Monticello Live

University of Arkansas at Monticello head football coach Hud Jackson has announced staff changes for the upcoming 2015 season.

Quad Sanders has been hired as the team’s new defensive line coach. Marcus Hill, who has served as UAM’s defensive line coach since prior to the 2011 season, will now coach the offensive line. In addition to those two changes, Jackson has added two new graduate assistants to his staff in Drew Hall and former player Davis Stephens. Hall will coach the receivers, while Stephens will assist in all areas of defense. (more…)

Arkansas Tech held the University of Arkansas at Monticello football team to a net of 169 yards and just one third down conversion to defeat the Boll Weevils 18-13 Saturday evening at Thone Stadium.
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The University of Arkansas at Monticello cheer squad conducted its annual game day youth clinic this past Saturday with nearly 80 participants.

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Gene Norton (center) with his parents, Marvin and Betty, at a UAM basketball game.

Gene Norton has a unique gift.

“People who spend time around him feel blessed,” says his mother, Betty Norton. “That’s a rare thing.”
When Gene was in a Little Rock hospital in 2008 recovering from a spinal injury, doctors and nurses didn’t want him to leave. “He asked one of his doctors one day when he could go home,” remembers Betty. “His doctor said, ‘Gene, you can’t go home. We’re not going to let you. You make us all feel too good!”

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UAM Chancellor Dr. Jack Lassiter attended Monday nights meeting of the advertising and promotion commission to discuss the status of the proposed community center.

Lassiter stated that there is a lot of community confusion about the convention center “taking the library tax”, which cannot be legally done.

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Beginning with the 2014 fall semester, first-time full-time freshmen at UAM will be required to live on campus, according to Scott Kuttenkuler, director of residence life. The policy applies to students enrolled in 12 or more hours who are less than 21 years old on the first day of class.

Exemptions include
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Former UAMonticello football player D.J. Stephens has been invited to the Indianapolis Colts’ training camp, according to the San Antonio Talons.

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University of Arkansas at Monticello men’s basketball coach Allen Sharpe is set to host the annual “Sharpe Shooter” Basketball Camp June 3-6, 2013 at Steelman Field House.

The camp is designed for boys and girls in grades K-9 and will feature two sessions. The morning session (Individual Skills Camp) will go from 9 a.m.-noon each day with the “Sharpe Shooter” Camp to follow each day from 12:30-3:30 p.m.

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The winningest football coach in University of Arkansas at Monticello history has lost a long-running battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

Tommy Barnes, who coached more seasons and won more games than any coach in UAM history, died Thursday evening at Drew Memorial Hospital in Monticello. He was 61.

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Freshman guard Jordan Goforth has been named the Great American Conference Freshman of the Year after leading the Cotton Blossoms in scoring, three?pointers, free?throws and total minutes played during her first collegiate season.

Goforth was named the league’s freshman of the year on Wednesday night at the GAC Championship Tournament Welcome Banquet in downtown Bartlesville, Okla.

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Former UAMonticello defensive back Eric Crocker has signed to play for the NFL’s New York Jets, announced this past Friday by the Jets’ front office.

Crocker joins the Jets after playing 18 games for the San Antonio Talons of the Arena Football League during the 2012 season. Crocker recorded 70.5 total tackles, including 60 solo tackles and an assisted tackle for a loss. He also had three interceptions, 13 pass breakups, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles.

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Filmed and edited by Zack Brown

At approximately 9:30 p.m. Tuesday (January 29), winds blew a horse barn adjacent to the rodeo arena at the University of Arkansas at Monticello off its foundation. The barn was blown across the rodeo parking area and damaged three livestock trailers. The barn housed 11 horses owned by students who are members of the UAM rodeo team. None of the horses were injured during the storm, according to Rusty Jones, rodeo coach.

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The University of Arkansas at Monticello football team set a new school record for fewest yards allowed in a game in a 78-0 season-opening win over College of Faith at home on Saturday.

The Boll Weevils (1-0) allowed just 18 yards of total offense in the win. UAM limited College of Faith to 53 yards passing and negative 35 yards rushing. In the other column, the UAM offense racked up 498 yards of total offense – 276 through the air and 222 on the ground.

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The 2012-13 UAM cheerleaders are (from left, first row) Sierra Morris of Sheridan, a sophomore physical education major; Emily Walker of Star City, a sophomore speech pathology major; Taylor Snider of Monticello, a sophomore chemistry major; Kathleen Couch of Malvern, a junior childhood education major; Lacey Cantwell of Pine Bluff, a freshman pre-pharmacy major; (standing, from left) Kervin Dunahoo of Trumann, a freshman physical education major; Setra Buchanan of Trumann, a junior accounting major; and Christopher Smith of Monticello, a sophomore art major.

UAM Director of Athletics Chris Ratcliff has announced the hiring of Peter Cruz as head volleyball coach. Cruz becomes the third head volleyball coach in the seven-year history of the program.

Cruz replaces Casey Shingler, who resigned earlier in the month to become an assistant coach at the University of Pennsylvania. Cruz will begin his new role at UAM on July 30.

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The University of Arkansas at Monticello football team will be sporting a new look for the 2012 season.

Head coach Hud Jackson has unveiled the new uniforms featuring an all-green color scheme for home games and an all-white color scheme for games played away from the friendly confines of Willis “Convoy” Leslie Cotton Boll Stadium.

The first chance to see the new uniforms in person is Saturday, September 1, when the Boll Weevils are scheduled to host College of Faith for a 6 p.m. kickoff. It will be the season opener for both teams. UAM has 11 games scheduled for the 2012 campaign, six of which are at home. Click here for the complete 2012 schedule. (more…)

Kayla Jackson

Kayla Jackson, the Great American Conference Pitcher of the Year who led the University of Arkansas at Monticello to the 2012 GAC softball championship, has been named to the Daktronics All-South Central Region Team.

Kayla Jackson continues to add to her legacy as one of the best softball players in University of Arkansas at Monticello history.

Jackson became the first three-time softball All-American in school history Wednesday when she was named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-American Second Team. The senior pitcher from Hallsville, Tex., was a third team All-American in 2010 and a second team selection last year.

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Kayla Jackson

Kayla Jackson threw her second no-hitter of the season the first of two wins over the Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs, 3-0 and 3-2.

The UAM ace got her 25th win of the season in the seven-inning affair. She was two runners away from the perfect game, as the only blemishes on the day came in the third inning on a third-strike passed ball and a walk in the fourth inning.

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A group of curious four-year-olds got an up close look at the University of Arkansas at Monticello’s Boll Weevil mascot during a visit to the UAM campus Monday morning.

The students are part of the First United Methodist Church Preschool of Monticello. Following their visit with the Boll Weevil, the youngsters toured the UAM library and enjoyed ice cream at the cafeteria.

The visit was arranged by Susan Sharpe, wife of UAM basketball coach Allen Sharpe.

UAM senior guard L.A. Farmer scored his 1,022 career point tonight in the Weevils’ 71-68 overtime win over Southern Arkansas.

The Weevils (18-8, 8-6 GAC) and the Muleriders (12-14, 5-9 GAC) went back-and-forth all night long with neither team able to get larger than a 10-point lead all game. The contest saw nine tied scores and eight separate lead changes, including two ties and three lead changes in the overtime period alone. (more…)

Denmark won CFL Catch of the Year earlier this season.

The former Weevil wide receiver was the starting slot back for the Blue Bombers in their 34-23 loss to the British Columbia Lions in the CFL Championship, but the loss didn’t dampen the experience for Denmark. “The atmosphere of the game was great. This is the Canadian Super Bowl.”

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Paced by the efforts of Kristen Hancock, the women’s rodeo team at the University of Arkansas at Monticello won the women’s division of the University of West Alabama Rodeo Showdown in Livingston, Ala., last weekend.

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The Little Rock Touchdown Club has selected senior quarterback Scott Buisson as the most valuable player for the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

Along with MVPs from all other football playing institutions in Arkansas, Buisson will be honored at the club’s seventh annual awards banquet on Thursday, January 27 at 7 p.m. at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Little Rock.

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The University of Arkansas at Monticello is now a member of the Great American Conference.

UAM joins a nine-member league that includes six NCAA Division II universities from Arkansas and three from Oklahoma.

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The Boomtown Classic traveling trophy is coming back to Monticello following a 28-23 win for the University of Arkansas at Monticello football team over Southern Arkansas Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Behind sophomore pitcher Kayla Jackson’s two wins in the circle, including her third no-hitter of the season, the 23rd-ranked University of Arkansas at Monticello softball team beat the 12th-ranked Alabama-Huntsville Chargers twice on Monday to advance to this weekend’s NCAA South Super-Region Tournament against host Valdosta State. (more…)

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Monticello’s Hyatt Field and Cotton Boll Stadium are back in business, following repairs to the base of the stadium lighting fixtures.

Monticello School superintendent Bobby Harper told MonticelloLive that Hyatt Field’s poles have had the welding operation completed, and have been inspected by certified welding inspectors, and that the field is back in service.

Starko Inc. had been contracted to weld 4 inch by 12 inch gussett plates to the base of the 4 light poles at Hyatt Field, with 12 gussetts being attached to each pole.  That began Friday, and continued Saturday and Sunday, until the task was completed.

The next game to be played at Hyatt Field will be Friday night as the Billies take on Little Rock McClellan. (more…)