Willie Fritz: the man with the plan

The August sun beats down on the eighty plus football players in Bowers Stadium. Head Coach Willie Fritz stands in the middle of the players calmly explaining the expectations of the coming year. His raspy voice sounds like a man who has smoked three packs a day for two decades.

Fritz is small in stature, no bigger built than an accountant or banker. His hair turning more salt than pepper will surely grey this upcoming year as he takes the reigns of the Sam Houston State Bearkats football team for the first time, a team that is the youngest in the Southland Conference.

"We got a good group of young men," said Fritz. "We had 48 men who were here in spring and 42 that are brand new, so it's almost like starting over again. They're still learning me, and 48 guys know about me a little bit because they were here for 15 practices this spring and 42 who are just getting to know me."

Age will certainly be the weakest aspect for the Bearkats, after losing 32 lettermen last year. The Kats will have a roster dominated by sophomore and freshmen players. Among those players lost were wide receiver Jason Madkins, wide receiver Chris Lucas, running back James Aston and quarterback Blake Joseph.

However youth isn't all the way around. Quarterback Brian Randolph has bided his time to play, and for the first time to start a season this is his team. Randolph has played behind former Walter Payton finalist Rhett Bomar and lost last years starting job to Blake Joseph after battling all summer for the starting job.

"We are coming together, we have a lot of freshmen coming in. They are meshing well with the veteran guys but we are coming together, we are still a work in progress," Randolph said. "We are going to put some finishing touches on before Baylor and we will be fine."

Fritz's new system will also be something to be picked up on the offensive side. Last year the team was guided on a pass-heavy offense by coordinator James Fergusson. Fritz has the fortune of having several very good running backs this year, a prize that Randolph is very happy about.

"We are deep at running back this year," said Randolph. "We have three or four guys who could start on any team in the [Southland Conference]"

On the offensive side of the ball the Kats return five starters, with three on the offensive line. This helped the Kats in recruiting last year and gives way for an exciting fight for positions on the team but against Baylor, a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) team, it could cost the team.

Baylor has a big defensive line and will be Sam Houston's test with their stout running game.

Sam Houston State's defense is under it's second year of Defensive Coordinator Scott Stoker. Stoker, who started with the team last year after coming over from Northwestern State, is still a blitzing guru. The defense returns four starters as well, three in the secondary with Randy Stewart coming back off a knee injury to make the core four secondary stronger than it was last year.

"We are still a work in progress. I think we have one senior starting on the whole defense. We are a year older, and these guys have been in the system for a year now," Stoker said. "We need to find some depth in the D-line and solidify that, but we are further along this time then we were last year."

Fritz has quickly reeled in a great recruiting class, as well as landing two big transfers this summer. Among those transfers is Tyrik Rollison, a former Auburn quarterback, who attended Sulpher Springs high school in Sulpher Springs, Texas. In high school, Rollison passed for 4,728 yards and 51 touchdowns, and rushed for 1,094 yards.

While this year may be hard on the Kats, the team has bought in to Fritz's system and that can only lead to something good.