The Texas A&M Commerce Lions:

2015 Season Record: Overall (8-4) LSC Record (6-0) Conference Champions: Lost to Delta State (7 point loss); Sam Houston State (14 point loss); Midwestern State (4 point loss); and Ferris State in the NCAA Playoffs (18 point loss).

Head Coach: Colby Carthel (4th Season as Lions Head Coach) Record: 24-12 (.667%)


Who returns to the Lions lineup?

The Lions Offense have 7 offensive starters returning to the lineup.

Offensive impact players:
RB, Richard Cooper
WR, Lance Evans
WR, Darby Smith
G, Avery Poates
G, Jason Osei



The Lions Defense have 4 defensive starters returning to play in 2016.

Defensive impact players:
DL, Kieston Carter

Lions Offense: Spread Offense

Lions Defense: 3-4 Defense

2016 Texas A&M Commerce Schedule:











Nov. 19 - NCAA Playoffs Begin


(Times in CST)

The Lions start their season with an early foe in University of Faith. I have received many questions/inquiries on why Texas A&M Commerce is playing this team. The University of Faith is part of the National Collegiate Athletic Union (NCAU) thencau.org. It is a collegiate athletics organization with only 9 members, mostly seeming to be faith related. Well, back to the reason for playing Faith. Texas A&M Commerce had locked-up a game against North Alabama (GSC) to be played in Week 1 of the season. Most folks are aware of the UNA program. They were going to play UNA and Delta State in back-to-back games making their OOC schedule difficult and advantageous for SOS.

You may recall last season that Jacksonville State took Auburn into overtime and Auburn needed to win the game in overtime. Well, Auburn did not want to play Jacksonville State in 2016 because of what happened in 2015. Thus, they paid off Jacksonville State handsomely to go away in 2016. Well, that freed up game 1 of the season for Jacksonville State in 2016. They wanted to play North Alabama in week 1; however, UNA was already scheduled to play Texas A&M Commerce. Ultimately, Jacksonville State paid off Commerce to give up their game with North Alabama in 2016, which all occurred in late March 2016 when most team schedules were already set in stone. Therefore, this left Commerce looking for an opponent, which was not easy to come by. University of Faith reached out to Commerce about playing them and the Lions accepted. I did not ask the Commerce Athletic Administration how much they received for giving up the game to North Alabama; I wonder if it was worthwhile for doing it?



Coach Carthel Comments about their 2016 Schedule:



Coach's Corner with Head Coach Colby Carthel




Expectations for this Season:

To the Lions Fans:




Thank you Coach Carthel for your time and comments!



Thoughts on the Upcoming Season:




Running Back Richard Cooper returns as the offensive leader for the Lions. In 2015, Cooper rushed for 1,331 yards with 7 TDs. He has a career amount of yards around 2,170 yards. He will look to have another 1,000 plus yard rushing season for the Lions, as he continues his stride as being one of the best backs in the Lone Star Conference.

The Lions lost several on the defensive side of the ball, including their leading tackler Charles Woods and Cole Pitts. They will have to have some of the newer guys step up for their defense, as they rotate players in-and-out. They have brought in transfers LB Hatari Byrd and LB Tavita Faaiu to help out the loss of so many defensive players

To conclude, the Lions are looking for the signature season to open up. Yes, they have back-to-back LSC titles. However, last season was the first time that they made the NCAA Playoffs. Now, I believe some of that is in part to the LSC Playoff (which is now gone) and the difficulty to beating a team twice. I believe though it is time for Commerce to step up and make a push to get a NCAA home playoff game. With all the success of the program, the Lions fans deserve to have a NCAA playoff game hosted in Commerce, Texas. I think it is time to make the step from winning LSC titles to being a big contender in the NCAA Playoffs. Running the table in the LSC scheduled is not easy fate and will be an uphill battle each and every week.

Joe's Preseason LSC Rankings:

  1. Texas A&M Commerce
  2. .....................
  3. Tied - Angelo State



5 Eastern New Mexico



TEXAS A&M COMMERCE - DEPTH CHART:

OFFENSE
Pos. No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown Previous School
LT 74 Jared Machorro 6-7 280 Jr. Coldspring, Texas Coldspring-Oakhurst HS
70 Abdul Shammaa 6-5 310 R-Fr. San Antonio, Texas Reagan HS
LG 76 Jason Osei 6-5 300 Sr. London, England Woodhouse College/Baylor
68 Christian Rodriguez 6-5 290 Sr. Port Isabel, Texas Rio Grande Val. HS/Abilene Chr.
C 56 John Aguilar 6-1 285 Jr. Lubbock, Texas Roosevelt HS/Tyler JC
73 Ryan Peschka 6-2 290 R-Fr. Mansfield, Texas Timberview HS
RG 63 Avery Poates 6-5 300 Sr. Moreno Valley, Calif. Rancho Verde HS/Nevada
72 Brian Taylor 6-2 275 R-Fr. Lancaster, Texas Lancaster HS
RT 79 Poet Thomas 6-6 325 Jr. Beverly Hills, Mich. Country Day HS/Texas Tech
71 Malik Ellis 6-6 280 So. Daingerfield, Texas Daingerfield HS/Cisco JC
A 26 Chris Chumley 6-4 250 Sr. Longview, Texas Pine Tree HS/Kilgore College
81 Austin Jordan 6-5 225 Jr. Rowlett, Texas Rowlett HS

8 Metrelle Taylor 6-1 185 So. Pasadena, Texas Pasadena HS
HWR 10 Darby Smith 5-10 180 Sr. Ennis, Texas Ennis HS
4 Buck Wilson 5-11 185 Jr. Commerce, Texas Commerce HS
ZWR 3 Lance Evans 6-3 200 Sr. Mansfield, Texas Mansfield HS
86 Justice Luce 6-1 200 So. Fairview, Texas Lovejoy HS
RB 23 Richard Cooper 5-9 195 Sr. Angleton, Texas Angleton HS
39 Tristen Slaughter 6-2 210 So. Richardson, Texas Richardson HS
QB 12 Luis Perez 6-3 220 Jr. San Diego, Calif. Otay Ranch HS/Southwestern JC
16 Gabe Rodriguez 5-11 205 Jr. Amarillo, Texas Amarillo HS

DEFENSE
Pos. No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown Previous School
DE 58 Kieston Carter 5-11 200 Jr. Mexia, Texas Mexia HS
99 Michael Onuoha 6-5 255 Jr. Edmond, Okla. Santa Fe HS/Oklahoma
NT 49 DD Fletcher 6-1 240 R-Fr. Arlington, Texas Martin HS
59 Adam Sagapolu 6-2 260 Jr. Hayward, Calif. Moreau Catholic HS/Nevada
DE 52 Peyton Searcy 6-0 275 So. Killeen, Texas Killeen HS
90 Peyton Thorne 6-2 240 So. Sugar Land, Texas Dulles HS
SLB 1 Hatari Byrd 6-1 210 Sr. Fresno, Calif. Central East HS/Oklahoma
45 Jordan Trim 5-11 180 R-Fr. Arlington, Texas Martin HS
MLB 54 Garrett Blubaugh 6-2 220 R-Fr. Keller, Texas Keller HS
33 Neema Behbahani 6-1 220 R-Fr. Plano, Texas Plano HS
MLB 43 Cameron Rogers 6-1 215 Sr. San Antonio, Texas Brandeis HS
9 Brucks Saathoff 6-0 195 So. San Antonio, Texas Reagan HS
WLB 11 Tavita Faaiu 6-3 265 Sr. San Francisco, Calif. South San Fran HS/CCSF
98 Jeremiah Walters 6-2 220 Sr. Oakland, Calif. McClymonds HS/Idaho
CB 6 Danny Huckaby 6-1 180 So. Mexia, Texas Mexia HS
34 Traven Johnson 6-1 175 Sr. Tyler, Texas John Tyler HS
FS 24 Chris Smith 6-1 170 Jr. Mansfield, Texas Mansfield Legacy HS
47 Brent Walker 5-11 165 So. Humble, Texas Humble HS
SS 17 Steven Baker 5-11 180 Jr. San Antonio, Texas MacArthur HS
27 Trey Porter 5-10 170 Sr. Garland, Texas South Garland HS
CB 2 Uriah Harris 6-0 180 Sr. Frostproof, Fla. Frostproof HS/CC San Francisco
22 DJ White 6-1 160 So. Spring, Texas Westfield HS




University of Faith (0-0) v. Texas A&M Commerce (0-0), Thursday, 7p.m. Kickoff

Commerce, TX Memorial Stadium


To be honest, there is not a whole lot to say about this game. For one, I cannot even pull up hardly anything on the University of Faith from their website.

I would look for the offense to put up around 500 plus yards with a balance attack of run and pass. This will be ample opportunity for QB Perez to work out any issues getting the ball to Evans, Smith or Cooper.
The defense will be the unit that needs to make the most adjustments to their new faces on the field. The time to get adjusted to the speed of the game and making critical shifts during a real time game will help these players.

Prediction: Texas A&M Commerce 82 University of Faith 13