East Texas Baptist University Athletics

POSITION: Wide Receivers

Starting his first season as the Wide Receivers Coach for ETBU, head coach Calvin Ruzicka has added Jeremy Batten to his staff. Batten has coached and played at the NCAA Division III level and been a professional athlete.

"I'm excited about adding Coach Batten to our staff. There's some divine intervention in bringing Jeremy back to East Texas, where he grew up. He had the opportunity to play four games in Ornelas Stadium during his collegiate career at Howard Payne and Belhaven, so it will be great to have him on our sideline finally. He has experience in the ASC as a player, and his previous coaching experience will benefit our players. I can't wait to see how he takes our wide receiver room to a new level," says Ruzicka.
 
Batten comes to ETBU from LaGrange College (Ala.) where he was the wide receiver's coach for one season. Prior to LaGrange, he was at Anderson Broaddus University, coaching wide receivers on the sprint football team. He started his coaching career at North Carolina Wesleyan as the tight ends coach and helped with special teams.
 
His playing career started at Howard Payne University for two seasons in 2018 and 2019, before finishing at Belhaven University as a two-year starter in 2020-21. He played in the COVID-19 spring 2021 season (5 games) along with fall 2021 for his final two years of eligibility, compiling 254 yards receiving on 25 receptions in 15 games. Belhaven went 10-5 in those two years, with a 7-3 season in fall 2021. He earned four Academic All-Conference awards in that time.
 
Headed to the next level, professionally, he played for the West Texas Warbirds and the Albany Empire in the National Arena League. He also had a stint with the Salina Liberty in the Arena Football League.
 
He earned a Bachelor's Degree in Kinesiology from Howard Payne University in 2019 and a Master's in Sports Management from Belhaven University in 2021.