GAME INFORMATION
ARKANSAS TECH WONDER BOYS 0-0 (0-0 GAC)	SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA BULLDOGS 0-0 (0-0 GAC)
Thursday, September 4 | 6 p.m. Flex-Chem Field at Milan Stadium | Weatherford, Okla. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | LISTEN LIVE | ATU NOTES (PDF)

KICKING OFF
Optimism is high for the 2025 season of football for Arkansas Tech as the program enters into a new era of its history. On December 10, 2024, Roy Thompson was named the 18th head coach in program history, joining the Wonder Boys after being a key member of the coaching staff at Ouachita Baptist over the past decade.

With an overhaul in terms of the coaching staff and roster, the Roy Thompson era is set to officially begin this Thursday, September 4 on the road at Southwestern Oklahoma. It will be the first time that the Wonder Boys and Bulldogs will open each other's season since becoming conference foes in 2011.

It will also be the fifth season in the last seven that have taken place that the Wonder Boys open their year on the road. Opening up on the road during that stretch has not been favorable to the Wonder Boys as they are just 1-4 in opening week road games.
 

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TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
LAST SEASON
The trend of narrowly securing a winning season continued for the third-straight season for the Wonder Boys as they once more went 5-6. After starting out 2-0 last season, Tech dropped to 2-2 before winning two-straight again to push to 4-2. Unfortunately, a tough three-game skid dropped the Wonder Boys under the .500 mark at 4-5 with two more games to go, both on the road. Tech would split those final two games, winning at Southeastern Oklahoma with a spirited 6-0 shutout victory and then scoring the most points against top-five ranked Harding during the regular season - 27 - in a losing effort.

SCOUTING THE OFFENSE
Offensively, the Wonder Boys averaged 20.7 points per game and 318.8 yards of total offense per game in 2024. Their ppg average ranked sixth in the GAC, while their total offense was sixth as well. Through the air, Tech averaged 213.5 ypg to rank third. On the ground, the Wonder Boys averaged 105.4 ypg to rank 10th. 

Ethan Everson was the primary starting QB last year as a senior for the Wonder Boys. Everson would throw for 1,595 yards on 120-of-235 attempts with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. With the loss of Everson, the Wonder Boys will have a new starting QB this season. Vying for the nod throughout camp has been between newcomers Jack Dawson, Dizzy Dean, Carter Hensley and Dominic Feliciano.

On the ground, the Wonder Boys are without their top-two rushers from a year ago in Deuce Wise and Luke Gall. Wise led the team in rushing yardage with 544 on 134 carries. Gall was next with 333 yards and four touchdowns on 75 carries. Short-yardage bruiser and H-back, Jordan Edington, is also not back after leading the team in rushing touchdowns with five. With those departures, the Wonder Boys will have running back corp. that includes returners Myles West and Tracy Daniels as well as newcomers DJ Alston Jr. and Bryson Roland.

In terms of receiving, Tech had five players with at least 300 yards receiving last season, but return just one of those in Jared Long. Last season, Long had 359 yards receiving and three touchdowns on 22 total receptions. Expected to bolster that room this year are returners Isiah Kendall, De'Rion Crooms, Scout Brazeal and Cayden Rose as well as newcomers Carldell Sirmons, Austin Marshall, JD DeCausemaker, Trey Nelson and Lorenzo Bowers.

SCOUTING THE DEFENSE
Defensively last season, the Wonder Boys allowed an average of 315.4 yards of total offense per game by their opponents and 26.7 points per game. The total defense ranked sixth in the GAC, while their scoring defense was seventh.

Individually, the Wonder Boys had seven players end the year with 40 or more stops. Of those, five return, including leading tackler Jyrin Steward and his 77 tackles. Steward also led the team in tackles for lost yardage with 16.0 and was third in sacks with 3.0. In the backend of their defense, the Wonder Boys return their top-two ball
hawks in CJ Palmer and Diego Sanchez. Those two combined for six of the team's nine interceptions with Palmer having four and Sanchez, two.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Special Teams will be relatively new this year with last year's punter Logan Tymeson likely getting first crack at placekicking duties. A kicker and punter in his prep days at Bentonville High, Tymeson has not attempted a collegiate field goal, but has been the kickoff man for Tech the last two seasons. Freshman Liam Kinsella is also in the mix for placekicking duties.

With Tymeson taking on kicking duties, punting will likely be taken over by Australian native and former Australian rules footballer, Angus Greaves.

In the return game, the Wonder Boys are expected to have a rotation of De'Rion Crooms, Austin Marshall and Tracey Daniels. Crooms is expected to be both on punt and kick return while Marshall is slated for punts and Daniels kickoffs.

COACH THOMPSON
Roy Thompson enters his first season as head football coach at Arkansas Tech after spending the previous nine at GAC-rival Ouachita Baptist as the Tigers' defensive coordinator. On the coaching staff a total of 12 years at Ouachita, Thompson spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons as the co-Defensive Coordinator before taking over the reigns fully starting with the 2018 season.

Over that seven-year stretch (2020 was not played due to COVID-19), Ouachita has had three seasons in which its points allowed per game were under 20.0, ranking it in the top-10 nationally in DII. The other three seasons, the highest points allowed in a season was 20.7 points per game. Over that same stretch, Thompson's defensive unit
allowed under 320.0 yards per game four times, ranking in the top-35 nationally.

Thompson's time at Ouachita also yielded a ton of championship hardware as well as NCAA postseason experience. Out of the eight seasons played with Thompson on staff, Ouachita won the GAC championship five times and reached the NCAA playoffs each of those seasons as well, with the most recent being in 2024. Of those five conference titles, three saw the Tigers go unbeaten in the regular season.
 

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KNOW YO FOE
LAST SEASON
Under the direction of first-year head coach Andrew Rice, the Southwestern Oklahoma football team began to establish the foundation of a program rebuild that had only won four games total since the 2021 season and was coming off an 0-11 season in 2023. In Rice's first season, the Bulldogs won three games and closed out their season with a 50-0 shutout win at home against Northwestern Oklahoma.

SCOUTING THE OFFENSE
Last season SWOSU had the seventh-ranked scoring offense in the GAC at 19.0 ppg and the eighth-ranked total offense with an average of 282.8 ypg. Through the air, the Bulldogs averaged 143.4 ypg to rank eighth in the GAC. On the ground, SWOSU averaged 139.5 ypg to rank eighth in the GAC.

The leading rusher last year was quarterback Kai Kunz. Kunz would rush for 604 yards on 118 carries. He also led the team in rushing touchdowns with nine. As far as rostered running backs, the Bulldogs had a pair of backs split carries. Malik Roberson ran for 333 yards and one touchdown on 87 carries while Dante Dean ran for 293 yards and one touchdown on 75 carries.

In the passing game, the Bulldogs split time between Kunz and Tate Robards. Kunz, who played in nine games, had the most completions (83) and attempts (136), but Robards would end up with more yards (790) and touchdowns (6) in six games played.

The Bulldogs would have three receivers that have at least 290 yards receiving and were led by Jax Smith with 334 yards on 26 receptions. Elijah Reed would lead the team in receptions with 33 while Baylor Nash had the most touchdown receptions with three.

SCOUTING THE DEFENSE
Defensively, the Bulldogs base out of a multiple scheme and last year ranked eighth in scoring defense, allowing 30.5 ppg. Their total defense ranked eighth as well in the GAC allowing 382.8 ypg of total offense by their opponents. Through the air, SWOSU ranked 10th in the GAC with 201.0 ypg. On the ground, the Bulldogs allowed an average of 181.8 ypg to rank sixth in the GAC.

Individually, Southwestern Oklahoma had five players end the year with 50 or more stops. Logan Monroe led the team in tackles with 101 and also led the team in tackles for loss with 9.0 and in sacks with 5.5

As a unit, the Bulldogs' defense has registered 26 takeaways with 15 being interceptions and 11 being fumble recoveries. Desmond Green had seven of those interceptions while Cadynce Hall, James Thomas and Bryson Jordan led the team in fumble recoveries with two.

THE COACH
The Bulldogs are coached by Andrew Rice, who is in his second year as the head coach at Southwestern Oklahoma. Last year, Rice led the Bulldogs to a 3-8 record. Prior to taking over at SWOSU, Rice spent two seasons as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Southern Arkansas. Rice also has spent time as an assistant
at the collegiate level at Central Oklahoma and Northeastern A&M College.

THE SERIES
This will be the 21st meeting all-time between Arkansas Tech and Southwestern Oklahoma in a series that dates back to 1968. After that initial meeting in Fort Smith, the two didn't play until 1988, and then played each other six of the next seven years. In 2011, Tech and SWOSU became charter members of the GAC. In that time span, Tech leads the series by a small margin, 8-5. Overall, Tech also holds a slight lead in the series, 12-8.