Bearkats prepare for first real road trip of the season

Oct. 15—HUNTSVILLE — Sam Houston football is nearly halfway done with its shortened 2021 football season. The Kats are playing a nine-game schedule after Lamar University and the University of Incarnate Word opted out of the Western Athletic Conference after the schedule was released.

The Kats have played two road games, but thus far they have all been via a bus. This week that is different, Sam Houston will travel 954 miles to Richmond, Ky., for its upcoming game against Eastern Kentucky University.

"Business trip," Sam Houston head coach K.C. Keeler said. "I think when you go on the road it is a great way to galvanize your team. I love road trips with our guys... I love playing at Bowers but I think road trips are a great way to bring your team together."

This road trip will be the first time since Sept. 25, 2021, that the Kats will play outside of the state of Texas when they traveled to Conway, Ark. The Kats got a 45-35 win over the Bears.

Now the Kats kick off a three-game stand where they play outside of Huntsville with No. 23 EKU kicking off a stretch that is going to be rough on every player.

"We were brutally honest with our guys," Keeler said. "We were not dealt with a great situation in terms of this schedule. We are playing three-night games in three different time zones. And we are playing very good opponents starting with Eastern Kentucky. We aren't going to duck it, what we are trying to do is going to be hard. I think it's a good thing and a good motivator. I will say, last year's schedule was really favorable."

Sam Houston currently sits at 2-2 on the year and the two games they won came from a combined 11 points. The Bearkat offense is struggling and through four games has 1,096 yards of total offense. At the same point last year, the Kats had 1,888 total yards of offense.

The Kats will try and build off their final drive from two weeks ago, where they scored a touchdown in the closing seconds of the game.

But after a week off, the Kats will need to replicate what they did for five more games.

"Losing all the experienced players we lost, we are asking a lot of young guys to step up," Keeler said. "We are hoping we can learn from that culture. Right now, the offense is struggling and we have to get that fixed. We have too many great players on the perimeter. Keegan [Shoemaker] is a good football player, we just aren't playing with any confidence. We just need success to believe we can have success."

Player availability is another concern for the Kats in their final five games of the season. Sam Houston is already down four of its key players on defense. The Kats lost Markel Perry, Trevor Williams, Jevon Leon and Sincere Jackson to either shoulder or pec injuries that required surgery.

"We were hoping to have Trevor [Williams], Markel [Perry], Jevon [Leon], and Sincere [Jackson] for this game but all four of them have had shoulder or pec surgeries by now," Keeler said. "We decided to get those surgeries done because it didn't make any sense to see if we could get one more game out of them."

This game is where it gets tricky for Keeler and his staff. They are starting their fifth game of the season and have several guys who have one game left to play before they are ineligible for a redshirt.

They have already announced receivers Ife Adeyi and Noah Smith were likely getting the red shirts but now they are one snap away from being held out for the season.

One positive this brings for the Kats is forcing the staff to use their new recruits and get some players experience that they wouldn't get if they weren't doing all this.

"I'm gonna rely on those guys who are red-shirting like Ife [Adeyi], Noah [Smith] and Ethan Hagler and those guys. I'm gonna rely on them. They are going to service and help our guys out and then we will worry about getting them ready for next season. There are going to be some challenges, not a lot of teams have gone through this. There are going to be a lot of good football players not playing from this point forward. But we think this is the best thing for our kids."

But the big question for the Kats will be the production of the quarterback position. Transfer Jordan Yates was named the starter at the beginning of the season but was pulled during the Kats win against Texas A&M Commerce.

Shoemaker came in on the second drive and led the team down the field for their first passing touchdown of the season. Shoemaker also got the start in the Battle of the Piney Woods but Yates was walking with a boot on and his shoulder was in a sling at one point.

With the offense still struggling to find a groove, they will still rely on Shoemaker to make some plays with his arm as the Kats still have one of the top receivers in graduate Cody Chrest who is looking to make it to the next level.

"It's Keegan's show," Keeler said. "It's Keegan's show until we feel that we need to look in another direction. When we get Jordan healthy, we will see how he's progressing in practice and we will make a decision. We may make a little package for Jordan or we haven't played well at the quarterback spot, let's give Jordan another shot. It's a fluid thing but we aren't looking to move Keegan out. This is Keegan's right now."

GAME INFORMATION

Sam Houston and EKU are set to kick off at 5 p.m. central time at Roy Kidd Stadium. The game will be streamed on the ESPN + platform.