KINGSVILLE, Texas – For the final time in 2017, the Texas A&M-Kingsville football team will take the field at Javelina Stadium, closing out their season against the William Jewell Cardinals on Senior Night and Legends at Kingsville Community Appreciation Weekend on Saturday with kickoff at 7 p.m.
Prior to the game, the Javelinas will honor 16 seniors who will be playing their final game in the Blue and Gold. Those student-athletes are:
Carlos Cuellar, Kuziah Ferebee, Galyn Griffin, Emond Hobbs, Trevor Moses, Stehly Reden, Braedon Robinson, Ralph Rubalcaba, Stuart Sanchez, Jarrod Sanders, DeMarcus Spurlock, Christian Taylor, Jordan Thomas, Peyton Tilley, Jake Wallace and Keith Whitely.
"We've got a good group of seniors," said coach
Daren Wilkinson. "You've got a bunch of guys who've put in a lot of time and work here. Obviously, we would've liked to finish the season better, but these are a group of guys that have done a lot of good things for us. It'll be fun to watch them play one more game."
The Hogs will be trying to send their fourth-year players out with a victory that would also snap a three-game losing streak. TAMUK will be gunning for their second straight win on Senior Day after defeating Western New Mexico in their final home game of 2016.
In his final game as a Javelina, receiver
Jordan Thomas will be attempting to make program history. The San Antonio native is 178 yards away from the program record for receiving yards in a season, set in 1976 by Glenn Starks, who totaled 1,156. Thomas has also moved into the university's top five for career receiving yards with 2,731, career receptions with 169 and touchdown catches with 23. He already owns the TAMUK record for 100-yard receiving games in a career with 10, a mark he earned by torching the Eastern New Mexico defense for 212 yards on Oct. 28
th. His five 100-yard performances this year are one off the program record for 100-yard receiving games in a season. In addition, Thomas leads the Lone Star Conference with 978 yards and 10 touchdown receptions in 2017.
On the offensive line, Wallace, Rubalcaba and Sanchez have helped pave the way for a running game that ranks in the top half of the Lone Star Conference. Running back
Nick Pelrean has accumulated over 90 total yards in five of the eight games he's played and also owns nine total touchdowns.
"We've had a lot of injuries along the offensive line," said Wilkinson, "but [the seniors] have been good. They've made sure our younger guys have been working hard and we appreciate what they've done. They've really been a stabilizing force."
TAMUK's special teams unit has been highlighted by the play of Whitley, who has three kick returns of over 40 yards. Last week in Silver City, Whitely averaged 19 yards on three punt returns, his longest being a 27-yard runback.
On defense, two of the players who will be on the field for the last time will be linebackers
Braedon Robinson and
Trevor Moses. Robinson has collected 10 tackles for loss during the current campaign, giving him career total of 42.5, third-best in program history. Moses has spent the season atop the Javelina leaderboard with 73 total tackles, including a season-high 14 a week ago against Western New Mexico, two of which were TFLs. The native of Corpus Christi has made 229 tackles during his four years on campus, placing him 19
th on the all-time tackles list.
"Trevor is a guy that gets everybody in position," said Wilkinson, "but he also makes a lot of plays himself. He's like the quarterback of our defense. Braedon, he brings a lot of explosiveness. Those guys have both done a nice job all year long."
Trying to spoil the day for the Javelinas will be William Jewell, making their first ever trip to Kingsville. Last Saturday, the Cardinals broke a three-game skid with a 10-point win over Lincoln University of Missouri. Offensively, they are led by quarterback Brad Strauss, a dual-threat from under center who will be playing his final collegiate game when he takes the field against the Hoggies. The native of Lawrence, Kan. has thrown for the third-most yards in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and is also seventh in the league with 476 yards rushing. Strauss has run for over 100 yards twice, including a 136-yard, two touchdown performance against Southwest Baptist on Oct. 14
th. Strauss's most dangerous weapon is halfback Trejuan Mask, who has totaled 415 yards rushing andleads the Cardinals with 42 catches, 386 yards receiving and eight total touchdowns.
"The biggest thing that [Strauss] does is he extends plays," said Wilkinson. "Our biggest challenge on defense is working hard to keep him contained. When he's able to extend plays the way that he wants to, that can cause trouble for a defense."
Coach Shawn Weigel's defensive unit is coming off their best performance of the season, as they gave up only 132 total yards in a 13-3 triumph against Lincoln. Their most talented student-athlete is linebacker Quayde Bauman, who's 15.5 TFLs place him third in the GLVC and he's fourth in the league with 93 tackles. The unit has had its struggles this season, however. The 38.6 points-per-game they've allowed is last in their conference and the Cardinals have surrendered more than 50 points four times.
Live video, audio and stats of Saturday's game will be available on javelinaathletics.com with
Mark Inserra and Jim Carl on the call. The game will also be broadcast live on the radio on WILD 105.5 and KTAI 91.1. Once the final gun sounds, a recap will be available on javelinaathletics.com.
