Football 9/5/2019 5:29:00 PM Jon Montoya, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information

2019 season begins at home for Javelina Football

Saturday's contest marks 60th reunion of the 1959 NAIA Championship Team

The Matchup

Texas A&M-Kingsville opens the 2019 campaign at home against Saginaw Valley State on Saturday, September 7 at Pepsi Field at Javelina Stadium
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CT and the contest will broadcast on the newly revamped Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy
Saturday's contest marks the 60th reunion of the 1959 NAIA Championship football team
This will be the second meet all-time between the programs with the first meeting coming on September 20, 1980, at Javelina Stadium
TAMUK defeated SVSU in the first meeting, 52-0

Scouting the Cardinals

SVSU will be in its first season under the direction of head coach Ryan Brady
Brady came to Saginaw Valley State after spending the previous eight seasons as an assistant coach at Ferris State
The Bulldogs were the 2018 NCAA Division II runners-up after falling to Valdosta State at McKinney ISD Stadium by a score of 49-47
The Cardinals went 8-3 in 2018 after having won six of their first seven contests
Ryan Conklin returns as the signal-caller for SVSU after ranking third in the GLIAC with 2134 passing yards and 15 touchdowns
Conklin's primary target returns as Chad Gailliard finished atop the league leaderboard with 12 receiving touchdowns alongside 1005 receiving yards
All-American Heath Williams returns on the defensive front as he finished 2018 with 56 tackles, 19 for loss, and a team-high 13 sacks
Williams will be joined by Patrik Moriarty and David Still as the duo finished with a combined 7.5 sacks
SVSU was picked to finish fourth in the GLIAC with 42 points after finishing fourth in 2018

2018 In Review

The Javelinas finished 4-7 overall, 2-6 in Lone Star Conference games in 2018 following a 24-21 win over UT Permian Basin following a last-second defensive stop
Sean Landez intercepted a pass from Kameron Mathis with three seconds remaining in the game at TAMUK's 19 yard line to secure the win
The Javelinas fell to No. 1 A&M-Commerce in double overtime to start the 2018 campaign but bounced back with a 52-10 win over Texas Wesleyan to start the home schedule
The first LSC win came against Western New Mexico on October 27 at 37-34 for the first annual throwback game
12 Javelinas were named to the All-LSC teams, with Brent Hertel and Torrey Thomas ending up on the first and second teams, respectively
Hertel was also named to Don Hansen All-Super Region IV second team and All-America honorable mention team
10 were named to the All-LSC honorable mention team

Preseason Rankings

Three LSC teams were mentioned in both the AFCA and D2Football.com preseason polls
Tarleton went the furthest in the NCAA Division II Playoffs, having fallen to Minnesota State in the quarterfinal round, and checked in at the No. 7 spot in the AFCA poll and the No. 5 spot in the D2Football.com poll
2017 National Champion A&M-Commerce was pinned as the No. 13 team in both polls
Midwestern State checked in at the No. 20 spot in the AFCA poll and the No. 18 spot in the D2Football.com poll
Angelo State received votes in the AFCA poll despite having lost the C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl to close the 2018 season

Fifth Year of the Wilkinson Era

The Javelinas begin their fifth season under the direction of Daren Wilkinson
TAMUK finished with identical 4-7 (2-6 LSC) records the previous two years after going 9-3 in 2016 with a win over No. RV Southern Arkansas in the Agent Barry Live United Bowl
Wilkinson was named the 2016 LSC Coach of the Year following his 6-3 record in league games
Overall, the Javelinas are 19-26 overall and 10-21 in league games with Wilkinson at the helm

Offensive Measures

Four starters return on the offensive half of the ball, including Koy Detmer Jr., Aaron Dilworth, Joseph Partida and Kyle Kinyo
Detmer Jr. directed the offense as the play-caller and finished with 2347 passing yards on a 60.1 completion rate with 21 touchdowns
Dilworth finished 2018 with 42 grabs for 540 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns
Tyler Wilson was the other top target for Detmer Jr. as he finished with 45 catches for 601 yards and two touchdowns
The Javelinas lost their one-two punch in the backfield as Jeff Carr and Nick Pelrean graduated, the duo combined for 1223 yards on the ground with eight scores
Pelrean totaled 752 yards and five touchdowns, while Carr added 471 yards and three scores

Defense Mechanisms

Six returning starters grace the defensive half of the field, including Caleb Valentine, Shawn Sims, Vaughn Taylor, Jalen Harrison, Tre'Michael Tutt and Jordan Semanat
Tutt led the defense with 89 tackles, 12 for loss, and added two sacks and a forced fumble
The defense lost Brandon Jones, who finished his four-year career as the program leader in tackles for loss with 54.5 after finishing 2018 with 17
Valentine added 61 tackles and 4.5 sacks opposite Jones on the defensive line
Semanat led the defense with three interceptions and one of TAMUK's three defensive touchdowns from 2018
Nick Stiff will be a key returner for the defense as he also grabbed three interceptions

Specialized Tools

The Hogs lost their kicker/punter from 2018 in Julio De La Garza
De La Garza finished 2018 with nine field goals on 15 attempts and a season-long of 45 against A&M-Commerce
The Brownsville, Texas, native averaged 36.1 yards on 68 punts, 24 of which came inside the 20 yard line with five over 50 yards
His season-long punt of 58 yards came at home against Eastern New Mexico on September 22
De La Garza also took over kickoff duties with 54 on the year behind an average of 57.5 yards, including 13 touchbacks
De La Garza had a consecutive PATs made streak snapped at 101 following his first attempt in the win over Western New Mexico