BEAUMONT, Texas – With the start of preseason camp in full swing, and Lamar University in the midst of drills, LamarCardinals.com will be doing its annual position-by-position breakdown of the team heading into the season opener against No. 8 Idaho (Aug. 31, 2023).
 
Today LamarCardinals.com will be breaking down the LU defensive backs.
 
DB Quick Facts:
Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 8/4
Starters Returning/Lost: 3/1
Newcomers: 12
 
Stats:
The Cardinals picked off 10 passes last season – led by four from Samuel Scaife IV – with all 10 picks coming from six different players. Big Red returns four of those six to the roster. The Cardinals also broke up 37 passes, led by Ramond Stevens' 9, from a year ago.
 
The Storyline:
There is a ton of excitement surrounding the Cardinals' secondary due in large part to having two players named to the preseason all-conference squad. Those two players – Kristian Pugh and Ramond Stevens – both received second-team recognition and were among four Cardinals named to the preseason squad.
 
They also make up a small part of the strong contingent of returners in the defensive backfield. Pugh, Stevens and junior Damian Alexander are all returning starters, and while LU did lose one starter in the secondary, they return junior Antorius Hambric, Jr., who worked his way into the starting rotation last season due to injuries on the depth chart ahead of him.
 
In pretty much every preview I've done this fall we've discussed all the freshmen who were thrown into the fire almost immediately and how that will pay dividends so no need to rehash that here.
 
Among the 12 newcomers to the group, six come via the transfer portal. Of those, four (Joshua Landrum, Kevin Anderson, Joshua Ofili and Isaiah Grant) come from four-year institutions, with Landrum having knowledge of the Southland Conference having spent some time at Northwestern State. All four were significant contributors at the previous schools and they bring several combined starts with them to the Golden Triangle, including Ofili who was an all-conference selection at Brown.
 
In addition to the returning veterans and JUCO and four-year school transfers, the coaching staff has also added freshmen Jamarion Evans (6-0, 185, Center HS), Tre Turner (6-2, 180, Liberty Christian HS), Kameron Griffin (5-11, 188, Gladewater HS – and the brother of LU running back Khalan), Brenden Bradshaw (6-1, 185, Guyer HS), Javon Rhodes (6-1, 175, Stafford HS) and Anthony White (5-11, 160, Palacios HS).
 
There is a wealth of talent in the secondary, and they return some very talented players. That to go along with the influx of newcomers and this position group could not only be improved from last season but could potentially be one of the best secondaries in the Southland.