son in three consecutive years with a strong core of elite players, Harding football will go through a changing of the guard offensively in 2015.
Gone are All-Americans Donatella Luckett and Romo Westbrook, as well as veteran quarterback Keenan Kellett. Instead, the Bisons will now look to a young, but experienced group of players to take the reins of one of the nation’s strongest rushing attacks.
Headlining the new starters this year is redshirt junior quarterback Park Parish, who has been waiting for his chance to lead this team.
“It’s tough the first couple years, just sitting and learning,” Parish said. “It’s a great process and with our offense it’s something that has to be done, but it’s just kind of a relief to know it’s finally my turn and all the work I’ve put in these last three years is going to pay off.”
Parish, despite having never started a game, comes in with a ton of experience as the backup quarterback. He saw action in 15 games over the last two seasons, rushing 55 times for 425 yards and five touchdowns in that span. It is that experience, he said, that gives him so much confidence going into this fall.
“Last year I had the opportunity to go in just about every game we played in, so I got to see almost all the defenses that people will throw at us,” Parish said. “Having the ability to learn from Keenan and Kelvin (Martin) and getting to see the way they ran the offense and then getting to do it a little bit myself makes me feel very prepared.”
Parish is not the only one confident in his abilities. Head coach Ronnie Huckeba said he expects big things from Parish in his first season as the starter.
“One thing we believe is that you really change the way the defense has to prepare for you and play you on game day when you have a homerun-hitter at quarterback,” Huckeba said. “(Parish) has done a great job of reading the offense when he’s in there, and that’s the first thing you have to do: you have to make good decisions.”
Parish will not do it all by himself, though. The Bisons, despite the loss of Westbrook, return a talented backfield. They will be led by Great American Conference (GAC) Freshman of the Year, runningback Zach Shelley, as well as junior backs Eric Kelly and Eric Simmons. Junior Matt Tenison will join them, replacing Westbrook at fullback. Losing Luckett at receiver is a challenge, but sophomore Andrew Dather and junior Davis Holliman are ready to step into bigger roles.
Harding also returns many of the players from the nation’s ninth ranked total defense in 2014. Veterans like senior cornerback Trendall Stevenson and junior defensive lineman Trevon Biglow will look to lead what should be one of the top defensive units in the GAC, if not the country, once again.
With as much returning talent as the Bisons have, Huckeba knows that expectations are high, but he said that those come with the territory.
“We welcome the expectations,” Huckeba said. “We’re at the point in our program where we expect to win, we expect to compete for the conference championship year to year. A lot of our guys have experience – they just haven’t started yet, and there is a difference, so we’ll see how they respond to it.”
For Parish, Saturday has been a long time coming and when he runs out onto the field, he said he will be ready.
“It’s going to be a good feeling,” Parish said. “It’s been almost four years since I’ve run onto the field to start a game, so I’m excited about it and just ready to go.”
The Bisons kick off their season on Saturday at 11 a.m. in Shawnee, Oklahoma, against Oklahoma Baptist University.
