has a little ground to make up, Norris thinks overall, it will be fine. Smith was happy to be on the field, too. He also had compliments to his primary target of the second offensive unit and fellow redshirt freshman Joe Hampton. “I thought today was really good,” Smith said. “We had some guys step up and make great plays. Joe Hampton made some big plays and the O-line up front did well. I thought it wasn’t bad, but we definitely have some things to work on.” Smith, who connected with Hampton on a couple deep throws during the game, said Hampton makes life easier for him, like climbing the ladder to pull down passes from Smith. UCA coach Steve Campbell said Smith is making progress toward the top backup. “I was very pleased with him,” Campbell said. “He has shown that he is going to be a good player. Right now, I would say he’s put himself in position to compete the top backup spot. We’ll let the battle continue. “He has everything you want. He’s not afraid to make a play. He’s no9t afraid to take chances. He’s got the personality, he brings a little juice and fire.” Overall, Smith said he is still learning after a year of being redshirted. “Everything is going well,” he said. “It’s a big learning process from my redshirt year. I gained some weight and got bigger and stronger. I made the most of that and worked on some things, but it was a really good spring. I thought we got better every day.” The Bears will resume football activities over the summer before kicking off the season Sept. 2 at Kansas State University.

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FORMER WAMPUS CATS THOUGHTS ON UCA SPRING

ANDY ROBERTSON

Log Cabin Democrat | 4/10/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Log Cabin Democrat