Following a team vote, four new team captains look to lead the program on and off the field and set a new example for Bobcat football.
Junior quarterback Layne Hatcher was a unanimous vote-getter. The three other players joining Hatcher in the pregame midfield coin toss are senior linebacker Sione Tupou, junior offensive lineman Kyle Hergel and junior linebacker Jordan Revels. 
“Those four guys had the majority of all the votes,” football head coach Jake Spavital said. “It was pretty obvious that the team wanted these four to be their captains.”
To Spavital, player leadership is a key part of a winning team. He has been to nine bowl games in his career as a coach, so he knows a group that’s ready to succeed when he sees one. 
With previous success under his belt, Spavital said that this 2022 team is similar to the successful teams he’s been a part of from a leadership standpoint.
“There’s people that play football and then there’s football players,” Spavital said. “This has been a strong group of leaders that we’ve had… this is very similar to those successful teams I’ve had.”
Hatcher, who Spavital said has a work ethic that is unparallel to NFL quarterbacks he’s coached, transferred from rival school Arkansas State after playing three years for the Sun Belt Conference foe. 
In his first year as a Bobcat, he’s shown initiative by putting in extra hours to work with wide receivers and to learn Spavital’s offensive system. His work ethic has been rewarding, being named starting quarterback, but Hatcher said the team comes before himself.
“I just want to be the best I can be for this team,” Hatcher said. “It’s more just about me finding a way to get myself comfortable and get the team to have confidence in me.”
Spavital said that throughout fall practices, the coaching staff and team saw Hatcher trending in the way of leadership.
“You kind of saw it trending that way in the competition,” Spavital said. “When the captain votes came out it was pretty obvious from that point.”
Hergel has drawn preseason praise, being named the 20th ranked interior offensive lineman in the nation, and the honor of being named a team captain is no surprise to anyone affiliated with Texas State football.
Spavital said that Hergel is a role model in the locker room, and the future prospect of an NFL career is not out of reach for the offensive lineman.
“We’ve been talking about bringing in guys that want to work hard and change the narrative of this place,” Spavital said. “He epitomizes that.”
One of the two defensive captains, Sione Topou, is entering his seventh year of college football. After last football season brought adversity in the forms of COVID-19 and injuries, Spavital said that To_tippou stepped into a role that takes on more leadership.
“Last year… we had a lot of ups and downs,” Spavital said. “It flipped a switch … Sione kind of took that [leadership] role over.”
On the same side of the ball, Revels was placed on a watchlist for the Bednarik Award, an award given to the best player in college football, before the season. Revels said that his personal success can be attributed to the closeness of the team in the locker room.
“I feel like we really got a connection,” Revels said. “I know everybody I’m playing with out there on a personal level.”
The level of respect Revels garners in the locker room is a large part of why he was named a team captain.
“He’s got a ton of respect from everybody in here,” Spavital said. “By the way he approaches the game and just by the demeanor that he has with everybody in here.” 
The team had various other vote-getters for team captain, including sophomore running back Calvin Hill and senior linebacker London Harris.