MAUMELLE, Ark. — In 2023, Central Arkansas Christian raced to new heights by capturing a conference titles and its most wins in the last five years five years.
While the Mustangs' season came to an end in the state quarterfinals, expectations were sky-high as they looked ahead to the 2024 season.
However, on January 10, the news came out that CAC Head Coach Ryan Howard had reportedly "resigned from his position to pursue other opportunities." Soon after hearing the news a slew of Mustang players decided that they would transfer to other schools.
Now, it's out with the old and in with the new, with the "new" being first-year Head Coach JD Plumlee who was hired from Malvern.
Plumlee had on-and-off success with the Malvern Leopards but most notably took them to the 4A State Championship in 2022 where they defeated Harding Academy 64 to 39.
However, that was then, and this is now. Plumlee shared that this season could be a challenge.
"You know, our depth is going to be our biggest issue," he explained. "But you know, we kind of [have] a little chip on our shoulder. It's next man up, shoot, we're not mad at them. I mean, they did what they did. Oh well, you know, we're moving on."
Due to the mass exodus of players, Plumlee also said that some players will be playing both ways— meaning that they'll play on both offense and defense.
While there were many players who chose to leave, some still wanted to stay, like Senior Cooper Bahnks who is a Linebacker/Fullback.
"I love it here. I wouldn't rather be anywhere else. I mean, I love these guys. I love our coaches, they've always been here for us. Leaving was never an option for me," Bahnks said.
Other senior football players like Reanalson Sullivan and Jason Hunt also agreed.
"I love playing with these guys. That's a big reason why I chose to play again this year. I mean go one last round with these guys one last time," Sullivan described.
"We're the ones, it's our time," Hunt added. "They didn't want to be a part of it, you know, we'll shake their hand, tell them good luck, and we'll see you somewhere else. But here, this is our time. It's us or you're not a part of this."
While depth will indeed be an issue, one thing is for certain: the players who are at CAC want to be at CAC. They're all a group of Mustangs that want to be Mustangs.
The Central Arkansas Christian Mustangs will kick off their season on Friday, August 30, 2024 at DeWitt.