The Game
Angelo State looks to turn a new page after a pair of gut-wrenching losses to No. 9 West Texas A&M and Tarleton State to start Lone Star Conference South Division play. The task won't be easy as the Rams welcome the 10th-ranked Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas to San Angelo Stadium Saturday - the second of four top-10 opponents ASU will face in a grueling six-game stretch. Kingsville (4-1, 3-1 LSC) opened the 2010 season with four consecutive wins before dropping a close decision to fifth-ranked Abilene Christian last weekend. Similarly, the Rams (2-2, 2-2 LSC) started the season with back-to-back wins, but have been edged in each of the last two contests.
The Series
Texas A&M-Kingsville leads the all-time series 30-13 and has won three in a row against the Rams. Angelo State's last victory against the Javelinas pre-dates current A&M-Kingsville head coach Bo Atterberry, a 38-20 win by the Rams on Nov. 11, 2006 in San Angelo. In last year's meeting between the teams in Kingsville resulted in a 35-32 win for the Javelinas. In that game, Angelo State scored 15 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to three but an on-side kick attempt was recovered by the Javelinas to thwart the comeback.
The Coaches
Angelo State: Dale Carr (Colorado State, '76) took over the ASU program in 2005 and has guided the Rams to a 25-33 overall mark, including a NCAA Division II postseason appearance in his first season. Carr was previously head coach at Tyler Junior College.
Texas A&M-Kingsville: Bo Atterberry (Southeast Oklahoma, '98) is in his fourth year as head coach of the Javelinas after previously serving as the defensive coordinator for three years at his alma mater, Texas A&M-Kingsville. Atterberry has a 23-16 overall record as a head coach and led the Javelinas to the Lone Star Conference Championship last season.
The Program
Angelo State won the NAIA National Championship in 1978 and has won three Lone Star Conference Championships (1978, 1984, 1987). The Rams have seen five NCAA DII playoff appearances and produced 55 All-Americans. Angelo State has sent 11 student-athletes on to successful NFL careers, including Pierce Holt, who earned two Super Bowl rings with the San Francisco 49ers in 1988-89, was a two-time Pro Bowl selection and was inducted into the NCAA Division II Football Hall of Fame in 2000. Legendary Baylor head coach Grant Teaff coached at ASU, and has been inducted into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame with Holt and former Ram tackle Rodney Cason.
Player to Watch // George Shamblen
Punting is a thankless job and unless there's great calamity, a team's punter goes relatively unknown. Whatever his fame, Angelo State punter junior George Shamblen has been one of the best in the nation this season with the fourth-best net punting yardage in the country. Samblen knocked a career-best 66 yard punt against Texas A&M-Commerce and dropped three of his five punts against Tarleton State inside the opponent's 20 yard line.
This Week's Opponent
Texas A&M-Kingsville is located in Kingsville, Texas, west of Corpus Christi on the Gulf Coast in south eastern Texas. The university has an enrollment of 5,904 and was founded in 1925. The Javelinas are members of the South Division of the Lone Star Conference and captured the league title with a 9-3 overall record in 2009. Last year, the Javelinas advanced to the NCAA playoffs but fell to fellow LSC South member Tarleton State in the opening round. Texas A&M-Kingsville has 10 All-LSC returners, including Deira Glover (S), Ryan Lincoln (WR) and Corey Robertson (S), who were all named to the All-LSC Second Team. Texas A&M-Kingsville enters Saturday's contest 4-1, with its only loss coming to No. 5 Abilene Christian. The Javelinas defeated perennial Division II power Northwest Missouri State to open the 2010 season and were ranked as high as No. 6 before the loss to the Wildcats.
Ties with Texas A&M-Kingsville
• Three Angelo State players, Derek McDonough, Jerrell Waters, Jonathan Family, hail from Spring, Texas, the hometown of Texas A&M-Kingsville quarterback Nate Poppell.
• Houston, Texas is perhaps the most well-represented city on the field with a total of 16 players. Angelo State has seven players from H-Town and the Javelinas have nine.
• Angelo State's Doug Franklin and Kingsville's Ricky Marshall are both from Tyler, Texas, but Franklin attended Lee High School and Marshall attended John Tyler High School.
• A total of 10 players list San Antonio as their home town, four from Angelo State and six from Texas A&M-Kingsville.
Cisco JC
• Stephen Boyles (ASU) and Margarito Vasquez (A&M-K) played at Permian High in Odessa, Texas.
• Terrance Preston, V'Keon Lacey and Travis McCloud attended Cisco College along with Texas A&M-Kingsville's Marc Kinney.
• Del Rio High School in Del Rio, Texas, will be well represented with four former players on the field Saturday. Those players include Rams linebacker Austin Benson and Javelina players Cody Brooks, John Steed, Josh Washington.
• Jacob Velasquez (ASU) and Tiance Gardner (A&M-K) both went to Angelton High School.
• The Javelinas' Christian Brom and Angelo State's Ben Garcia are both from McAllen, Texas.
Steady Climber
Angelo State quarterback Josh Neiswander surpassed 6,000 yards for his career with a 234-yard effort in Saturday's loss to Tarleton State. The senior from Winnsboro, Texas, also moved into second place on ASU's career passing list with 6,183 yards. Neiswander took a Sharpie to the Rams' single season record book last season, setting new highs for pass completions (242), pass attempts (388), passing yards (2,933), touchdowns (25) and completion percentage (62.4). He passed Erik Hartman (1994-97) for second all-time in yardage and has his eyes on the top spot held by Ned Cox (1983-86), who passed for 7,843 yards in his career
| Player |
Career Passing Yards |
| 1. Ned Cox (1983-86) |
7,833 |
| 2. Josh Neiswander (2006-present) |
6,183 |
| 3. Erik Hartman (1994-97) |
6,006 |
| 4. Mickey Russell (1986-89) |
5,081 |
| 5. Trey Weishuhn (2003-06) |
4,974 |
Secondary Still Streaking
Ram corner back
Markeith Jones picked off Nick Stephens in the second quarter of Saturday's game for his team-best-tying third interception of the season. ASU had picked off three passes in each of the first three games but managed to keep its streak of one in every game alive thanks to Jones, who also had two pass breakups and five solo tackles against Tarleton State.
A Nose for the Football
Alvin Johnson, who intercepted two passes against West Texas A&M, found a different way to take the ball away against Tarleton State. With the Texans threatening at the Rams eight yard line, Jones knocked the ball loose and fell on it to temporarily preserve ASU's 14-point lead. The ball disruptive safety has three interceptions and two forced fumbles in four games.
Going for Two
Angelo State improved to 2-for-2 on two-point conversions when Garrett Tidwell dove over the pile in the second quarter. Nate Bayless was on the receiving end of a Josh Neiswander pass for ASU's other successful try in the Rams' opener against Eastern New Mexico.
Finding the End Zone
Angelo State wide out Dakarai Pecikonis found the end zone through the air and on the ground in the Rams' 37-34 loss to Tarleton State. The Allen, Texas native scored ASU's first touchdown on a 10-yard end around in the first quarter and later helped the Rams build a 14 point advantage by catching a 17-yard reverse pass from fellow wide out Garrett Tidwell. Pecikonis was one of three Rams with five catches, but led the team with 68 receiving yards and 124 yards of total offense.
Carter's First Carry
Get your popcorn ready for No. 7's first touch. In Angelo State's two games at San Angelo Stadium, Tristan Carter has accumulated a combined 108 yards on his first two carries of the game. Carter's first career carry as a Ram went for 33 yards against Eastern New Mexico and his first rush against No. 9 West Texas A&M went for a career-long 75 yards and a touchdown. The junior from Tucker, Ga., has surpassed the century mark in both of Angelo State's home contests.
Ground Attack
Tristan Carter ran for a career-best 129 yards and Angelo State rushed for 201 yards as a team in Angelo State's loss to No. 9 West Texas A&M. It marked the first time since Oct. 4, 2008, that the Rams rushed for over 200 yards. In that contest nearly two years ago, Angelo State carried the ball 51 times for 285 yards against Eastern New Mexico. ASU went the entire 2009 campaign without a 200-yard rushing effort. Carter has rushed for more than 100 yards in two of Angelo State's four games after the Rams were held without a 100-yard back for the entire 2009 season.
Special Delivery
Garrett Tidwell produced a much-needed, electrifying return to jump start the Rams for the second week in a row only to see the game end in defeat. With ASU trailing Tarleton State, 10-0, late in the first quarter Tidwell returned a kickoff 80 yards to set up a 10-yard touchdown run by Dekarai Pecikonis. Later in the first half, Tidwell dove over the pile on an extra-point try to give the Rams two points. The all-purpose player wasn't done scoring as he connected with Pecikonis on a 17-yard wide receiver reverse pass to give the Rams a 14 point lead late in the third. A week earlier, Angelo State was looking for a spark in the second half against No. 9 West Texas A&M and the Boyd, Texas native returned the opening kickoff of the second half 41 yards, then later in the third quarter scored on a 55-yard punt return for a touchdown off a reverse from Dekarai Pecikonis.
Sticky Situations
Alvin Johnson earned the nickname "Stick" from coaches and teammates for his hard hits but after the loss to No. 9 West Texas A&M, during which Johnson picked off two passes, it might as well refer to his hands and the football. The redshirt sophomore from Houston was a big part of a defensive effort that kept the Buffs quarterback from reaching the end zone for the first time this season. Johnson nabbed his second and third interceptions of the season against West Texas, tallied a game-high 11 tackles, and nearly forced another turnover with a forced fumble.
Two Grand
Angelo State wide receivers V'Keon Lacey and Dekarai Pecikonis both went over 1,000 career receiving yards in the Rams' win over Texas A&M-Commerce in the Harvey Martin Classic. The catches to put the pair over a grand were also memorable, as Pecikonis scored on an 83-yard strike and Lacey on a 33-yard pass from ASU QB Josh Neiswander.
SHAM-wow!
Angelo State punter George Shamblen produced some booming, As-Seen-On-TV punts in Angelo State's 31-10 win over Texas A&M-Commerce, including a career-best 66 yarder in the second quarter. He booted a 50-yard punt later in the quarter and averaged 44.7 yards on six attempts. Shamblen's efforts have helped Angelo State climb to No. 4 in the country in net punting and he's placed nine of his 20 punts inside the opponents' 20.
Getting Yards in Bunches
It takes more than a couple good games to move into third all-time on a school's passing charts and Josh Neiswander has had certainly had his share. Neiswander posted the third-highest single-game passing effort in school history at Eastern New Mexico (Oct. 3) last season, completing 29-of-47 attempts for 403 yards. Neiswander posted another top-10 performance with the second-best performance of his career (349) against the Greyhounds to open the 2010 season (Sept. 9). In all, Neiswander has five of the top 20 single-game passing efforts in ASU history.
| Yards |
Year |
Passer vs. Opponent |
| 475 |
1986 |
Ned Cox vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville |
| 425 |
1989 |
Mickey Russell vs. Eastern New Mexico |
| 403 |
2009 |
Josh Neiswander vs. Eastern New Mexico |
| 396 |
2005 |
Trey Weishuhn vs. West Texas A&M |
| 383 |
1996 |
Erik Hartman vs. Tarleton State |
| 359 |
1989 |
Mickey Russell vs. Lamar |
| 354 |
1985 |
Ned Cox vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville |
| 349 |
2010 |
Josh Neiswander vs. Eastern New Mexico |
| 341 |
2009 |
Josh Neiswander vs. Southeastern Okla |
| 338 |
2004 |
Trey Weishuhn vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville |
| 335 |
1992 |
Wilbur Odom vs. Central Oklahoma |
| 335 |
1997 |
Erik Hartman vs. Northeastern State |
Josh's Handful
Angelo State quarterback Josh Neiswander threw five touchdown passes with no interceptions in the Rams' 41-38, season-opening win over Eastern New Mexico. It was the second time in Neiswander's career that he's thrown for five or more touchdowns. The senior signal caller notched a career-best six touchdowns against Southwestern Oklahoma in the third game of the 2009 season (Sept. 12). Neiswander's 349 yards through the air against Eastern New Mexico were also the second-most he's ever thrown for and he was one shy of tying his career high in completions with 28.
300-100-100
A trio of Rams combined to wrack-up a good portion of the team's yards in the Rams' 41-38 win over Eastern New Mexico (9/4). Quarterback Josh Neiswander threw for 349 yards, Dekarai Pecikonis had 161 yards receiving, and Tristan Carter rushed for 118 yards. The last time Angelo State had a player with more than 300 yards passing, a player with more than 100 yards, and another player with more than 100 yards rushing in the same game was nearly five years ago. On Oct. 22, 2005, Trey Weishun threw for 396 yards and six touchdowns, Justin Carter had five catches for 106 yards and three scores, and Kyle Fox went off for 281 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Bayless is Back
Wide outs V'Keon Lacey and Dekarai Pecikones were on the receiving end of a significant portion of Angelo State's passing attempts last season and didn't mind the action, but quarterback Josh Neiswander will have another reliable target this fall with the return of 6-foot-5 tight end Nate Bayless. The redshirt junior missed the 2009 season while battling non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, but Bayless has looked like his old self with a touchdown in two of the first four games this season. A native of Burkburnett, Texas, Bayless played in eight games and caught 10 passes during the 2008 season and two of those catches were for scores.
Pecikonis Faster Than a Greyhound?
Sophomore wide out Dakarai Pecikonis averaged more than 20 yards per catch while hauling in seven passes for 161 yards and a touchdown against Eastern New Mexico. The reigning LSC South Division Freshman of the Year made two one-handed, diving catches while stretching the field for the Rams and hauled in a team-long 41-yard strike from Josh Neiswander. The seven catches and 161 yards were both career highs. His yardage total was the 15th-best single game effort in Angelo State history.
Making his Mark
Markeith Jones intercepted Eastern New Mexico quarterback Wesley Wood's desperation toss on fourth down and ran out the clock during his return to seal Angelo State's 41-38 season-opening win. Jones notched one of ASU's three interceptions in the contest and added three tackles. It marked the second straight year for Jones to intercept a pass in the Rams' opening game after notching an interception against Texas-A&M-Commerce to open the 2009 campaign. Jones led Angelo State with four interceptions last year and is tied for the team lead with three picks this season.
If the Shoe Fits...
Instead of gaining yards, Austin Benson is looking to take them away. The Del Rio High School product rushed for 156 yards and five touchdowns for the Rams last season helping them to a 6-5 overall mark, but recently made the switch to linebacker and has looked pretty comfortable in his new role. Benson is third on the team with 21 tackles and notched his first career interception against Eastern New Mexico.
Turning the Corners
ASU defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Matt Fryar added a little instant credibility with the addition of Kevin Thomas to his unit's staff as defensive backs coach. Thomas, a former standout at UNLV, was drafted in the sixth round of the 2002 NFL Draft and played three seasons for the Buffalo Bills. Thomas tallied 83 tackles, 10 pass break-ups, a forced fumble in 38 career NFL games, and notched his only regular-season career interception against Brett Favre. A knee injury ended Thomas' playing career.
