SEASON PREVIEW: Bethune-Cookman football looks to rebound in its second year in the SWAC

DAYTONA BEACH — At exactly 5 p.m. Tuesday, lightning struck.

The Bethune-Cookman Wildcats were only 60 minutes into a two-hour practice, but head coach Terry Sims gave the signal as dark clouds crept over Daytona Stadium.

Clear the field.

“It’s game week!” graduate student tight end Kemari Averett yelled, walking toward the locker room with the rest of his teammates. “I’m protesting!”

They sat inside until 6:20, when practice was called. A couple of Wildcats estimated weather delays have affected at least a week’s worth of practices since fall camp started.

“This is part of our culture,” Averett said. “… Adversity isn’t something new to us. It’s just something we have to go through.”

Hardship filled the last two falls. Bethune-Cookman’s 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19. And when the Wildcats returned to the field in 2021, they went 2-9, suffering through their first losing campaign since 2016. Last year was also their first in the Southwestern Athletic Conference after transitioning out of the MEAC.

So they want 2022 to be the bounce-back year. They open against the Miami Hurricanes on the road at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

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New coordinators

Bethune-Cookman has three new coordinators this year. Mike Canales now runs the offense, Darrin Hayes controls the defense, and Kenyatta McCoy handles the special teams.

Hayes joined Sims’ staff in 2015 as one of the head coach’s first assistant hires. He primarily worked with the defensive backs until his promotion to defensive coordinator earlier this year. The Wildcats surrendered 36.2 points per game last fall.

“Coach Hayes is a big hands-on guy,” Sims said. “... The defense didn’t change. I just think maybe the presentation has changed.”

Unlike Hayes, Canales and McCoy are both new to Bethune-Cookman. Canales served as an analyst at the University of Maryland last year and will look to boost a unit that averaged 24.5 points per contest a season ago. His most recent offensive coordinator job was with the University of Texas at El Paso from 2018 to 2020.

“I think coach Canales is bringing back the Wildcat football way,” Sims said. “We’re playing fast again.”

McCoy comes from Georgia Military College, where he supervised special teams and defensive backs.

“I think he brings what we had with our last two special teams coordinators — a lot of energy, a lot of knowledge and experience,” Sims said.

Players to watch

Last season, Bethune-Cookman had four all-conference players. Three of them — Averett, junior cornerback Omari Hill-Robinson and sophomore cornerback Darnell Deas — are back.

Averett picked up first-team honors with 52 catches, 888 yards and 10 touchdowns. Hill-Robinson, another first-teamer, had four interceptions and eight pass breakups as the leader of the Wildcats’ secondary. Deas made the second-team as a kick returner. He took two of his 17 kickoff returns for touchdowns.

Bethune-Cookman also brings back senior Que’Shaun Byrd, a graduate of Flagler Palm Coast High School and the Wildcats’ leading rusher from 2021, and junior cornerback Caleb Sutherland, who placed second on the team in tackles with 74.

From the transfer portal, they added two former Jackson State starters: junior quarterback Jalon Jones and senior wide receiver Corey Reed Jr.

Jones was the Tigers’ signal-caller for parts of 2019 and the 2021 spring season. He threw for a combined 1,922 yards and 21 touchdowns while also rushing for 643 yards and seven scores. Right now, Jones is locked into a quarterback battle, and Sims has not named an official starter for Saturday.

“I want to say (Jones) is leading but not by much,” said Sims, who indicated QBs Tyrone Franklin Jr. and Walter Simmons are "hot on his heels."

"All three of those guys have had good days. They’ve had bad days. They’ve had OK days. They’re still duking it out.

"Right now, Jalon is running out first, but they’ve all had an opportunity to start practice off and run with the first-team offense, and they’ve all done a great job.”

Reed hauled in 27 receptions for 325 yards and three touchdowns for Jackson State during the 2021 spring season.

Biggest games

The Wildcats lost the annual Florida Classic against Florida A&M for the first time since 2010 last year, so they have the Rattlers circled on the calendar. That contest is the regular-season finale on Nov. 19 in Orlando.

Bethune-Cookman matches up with Jackson State, last year’s SWAC champion, on Oct. 15. Tigers head coach Deion Sanders made headlines earlier this summer by criticizing the decision to move the game to Jacksonville’s TIAA Bank Field.

And the Wildcats’ most highly touted opponent? Well, they get that out of the way early this year when they take on No. 16 Miami this weekend. The two teams last faced each other in September of 2019, when the Hurricanes pitched a 63-0 shutout.

“I have a grudge on my shoulder,” Hill-Robinson said, “and I want to show everybody we can play.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: College football: Bethune-Cookman Wildcats looking to rebound in 2022