GAME INFORMATION
ARKANSAS TECH WONDER BOYS 3-0 (3-0 GAC)	ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO BOLL WEEVILS 0-3 (0-3 GAC)
Saturday, September 27 | 6 p.m. SImmons Bank Field at Thone Stadium | Russellville, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | LISTEN LIVE | ATU NOTES (PDF)

KICKING OFF
The Arkansas Tech football team returns home for the first of two-straight and will be taking on Arkansas-Monticello on Saturday night in front of an anticipated large crowd for Family Day. Tech is riding high into the game after their big win on the road against Ouachita Baptist last week.
 
The win moved the Wonder Boys to 3-0 on the season for the first time since 2017. That year also saw the last time that Tech opened a season 4-0. The Wonder Boys would go on to finish 8-3 in the regular season and 8-4 overall.
 

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TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
LAST GAME
The Wonder Boys faced and passed their biggest test of the young season this past Saturday as they went on the road and beat (rv) Ouachita Baptist, 28-23. It was Tech's first win against Ouachita Baptist since 2016. In the game on Saturday, the Wonder Boys won the turnover battle and were able to turn that into the points that made the difference in the one-score outcome.
 
SCOUTING THE OFFENSE
Through three games, the Wonder Boys are averaging 34.7 points per game and 375.0 yards of total offense. Their ppg average ranks third in the GAC, while their total offense is sixth. Through the air, Tech is averaging 208.3 yards per game to rank sixth in the GAC. On the ground, the Wonder Boys are rushing for 167.0 yards per game to rank seventh.
 
Jack Dawson, Carter Hensley and Dominic Feliciano have all taken snaps at QB for the Wonder Boys, but Dawson has been the starter and primary signal-caller. He is 40-for-70 with 581 yards and six touchdowns. Hensley is 4-for-6 for 44 yards in limited appearances. Feliciano has only run the ball when in at QB and has carried it 12 times and has three touchdowns.
 
On the ground, the Wonder Boys have had nine different ball carriers. Freshman Bryson Roland currently leads the team in yards with 281. He has one of the team's six rushing touchdowns. Quarterback Dawson accounts for the other two rushing scores for Tech.
 
In terms of receiving, Tech has had 13 players with at least one reception. De'Rion Crooms leads the team in receptions so far with nine and is the leader in receiving yards with 114. Carldell Sirmons is one receiving yard back of Crooms and has one of the team's six receiving touchdowns. Jared Long, Tracy Daniels, Austin Marshall, Bryson Roland and Cam McFarlin have the other receiving touchdowns.
 
SCOUTING THE DEFENSE
Defensively the Wonder Boys are allowing 306.0 yards of total offense per game and 11.0 points against per game. Their total defense ranks fourth in the GAC, while their scoring defense is second.
 
Individually, the Wonder Boys have seven players with double-digit tackles and two with at least 20 stops. Linebacker Sam Jackson leads the team in overall tackles with 21.0. He also leads the team in sacks with 1.5 and is tied for fourth in tackles for loss at 1.5. Tyriq Taiwo leads the team in tackles for loss with 3.5.
 
As a team, the Wonder Boys have come away with nine takeaways with six being interceptions and three being fumble recoveries. Julien Lopez, Diego Sanchez and Tyrique Jones are tied for the team-lead in interceptions with two each. Jones also has one of the three fumble recoveries and is joined by Israel Whitmore and Gregor Jones for the other two.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS
In the kicking game, Logan Tymeson has handled all the field goal and point-after-touchdown opportunities thus far. He is 12-of-12 in PATs and 2-of-4 in field goals.
 
Technically, punting has been done by two players, but one of those has been quarterback Dawson, with four pooch punts. Regular punter Angus Greaves has had 10 punts and is averaging 36.5 yards per punt.
 
In the return game, the Wonder Boys have had Carldell Sirmons and De'Rion Crooms handle most of the opportunities on kickoffs and punts. Sirmons has had three kickoff returns and is averaging 21.0 yards per return while Crooms has had two kickoff returns and is averaging 24.0 yards per return. Sirmons has had four punt returns and is averaging 16.3 yards per return.
 
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 Boll Weevils' 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 reins 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 Boll Weevils go unbeaten in the regular season.
 

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KNOW YO FOE
LAST GAME     
Arkansas-Monticello enters the game against Tech 0-3 on the season and are most-recently coming off a 48-18 loss at home to Henderson State. In that game, HSU was able to rack up 565 yards of total offense with 345 coming through the air and 220 on the ground. Conversely, UAM was able to manage just 285 yards of total offense with 219 coming through the air and 66 on the ground.
 
THE SERIES      
This will be the 81st meeting all-time between Arkansas Tech and Arkansas-Monticello in a series that dates back to 1928. Overall, Tech holds a 46-31-3 advantage in the all-time series and has a 25-13-2 lead in games played in Russellville. Since transitioning to NCAA Division II, the Wonder Boys and Boll Weevils have met 25 times previously and in that time, Tech leads 15-10-0.

THE COACH     
The Boll Weevils are coached by Hud Jackson, who is in his 14th year as the head coach at Arkansas-Monticello. In his time at UAM, Jackson has put together a career record of 48-98.
           
SCOUTING THE OFFENSE          
Offensively, the Boll Weevils have the 10th-ranked scoring offense in the GAC at 14.7 ppg and the ninth-ranked total offense with an average of 282.0 ypg. Through the air, the Boll Weevils are averaging 218.0 ypg to rank third in the GAC. On the ground, UAM is averaging 64.0 ypg to rank 12th in the GAC.
 
The leading rusher thus far is Glen Gage with 77 yards gained on 23 carries. Quarterback Tavion Faulk leads the team in total carries with 26 and is third in yards gained with 26. He is responsible for the lone rushing touchdown by UAM.
 
In the passing game, the Boll Weevils have almost exclusively gone with Faulk. He has all but five of the team's passing attempts and is 45-of-80 in passing with 577 yards and four touchdowns. He also has thrown four interceptions in three games.
 
The leading receiver for UAM is Ahmari Cox with 159 yards on eight receptions. Cox also has the most receiving touchdowns on the team with three. Nine other Boll Weevils have at least one reception.
 
SCOUTING THE DEFENSE          
Defensively, the Boll Weevils rank 12th in scoring defense at 43.3 ppg. Their total defense ranks 11th in the GAC allowing 448.7 ypg of total offense by their opponents. Through the air, UAM ranks 11th in the GAC at 224.7 average ypg allowed. On the ground, the Boll Weevils allow an average of 224.0 ypg and rank 10th in the GAC.
 
Individually, UAM has had eight players record double-digit tackles and three with at least 15 stops. They are led Tevontae Bond with 18.0. A total of 12 players have accounted for at least 0.5 tackles for lost yardage and seven of those are tied for the team-lead with 2.0. JaQuan Fank has the team-lead in sacks with 2.0.
 
The Boll Weevils' defense has forced one turnover through three games with the takeaway being an interception by Dajon Doss.