Published: July 02, 2008 01:25 am            

Poullard to miss ’08 season

The 2008 season is still a month away, but the Sam Houston State football team was hit with some bad news recently.

Junior running back Chris Poullard was ruled academically ineligible and will miss next season. The Bearkats’ top rusher in 2007 will redshirt with hopes to be back on the field in the fall of 2009.

“(Poullard) just failed to meet the NCAA minimum requirements, so he will return back to school this academic year and try to get himself eligible. I believe he will,” SHSU head coach Todd Whitten said Tuesday afternoon. “He does have a redshirt year, so that’s good.”

Poullard had a breakout sophomore campaign for the Bearkats last season. He led the team in rushing with 1,038 yards and 13 touchdowns, which earned him second-team All-Southland Conference honors. The Killeen Shoemaker product averaged 4.97 yards per carry and had six 100-yard rushing games.

Poullard’s single-game high was 186 yards in the Kats’ 42-20 victory over Northwestern State on Oct. 20, 2007, including a 61-yard scoring run. He had two games where he scored three touchdowns last season (wins over Stephen F. Austin and Texas State).

The loss of Poullard leaves the Bearkats with only one running back on the roster that carried the ball more than once in a game in 2007. Sophomore TyMagic Robinson rushed for 114 yards on 22 carries to go along with two touchdowns last season.

Sophomore Isaiah Sneed, who was moved to wide receiver in the spring, carried the ball 39 times for 150 yards in 2007, but he has also been ruled academically ineligible for the upcoming fall.

Robinson and transfer James Aston, who both had solid spring workouts, along with quarterback Rhett Bomar, who is coming off knee surgery, will have to carry the load for Poullard this fall.

The Bearkats will also have talented freshman Will Clay, who rushed for 3,143 yards and 42 touchdowns for Snyder High School in 2007, for the start of fall practice, which begins Aug. 3.

“We will have TyMagic, James Aston and Will Clay, who is a freshman coming in,” Whitten added. “We certainly would entertain any running backs that might be out there.

“I still have a lot of confidence in our football team. It is hard to replace a 1,000-yard rusher, but that’s college football and that happens. We are going to encourage Chris to stay after it, and I believe he will come back and get things straightened out in the fall.”

Poullard saw limited action as a true freshman in 2006, playing behind SLC offensive player of the year D.D. Terry and backup Andrew Audelin. Poullard rushed for 74 yards on 15 carries, including a 38-yard touchdown in a victory over Arkansas-Monticello.

        

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