UWF football: Four takeaways from Kaleb Nobles, Ben Freeman at GSC Football Media Day

The University of West Florida football regular season is a little more than a month away.

The Argos will hit Pen Air Field for the first time on Sept. 5 when UWF hosts McKendree University, as part of the home-and-home series that saw the Bearcats host in 2023 . Fall camp begins soon for the Argos, as players make their way back to campus.

It's head coach Kaleb Nobles' second season at the helm, after playing quarterback then ultimately becoming an assistant coach for UWF before taking a job at Clemson for a couple seasons. Now, he's working to get the Argos back to the National Championship standard that was set by his predecessor, Pete Shinnick.

Nobles, along with offensive lineman Ben Freeman, a graduate student who transferred from Northwest Missouri State last season, were at Thursday's Gulf South Conference media day, which featured seven of the eight teams in the conference . Erskine College, which will be an affiliate member of the GSC this season, did not attend.

Each team brought its head coach as well as a player representative to Birmingham, Alabama, at the Wynfrey Hotel. The event was livestreamed on FloFootball.

"You learn a lot of things (in year one)," Nobles said during the opening question for UWF's portion of media day. "The team was resilient. The players are going to play as hard as they can if they know you love them ... Our staff, they’re phenomenal. They take that stuff and run with it. For year two, it’ll hopefully be a lot smoother as far as behind closed doors."

Here are four takeaways from what Nobles and Freeman said during the media day.

Kaleb Nobles has high hopes for the Argos' defense with Kavell Conner returning

Suffocating was just one word used last year to describe UWF's new-and-improved defense under defensive coordinator Kavell Conner, who was in his first year with the Argos last season. He brought a 4-3 defensive scheme, featuring four defensive linemen and three linebackers, and allowed the secondary to freely fly around.

And for the most part, it was working.

UWF had the GSC Defensive Player of the Year in John McMullen, who posted 51 tackles (34 solo, 17 assisted) with 22 of those for a loss of 112 yards, and 12.5 sacks. He also rushed the quarterback six times and forced three fumbles. Now-sophomore Ralph Ortiz, a linebacker, was the GSC's Freshman Defensive Player of the Year with 40 tackles (28 solo, 12 assisted) and three interceptions.

And there are a lot more returners, including players like Byron Puryear, Walker Robinson, Donovan Barnes and Virgil Lemons.

"The sky’s the limit for the second year of the system with coach (Kavell) Conner, our defensive coordinator who is a phenomenal coach and a phenomenal leader of men," Nobles said. "We’re going to play a lot of players, make sure guys are healthy. I’m not going to play the same guy every snap because we have to make sure you can play later in the season, too. We’ve got a lot of guys returning on defense, too, which is exciting."

Nobles is also expecting a few players to return from early season-ending injuries last year, including Will Breland, who was a superstar during his sophomore season in 2022. He suffered a lower-body injury in Week 2 that forced him to miss the rest of the season. Aiden Swett, who also got hurt at McKendree, also looks to be back at defensive line.

A couple other players look to be back as well, Nobles mentioned.

"A lot of guys we’ve added that we think can help us, both with transfers, junior college and high school (players)," Nobles said. "I’m excited to see them and see how they grow together through fall camp."

"For the defense, if you can play fast, you can play just about anything. That’s a really hard defense to go against, when the defensive coordinator keeps things simple and lets the defensive guys just play free. I think our defense has done a really great job of that through the spring," Freeman said. "The defensive line we had last year, a lot of those guys are back and they’re ready to go, which is always a pain in the butt in spring ball as an offensive lineman, but I appreciate what they do for me in practice. It gets me ready for a game."

Kaleb Nobles isn't budging: we'll know who the starting quarterback is during the season-opener

As expected, Nobles didn't give any hints as to who would be the Argos' starting quarterback to begin the 2024 season. He had a similar message during the spring, as the quarterbacks rotated through the spring scrimmage, showing off as best they could in limited reps.

Notably, UWF lost Peewee Jarrett, who graduated last year, after two stellar seasons in northwest Florida. Jarrett, last season alone, threw for 2,989 yards with 32 touchdowns, averaging 249.08 yards per game. He also ran for 548 yards and three touchdowns, cementing his role as a two-way quarterback.

UWF had five quarterbacks listed on its spring roster between Marcus Stokes , Michael Rich Jr. , T.J. Wilson, Kaden King and Tony Bartalo. Bartalo was a transfer from Charleston Southern, while Stokes and Rich saw minimal action behind Jarrett last year. Wilson and King are both redshirt freshmen entering the fall. UWF also has a couple incoming freshman quarterbacks who signed on national signing day, including local product John Nicholas from West Florida High , and Ty'ray Davis.

There are plenty of options for Nobles, who was UWF's first quarterback in 2016 – and "probably the worst quarterback in UWF history," he joked during the media day session – but fans won't find out until Sept. 5 in the season-opener.

"Just a guy who’s a leader, first and foremost. The guys will rally around him. People are going to follow that guy no matter where he’s going, and doing it the right way. A guy who’s a student of the game, who wants to learn, but also has fun while he’s playing the game," Nobles said of the personality he's looking for in the next starting quarterback. "(I tell them), 'I’ve done it, so lean on me a little bit and I’ll give you a little guidance and wisdom on what it looks like to play quarterback here.'"

A tight-knit offensive line is coming back to UWF

Freeman noted during the media day that all of the returning offensive linemen stuck around Pensacola this past summer, working out together and "holding each other accountable" to make sure they were at daily lifting sessions.

After losing a few starters from last season, Freeman said coach Steve Saulnier, who's been with the program since its inception, helped replace those players and "build some depth" going into fall camp.

"Luckily, we had a pretty good spring – all of us together – then through the summer," Freeman said. "We’ve been holding each other accountable, which I think is very important for the offensive line."

Freeman mentioned the chemistry that's needed in the trenches of the offensive line, given the importance of making room for running backs and protecting the quarterback to give them plenty of time in the pocket, whoever that may be in the fall.

Either way, he expects the offensive line to be a "well-oiled machine" during the fall.

"Unlike just about any other position in football, if one person is not pulling their weight, the entire offensive line falls apart. We need five dudes, we need depth behind those five dudes, to be a powerful offensive line," Freeman said. "I think you’re going to see a really powerful offensive line that moves the line of scrimmage, gets people out of the way to pave the room for our running back, and to make sure whoever’s pulling the trigger at quarterback can have all the time they need.”

"(There's) phenomenal leadership on that group," Nobles said. "A lot of games started and a lot of games played."

Kaleb Nobles wants to see the playoff experience change a little bit – especially for the players

After an impressive, tight win over Delta State during the regular season, UWF slowly started to see the light at the end of the tunnel as the Argos made their way into the playoffs.

Four weeks later – after playing a GSC gauntlet of Valdosta State, Mississippi College and Chowan University – the Argos found themselves right back in Cleveland, Mississippi to take on the Statesmen in the NCAA Division II Super Region 2 first-round game.

Ultimately, Delta State rolled by the Argos and won 49-14, but that wasn't all for the Statesmen. They had to play another GSC opponent the following week, Valdosta State, falling, 38-31, in the next round.

A lot of it comes down to "regionalization," Nobles said, with the NCAA trying to save money to avoid having to fly teams for games and minimize travel otherwise.

"We move people around, even though it made trips longer for them, we re-seeded people in other regions. If it is about mileage and saving money, then where’s the benefit for the kids?" Nobles said. "They didn’t get anything for going to play somebody because it was a short trip other than a patch on the jersey. I think those things are important. They don’t need to be lost by the NCAA. It’s about the kids."

The top 28 teams in the country make the playoffs, and Nobles said he'd like to see those teams "play it out the right way," regardless of how far those trips are. And he doesn't think GSC teams should be forced to play each other in the first couple rounds, like what happened last year.

"We’ve got to think about the kids, the student-athletes who work, who grind all week to get ready to play. For them to have to travel to place we played four weeks earlier, and go to the same locker room and go to the same facilities, I think they got robbed of the experience. I think that’s what the playoffs should be about a little bit," Nobles said. "I feel for us, I feel for (Delta State head coach) Todd Cooley, I feel for (Valdosta State head coach) Tremaine (Jackson). But, as coaches, we’ll play whoever. There’s got to be a little change in thought. I don’t want Division II football and Division II athletes to be lost in the minds of the NCAA because there’s plenty of other things going on. We’re a good sport and good conference, too.”

Ben Grieco is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached on X (@BenGriecoSports) and via email at BGrieco@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: UWF football: Four takeaways from Kaleb Nobles, Ben Freeman at GSC Football Media Day