SoCon next year

[gofurman]

I am honestly interested in thoughts from fans of each team.. OBJECTIVE thoughts. I don't know everyone's team (who is graduating??). So I am looking for help here !!xthumbsupx

please correct me where I have mistakes !! I need your help on each team !
ill come back later w more detail.

top three teams?

WOFFORD - returns Everyone on OL. Both QBs return. Pretty scary for SoCon Defenses !
UPDATE - Justis Basinger named an ALL-AMERICA on OL. I think 3 of Wofford's OL are all-conference? Strong. - yep 3: Basinger, Ralph and Jeresaty all named all-conference. UPDATE w transfer QB - "As many as three quarterbacks could see action under center for the Terriers in 2019.. Joe Newman is the returning starter... For now, heÂ’s the leader in the clubhouse, although Appalachian State transfer Peyton Derrick and talented redshirt freshman Jimmy Weirick will also likely figure into the mix"
Significant graduations for Wofford include: HB SPEED Lennox McAfee and FB TOUGH RUNNER Andre Stoddard on offense but that's all I think ... Those are top two runners though.
They Lose CB Domonique Lemon, CB Devin Watson, S Jojo Tillery. ** so they lose 3 out of 4 starters in D backfield
DL will miss Miles Brown big time but they get Horton back who is great. They do lose 2 of Front 3 on DL as Zamary graduates (8 starts as a Senior) also in addition to Miles Brown. Still Horton's return makes up for a lot of that. They lose only one LB out of 4 ( basically run a 3/4) in Hinton at ILB so LB should be a strength.
Keys for Wofford next year look to be RBs and defensive backfield. Looks like middle of run defense will be stout again w Horton coming back from injury. Wofford returns a lot (all OL) of players for a SoCon champ -
ROSTER IN AUGUST: Wofford has THIRTEEN SENIOR STARTERS THIS YEAR. WOW... next year could be very different w 9 returning players(?) but they should be great this year !
UPDATE IN AUGUST - Wofford will begin its football season without two of the three projected starters on the defensive line.
Preseason All-Southern Conference junior nose tackle Mikel Horton is out indefinitely with an injury and junior defensive end Austin Lufkin will also miss Saturday’s 6 p.m. game at South Carolina State for violation of team rules. “Mikel has an injury that he had during fall camp,” Wofford head coach Josh Conklin said. “Right now, he’s probably going to be a week-to-week deal. It may be worse than we thought. We’ll see how it plays out. ... Austin did not comply with some team policies, so he’ll be sitting this first one out.” Lufkin, started two games last season and was slated to take over full-time at a defensive end spot as the guy opposite all-conference Mangum
Wofford fans - thoughts? not snarky just fact: but Wofford could have injuries etc and be fine because their schedule is very easy up-front and is tough at the end.. they don't really play anyone until October! SC State, bye week, Samford who just stunk it up, Gardner-Webb and then VMI.. finally they hit ETSU in October


FURMAN?? Obviously the team I know best :)
I hope you all give me this detail on your teams. We may take a one year step back. DEPENDS ON QB. Big time! Prior regime left us Blaze and Roberts who was a career backup but did Wonderful this year. But they left us No QBs as junior or sophomore really. So Hendrix had to get a QB quick - my GUESS is Grainger who the coaches are very high on but he only played ONE year of high school QB! That's Scary inexperienced. Missing three years of high school vs a regular guy. Dude Is really talented but loose with the ball - tends to fumble... Other options are Hamp Sisson - probably more polished right now than Grainger? Grainger maybe more raw talent. **NEW is a transfer QB from MTSU who MTSU had at WR (so quite athletic) but wasn't going to be their QB. So he is coming to FU in June to try to be a QB. 3 star guy? Not that stars always mean much. But clearly if MTSU (and GTech looked at him) took him he is a mid-level FBS athlete UPDATE - MTSU guy Shiflett is going to play WR for us this year.. maybe QB next year. . OL returns ALL 8 guys and given another year of Hendrix training should be ok/good. Long term need more Hendrix-recruited guys on OL as he wants a different type of OL. Only lose 4 guys on O. These 4- QB Roberts and RB Dirks ... and TB Morehead had to quit because of injuris . All OL and most WRs and RBs return (one starting WR Cam Burnette left team too).
On D we will miss Jaylan Reid at DT. And Anoor at Safety. Both were all conference and 30 starts+. That will hurt. LB I feel good about. You all know Hope led FCS Nation in sacks as freshman - despite playing only 10 games!. McKoy is a killer. And we saw our LBs hold Wofford and Citadel to 14 points and 17 points respectively. ***What we are needing to work on is pass defense !! Need to improve there - we have pass rush, need better coverage
*update*. LB ( pass rush) Adrian Hope was Fourth in Jerry Rice vote for best freshman in country. Voted Freshman AA by Hero Sports too. Adrian Hope on 2019 Pre-Season Buchanan List !
3 positions to watch... - Center, Strong Safety and QB as thin or young. Center would just be thin. at C the starter returns in Neely but no one behind him w experience. Strong safety thin w only our backup Clay returning w any experience (Griffin or Jones as backup?). QB is deep but inexperienced as noted above.



ETSU? Can they repeat this years run of one score wins ? Sanders looks to be doing good things there which is main thing. Good coaching is priority 1 !!!
How many key guys graduate? I know Henrik was a BIG part of success and he graduates. *Question number one is replacing Henrik at QB!! both QBs graduated.
UPDATE **WELL ETSU went and got two FBS transfers at QB. Coastal Carolina guy Thrasher w one year eligibility. Coastal guy "Coastal Carolina transfer and three-star recruit out of high school, ...one year of eligibility remaining, ...appeared only sparingly in three games for the Chanticleers last season. He was rated the #47 quarterback in the NATION by 247Sports coming out of high school. AND ETSU got a Miami FL transfer who enters as a RSo so he will have three yrs left and he played in four games at Miami and started one game. He has to have raw talent to even start one game at Miami - name is WELDON but sounds like he is out a while w shoulder surgery some this year; now ANOTHER QB transfers to ETSU - former Army QB Malik McGue is coming to ETSU per his Twitter feed... last played HS Ball in 2014? 23 years old w 3 years of eligibility left?
Quay Holmes returns at RB and is very good ! appears w injury to Miami QB that "It looks as though Chance Thrasher, a graduate transfer from Coastal Carolina, has moved to the forefront in the competition to become the Bucs’ new signal caller."
**update* Quay Holmes won Freshman AA awards from Hero Sports
How many OL graduate- just one! Though he was a great Center so it will hurt a little. So they return 4 out of 5 OL.
Nasir Player returns on DL and is possibly the best DL in conference.
ETSU with 2 on Buchanan pre-season list - Nasir Player DE and Tyree Robinson (Safety?)
ETSU fans - I need your help !?


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Middle teams? I don't know. Just guessing at 'middle' vs top. Don't be offended

MERCER - Return two Great QBs who were gimpy this year. Riddle and Riley. Bobby Lamb said Riddle was the best QB he had ever had since Ingle Martin at Furman.. that's high praise as he has seen a lot of QBs. That's scary. I would think they have the best QB / QB depth in the conference next year. MERCER WAS JUST SO BEAT UP LAST YEAR (that is the summary of 2018 for them). Great RB returns huge load - 5'8" 233 Lb Devezin. He is a load. OL looks good and returns 4 of 5 starters. only offense where they will hurt is that the WR corps suffers big losses - Irvin, Houzah and walker. Pretty big losses there.
Defense. Edge rushing losses are big - Losing Buehler and Wysor at DE will hurt .... Buehler was a strong pass rusher. Lose all 3 OLB including all-conference LeMarkus Bailey. So they lose both DE and all starting OLB. Pass rush will be a question mark for them. Stopping the edge runs of option teams may be an issue when you lose all your DEs and all your OLBs ??
Special teams. Losing Irvin on PR and Houzah on KOR will hurt. Mercer was very very good at KOR and PR in 2018. Though one guy - Durden - returns.


CITADEL - Return 4 OL from 2018 - though the one they lost was a great one - name?. New QB, Rainey, showed a lot of promise at end of 2018 vs last few teams on schedule. All backs return. So O should be good and much improved. D only loses 5 guys though they were key guys.
D loses 5 guys now: Great LB Dawkins and top DB Spann. Also lose good nose tackle DL Ken Allen and another LB Hubbs.
* UPDATE * Now Citadel did additionally lose DE Mason Kinsey, who is no longer with the program. Kinsey was a SoCon All-Freshman pick last fall. so that makes 5 guys lost on the Defensive side of the ball
Citadel could be moving up in SoCon with so few losses on O
( * UPDATE *On Monday, Sam Houston State (https://herosports.com/colleges/sam-houston-state) running back Remus Bulmer (https://herosports.com/colleges/team-player-stats/remus-bulmer) -- one of the top returning career rushers in the FCS (https://herosports.com/fcs-football) -- reached out to HERO Sports and said he is going to sit out the rest of 2018 and will take his redshirt this year, then look to play his senior season elsewhere in 2019.-
he is coming to Citadel for Senior season )
( *UPDATE - Citadel football adds transfer linebacker:
The Citadel has added a transfer linebacker who will be eligible for the 2019 football season, coach Brent Thompson announced Wednesday.
Airan Reed is a graduate-student transfer from Southern Illinois and will have one season to play for the Bulldogs.
UPDATE*. OL Haas (center?) and punter Campbell voted Freshman AA form Hero sports !


SAMFORD - where will they be without Gooden on D and Hodges and McKnight on O ?? NOT a smack. But you have to,wonder. I think all 3 (at least 2) of those guys signed UFA contracts with the NFL!
I'll put em 6th? Shelling - great WR returns. Samford does have several good freshman playing on D this year.
Samford does return a lot on OL - 4 or 5 guys.
New QB is probably Oladokun he "transferred to Samford from South Florida and will have two seasons of eligibility remaining. He started three games for the USF Bulls last season, and played in six. Dual threat?? - not sure on that. Three-star recruit according out of high school. He received scholarship offers from: Nebraska, Temple, Iowa State, Bowling Green, Georgia Southern, South Alabama and Toledo so he has talent.
UPDATE: In summer camp Lamar Anderson was added as a Safety, came from Ball State will have 2 seasons to play for the Dogs. He started the first 3 games for Ball State, but suffered an injury causing him to miss the rest of the 2018 season. All-State 3*** rated player, and the #21 prospect in Missouri coming out of HS
Samford fans who else returns and who graduates?


---------------------------------------------------------
Bottom ??

CHATTANOOGA. I put them here because now it's coaching turmoil. All 2018 offensive coaches are gone. Talent wise they have some for sure. But they had talent this past year and had no offense.
on O - Tiano QB and WR Nunnely and RB Price return.... Nunnelly is on the Payton Award watch list pre-season.
How many OL return? All. 5 ! Though the OL really struggled in 2018
LOSSES - Kareem Orr graduated and he was a great DB !
But on the DL the two killers - Mack and Mahaffey are both gone. That's a big loss - so HUGE defensive losses
UPDATE *** Arth is gone to Akron. - Chatt now hired new HC Rusty Wright who was an assistant at Georgia State. Used to play for Chatt


WCU. Tyrie Adams is awesome. Maybe best singular player in SoCon .. Adams is on the Payton award watch list pre-season.
But 4 of the OL starters graduate. That's gonna hurt
Owen Cosenke Is a very good TE (all-conference level)
Can they finally improve on defense ?? and they Lost 2 of 3 starting DL including Nate Link who decided to not play his Graduate year and was good DL Also lost Jordan Mathis at WR who was good.
On D - they return a lot of the back 7 of DBs and LBs as most all of those were young last year. The key according to some is how is their DL going to be?? So sounds like OL and DL are the big questions.
That said, they return the all-conf TE and good WRs including Patten..and return their top two RBs - so they lose almost all OL but return much of the skill positions.
**update Ronald Kent at DB won freshman AA from Hero Sports
WCU fans. Some help here ?
WCU lost six offensive linemen (4 starters) that saw extensive playing time in 2018 - Among the losses were five players with 30-or-more career games played including all-conference selection Zach Weeks (44 career games) and classmates Nathan Dalton (45), Andrew Miles (45), Kaleb Spry (40), and Chase Stehling (34). Veteran offensive line coach John Holt will lean heavily upon his lone returning starter in junior Grady Thomas. He has 12 starts including three as a true freshman in 2017 and nine a year ago. Thomas is flanked by redshirt junior Matthew Bair who has played in 17 career games and redshirt sophomore Michael Harper who started one of the four games he played in 2018. Behind them is a slew of redshirt and true freshmen that will be battling for positioning in the offensive depth chart and special teams units. Three returning redshirts have seen collegiate action, paced by Tyler Smith (4 games), Nick Campbell (3 games), and Garrett Bowman (1 game) last season.
The coaching staff is very high on two incoming freshmen – both of whom enrolled early to go through 2019 spring drills. Isaiah Helms and Jacob Combs could both find themselves in the starting lineup for the opener against Mercer. Local product Dillon Luther (Asheville, N.C. / Erwin HS) has had a productive fall camp and could factor into playing time early in his collegiate career. They may have FRESHMAN at Center and OG on the OL !




VMI - I give them credit for playing tough this year. So close. Air raid can always upset someone. Came within 2 points of Citadel and Western. Strong QB and WR corps. QB Udinski is legit. But he doesn't have enough team help. *AUGUST UPDATE --- VMI took a hit w leading WR Thornton out of the program as is starting DB Loftis


bump. I updated with the 5 SoCon guys that won freshman all America awards. Continue to update w transfers etc.

[ElCid]

We get back 4/5 on OL (9/10 on 2 deep, most were So this year). Our same OL started all games this year. Our new QB will be a Jr next year (we have 5 others vying for the #2 spot). All the A backs on the depth chart are back except one, all the BBacks are back. In other words, our O will be that much better. (8 starters on O were RSF or So. this year. We basically lose one O starter.

On D, we lose one on the DL (Ken Allen, ouch), two LBs (Hubbs and Dawkins), and one DB (Aaron Spann, ouch). (5 of our starters on D were F, RSF or So.). We lose 4 D starters.

All our kickers are back.

Not too bad.

I don't know enough about who is coming back on the other teams to prognosticate yet.

[Reign of Terrier]

It will be competitive. ETSU will have more depth and bring back a solid nucleus, as will Furman.

Wofford brings back 20 of 22 in the offensive two deep and 3/4 of the two deep on defense.

Chattanooga will lose some playmakers on defense but will almost certainly be better on offense with a new OC.

I differ to El Cid on how they will be, as they look to bring a bunch.

Western Carolina brings back Tyrie Adams and I think most of their defense.

VMI should bring back some as well. I don't know what Mercer brings back other than some good QBs.

Really, the only team that looks to take a step back is Samford. They lose a couple GOATs and I don't see them quickly recovering. They're already inconsistent and I don't think addition by subtraction applies.

Socon is gonna be tough. Razors edge separates us all.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[gofurman]

Thanks. this is what I am looking for. Any notes on any team but especially your own team

ill put this all together as people add posts ... Helps me as next year begins so I can remember what each team returns

as you get older you need these things. LOL

[gofurman]

It will be competitive. ETSU will have more depth and bring back a solid nucleus, as will Furman.

Wofford brings back 20 of 22 in the offensive two deep and 3/4 of the two deep on defense.

Chattanooga will lose some playmakers on defense but will almost certainly be better on offense with a new OC.

I differ to El Cid on how they will be, as they look to bring a bunch.

Western Carolina brings back Tyrie Adams and I think most of their defense.

VMI should bring back some as well. I don't know what Mercer brings back other than some good QBs.

Really, the only team that looks to take a step back is Samford. They lose a couple GOATs and I don't see them quickly recovering. They're already inconsistent and I don't think addition by subtraction applies.

Socon is gonna be tough. Razors edge separates us all.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Thanks.
Who does Wofford specifically lose? Stoddard or Mcafee? Either one. Who on D? Miles Brown right? Who else?

[FUBeAR]

Well...since the 3 of you have, apparently, voted Mercer off of SoCon Island, I’ll follow the great American Tradition and refuse to accept the results of said election.

Below is an edited version of FUBeAR’s post on the Mercer Board related to this topic...

LOSSES...
» [Starting C] David May
» [Starting RB] Tee Mitchell
» [Starting TE] Sam Walker
» [Starting WR /Starting PR] Marquise Irvin
» [Regular WR / Starting KR] Stephen Houzah

» [Starting DE] Isaiah Buehler
» [Regular DE] Austin Wysor
» [Starting OLB] LeMarkus Bailey
» [Starting OLB] Bradley Earnest
» [Regular OLB] Travonte' Easley
» Brandon Coney
» [P/T Starting CB] Kam Lott
» [DB] Dylan Calhoun
» [Backup, but Fairly Regular DB] Brandon Gurley

» [Starting PK] Cole Fisher
» [Starting P] Matt Shiel
» [Starting LS] Steven Nixon

[B]
Looking ahead to 2019...

Returning Starters...
* C - Krieger (started 8 games in 2017 & 2 in 2018)
* OG’s - Flath, Forrestal (2nd half of 2018), Robinson (1st half of 2018; injured)
* OT’s - Sanders (All SoCon), Ellis
* QB’s - Riddle (All SoCon FR) (3), Riley (2017 SoCon FOTY),(16, 5 in 2018), Frost (3)
* RB - Devezin (3)...led Mercer in Rushing Attempts in 2018 (164)
* TE’s - Ellington & Westfall (shared multiple starts due to Walker injuries & depending upon Offensive sets)
* WR’s - Durden, Cannon, Jones (1)

NG’s - Kithcart, Cooper (a start or 2 due to injuries to Kithcart)
DE’s - Guillen, Raines (started on several occasions due to Buehler injuries)
ILB’s - Coneway, Otiwu, Freeman (several starts due to injuries to Otiwu)
OLB - None
CB’s - Bohler, Poole, Campbell (may have had a start or 2 due to injuries)
Safety - Fleming (All SoCon), Jackson, Ward (about 3 due to injury), Hall (1 or 2 due to injuries)

PK - None
P - Goupil (11 in 2017)
LS - None
PR - None
KR - Durden


Strengths...
..... * QB - 2 outstanding, experienced veterans return - Riddle & Riley
......* RB - Rushing Leader among SoCon RB’s, 5-8/233+ wrecking ball, Tyray “The Hammer” Devezin, returns to the dismay of all SoCon DB’s
.....* OL - May will be a big loss, but the OL gelled in the VMI game this year & played fairly well from that point forward. Can still improve considerably though

.....* NG - 2 vets with experience return (Kithcart & Cooper)
.....* ILB - Coneway, Otiwu, & Freeman all proved their ability in 2018
.....* Safety - Fleming & Jackson are solid returning Starters

.....* Punter - 2017 Starting Punter, Goupil, solid in 2017; can ‘reassume’ his role in 2019

Question Marks...
* Specialists positions will be a HUGE question mark for Mercer. All 5 (including Kickoff & Punt Returners) departures have been OUTSTANDING in 2018

* Replacing Walker, Irvin, and Houzah from one of the best corps of pass catchers in the SoCon will be a major challenge. Durden, Cannon, Jones, Ellison, Ellington, and Graham (if he can stay healthy)...et al, may very well be able to rise to that challenge...and, eventually, surpass even this outstanding group.

* Losing key 'edge Players,' DE Buehler, OLB Bailey, and OLB Earnest, in addition to DE Wysor and OLB Easley is another area of significant talent departure. Some younger Players will need to "rise up" to replace these 5. True FR DL McDaniel has shown promise and played some DE, but I think at 6-0, he may be more of a NG. I've also been impressed with True FR DL Perkins. Also seen promise in R-FR DL King. I think we might see some position changes to fill the large holes Bailey, Earnest, and Easley are leaving at OLB. True FR Bullard is on the 2-deep @ OLB, so he will be counted on to step up next season and, perhaps, DB's Gammage and Ward, could get a look at OLB as they are similar in size to Bailey (actually, a little bigger), who began his career at DB. I was impressed with True FR LB Brown's HS vid. I suspect he is Redshirting this year and may be in the mix @ OLB next season.

Summary...
If the Bears can effectively re-load with Specialists, Pass Catchers on O, and Edge Players on D, they should be in excellent stead to compete for the SoCon Championship in 2019 and certainly have a better than solid chance to make the FCS Playoffs.

[Reign of Terrier]

Wofford has rotated enough players in this year that the only real concern is maybeeeee the secondary. But even then we bring back half of the guys.

I don't remember a time where we brought back the entire two deep on the OL or 20 of 22 on the offense.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[gofurman]

didn't forget Mercer. Just haven't gotten to them yet. Sorry.

[gofurman]

Well...since the 3 of you have, apparently, voted Mercer off of SoCon Island, I’ll follow the great American Tradition and refuse to accept the results of said election.

Below is an edited version of FUBeAR’s post on the Mercer Board related to this topic...

LOSSES...
» [Starting C] David May
» [Starting RB] Tee Mitchell
» [Starting TE] Sam Walker
» [Starting WR /Starting PR] Marquise Irvin
» [Regular WR / Starting KR] Stephen Houzah

» [Starting DE] Isaiah Buehler
» [Regular DE] Austin Wysor
» [Starting OLB] LeMarkus Bailey
» [Starting OLB] Bradley Earnest
» [Regular OLB] Travonte' Easley
» Brandon Coney
» [P/T Starting CB] Kam Lott
» [DB] Dylan Calhoun
» [Backup, but Fairly Regular DB] Brandon Gurley

» [Starting PK] Cole Fisher
» [Starting P] Matt Shiel
» [Starting LS] Steven Nixon

[B]
Looking ahead to 2019...

Strengths...
..... * QB - 2 outstanding, experienced veterans return - Riddle & Riley
......* RB - Rushing Leader among SoCon RB’s, 5-8/233+ wrecking ball, Tyray “The Hammer” Devezin, returns to the dismay of all SoCon DB’s
.....* OL - May will be a big loss, but the OL gelled in the VMI game this year & played fairly well from that point forward. Can still improve considerably though

.....* NG - 2 vets with experience return (Kithcart & Cooper)
.....* ILB - Coneway, Otiwu, & Freeman all proved their ability in 2018
.....* Safety - Fleming & Jackson are solid returning Starters

.....* Punter - 2017 Starting Punter, Goupil, can ‘reassume’ his role in 2019

Question Marks...
* Specialists positions will be a HUGE question mark for Mercer. All 5 (including Kickoff & Punt Returners) departures have been OUTSTANDING in 2018

* Replacing Walker, Irvin, and Houzah from one of the best corps of pass catchers in the SoCon will be a major challenge. Durden, Cannon, Jones, Ellison, Ellington, and Graham (if he can stay healthy)...et al, may very well be able to rise to that challenge...and, eventually, surpass even this outstanding group.

* Losing key 'edge Players,' DE Buehler, OLB Bailey, and OLB Earnest, in addition to DE Wysor and OLB Easley is another area of significant talent departure. Some younger Players will need to "rise up" to replace these 5. True FR DL McDaniel has shown promise and played some DE, but I think at 6-0, he may be more of a NG. I've also been impressed with True FR DL Perkins. Also seen promise in R-FR DL King. I think we might see some position changes to fill the large holes Bailey, Earnest, and Easley are leaving at OLB. True FR Bullard is on the 2-deep @ OLB, so he will be counted on to step up next season and, perhaps, DB's Gammage and Ward, could get a look at OLB as they are similar in size to Bailey (actually, a little bigger), who began his career at DB. I was impressed with True FR LB Brown's HS vid. I suspect he is Redshirting this year and may be in the mix @ OLB next season.

Summary...
If the Bears can effectively re-load with Specialists, Pass Catchers on O, and Edge Players on D, they should be in excellent stead to compete for the SoCon Championship in 2019 and certainly have a better than solid chance to make the FCS Playoffs.

Now THAT is the kind of detaile I am TALKING about !!

[The Cats]

Unless Coach Speir does some serious soul-searching about his defensive coaching staff, from the DC on down (same with Special Teams) look for more of the same out of the Catamounts.

I know consistency in most cases is a good thing, but when you look at what the Cats gave up defensively the last two seasons, that consistency is only good for Catamounts opponents.


Tyrie will be back.

[gofurman]

FUBear that's awesome.

I'll keep updating this at the TOP POST as I get time and more people contribute

let me hear from all SoCon fans !!!

- - - Updated - - -


Unless Coach Speir does some serious soul-searching about his defensive coaching staff, from the DC on down (same with Special Teams) look for more of the same out of the Catamounts.

I know consistency in most cases is a good thing, but when you look at what the Cats gave up defensively the last two seasons, that consistency is only good for Catamounts opponents.


Tyrie will be back.

do,you all lose FOUR starting OL? Or how,many? Who,else?

[The Cats]

Unless Coach Speir does some serious soul-searching about his defensive coaching staff, from the DC on down (same with Special Teams) look for more of the same out of the Catamounts.

I know consistency in most cases is a good thing, but when you look at what the Cats gave up defensively the last two seasons, that consistency is only good for Catamounts opponents.

Next years is the final season on his contract, so we'll see how much he wants to say in Cullowhee. Right now, I don't see any FCS team that would hire him as a new HC.


Tyrie will be back.

[FUBeAR]

Now THAT is the kind of detaile I am TALKING about !!
Added more detail around Returning Starters to previous post

[PaladinFan]

Furman's offensive two-deep against Mercer had two seniors - Harris Roberts (QB) and Ridge Gibson (FB).

I think the Paladin offense can make a big jump next season. They'll return just about everyone and be in year two under George Quarles and probably just need to get the QB situation worked out.

[BlackNGoldR3v0lut10n]

ETSU - Our two top rushers (Holmes and Saylors) return. Likely starting QB is Logan "Lucky" Marchi with Tyrique Sandusky and Trey Mitchell challenging. Wick (TE) and Werts (WR) are gone. We lose two starting OL along with four defensive starters to graduation. I expect yuge things next year for us.

[SU DOG]

Our O-Line loses ONE player in the 10 man 2 deep rotation. That unit should be VERY good. RBs(hey sometimes we do run the ball) will be better if any different with the emergence of Fr. DeMarcus Ware who led the team in rushing this year. Even with the loss of Kelvin McKnight, who you can't really replace, WRs are not a concern at all as we have tons of gifted players at this position. Now, you don't even consider saying you can replace a Devlin Hodges, as that would be an asinine statement. I think talk of a xfer QB, however, is totally wrong. Liam Welch will be a RS Jr. who has been patient and was always projected as the next man up. He knows the system thoroughly, but how much the lack of game experience will hamper his development is an unknown factor at this time. I can say that he is very talented, and watching him in practice gives Samford fans a lot of optimism.

The Samford defense losses some really good ones, but has lots of experienced players returning. Obviously, Ahmad Gooden will be missed - tremendously missed. LB Aaron Harris, and DT Horace Roberts will need to be replaced also. If Jr. LB Aaron Atkinson, out this year with injury, can come back healthy that will really strengthen that unit. He is a fine player. Even with the loss of Ahmad, I look for the front 7 to be pretty solid. The Samford secondary, that was injury riddled this year, should be much improved. Lots of young players got plenty of PT, and hopefully S Koi Freeman returns from injury. That guy is a stud of a DB.

Lots of questions - YES, but lots of talent also. It will be interesting to see how we do in the KO Classic against YSU. Samford is not quite as depleted as some folks on here think, and probably hope.

[woffordgrad94]

Significant graduations for Wofford include: HB Lennox McAfee and FB Andre Stoddard on offense and CB Domonique Lemon, CB Devin Watson, S Jojo Tillery and DL Miles Brown

[woffordgrad94]

Our O-Line loses ONE player in the 10 man 2 deep rotation. That unit should be VERY good. RBs(hey sometimes we do run the ball) will be better if any different with the emergence of Fr. DeMarcus Ware who led the team in rushing this year. Even with the loss of Kelvin McKnight, who you can't really replace, WRs are not a concern at all as we have tons of gifted players at this position. Now, you don't even consider saying you can replace a Devlin Hodges, as that would be an asinine statement. I think talk of a xfer QB, however, is totally wrong. Liam Welch will be a RS Jr. who has been patient and was always projected as the next man up. He knows the system thoroughly, but how much the lack of game experience will hamper his development is an unknown factor at this time. I can say that he is very talented, and watching him in practice gives Samford fans a lot of optimism.

The Samford defense losses some really good ones, but has lots of experienced players returning. Obviously, Ahmad Gooden will be missed - tremendously missed. LB Aaron Harris, and DT Horace Roberts will need to be replaced also. If Jr. LB Aaron Atkinson, out this year with injury, can come back healthy that will really strengthen that unit. He is a fine player. Even with the loss of Ahmad, I look for the front 7 to be pretty solid. The Samford secondary, that was injury riddled this year, should be much improved. Lots of young players got plenty of PT, and hopefully S Koi Freeman returns from injury. That guy is a stud of a DB.

Lots of questions - YES, but lots of talent also. It will be interesting to see how we do in the KO Classic against YSU. Samford is not quite as depleted as some folks on here think, and probably hope.
I don’t know how good a barometer that YSU game is since the YSU program has fallen into the crapper.

[SU DOG]

I don’t know how good a barometer that YSU game is since the YSU program has fallen into the crapper.

I understand where you are coming from grad, and I have read the Penguin fans laments on here - still in watching YSU play NDSU into the 4th quarter, and also the stomping of Playoff-bound UNI, I seem to not get that warm fuzzy feeling that I would like to have.

[dungeonjoe]

Well...since the 3 of you have, apparently, voted Mercer off of SoCon Island, I’ll follow the great American Tradition and refuse to accept the results of said election.

Below is an edited version of FUBeAR’s post on the Mercer Board related to this topic...

LOSSES...
» [Starting C] David May
» [Starting RB] Tee Mitchell
» [Starting TE] Sam Walker
» [Starting WR /Starting PR] Marquise Irvin
» [Regular WR / Starting KR] Stephen Houzah

» [Starting DE] Isaiah Buehler
» [Regular DE] Austin Wysor
» [Starting OLB] LeMarkus Bailey
» [Starting OLB] Bradley Earnest
» [Regular OLB] Travonte' Easley
» Brandon Coney
» [P/T Starting CB] Kam Lott
» [DB] Dylan Calhoun
» [Backup, but Fairly Regular DB] Brandon Gurley

» [Starting PK] Cole Fisher
» [Starting P] Matt Shiel
» [Starting LS] Steven Nixon

[B]
Looking ahead to 2019...

Returning Starters...
* C - Krieger (started 8 games in 2017 & 2 in 2018)
* OG’s - Flath, Forrestal (2nd half of 2018), Robinson (1st half of 2018; injured)
* OT’s - Sanders (All SoCon), Ellis
* QB’s - Riddle (All SoCon FR) (3), Riley (2017 SoCon FOTY),(16, 5 in 2018), Frost (3)
* RB - Devezin (3)...led Mercer in Rushing Attempts in 2018 (164)
* TE’s - Ellington & Westfall (shared multiple starts due to Walker injuries & depending upon Offensive sets)
* WR’s - Durden, Cannon, Jones (1)

NG’s - Kithcart, Cooper (a start or 2 due to injuries to Kithcart)
DE’s - Guillen, Raines (started on several occasions due to Buehler injuries)
ILB’s - Coneway, Otiwu, Freeman (several starts due to injuries to Otiwu)
OLB - None
CB’s - Bohler, Poole, Campbell (may have had a start or 2 due to injuries)
Safety - Fleming (All SoCon), Jackson, Ward (about 3 due to injury), Hall (1 or 2 due to injuries)

PK - None
P - Goupil (11 in 2017)
LS - None
PR - None
KR - Durden


Strengths...
..... * QB - 2 outstanding, experienced veterans return - Riddle & Riley
......* RB - Rushing Leader among SoCon RB’s, 5-8/233+ wrecking ball, Tyray “The Hammer” Devezin, returns to the dismay of all SoCon DB’s
.....* OL - May will be a big loss, but the OL gelled in the VMI game this year & played fairly well from that point forward. Can still improve considerably though

.....* NG - 2 vets with experience return (Kithcart & Cooper)
.....* ILB - Coneway, Otiwu, & Freeman all proved their ability in 2018
.....* Safety - Fleming & Jackson are solid returning Starters

.....* Punter - 2017 Starting Punter, Goupil, solid in 2017; can ‘reassume’ his role in 2019

Question Marks...
* Specialists positions will be a HUGE question mark for Mercer. All 5 (including Kickoff & Punt Returners) departures have been OUTSTANDING in 2018

* Replacing Walker, Irvin, and Houzah from one of the best corps of pass catchers in the SoCon will be a major challenge. Durden, Cannon, Jones, Ellison, Ellington, and Graham (if he can stay healthy)...et al, may very well be able to rise to that challenge...and, eventually, surpass even this outstanding group.

* Losing key 'edge Players,' DE Buehler, OLB Bailey, and OLB Earnest, in addition to DE Wysor and OLB Easley is another area of significant talent departure. Some younger Players will need to "rise up" to replace these 5. True FR DL McDaniel has shown promise and played some DE, but I think at 6-0, he may be more of a NG. I've also been impressed with True FR DL Perkins. Also seen promise in R-FR DL King. I think we might see some position changes to fill the large holes Bailey, Earnest, and Easley are leaving at OLB. True FR Bullard is on the 2-deep @ OLB, so he will be counted on to step up next season and, perhaps, DB's Gammage and Ward, could get a look at OLB as they are similar in size to Bailey (actually, a little bigger), who began his career at DB. I was impressed with True FR LB Brown's HS vid. I suspect he is Redshirting this year and may be in the mix @ OLB next season.

Summary...
If the Bears can effectively re-load with Specialists, Pass Catchers on O, and Edge Players on D, they should be in excellent stead to compete for the SoCon Championship in 2019 and certainly have a better than solid chance to make the FCS Playoffs.

great analysis as always. You aren't off the island, I just can't tell what tribe you are with. There are days I can't decide if you are a FU or a Bear.

[ETSUfan1]

ETSU - Our two top rushers (Holmes and Saylors) return. Likely starting QB is Logan "Lucky" Marchi with Tyrique Sandusky and Trey Mitchell challenging. Wick (TE) and Werts (WR) are gone. We lose two starting OL along with four defensive starters to graduation. I expect yuge things next year for us.

If ETSU can get solid play from Marchi, I expect us to be competitive. Wasn't all that impressed with him early on, so not sure if he can be the guy or not. LB core will take a hit. DL and secondary will be even better. If we can get receivers with speed and that can actually create separation and catch balls, that would be great.

[Reign of Terrier]

I don’t know how good a barometer that YSU game is since the YSU program has fallen into the crapper.


I understand where you are coming from grad, and I have read the Penguin fans laments on here - still in watching YSU play NDSU into the 4th quarter, and also the stomping of Playoff-bound UNI, I seem to not get that warm fuzzy feeling that I would like to have.


Just fookin beat them m8.

Seriously, if Samford sweeps their OOC, no one cares if they finish 7-4

[SU DOG]

You're right about that YT, because that scenario would include a win over Auburn. xlolx

[kdinva]

For VMI, (on paper), they lose, on offense: starting center, backup guard, backup WR (who caught only 6 passes this season), another WR/return spec. hurt in game 6, one HB.

Defense: starting DE, starting SS, backup CB.

Spec: Kickoff specialist, backup PK.

[PaladinFan]

Our O-Line loses ONE player in the 10 man 2 deep rotation. That unit should be VERY good. RBs(hey sometimes we do run the ball) will be better if any different with the emergence of Fr. DeMarcus Ware who led the team in rushing this year. Even with the loss of Kelvin McKnight, who you can't really replace, WRs are not a concern at all as we have tons of gifted players at this position. Now, you don't even consider saying you can replace a Devlin Hodges, as that would be an asinine statement. I think talk of a xfer QB, however, is totally wrong. Liam Welch will be a RS Jr. who has been patient and was always projected as the next man up. He knows the system thoroughly, but how much the lack of game experience will hamper his development is an unknown factor at this time. I can say that he is very talented, and watching him in practice gives Samford fans a lot of optimism.

The Samford defense losses some really good ones, but has lots of experienced players returning. Obviously, Ahmad Gooden will be missed - tremendously missed. LB Aaron Harris, and DT Horace Roberts will need to be replaced also. If Jr. LB Aaron Atkinson, out this year with injury, can come back healthy that will really strengthen that unit. He is a fine player. Even with the loss of Ahmad, I look for the front 7 to be pretty solid. The Samford secondary, that was injury riddled this year, should be much improved. Lots of young players got plenty of PT, and hopefully S Koi Freeman returns from injury. That guy is a stud of a DB.

Lots of questions - YES, but lots of talent also. It will be interesting to see how we do in the KO Classic against YSU. Samford is not quite as depleted as some folks on here think, and probably hope.

It has long been my opinion that teams struggle to replace really top-flight players. Even talented backups are going to struggle to match the productivity of truly great players.

Samford's issue is not talent. They have talent. They were the most talented team in the league this year. In my opinion, they have issues that are perhaps more systemic than having "Jimmys and Joes."

I think the concern for Samford fans is whether Hatcher & Co. will take a hard look at what went wrong in 2018. The Bulldogs had gobs of talent, were in a league without a dominant team, and had the rare opportunity to have some of the best players in program history on both sides of the ball playing at the same time.

[BlackNGoldR3v0lut10n]

I understand where you are coming from grad, and I have read the Penguin fans laments on here - still in watching YSU play NDSU into the 4th quarter, and also the stomping of Playoff-bound UNI, I seem to not get that warm fuzzy feeling that I would like to have.

It's mainly because Pelini brought onto his team one Malik Richmond. He was best known for raping a coed along with one of his teammates at a party while in high school. He literally shopped around trying to find a school that would take him on their FB team until Youngstown State said yes. Let's face it, if even Randy Sanders tried to bring someone like that onto his team, Brian Noland would drop kick his keester out of Johnson City. Gibbs-slapping a player is one thing but knowingly and willfully bringing a convicted rapist is (in this environment) a completely different matter. I hope Pelini never coaches again in life.

[gofurman]

We get back 4/5 on OL (9/10 on 2 deep, most were So this year). Our same OL started all games this year. Our new QB will be a Jr next year (we have 5 others vying for the #2 spot). All the A backs on the depth chart are back except one, all the BBacks are back. In other words, our O will be that much better. (8 starters on O were RSF or So. this year. We basically lose one O starter.

On D, we lose one on the DL (Ken Allen, ouch), two LBs (Hubbs and Dawkins), and one DB (Aaron Spann, ouch). (5 of our starters on D were F, RSF or So.). We lose 4 D starters.

All our kickers are back.

Not too bad.

I don't know enough about who is coming back on the other teams to prognosticate yet.

Good detail ElCid. Thanks !!! That's what I am looking for to compose my initial post

[ElCid]

Good detail ElCid. Thanks !!! That's what I am looking for to compose my initial post


One change, we get back 8/10 on the OL 2 deep. Same guy is RG starter and 2nd center.

To be specific and clearer,

We get back 10/11 O starters, 22/25 listed on depth chart. Starters, one OL (1st team all conf), one A back gone (hasn't played last 3 games). 8 starters are F, RSF, or Soph this year

We get back 7/11 D starters, 16/23 listed on depth chart. Starters, one DL, two LB (one 1st team all conf) , 1 DB (1st team all conf). 5 starters are F, RSF, or Soph this year, 2 are Jr.

We get back all Special teams except a LS, 11/12 on depth chart.

Also important to note that in our first 7 games we rushed for 1851 yards or 264 a game. Last three games we rushed for 1051 yards or 350 a game, which obviously included WCU, Samford, and Bama as well. The last three game we payed our new QB and backs.

[gofurman]

Significant graduations for Wofford include: HB Lennox McAfee and FB Andre Stoddard on offense and CB Domonique Lemon, CB Devin Watson, S Jojo Tillery and DL Miles Brown

Thanks 94 ! Great detail. Think I might be over in attendance Saturday with one or two more.

[PaladinNation]

Furman 2019

The offense returns 20/22 — 7 sophomores, 12 juniors, 1 senior
The defense returns 17/22 — 3 sophomores, 8 juniors, 6 seniors

Strengths

The offensive line returns intact — 1 senior, 5 juniors, 1 sophomore are the core.
The offensive backfield returns all three tailbacks (Wynn, Watkins, Morehead)
At running back (HB) Dirks and Gibson graduate but return blocking beast Maples (SO).
Receivers and Tight Ends are all returning
The defensive line loses Reid and Okonya. Furman rotates heavily, Stokes, Seabrook should step right in.
Linebackers all return, 2018 was learning on the go. Three redshirts should compete for PT at linebacker.
Special teams return All So-Con kicker and return specialist.
I actually think corner will be better in 2019.

Questions

Quarterback. It's been a long time since Furman had back to back season's this unsettled at QB.
My guess is Furman comes into 2019 off-season focused on developing Grainger and Sisson both will be redshirt freshmen.
I think Lincoln switches position — based on rumors and who got PT.
BTW… kudos to the coaching staff for getting Grainger and Sisson PT and still get redshirts.

Safety. Return Okeh but graduate Annoor. Clay could be the starter at strong safety but my guess is this position is the most wide open other than quarterback.

New Players

Furman had several players redshirt and never see the field, players to keep an eye on;
Cujo Coleman (NG), Louis Hall (WR), Jax Hackett (LB), Braylin Fisher (LB), Bradeon Domino (CB).
One big question will we see London Lewis play in 2019?

Freshmen

You should never count on players before they arrive but if the 2019 commits hold Furman will bringing in a helluva class.
Another rumor swirling is that several will be reporting in January. My guess is these are players that have a chance to compete right away. Ryan Steed did this went from early reporting to a starter.

Players to watch; Josh Slay (LB), Evan Jumper (OL), Jack Barton (DE), Austin Jones (S), Jalen Miller (Spur)
I don't think Furman is finished, the only good thing about being left out of the playoffs? Recruiting.
This staff appears to be great recruiters and great at evaluation. Furman has also broadened it's recruiting to Texas and the northeast. I think Furman brings in another quarterback to compete for the starting gig in 2019.

[walliver]

The SoCon is, overall, a relatively young league. I, like many here, rejoice at the graduation of Devlin Hodges. But, I also rejoice at the departure of Andy Summerlin. I fear that there is a stud QB out there redshirting in the SEC or at Clemson who will be starting in Birmingham next year.

For Wofford, the main question mark is the defensive secondary. We have very good players graduating who will be missed, but there is also an opportunity for Josh Conklin to recruit players to defend against the pass. The traditional Wofford defense has been stop the run and make teams beat us with the pass. There are a few teams in the SoCon good enough to do that.

[PaladinFan]

The SoCon is, overall, a relatively young league. I, like many here, rejoice at the graduation of Devlin Hodges. But, I also rejoice at the departure of Andy Summerlin. I fear that there is a stud QB out there redshirting in the SEC or at Clemson who will be starting in Birmingham next year.

For Wofford, the main question mark is the defensive secondary. We have very good players graduating who will be missed, but there is also an opportunity for Josh Conklin to recruit players to defend against the pass. The traditional Wofford defense has been stop the run and make teams beat us with the pass. There are a few teams in the SoCon good enough to do that.

Wofford's defensive philosophy dovetails with their offensive philosophy. I would stick with the current run-stopping idea, though.

Look at the league. There are two teams that run the option. Three teams that don't run the option (ETSU, Furman, Mercer) are developing feature backs (Holmes, Wynn, Devezin) that are going to terrorize defenses in this league. Tyrie Adams is coming back, and he's probably the league's best runner. The team that threw the ball every down is graduating their QB and top WR.

I see a renaissance coming of traditional SoCon power football. Some of these young guys are powerful runners. It's only going to get tougher to slow down the ground game.

[PaladinFan]

Furman 2019

The offense returns 20/22 — 7 sophomores, 12 juniors, 1 senior
The defense returns 17/22 — 3 sophomores, 8 juniors, 6 seniors

Strengths

The offensive line returns intact — 1 senior, 5 juniors, 1 sophomore are the core.
The offensive backfield returns all three tailbacks (Wynn, Watkins, Morehead)
At running back (HB) Dirks and Gibson graduate but return blocking beast Maples (SO).
Receivers and Tight Ends are all returning
The defensive line loses Reid and Okonya. Furman rotates heavily, Stokes, Seabrook should step right in.
Linebackers all return, 2018 was learning on the go. Three redshirts should compete for PT at linebacker.
Special teams return All So-Con kicker and return specialist.
I actually think corner will be better in 2019.

Questions

Quarterback. It's been a long time since Furman had back to back season's this unsettled at QB.
My guess is Furman comes into 2019 off-season focused on developing Grainger and Sisson both will be redshirt freshmen.
I think Lincoln switches position — based on rumors and who got PT.
BTW… kudos to the coaching staff for getting Grainger and Sisson PT and still get redshirts.

Safety. Return Okeh but graduate Annoor. Clay could be the starter at strong safety but my guess is this position is the most wide open other than quarterback.

New Players

Furman had several players redshirt and never see the field, players to keep an eye on;
Cujo Coleman (NG), Louis Hall (WR), Jax Hackett (LB), Braylin Fisher (LB), Bradeon Domino (CB).
One big question will we see London Lewis play in 2019?

Freshmen

You should never count on players before they arrive but if the 2019 commits hold Furman will bringing in a helluva class.
Another rumor swirling is that several will be reporting in January. My guess is these are players that have a chance to compete right away. Ryan Steed did this went from early reporting to a starter.

Players to watch; Josh Slay (LB), Evan Jumper (OL), Jack Barton (DE), Austin Jones (S), Jalen Miller (Spur)
I don't think Furman is finished, the only good thing about being left out of the playoffs? Recruiting.
This staff appears to be great recruiters and great at evaluation. Furman has also broadened it's recruiting to Texas and the northeast. I think Furman brings in another quarterback to compete for the starting gig in 2019.

I am very bullish on Furman's offense next year.

Of course, we will need to figure out the QB situation. When you consider that Darren Grainger played only a single season of QB in high school, and even then in a pretty simplified "hero ball" type of system, he has a long way to go. If he continues to make strides during the offseason, I think Furman could have a Tyrie-Adams type of player on their hands - a guy that is a true threat running and throwing the ball.

Defensively, there are a lot more question marks. We lose a couple of guys that have played a lot of football for us. As you noted, the Paladins rotate a lot of players on defense, so they lose some starters but return guys that played a lot of football this year.

I think the biggest benefit next year is actually returning some depth at ILB. The last two seasons, that has been the biggest defensive questionmark for Furman. In 2019, I think we will benefit immensely from returning depth at that keystone position.

[PaladinNation]

^^ about the renaissance of power football - I think we will see in the future a heavy dose of the two-tailback look from Furman.
Wynn 113 rushes 754 yards 6 touchdowns - average per rush 6.4. The big upside on Wynn is his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield.

Watkins 65 rushes 431 yards 2 touchdowns - average per rush 6.5. There is just something about Watkins ability to grind and escape and get tough yards. I wouldn't be surprised if Watkins earns more and more carries and it almost becomes split carries between Wynn and Watkins.

[sudog03]

They were the most talented team in the league this year. In my opinion, they have issues that are perhaps more systemic than having "Jimmys and Joes."

While I think SU's talent was better than our 6-5 record indicated, I'm not sure we had just gobs of talent above and beyond the rest of the league. The coaches put more ETSU and Chattanooga players on the 1st and 2nd team all-conference teams, and the same number as Wofford.

[FUBeAR]

great analysis as always. You aren't off the island, I just can't tell what tribe you are with. There are days I can't decide if you are a FU or a Bear.
FUBeAR is FU & FUBeAR is BeAR.

Why must one choose only one? I like vanilla & I like chocolate. I like blondes & I like brunettes, and, to be honest, I like redheads (a lot) too.

As Mercer is an underrepresented minority in this community, I am compelled to speak truth to power on many occasions so that people of Orange color are heard and their voices not suppressed.

#BearsLivesMatter

[dungeonjoe]

FUBeAR is FU & FUBeAR is BeAR.

Why must one choose only one? I like vanilla & I like chocolate. I like blondes & I like brunettes, and, to be honest, I like redheads (a lot) too.

As Mercer is an underrepresented minority in this community, I am compelled to speak truth to power on many occasions so that people of Orange color are heard and their voices not suppressed.

#BearsLivesMatter
your sensitivity to the downtrodden and suppressed means you either went to furman or you are a Methodist or both.

[CID1990]

It will be competitive. ETSU will have more depth and bring back a solid nucleus, as will Furman.

Wofford brings back 20 of 22 in the offensive two deep and 3/4 of the two deep on defense.

Chattanooga will lose some playmakers on defense but will almost certainly be better on offense with a new OC.

I differ to El Cid on how they will be, as they look to bring a bunch.

Western Carolina brings back Tyrie Adams and I think most of their defense.

VMI should bring back some as well. I don't know what Mercer brings back other than some good QBs.

Really, the only team that looks to take a step back is Samford. They lose a couple GOATs and I don't see them quickly recovering. They're already inconsistent and I don't think addition by subtraction applies.

Socon is gonna be tough. Razors edge separates us all.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

I remember just a few years ago wondering, "how will Samford move forward without Taliaferro?"

Samford's biggest problem isn't losing Hodges... its retaining Hatcher.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PaladinNation]

The Greenville News posted an article about the future of Furman football.
I won't bother with the link, they have a robust page view blocker if your, not a subscriber.

I was curious if Furman took advantage of the four-game redshirt rule.
Looks like they got redshirts for all the true freshmen except Corey Watkins who played in all 10 games.

Darren Grainger QB (four)
Travis Blackshear CB (four)
Dae’one Wilkins SPUR (four)
Devin Abrams RB (three)
Braden Gilby LB (three)
Hamp Sisson QB (two)

[Reign of Terrier]

Let's not forget that in Hodges' freshman season he didn't start until like halfway through the season. They had to take a few guys to figure out who was going to fill the gap.

[SU DOG]

Let's not forget that in Hodges' freshman season he didn't start until like halfway through the season. They had to take a few guys to figure out who was going to fill the gap.

Never forget FUBeAR calling that one.

[FUBeAR]

Never forget FUBeAR calling that one....in August.

...but, y’know, alternately sighted squirrels and whatnot.

[ElCid]

Let's not forget that in Hodges' freshman season he didn't start until like halfway through the season. They had to take a few guys to figure out who was going to fill the gap.

Correct. He started in the third quarter of our game after we put a 35-14 thumping on Samford in the first half. The bugger still passed for almost 300 yards.

[PaladinFan]

The Greenville News posted an article about the future of Furman football.
I won't bother with the link, they have a robust page view blocker if your, not a subscriber.

I was curious if Furman took advantage of the four-game redshirt rule.
Looks like they got redshirts for all the true freshmen except Corey Watkins who played in all 10 games.

Darren Grainger QB (four)
Travis Blackshear CB (four)
Dae’one Wilkins SPUR (four)
Devin Abrams RB (three)
Braden Gilby LB (three)
Hamp Sisson QB (two)

I don't know how other teams did it, but it certainly seemed like Furman tried to take advantage of the new rule and get a good look at a few players.

Darren Grainger has probably already played this season more than Harris Roberts had in the past four years.

[gofurman]

ETSU - Our two top rushers (Holmes and Saylors) return. Likely starting QB is Logan "Lucky" Marchi with Tyrique Sandusky and Trey Mitchell challenging. Wick (TE) and Werts (WR) are gone. We lose two starting OL along with four defensive starters to graduation. I expect yuge things next year for us.

I will say I saw Marchi at QB. That's when Furman ran the score to 27-6. Then Henrik came in and killed us. In fairness had you played Henrik the whole game maybe you kill us ? :(

So yes, QB will be a big question in Johnson City next year

[gofurman]

Hey, if anyone could let me know who is leaving as a Junior from your team - thanks!!! I.E. I was looking at seniors graduating but I know sometimes guys (QB Black at Citadel maybe??) leave after junior year especially if redshirt Junior.

Furman - it appears - is losing one LB to this. Chris Washington was listed as R-JR but now listed as Senior. So we lose One LB of the 8. We play 3/4 d.

Who is is leaving your SoCon team as a Junior or anyone else transferring out etc ? Thanks!

[walliver]

Wofford almost lost an offensive lineman, but he will return for his 5th year. Traditionally, Wofford has had some issues with retention of 5th year players. Athletes are expected to perform like regular students and most meet graduation requirements after 4 years. Coming back for a 5th year leaves players graduating mid-year in their 5th year and then having to hang out for 9 months before starting graduate school. In the last decade, we have lost 5th year players to graduate transfers, law school, medical school, and law school (a few were walk-ons, but most were starters). It is not an uncommon problem among some SoCon schools. I remember a few years back (?10 or so) when FU's entire offensive line chose to graduate and not return for a 5th year.

[FUBeAR]

Wofford almost lost an offensive lineman, but he will return for his 5th year. Traditionally, Wofford has had some issues with retention of 5th year players. Athletes are expected to perform like regular students and most meet graduation requirements after 4 years. Coming back for a 5th year leaves players graduating mid-year in their 5th year and then having to hang out for 9 months before starting graduate school. In the last decade, we have lost 5th year players to graduate transfers, law school, medical school, and law school (a few were walk-ons, but most were starters). It is not an uncommon problem among some SoCon schools. I remember a few years back (?10 or so) when FU's entire offensive line chose to graduate and not return for a 5th year.
If we’re thinking of the same year, those several FU OLmen were reserves & I’m sure Furman was glad to have those scholarships available. I think it may have been ‘11 or ‘12.

[gofurman]

Wofford almost lost an offensive lineman, but he will return for his 5th year. Traditionally, Wofford has had some issues with retention of 5th year players. Athletes are expected to perform like regular students and most meet graduation requirements after 4 years. Coming back for a 5th year leaves players graduating mid-year in their 5th year and then having to hang out for 9 months before starting graduate school. In the last decade, we have lost 5th year players to graduate transfers, law school, medical school, and law school (a few were walk-ons, but most were starters). It is not an uncommon problem among some SoCon schools. I remember a few years back (?10 or so) when FU's entire offensive line chose to graduate and not return for a 5th year.

Walliver,
I don't recall that example specifically but I DO recall a funny note. About 10-12 years ago Furman had two or three guys leaving as redshirt Juniors (4 year students that went ahead and graduated on time) ....
A few ( I am sure this is the minority) Georgia Southern guys posted they couldn't Comprehend this. They said "but they have a fifth year of FOOTBALL left ?!??" We explained they were moving on with LIFE to Law school etc. you could tell this was a foreign concept to these few GSU posters that anyone would prioritize graduate school over an extra year of FCS football. LOL. I wish I still had those posts

again, I am sure it was the minority as GSU has lots of great alum. It was just funny

[gofurman]

Anyway. Yeah.

Let me me know if anyone hears that a Junior or redshirt Junior guy is leaving. We have one LB as mentioned above.

Or or if ANYONE is leavin for some reason. (Reason doesn't need to be disclosed)

i keep updating the initial post with what each team returns - thanks !!!

[Reign of Terrier]

IMO there's a correlation with the team's overall success/potential for success and the number of fifth year guys who come back.

Wofford, for various reasons, was not good in 2013-2015 and that was the time we kept losing players to grad school.

[PaladinNation]

concerning rosters and recruiting…

I'm not sure how many snaps Furman's SO and FR 0-linemen played in 2018 but I bet it was a ton. By 2020 the play count for this group of linemen if they can stay healthy should lead to a stout o-line in 2020.

Not sure if this is new or just that with social media we now see it posted, Furman has a bunch of PWO offers out there — most if not all are high academic. Many fall into the athlete category, some are linebackers, a few are linemen. After watching the success of TR native and walk-on Bo McKinney I'm led to believe this is a depth strategy by the coaching staff.

Furman has one recruiting announcing he's reporting in January — rumor is two more are joining him.

Curious how many other SoCon schools are seeing an increase in PKO offers and do you have any players starting school in January that aren't transfers.

[KSUFAN]

Our O-Line loses ONE player in the 10 man 2 deep rotation. That unit should be VERY good. RBs(hey sometimes we do run the ball) will be better if any different with the emergence of Fr. DeMarcus Ware who led the team in rushing this year. Even with the loss of Kelvin McKnight, who you can't really replace, WRs are not a concern at all as we have tons of gifted players at this position. Now, you don't even consider saying you can replace a Devlin Hodges, as that would be an asinine statement. I think talk of a xfer QB, however, is totally wrong. Liam Welch will be a RS Jr. who has been patient and was always projected as the next man up. He knows the system thoroughly, but how much the lack of game experience will hamper his development is an unknown factor at this time. I can say that he is very talented, and watching him in practice gives Samford fans a lot of optimism.

The Samford defense losses some really good ones, but has lots of experienced players returning. Obviously, Ahmad Gooden will be missed - tremendously missed. LB Aaron Harris, and DT Horace Roberts will need to be replaced also. If Jr. LB Aaron Atkinson, out this year with injury, can come back healthy that will really strengthen that unit. He is a fine player. Even with the loss of Ahmad, I look for the front 7 to be pretty solid. The Samford secondary, that was injury riddled this year, should be much improved. Lots of young players got plenty of PT, and hopefully S Koi Freeman returns from injury. That guy is a stud of a DB.

Lots of questions - YES, but lots of talent also. It will be interesting to see how we do in the KO Classic against YSU. Samford is not quite as depleted as some folks on here think, and probably hope.

Liam will surprise a lot of people! Is he a Delvin Hodge, no but he is very talented, smart and can make all the throws!

[gofurman]

concerning rosters and recruiting…

I'm not sure how many snaps Furman's SO and FR 0-linemen played in 2018 but I bet it was a ton. By 2020 the play count for this group of linemen if they can stay healthy should lead to a stout o-line in 2020.

Not sure if this is new or just that with social media we now see it posted, Furman has a bunch of PWO offers out there — most if not all are high academic. Many fall into the athlete category, some are linebackers, a few are linemen. After watching the success of TR native and walk-on Bo McKinney I'm led to believe this is a depth strategy by the coaching staff.

Furman has one recruiting announcing he's reporting in January — rumor is two more are joining him.

Curious how many other SoCon schools are seeing an increase in PKO offers and do you have any players starting school in January that aren't transfers.


I have a BASIC question.

Like partial walk on etc. if a school can give a football player a legitimate Academic Scholarship (full ride) does that not count AT ALL towards the 63 FCS football scholarships ??? Does it count towards another number like the 95 who can report in August ? I would think so. I think there is also an 85 number in there I think.

63 football scholarships. /. 95. /. 85. Can someone please help me understand these numbers ? I think one difference is how many kids can actually report in August (preferred Walk On) vs coming when school starts for all regular students (regular walk on). ??

***But if you can use academic money to fund football players who legitimately deserve the academic money then you could hypothetically have 70 academic guys and 63 football scholarships for a total of 133 guys !! That Can't be Legal. How does that work? What's the most Total number of PAID /Scholarship (academic OR athletic ) guys you can have on an FCS team??

I bet FUBeAR and some others could help me understand!

Thanks in advance

[CID1990]

Hey, if anyone could let me know who is leaving as a Junior from your team - thanks!!! I.E. I was looking at seniors graduating but I know sometimes guys (QB Black at Citadel maybe??) leave after junior year especially if redshirt Junior.

Furman - it appears - is losing one LB to this. Chris Washington was listed as R-JR but now listed as Senior. So we lose One LB of the 8. We play 3/4 d.

Who is is leaving your SoCon team as a Junior or anyone else transferring out etc ? Thanks!

For NCAA eligibility purposes, Black is a junior. But in reality he's a senior and is graduating and taking a commission in the USAF this spring.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gofurman]

. For NCAA eligibility purposes, Black is a junior. But in reality he's a senior and is graduating and taking a commission in the USAF this spring.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks. That's exactly what I am, asking about !

Separate note. REALLY appreciate the military service !

[Reign of Terrier]

Not that anyone cares, but I'm already feeling the FCS withdrawals (no longer caring about AGS because my team's seasons over). My hibernation until, like, July, beckons.

[MR. CHICKEN]

concerning rosters and recruiting…

I'm not sure how many snaps Furman's SO and FR 0-linemen played in 2018 but I bet it was a ton. By 2020 the play count for this group of linemen if they can stay healthy should lead to a stout o-line in 2020.

Not sure if this is new or just that with social media we now see it posted, Furman has a bunch of PWO offers out there — most if not all are high academic. Many fall into the athlete category, some are linebackers, a few are linemen. After watching the success of TR native and walk-on Bo McKinney I'm led to believe this is a depth strategy by the coaching staff.

Furman has one recruiting announcing he's reporting in January — rumor is two more are joining him.




Curious how many other SoCon schools are seeing an increase in PKO offers and do you have any players starting school in January that aren't transfers.



......AH'D GO WHIFF.......BOOSTIN'.......TEAM GPA....&.....SPECIAL TEAMS....HEADKNOCKERS..........AWK!

[gofurman]

QUOTE=Professor;2680287]On Monday, Sam Houston State (https://herosports.com/colleges/sam-houston-state) running back Remus Bulmer (https://herosports.com/colleges/team-player-stats/remus-bulmer) -- one of the top returning career rushers in the FCS (https://herosports.com/fcs-football) -- reached out to HERO Sports and said he is going to sit out the rest of 2018 and will take his redshirt this year, then look to play his senior season elsewhere in 2019.

The back had been a consistent contributor from 2015 until this weekend, making a name for himself as a true freshman when he went for 100-plus rushing yards in a playoff win over that year's Big Sky Champion -- Southern Utah (https://herosports.com/colleges/southern-utah). He followed that up with an All Southland Conference season as a sophomore in 2016, leading the Bearkats in rushing.
"It was just mainly a personal decision for my future, I just felt it would be better for my future to sit it out and get an opportunity to show what I can actually do," Bulmer told HERO Sports Monday night. "After three games, it has zero things to do with the outcomes of the games whether we lost or won. I just feel like I can contribute more as a senior. It just seems like I'm playing less this year than previous years. I've never been a selfish player, I know I can help more. I can do that ... I've led the conference one year (sophomore year)."

https://herosports.com/fcs/football-sam-houston-state-remus-bulmer-transferring-ajaj[/QUOTE]

star RB transferring to Citadel

[citdog]

Brandon Rainey SoCon Offensive POTY and the 'Dogs win the SoCon...

[CID1990]

Thanks. That's exactly what I am, asking about !

Separate note. REALLY appreciate the military service !

I believe Ward is graduating early as well, not 100% sure. He scored our 2 touchdowns at Bama

[citdog]

I believe Ward is graduating early as well, not 100% sure. He scored our 2 touchdowns at Bama

That was actually Knob Smith. The only other running backs that have had 100+ rushing yards and 2 Td's against Alabama while Saban has coached then besides The Citadel Knob Smith are Ezikiel Elliot, Darren McFadden, and Todd Girley. Pretty good company for Dante Smith...

[ElCid]

That was actually Knob Smith. The only other running backs that have had 100+ rushing yards and 2 Td's against Alabama while Saban has coached then besides The Citadel Knob Smith are Ezikiel Elliot, Darren McFadden, and Todd Girley. Pretty good company for Dante Smith...

Yeah, we got him for a few more seasons. Nice knob year for him. Hope he didn't peak there.

[PaladinFan]

If we’re thinking of the same year, those several FU OLmen were reserves & I’m sure Furman was glad to have those scholarships available. I think it may have been ‘11 or ‘12.

That was my understanding. I have spoken to a number of people that attribute Furman's lean years around the same time to having too many scholarships tied up in offensive linemen that never saw the field.

I think Furman coaches just missed on a lot of guys up front. OT Dakota Dozier masked a lot of those problems. When he graduated, the wheels came off.

[citdog]

Hey firmen fans which college did dingleberry martin start at????

[CID1990]

That was actually Knob Smith. The only other running backs that have had 100+ rushing yards and 2 Td's against Alabama while Saban has coached then besides The Citadel Knob Smith are Ezikiel Elliot, Darren McFadden, and Todd Girley. Pretty good company for Dante Smith...

Yeah I went back and watched and realized it was Smith.

We have a full stable of RBs

[Milktruck74]

Well I guess the Mocs updates will fall on me... As for coaching, yes we are in a holding pattern. We should have an answer tomorrow. TA is in talks with Akron, but they are broke and he has a buyout if he leaves before 1/1/19. I wont jump to a conclusion here, since 2 years ago Chadwell was our new HC, until he wasn't. Nothing is a Done Deal until the ink is dry (ask Mike Houston at Charlotte).

Tiano and Nunley are back, as well as price. Our OC is GONE, so that is worth at least another 7 point per game, regardless of who replaces him. Our OL will improve, because we are getting a new OL coach, and again anyone is better than the one we had. We have plenty of talent on the O side of the ball, we just need a staff that can understand how to utilize it.

On D we have some big gaps to fill, but that is what our D does....next man up!!! Orr Mahaffey and Mack all graduate, but we have some strong guys set to step up. Mack and Mahaffey had to step in and fill big shoes of McMillan and Davis, who had to step up and fill in for Lott and Tull. Honestly, I'm less worried about filling graduation holes on our Defense than I amour Special teams.

On Special teams we have some solid kids, but they have never really lived up to their potential. We are losing a long snapper (that doesn't make mistakes) to grad transfer.

If it is TA at the helm next year, I fully expect us to compete for the SoCon, we have a tough OOC, but I really think the team has the talent to win 5 or 6 games in the SoCon or more. We will be in the top half of the league and who knows what else may happen. If it isn't TA.....next man up!!!

[Mocs123]

Hey firmen fans which college did dingleberry martin start at????

Not a Furman fan, but I think he started his career at FSU.

[Milktruck74]

UF

[gofurman]

UF

Yes. He was the starting QB at Florida. Why?

[wcugrad95]

FWIW regarding the WCU defense, we started 6 true or RS Freshman, and for most of the last 2 or 3 games EVERY listed backup except one was a true or RS Freshman. So that would be 16 of 22 on D that were Freshman (not just underclassmen). We should at least be more experienced - jury is out on how much better. I expect to see improvement in Wiley’s 3rd year as DC but 2018 was really bad.

On offense, the big losses are 4 starting O-lineman. There was some rotation, and we had some young guys play. But no idea how good or bad that unit will play. All skill players except for Jordan Mathis are back, including Adams who was only the 10th player in FCS/I-AA history to throw for 2000 and run for 1000 in a season. Assuming the line can do anything I expect us to once again field a pretty good offense (at least in the first half of games).

Special teams were not very special in 2018, but we are losing one of the better punters in SoCon history (I believe Berryman was all-SoCon 3 seasons but struggled due to our scheme and an injury last year). Our K finally was allowed to kick the ball deep, and he started putting kickoffs in the end zone and made several 40+ yard FGs late in the season. But special teams cost us a chance at 2 or 3 more wins (or at least being in a much tighter ball game - we straight up lost to ETSU because of a missed 20-something yard FG).

Say what you want, but WCU was the 8th place team who could have easily won 2 or 3 more games. We need to make coaching adjustments in-game (or coaching moves for next year), but if the young guys mature any and the o-line is basically serviceable I believe WCU could be even a little closer to winning those games in 2019. I predict a better showing, but have to see the young ‘uns and how much they matured before I can estimate how much better.

[gofurman]

Small bump. I updated with the 5 SoCon guys that won freshman all America awards

trying to keep this updated so I can look at This pre season 2019

[PaladinFan]

December signing day kicks off Wednesday. Interested to see everyone's class. I think Furman should have a good one.

All the Paladins need now is Justin Fields deciding to take his talents to Greenville. xnodx

[FUBeAR]

December signing day kicks off Wednesday. Interested to see everyone's class. I think Furman should have a good one.

All the Paladins need now is Justin Fields deciding to take his talents to Greenville. xnodx”Sources” tell me they saw Fields eating lunch at Tommy’s Country Ham House yesterday.

[FUBeAR]

December signing day kicks off Wednesday. Interested to see everyone's class. I think Furman should have a good one.

All the Paladins need now is Justin Fields deciding to take his talents to Greenville. xnodxWelp...we have a SoCon Next Year thread AND a 2019 SoCon Offseason Thread. Recruiting seems to be more of an Offseason topic, but I’ll post this (below) here & in the other thread.

Quick summary of Mercer’s Commits ‘known’ to FUBeAR. It will be interesting to see how many of these sign tomorrow & if there are others that sign tomorrow that are ‘unknown.’

Commits (16 ‘known’ to FUBeAR)...

for those who care about such things...

3 - 3 Stars
2 - 2 Stars
18 reported FBS offers for 12 of the 16 Commits

* Joel Girtman - DB, 5-11/182, Westlake HS, Atlanta, GA - 2 Star; offers from Wofford, APSU, ETSU, FAU, Morgan St., Tennessee St.

* Pedro Rodriguez - WR/TE, 6-2/225, Lake Mary HS, Lake Mary, FL - offers from FAMU, UTM

* John Thomas - OL, 6-3/300, Hillgrove HS, Powder Springs, GA - 3 Star; offers from AF, APSU, Colorado St., ECU, EKU, Elon, Illinois St., SEMO, SIU

* Dylan Fromm - QB, 6-0/200, Warner Robins HS, Warner Robins, GA - 3 Star; offers from UTC, Penn, South Alabama, SEMO

* Justin Bray - WR/TE, 6-4/210, St. George’s Independent School, Collierville, TN - 2 Star; offers from GaSou, GaSt, Princeton

* Lance Wise - DB, 5-8/183, Hillgrove HS, Powder Springs, GA - offers from AF, Army, Columbia, Kent St.

* Kendall Bohler - DB, 5-11/170, Ocoee HS, Ocoee, FL - offers from FAMU, Jacksonville, Stetson

* Aidan Higgins - OL, 6-1/285, Mountain View HS, Lawrenceville, GA - numerous D2/NAIA offers; older brother was 4-year Starter at Center for Elon (2015-2018); oldest brother played OL at Tulane & TTU

* Luke Szabados - LB, 6-2/230, Moeller HS, Cincinnati, OH - offers from JMU, Eastern Mich., Duquesne, Holy Cross

* Richie Coffey - ATH, 5-10/170, Baldwin HS, Jacksonville, FL - offers from UMass, Alcorn St., Charleston Southern, FAMU, Idaho, New Hampshire, The Citadel

* Zach Hopkins - LB, 6-1/215, James Clemens HS, Madison, AL - offers from Jacksonville St., Alabama St., GaSt, EKU, Furman,

* Fredrick Davis - RB, 5-10/192, Northside HS, Columbus, GA - offers from Army, Navy, Columbia, Dartmouth, Davidson, Jacksonville

* Colton Dingmore - OL, 6-4/255, Mary Persons HS, Forsyth, GA - offer from TTU

* Brandon Marshall - RB, 5-9/184, Raines HS, Jacksonville, FL - 3 Star; offers from NDSU, Charlotte, NC A&T, Charleston Southern

* Gavin Hughes - LB, 6-3/210, Coosa HS, Rome, GA - Very early Commit; offer from Liberty

* Zach Lassiter - QB/LS, 6-1/193, Bleckley County HS, Cochran, GA - Very early Commit as a Long Snapper; offer from GaSou

[gofurman]

Be interested in everyone’s SIGNED commits tomorrow !

Love to
Have extra info like other offers (FCS orFBS ?) / star rankings etc.

Good stuff from FUBeAR!! let’s see who signs at each SoCon school and post tomorrow

[PaladinNation]

The Furman coaches appear to be working hard to put a purple bow on this class. I'll wait till the ink dries to post the details of each.

Furman did pick up a DB last night… not public but if you follow the trail of tweets — it's got to be Gene Chizik's son Cally Chizik choose Furman over Chattanooga. Furman has several making their decisions tomorrow - make me nervous.

[Milktruck74]

Mocs just got the top guy on their board to sign....without a HC... Ailym Ford is a RB out of West Florence, SC.....and he REALLY wants to be a Moc.

[FUBeAR]

Welp...we have a SoCon Next Year thread AND a 2019 SoCon Offseason Thread. Recruiting seems to be more of an Offseason topic, but I’ll post this (below) here & in the other thread.

Quick summary of Mercer’s Commits ‘known’ to FUBeAR. It will be interesting to see how many of these sign tomorrow & if there are others that sign tomorrow that are ‘unknown.’

Commits (17 ‘known’ to FUBeAR)...

for those who care about such things...

3 - 3 Stars
2 - 2 Stars
18 reported FBS offers for 12 of the 17 Commits

* Joel Girtman - DB, 5-11/182, Westlake HS, Atlanta, GA - 2 Star; offers from Wofford, APSU, ETSU, FAU, Morgan St., Tennessee St.

* Pedro Rodriguez - TE, 6-2/225, Lake Mary HS, Lake Mary, FL - offers from FAMU, UTM

* John Thomas - OL, 6-3/300, Hillgrove HS, Powder Springs, GA - 3 Star; offers from AF, APSU, Colorado St., ECU, EKU, Elon, Illinois St., SEMO, SIU

* Dylan Fromm - QB, 6-0/200, Warner Robins HS, Warner Robins, GA - 3 Star; offers from UTC, Penn, South Alabama, SEMO

* Justin Bray - WR/TE, 6-4/210, St. George’s Independent School, Collierville, TN - 2 Star; offers from GaSou, GaSt, Princeton

* Lance Wise - DB, 5-8/183, Hillgrove HS, Powder Springs, GA - offers from AF, Army, Columbia, Kent St.

* Kendall Bohler - DB, 5-11/170, Ocoee HS, Ocoee, FL - offers from FAMU, Jacksonville, Stetson

* Aidan Higgins - OL, 6-1/285, Mountain View HS, Lawrenceville, GA - numerous D2/NAIA offers; older brother was 4-year Starter at Center for Elon (2015-2018); oldest brother played OL at Tulane & TTU

* Luke Szabados - LB, 6-2/230, Moeller HS, Cincinnati, OH - offers from JMU, Eastern Mich., Duquesne, Holy Cross

* Richie Coffey - WR, 5-10/170, Baldwin HS, Jacksonville, FL - offers from UMass, Alcorn St., Charleston Southern, FAMU, Idaho, New Hampshire, The Citadel

* Zach Hopkins - LB, 6-1/215, James Clemens HS, Madison, AL - offers from Jacksonville St., Alabama St., GaSt, EKU, Furman,

* Fredrick Davis - RB, 5-10/192, Northside HS, Columbus, GA - offers from Army, Navy, Columbia, Dartmouth, Davidson, Jacksonville

* Colton Dingmore - OL, 6-4/255, Mary Persons HS, Forsyth, GA - offer from TTU

* Brandon Marshall - RB, 5-9/184, Raines HS, Jacksonville, FL - 3 Star; offers from NDSU, Charlotte, NC A&T, Charleston Southern

* Gavin Hughes - LB, 6-3/210, Coosa HS, Rome, GA - Very early Commit; offer from Liberty

* Zach Lassiter - QB/LS, 6-1/193, Bleckley County HS, Cochran, GA - Very early Commit as a Long Snapper; offer from GaSou

* Pat Rogers - DL, 6-2/290, Wayne County HS, Jesup, GA - *ADDED* - Former Commit to The Citadel

All signed except Justin Bray. No additional info on him.

Also added a ‘flip’ from the bellhops. Smart kid.

[Milktruck74]

Mocs just got the top guy on their board to sign....without a HC... Ailym Ford is a RB out of West Florence, SC.....and he REALLY wants to be a Moc.

And Lim Ford's new Head Coach is Rusty Wright. Not the most exciting name for moston this board, but the Moc Fans are elated. Rusty is one of our guys. He has a big coaching tree to tap into and should pull in some quality Assistants....Look for the return of some familiar faces!!!!

[PaladinNation]

And Lim Ford's new Head Coach is Rusty Wright. Not the most exciting name for moston this board, but the Moc Fans are elated. Rusty is one of our guys. He has a big coaching tree to tap into and should pull in some quality Assistants....Look for the return of some familiar faces!!!!

Congrats Mocs, Wright seems to be a great coach and a good guy.

[FUBeAR]

And Lim Ford's new Head Coach is Rusty Wright. Not the most exciting name for moston this board, but the Moc Fans are elated. Rusty is one of our guys. He has a big coaching tree to tap into and should pull in some quality Assistants....Look for the return of some familiar faces!!!!
Yep...looks like a WINNER!

https://cdn.prestosports.com/action/cdn/img/mw=160/mh=210/cr=n/d=79bu7/cpixa7jtf1r24bqx.jpg

...dresses like one, anyway.

[PaladinFan]

Interesting discussion on Furman's forum at the moment. The updated roster is without QB JeMar Lincoln, a backup this year who started and won the game against the Citadel. There had been some scuttlebut among Furman fans as to whether he would stick around after seemingly being moved behind Darren Grainger (and maybe Hamp Sisson too) on the depth chart.

As of right now, Furman has only 3 QBs on the published roster. Two are freshman, one is a sophmore (and walkon, I think). Furman has one commitment from a QB that is believed to be a PWO as well.

Interesting to see what, if any, move Furman makes at that position. The Paladins return 17 starters next season and look like they could be a conference title contender again. I know the coaching staff likes Grainger, but there is definitely a depth concern at the most key position on the field right now.

[PaladinFan]

Saw this, and for whatever reason, it struck me as funny.

I'm not sure it is fair to say Hatcher gets it "done on the ground." He inherited a transcendent running senior QB at Georgia Southern who was ill fit for Hatcher's air raid offense. During Foster's Payton year in 2007, Georgia Southern's offense was as close to "school yard" football as I have ever seen in college football. Foster caught the ball in the shotgun, and ran left or right.

To his credit, at least Hatcher realized what Van Gorder didn't - give your best player the football as often as you can.


https://twitter.com/SamfordFootball/status/1076307882751262725

[SU DOG]

One thing not debatable is Hatcher's ability to coach QBs.
This got me to thinking about the SoCon QBs for 2019. Samford will start a new one, Furman has somewhat of a question mark, and ETSU will (kinda) start anew. The Citadel has found their guy, I guess UTC has Tiano, WCU has Adams(I assume he is returning), Wofford has returnees, and VMI has Udinski. That leaves the team, that IMO, might have the best guy in the SoCon next season. I am extremely high on Mercer's Robert Riddle, and I'm also assuming he will be 100%. He may not be considered a dual threat, but he can run. His passing is good, and he makes good decisions. His biggest asset, however, might be that intangible "IT" factor. I can't explain it, but I can see it in the best QBs. I realize I'm praising him from limited data, but that's what my coaching background says to me.

[PaladinFan]

One thing not debatable is Hatcher's ability to coach QBs.
This got me to thinking about the SoCon QBs for 2019. Samford will start a new one, Furman has somewhat of a question mark, and ETSU will (kinda) start anew. The Citadel has found their guy, I guess UTC has Tiano, WCU has Adams(I assume he is returning), Wofford has returnees, and VMI has Udinski. That leaves the team, that IMO, might have the best guy in the SoCon next season. I am extremely high on Mercer's Robert Riddle, and I'm also assuming he will be 100%. He may not be considered a dual threat, but he can run. His passing is good, and he makes good decisions. His biggest asset, however, might be that intangible "IT" factor. I can't explain it, but I can see it in the best QBs. I realize I'm praising him from limited data, but that's what my coaching background says to me.

All true. Personally, though, I think we are going to see the SoCon shift back to a league where the running backs and not the QBs are the stars.

I think you would have to go back ten years or more to the days of Jerome Felton, Kevin Richardson, Jermaine Austin, Eldra Buckley, Nemo Broughton, etc. to find the last time the SoCon was this talented at running back.

Quay Holmes had an outstanding freshman campaign. Devezin looks like a tailor-made feature back for Mercer's zone read scheme. Furman has a very talented rotation of backs. The Citadel has a some good looking players and just added a key transfer at that position. WCU's Adams is a next-level dual threat QB in the mold of Armanti Edwards.

[Milktruck74]

https://twitter.com/RickNymanSport/status/1076251385363156992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5 Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1076251385363156992&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fgomocs.com%2Fnews%2F2018%2F1 2%2F21%2Ffootball-photos-and-video-of-rusty-wrights-introductory-press-conference.aspx


Y'all just got put on notice!!!!

[Milktruck74]

All true. Personally, though, I think we are going to see the SoCon shift back to a league where the running backs and not the QBs are the stars.

I think you would have to go back ten years or more to the days of Jerome Felton, Kevin Richardson, Jermaine Austin, Eldra Buckley, Nemo Broughton, etc. to find the last time the SoCon was this talented at running back.

Quay Holmes had an outstanding freshman campaign. Devezin looks like a tailor-made feature back for Mercer's zone read scheme. Furman has a very talented rotation of backs. The Citadel has a some good looking players and just added a key transfer at that position. WCU's Adams is a next-level dual threat QB in the mold of Armanti Edwards.

Holmes was fabulous...no doubt. I also think Price at UTC will turn some heads. He had some glimmers of brilliance last year, but he was hampered by awful playcalling....I'm not sure who will be the guy making those decisions, but he has to be better than the Rascati/Arth combo....and all price needs is a little help from his coaching staff.....the guy is great, and I think Coach Wright will unleash the beast next year.

[citdog]

https://twitter.com/RickNymanSport/status/1076251385363156992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5 Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1076251385363156992&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fgomocs.com%2Fnews%2F2018%2F1 2%2F21%2Ffootball-photos-and-video-of-rusty-wrights-introductory-press-conference.aspx


Y'all just got put on notice!!!!

Put on notice for what? Chatt is like Samford without the academic standards....

[FUBeAR]

https://twitter.com/RickNymanSport/status/1076251385363156992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5 Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1076251385363156992&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fgomocs.com%2Fnews%2F2018%2F1 2%2F21%2Ffootball-photos-and-video-of-rusty-wrights-introductory-press-conference.aspx


Y'all just got put on notice!!!!

“aaaahhm Ohm” ??? Part mantra; part tribute to a German physicist? WTF was that?

My 2 SoCon Teams came all through, over, atop, and on Chattanooga; to the tune of 4-0 in the Arth years. I expect more of the same.

[Milktruck74]

“aaaahhm Ohm” ??? Part mantra; part tribute to a German physicist? WTF was that?

My 2 SoCon Teams came all through, over, atop, and on Chattanooga; to the tune of 4-0 in the Arth years. I expect more of the same.

If you pick enough teams, you can probably have a winning record. ha. The Mocs will be back...the Arth era was a hic-cup....now it's the Wright time!!!! My TeamMate....My Coach.....Go Mocs!!!!

[FUBeAR]

If you pick enough teams, you can probably have a winning record. ha. The Mocs will be back...the Arth era was a hic-cup....now it's the Wright time!!!! My TeamMate....My Coach.....Go Mocs!!!!
I’m with you MilkTruck. Other than doing it yourself, not much better than having one of your Teammates as the Head Coach of your alma mater! That’s the primary reason FUBeAR is so passionate about Furman & Mercer these days. Yeah, I played at 1 & my son played at the other, but my Teammates, even if they were snotty-nosed Freshies when FUBeAR was a RS-Sr, being the HC’s at Mercer & Furman, is the real reason why FUBeAR is so much of a ‘homer’ for those Teams. I’m not sure I’d die for those 2 dudes, but I’m not sure I wouldn’t either.

[PaladinFan]

Not SoCon, but I hope everyone had a chance to either watch or see the highlights of Army's complete dismantling of Houston yesterday.

Army runs a "boring" option offense and just beat the crap out of an "exciting" spread air attack from Houston. The execution and athleticism from Army was just outstanding.

Monken can flat coach. I'm glad he's no longer in the conference.

[Bisonoline]

Not SoCon, but I hope everyone had a chance to either watch or see the highlights of Army's complete dismantling of Houston yesterday.

Army runs a "boring" option offense and just beat the crap out of an "exciting" spread air attack from Houston. The execution and athleticism from Army was just outstanding.

Monken can flat coach. I'm glad he's no longer in the conference.

Army played a great game. Execution was off the hook. Plus they have size and speed. Not something they are known for in the past.

They also do what we called sprint blocking off the LOS. Not the dancing and walling off which is very prevalent in todays game. We also called it a power offense because we were blowing the dline off the LOS.

[CID1990]

Army whipped their fannies


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[Reign of Terrier]

Army played well but it also true that Houston had a bottom 30 run defense and definitely didn't want to be there.

More impressive was Army's defense. They had 10 sacks and quite a few turnovers. Their DC is moving on to the P5 (UNC) but rumor has it that former Wofford/App State/GT DC Nate Woody will make his way to Army

Monken is a very good coach and the only reason he's not getting serious looks in the P5 is because he runs the option.

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[CID1990]

Army played well but it also true that Houston had a bottom 30 run defense and definitely didn't want to be there.

More impressive was Army's defense. They had 10 sacks and quite a few turnovers. Their DC is moving on to the P5 (UNC) but rumor has it that former Wofford/App State/GT DC Nate Woody will make his way to Army

Monken is a very good coach and the only reason he's not getting serious looks in the P5 is because he runs the option.

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After last year's Army Navy game I noticed something about Moncken's demeanor - there was something different about him. Like he's satisfied to be where he is.

GT might give him some serious looks, but I'm thinking he could also be perfectly happy to finish out his career at Army


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[PaladinFan]

After last year's Army Navy game I noticed something about Moncken's demeanor - there was something different about him. Like he's satisfied to be where he is.

GT might give him some serious looks, but I'm thinking he could also be perfectly happy to finish out his career at Army


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Furman fans discussed this pretty extensively when Clay Hendrix was rumored to want to return to Furman. I understand these academy jobs are pretty good gigs. You are a federal employee complete with all of those benefits, are recruiting highly regarded and motivated student-athletes, and have very little pressure to win 9 or 10 games a year. I would imagine there are very few egos on that team.

[PaladinFan]

Army played well but it also true that Houston had a bottom 30 run defense and definitely didn't want to be there.

More impressive was Army's defense. They had 10 sacks and quite a few turnovers. Their DC is moving on to the P5 (UNC) but rumor has it that former Wofford/App State/GT DC Nate Woody will make his way to Army

Monken is a very good coach and the only reason he's not getting serious looks in the P5 is because he runs the option.

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It was probably a combination of a few things. It is true Houston did not want to be there. Even then, it is another thing to get outcoached, outplayed, and embarrassed.

I was just as impressed with Army's defense. Had me thinking about ways that a good DC can turn up pressure on a pass happy team (like Samford and VMI). Helps to take calculated risks when the other team can't stop your offense, though.

[Reign of Terrier]

Also FWIW GT already found their coach and is moving away from the option

[FCS_pwns_FBS]

Also FWIW GT already found their coach and is moving away from the option

I think it will be a generation before a Power 5 team will hire an option coach again because Paul Johnson's years at Tech will be explained by his system rather than pedestrian recruiting (hasn't had a back taken in the NFL since 2011). That's the main thing that separates Monken and Paul Johnson, Monken is a better recruiter and manager and left the Georgia Southern roster in better shape than he found it.

If any Power 5 athletic director dared hire Jeff Monken the immediate backlash from the fan base would be overwhelming a la Greg Schiano and Tennessee, and it's too bad because if you gave Jeff Monken and Brent Davis a roster like Oklahoma's and Alabama's you might set half the offensive records in the books.

[SU DOG]

I think it will be a generation before a Power 5 team will hire an option coach again because Paul Johnson's years at Tech will be explained by his system rather than pedestrian recruiting (hasn't had a back taken in the NFL since 2011). That's the main thing that separates Monken and Paul Johnson, Monken is a better recruiter and manager and left the Georgia Southern roster in better shape than he found it.

If any Power 5 athletic director dared hire Jeff Monken the immediate backlash from the fan base would be overwhelming a la Greg Schiano and Tennessee, and it's too bad because if you gave Jeff Monken and Brent Davis a roster like Oklahoma's and Alabama's you might set half the offensive records in the books.

Agree 100%. Also, there have been rumors that even more rule changes may be coming concerning cut blocking.

[CID1990]

Also FWIW GT already found their coach and is moving away from the option

Good

Maybe they’ll forget how to defend it between now and this September

[longtimemocfan]

Holmes was fabulous...no doubt. I also think Price at UTC will turn some heads. He had some glimmers of brilliance last year, but he was hampered by awful playcalling....I'm not sure who will be the guy making those decisions, but he has to be better than the Rascati/Arth combo....and all price needs is a little help from his coaching staff.....the guy is great, and I think Coach Wright will unleash the beast next year.Price played hurt for a lot of the season. Hopefully we'll have some more backs to help take the load off of him next season.

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[PaladinFan]

I think it will be a generation before a Power 5 team will hire an option coach again because Paul Johnson's years at Tech will be explained by his system rather than pedestrian recruiting (hasn't had a back taken in the NFL since 2011). That's the main thing that separates Monken and Paul Johnson, Monken is a better recruiter and manager and left the Georgia Southern roster in better shape than he found it.

If any Power 5 athletic director dared hire Jeff Monken the immediate backlash from the fan base would be overwhelming a la Greg Schiano and Tennessee, and it's too bad because if you gave Jeff Monken and Brent Davis a roster like Oklahoma's and Alabama's you might set half the offensive records in the books.

GT also struggled to beat UGA. This year GT's option looked completely overmatched against the Dawgs.

[Mocs123]

To be honest a lot of teams offenses looked outmatched against the Dawgs D this year.

[PaladinFan]

Any new signees you are excited about seeing play or who might be immediate contributors next year?

For me, I am really looking forward to watching the development of Evan Jumper, an OL out of Myrtle Beach. Jumper is a guy that I think will sort of typify what Clay Hendrix is looking to do offensively - high motor, lean, and athletic type of player. All Furman's commits this year along the line fit that bill--guys that are already technically sound players that can add "good weight" at the college level.

Jumper had something like 20 offers and committed to Furman early. Furman returns the entire two deep OL this year, so I doubt we will see him immediately, but you watch his film, and there's a lot to like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJbkVR4f5eQ

I really like the play beginning at :28. Blocks his man downfield and then bear hugs his running back and carries him for another four yards. That is some blue-collar stuff right there.

You watch some of the other plays, and you really get a sense for what kind of team player he his. At the 1:03 he drives his man into the sideline, gets back on his feet, and sprints 20 yards downfield (beating most of his team downfield) to throw another block. At 1:30 his QB throws a pick and he races 70 yards downfield to make the tackle on a defensive back. Those are "character" plays that are not glamorous, but they tell me a lot about a kid. He could have taken both of those plays off after doing his job and no one would have thought anything of it.

[Milktruck74]

Any new signees you are excited about seeing play or who might be immediate contributors next year?

For me, I am really looking forward to watching the development of Evan Jumper, an OL out of Myrtle Beach. Jumper is a guy that I think will sort of typify what Clay Hendrix is looking to do offensively - high motor, lean, and athletic type of player. All Furman's commits this year along the line fit that bill--guys that are already technically sound players that can add "good weight" at the college level.

Jumper had something like 20 offers and committed to Furman early. Furman returns the entire two deep OL this year, so I doubt we will see him immediately, but you watch his film, and there's a lot to like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJbkVR4f5eQ

I really like the play beginning at :28. Blocks his man downfield and then bear hugs his running back and carries him for another four yards. That is some blue-collar stuff right there.

You watch some of the other plays, and you really get a sense for what kind of team player he his. At the 1:03 he drives his man into the sideline, gets back on his feet, and sprints 20 yards downfield (beating most of his team downfield) to throw another block. At 1:30 his QB throws a pick and he races 70 yards downfield to make the tackle on a defensive back. Those are "character" plays that are not glamorous, but they tell me a lot about a kid. He could have taken both of those plays off after doing his job and no one would have thought anything of it.

we inked 2 guys....without a coaching staff.....i’m Not saying they are going to be all-anything....but they really wanted to be Mocs, so they are my new favorite Mocs!

[Milktruck74]

Rumors of a BIG hire at DC coming for the Mocs. If there is any truth, it will make the collective SoCon head spin.

[PaladinFan]

we inked 2 guys....without a coaching staff.....i’m Not saying they are going to be all-anything....but they really wanted to be Mocs, so they are my new favorite Mocs!

There is certainly a lot of uncertainty with that. That is one reason, I think, the Mocs made a wise decision to go with a "Chattanooga guy" as head coach. Especially a guy that already has recruiting ties in the area.

[Mocs123]

There is certainly a lot of uncertainty with that. That is one reason, I think, the Mocs made a wise decision to go with a "Chattanooga guy" as head coach. Especially a guy that already has recruiting ties in the area.

Rusty is a "Chatttanooga Guy" for sure. Both he and his wife are alums and played sports at Chattanooga. They have also lived here since 2011, and he didn't follow Huesman to Richmond because he didn't want to move. There will be some growing pains I am sure, but nobody will work harder for Chattanooga.

[Mocs123]

Rumors of a BIG hire at DC coming for the Mocs. If there is any truth, it will make the collective SoCon head spin.

Nick Saban is retiring from Alabama and is coming to be the Mocs DC and Recruiting Cordinator? :)

[FUBeAR]

Nick Saban is retiring from Alabama and is coming to be the Mocs DC and Recruiting Cordinator? :)Bigger than THAT, from what FUBeAR is hearing!

[Milktruck74]

There is certainly a lot of uncertainty with that. That is one reason, I think, the Mocs made a wise decision to go with a "Chattanooga guy" as head coach. Especially a guy that already has recruiting ties in the area.
The rumored coordinators have deep ties to the recruiting grounds too. I’ve had more than one hs coach tell me they would trust their own sons to the rumored OC.....very well respected in TN, GA, SC, FL.....

[walliver]

Did the Chattanooga athletic department buy the winning Mega Millions ticket?
Is Paul Johnson coming out of retirement already?

[gofurman]

Chattanooga fans - help here as I keep the initial post updated on each team


Tiano and Nunnely return, right ??? How many OL return? Price at RB is he back??

Problem I see is Mack and Mahaffey on DL are both gone I think ?? Huge losses there. Mack is possible NFL.

Does Kareem Orr graduate ?? He is a great DB.

Do Mack and Mahaffey graduate?
---------------------

can you all answer these please? thanks! I think both Mack and Mahaffey are graduating from the DL - is that right?

[Mocs123]

Chattanooga fans - help here as I keep the initial post updated on each team


Tiano and Nunnely return, right ??? How many OL return? Price at RB is he back??

Problem I see is Mack and Mahaffey on DL are both gone I think ?? Huge losses there. Mack is possible NFL.

Does Kareem Orr graduate ?? He is a great DB.

Do Mack and Mahaffey graduate?
---------------------

can you all answer these please? thanks! I think both Mack and Mahaffey are graduating from the DL - is that right?

Yes, Tiano will be a SR and Nunnely a JR. All 5 OL Return, Price is back and will be a SR.

Yes Mack and MaHaffey are gone and that will be a big loss. We will have to replace them for sure. We will get Telvin Jones back (6-3 290) who has played a bit of football for us, but was hurt most of last year, and have Christian Smith (6-2 290) who was a Chattanooga commit, flipped to TTUon signing day, and transferred back to Chattanooga after one season. He sat out last year and should be eligible. We do have Edwards and Maxwell back that can both play end. We have to find some depth on the defensive line though, as I'm not sure we have any now.

Orr graduated, but I think we have some young talent in the defensive backfield.

[Milktruck74]

To add to Mocs123's comments....I think we will be fine on the DL...Yes, Mack and Mahaffey are huge shoes to fill, but we will....for some perspective about the Mocs Stable of DL talent.... Josh Walker was the Mocs top signee last year and one of the top 3 recruits for the entire conference....He has decided that transferring out is his best option to actually play. There is lots of talent at the DL spot....not a ton of depth, but plenty of talent.

[PaladinFan]

I have been looking over UTC's 2018 season. I do not think I am breaking any new ground here in commenting that the Mocs had a problem on offense. They were statistically the worst SoCon offense by virtually every metric.

UTC lost 4 SoCon games, each of which they were technically "in" by the fourth quarter. I could quibble a bit and state that the only reason UTC was "in" the game against Furman late was due to unforced errors by the Paladins vis a vis fumbles (I'm not sure UTC scores that game without a few gifts from the homestanders), but I digress.

Most striking, I think, is that in those losses, the Mocs had virtually no ability to move the ball quickly. Most passes are recorded as slants, quick outs, or screen passes. Virtually none picked up significant yardage. That trend falls well in line with their season numbers, which showed both that the Mocs didn't attempt the ball downfield that often (6.7 ypa in SoCon play) and had the second worst rate in yards per catch.

What will be Rusty Wright's challenge is to figure out why UTC can't move the ball. Was it Arth's conservative playcalling? Is it a personnel issue? Is Tiano not accurate downfield? Is there a lack of a big play threat in the passing game? Is it the offensive line?

My guess is that it is an offensive line problem. When you look at UTC in their losses, they were worn out up front. ETSU notched 5 sacks and 12 TFLs. Mercer had 2 sacks and 11 TFLs. Furman had 3 sacks and 8 TFLs. Those figures tell me that opposing defenses are playing on the other side of the ball. UTC probably is having to rely on a short (and incredibly predictable) passing game because the OL is struggling to block guys.

I think UTC has the potential to be a good team. As I've said before, they are the most athletic team in the conference. I do not think that necessarily holds true for the offensive line, which has become a real issue for the program. Instability up front has left the UTC offense little ability to do anything other than try and dink and dunk their way down the field.

Personally, until UTC gets the problem fixed up front, I'm not sure they are going to be more than a .500 team. They've got tons of talent, but hard to do much when you can't keep defenses out of your backfield.

[Mocs123]

PaladinFan you are certainly correct that the Mocs had problems on offense in 2018 (and worse problems in 2017). 2017 was bad all around with us playing most of the year with our Freshman 3rd string QB, no real running back, and a terrible offensive line - which affected both running and passing production considerably. In 2018 we actually started off strong offensively and had a pretty decent first half of the season, before reverting back to our 2017 form.

I think you are correct in that we had/have an O-Line problem. The line was particularly bad in 2017, and though they started off pretty well in 2018, like the entire offense, seemed to get worse as the season progressed. I think we have 5 pretty decent guys starting (all 5 return in '19) but for some reason they didn't gel as well as I had hoped and we do not have much depth.

Our playcalling (and clock management) was dismal, and even before Arth left he fired his OC and OL Coach.

Tiano looked bad in 2017 after being forced into action playing behind a porous O-Line. He looked confused and indecisive in the pocket and held on to the ball way too long (especially with our line). I was not thrilled when Copeland was ineligible and Tinao was named the starter for 2018, but I really thought he came out and played a brilliant first half of the season. He looked confident and calm in the pocket, has a decently strong arm and was putting great touches on the deep ball. ETSU exposed our OL this year and Tiano threw off his back foot all day with guys in his face and was missing big plays by a couple of yards each time. It seems like after that game he was just a little off. Was he hurt, or just lost his confidence?? - I'm not sure, but I would say he got a "A-" for the first half of the year and a "C" for the second half of the year. Price also got hurt halfway through the year, and although he played, wasn't the same runner he was early in the year.

I think we have big play threats - we have quite a few speedster wideouts that have barely played. In fact I worry we have too many small speeders and not enough big physical, go get the ball type wideouts - you really need a mix.

I'm not sure if our problems on the O-Line are personnel driven (we have 2-3 star guys there), were schematic in nature, or just a lack of developing talent, but we definitely did not have great O-Line play the past two years. I hope Rusty, and whomever he brings in as his OC and OLC can turn the line around fast, because as you said, if you don't have a good OL, you aren't going to be a very good team.

[Milktruck74]

Fair assessment. I think the offensive issues last year were play selection issues more than a personnel issue. Taino , given time, is accurate and can sling it. Look at some
Of the early strikes to Nunnley. The OL wasn’t in playing shape last season (rusty will Fix that in the off season). They crashed in the second half, they have plenty of guys that have talent on the OL, but the last staff was in way over their heads....at least on the O. In the later half of the season, Price was hurt and we had no explosion from the backfield. He is not a back that can carry it 20-25 times a game. So defenses saw no chance of running it, so they played the pass every play...therefore everything downfield was covered and the outlet “dink and dunk” were all that was available. This also allowed the DL to re-establish the LOS about 5 feet in the offensive backfield. Most of the sacks were late in the play, coverage sacks.

Finding a RB that can share the load with Price and keep him healthy and having a strength and conditioning coach that whips the OL into shape are the top two Priorities for the offense that I see. If we can do those, we will
Be fine.


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[Milktruck74]

One other point about the Mocs. Rusty Wright might be a Defensive minded coach, but he was a TE when he was at UTC. He usually caught 2-4 balls a game, so not just an OT with an 80-something Jersey. He has hired Jacob Huesman to be the TEs coach, and as competitive as that kid is, I guarantee he will be lobbying for his guys to get in the action. UTC hasn’t utilized a TE in many years, so that could be an element that takes some of the load off of Price. It’ll be interesting to see what comes about from all this. One thing I can assure is that the offense will be significantly better than the last two seasons.


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[PaladinFan]

Fair assessment. I think the offensive issues last year were play selection issues more than a personnel issue. Taino , given time, is accurate and can sling it. Look at some
Of the early strikes to Nunnley. The OL wasn’t in playing shape last season (rusty will Fix that in the off season). They crashed in the second half, they have plenty of guys that have talent on the OL, but the last staff was in way over their heads....at least on the O. In the later half of the season, Price was hurt and we had no explosion from the backfield. He is not a back that can carry it 20-25 times a game. So defenses saw no chance of running it, so they played the pass every play...therefore everything downfield was covered and the outlet “dink and dunk” were all that was available. This also allowed the DL to re-establish the LOS about 5 feet in the offensive backfield. Most of the sacks were late in the play, coverage sacks.

Finding a RB that can share the load with Price and keep him healthy and having a strength and conditioning coach that whips the OL into shape are the top two Priorities for the offense that I see. If we can do those, we will
Be fine.


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I think you are probably spot on. Price is a good back, but he isn't a guy you want to ride 20-25 times a game. UTC's backup running back averaged, I think, about 3 carries per game.

Watching last night's Sugar Bowl, I wonder if UTC could deploy Tiano in a way that Texas deployed Ehlinger. Both are big guys, and numerous times UT would pull both backside guard and tackle inside and run Ehlinger right behind them. That's a lot of beef hard charging up the middle.

It was sort of a similar system to how Florida used Tim Tebow - big physical QB that can run and you occasionally let him lower his head and bulldoze into the defense.

[FUBeAR]

It was sort of a similar system to how Florida used Tim Tebow - big physical QB that can run and you occasionally let him lower his head and bulldoze into the defense.Exactly what FUBeAR said the entire season...with a couple of additional comments.

1) Tiano does throw a nice deep ball...better than Tebow in that area. So, that needed to stay in & perhaps be a larger part of the Mocs gameplans.

2) But, what he does not do particularly well is exactly what he was asked to do most often last season - stand in the pocket & throw to ‘spots’ / traditional pro style route tree stuff. He’s not ‘that guy,’ as much Chatt’s Staff wanted him to be ‘that guy,’ he’s just not & probably won’t be. He looks like ‘that guy’ and his ‘deliveries’ are not that far off from being ‘that guy,’ but he was consistently enough slightly ‘off target’ enough over a long enough period of time to see that is not how to best leverage his strengths...which are substantial & sufficient.

But...what does FUBeAR know...he’s just a Bear of very little brain.

[Milktruck74]

The few times Tiano pulled it and ran, he gashed teams. Not a guy that has great speed, but he has good vision and delivered a blow to finish the run. If I was trying to force that pro-set on Tiano, I would have included a designed QB draw every 10 plays or so, just to keep the D honest. I thought that draw was there quite often this year.


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[Milktruck74]

Gashed might not be the word....but he was usually good for the first down and then some.


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[PaladinFan]

Gashed might not be the word....but he was usually good for the first down and then some.


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I do not think that Tiano is going to make anyone think of Tyrie Adams or Armanti Edwards.

Still, if UTC would call designed runs for him 10-15 times a game where he could lower his shoulder and run for 3 or 4 yards, I think that would help open up the UTC offense a bit. UTC hasn't really had a between-the-tackles threat since Craine graduated.

Watching UTC, I am reminded a lot of Furman during the Bruce Fowler years. I long got the impression that Furman's offensive staff was going to run "their offense" regardless of whether it (1) worked or (2) they had the personnel to pull it off. It wasn't until Reese Hannon's senior year that Furman largely stopped trying to run the read option with him and started calling designed QB runs where he would follow his blockers up the middle. Hannon was a big kid (though not nearly as big as Tiano) and letting him bull his way up the middle actually ended up making the rest of Furmans (still poor) offense far more effective. Teams had to account that Furman could run between the tackles and could do so without a second running back in the formation.

[Milktruck74]

I do not think that Tiano is going to make anyone think of Tyrie Adams or Armanti Edwards.

Still, if UTC would call designed runs for him 10-15 times a game where he could lower his shoulder and run for 3 or 4 yards, I think that would help open up the UTC offense a bit. UTC hasn't really had a between-the-tackles threat since Craine graduated.

Watching UTC, I am reminded a lot of Furman during the Bruce Fowler years. I long got the impression that Furman's offensive staff was going to run "their offense" regardless of whether it (1) worked or (2) they had the personnel to pull it off. It wasn't until Reese Hannon's senior year that Furman largely stopped trying to run the read option with him and started calling designed QB runs where he would follow his blockers up the middle. Hannon was a big kid (though not nearly as big as Tiano) and letting him bull his way up the middle actually ended up making the rest of Furmans (still poor) offense far more effective. Teams had to account that Furman could run between the tackles and could do so without a second running back in the formation.

The 2019 Mocs D may remind you of Furman during the Fowler years...stay tuned!!!

[PaladinFan]

The 2019 Mocs D may remind you of Furman during the Fowler years...stay tuned!!!

I may be in the minority, but I didn't think Furman's defense was that bad during those years. The defense just got hung out to dry so often by the offense's inability to sustain drives.

I actually see a lot of similarities between UTC's teams under Arth and Furman's teams under Fowler. Decent talent with good defense hampered by poor offensive line play and a complete inability to move the ball.

Interestingly, Fowler and Arth had identical 9-13 records through their first two seasons. I would also note that Arth inherited more talent than Fowler did and Furman in those years (2011/2012) was likely playing a tougher schedule than UTC did the past two years (App, GSU, and Coastal were all on the schedule those years).

Arth leaving UTC may benefit the Mocs. Fowler won a SoCon title in 2013, but that was a flash in the pan as he followed it with poor seasons over the next three years. Arth got out before he really faced a disgruntled fan base and parlayed limited success to an FBS job. Fowler hung around, was fired, and is now, I think, coaching a small private high school team. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but it's a certain jump back from being a D1 head coach.

[Milktruck74]

I may be in the minority, but I didn't think Furman's defense was that bad during those years. The defense just got hung out to dry so often by the offense's inability to sustain drives.

I actually see a lot of similarities between UTC's teams under Arth and Furman's teams under Fowler. Decent talent with good defense hampered by poor offensive line play and a complete inability to move the ball.

Interestingly, Fowler and Arth had identical 9-13 records through their first two seasons. I would also note that Arth inherited more talent than Fowler did and Furman in those years (2011/2012) was likely playing a tougher schedule than UTC did the past two years (App, GSU, and Coastal were all on the schedule those years).

Arth leaving UTC may benefit the Mocs. Fowler won a SoCon title in 2013, but that was a flash in the pan as he followed it with poor seasons over the next three years. Arth got out before he really faced a disgruntled fan base and parlayed limited success to an FBS job. Fowler hung around, was fired, and is now, I think, coaching a small private high school team. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but it's a certain jump back from being a D1 head coach.

Hear what I’m not saying.....the 2019 UTC defense will look a lot like Fowler’s did......wait for it, wait for it......



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[Mocs123]

I may be in the minority, but I didn't think Furman's defense was that bad during those years. The defense just got hung out to dry so often by the offense's inability to sustain drives.

I actually see a lot of similarities between UTC's teams under Arth and Furman's teams under Fowler. Decent talent with good defense hampered by poor offensive line play and a complete inability to move the ball.

Interestingly, Fowler and Arth had identical 9-13 records through their first two seasons. I would also note that Arth inherited more talent than Fowler did and Furman in those years (2011/2012) was likely playing a tougher schedule than UTC did the past two years (App, GSU, and Coastal were all on the schedule those years).

Arth leaving UTC may benefit the Mocs. Fowler won a SoCon title in 2013, but that was a flash in the pan as he followed it with poor seasons over the next three years. Arth got out before he really faced a disgruntled fan base and parlayed limited success to an FBS job. Fowler hung around, was fired, and is now, I think, coaching a small private high school team. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but it's a certain jump back from being a D1 head coach.



Actually I thought we did look a lot like the Fowler Furman teams under Arth. Good D, an O with some talent, just no identity or success. This was surprising to me as Arth is an offensive guy, and our offense looked pathetic at times (particularly 2017). Arth may turn out to be the next Nick Saban, lead Akron to a couple of MAC Championships and then move on to a P5 Job, but I think Chattanooga is better in the long run that he has moved on. Rusty Wright may not have been a flashy hire, but I think he will do good things at Chattanooga.

[PaladinFan]

Actually I thought we did look a lot like the Fowler Furman teams under Arth. Good D, an O with some talent, just no identity or success. This was surprising to me as Arth is an offensive guy, and our offense looked pathetic at times (particularly 2017). Arth may turn out to be the next Nick Saban, lead Akron to a couple of MAC Championships and then move on to a P5 Job, but I think Chattanooga is better in the long run that he has moved on. Rusty Wright may not have been a flashy hire, but I think he will do good things at Chattanooga.

The more I ponder the problem, the more I think good coaches share a lot in common with good CEOs. They run a well-structured organization with everyone understanding their role. I personally think you'd far rather have a good CEO, visionary, and motivator than a good technician or x's and o's type. Football is not THAT complicated.

From a coordinator perspective, the difference in good ones and bad ones is the ability to adjust both during the game and during the season. That is not only adjusting to the opponent, but to your personnel as well.

I have probably told this story on here before, but a few seasons ago (pre-Hendrix) I watched a game where I was able to correctly guess Furman's offensive play calls. In fact, I deciphered a few just by watching TV cutaways of the signals from the sidelines. To me, that is an utter failure on the coaching staff. I'm not some sort of football guru, but even with limited knowledge of football and some deductive reasoning, I could decipher the signals from my living room couch. If I could guess them, I'm sure enough the defensive staff on the other sideline could guess them. It did support my theory that Furman's offense could only be that bad if the other team was reading our play book, which I think they essentially were.

[PaladinFan]

Good example of a time for a Tiano call.

4th Q. Mocs down 13. 4th and goal. Mocs go empty set. Furman is in man coverage.

On the snap, there are zero Paladin defenders in the middle hole. The only Furman defensive player in the middle of the field is Bryan Okeh, the FS. Okeh looks like he is spying Tiano from the goal line.

Furman brings 4. Tiano steps up in the pocket with no one in front of him but Okeh. Okeh is gigantic for a safety at 6'4 215, but he gives up 30 pounds to Tiano. Tiano eventually sacked by Adrian Hope (surprise).

Again, if UTC empties the backfield there and runs QB draw, they probably score.

https://twitter.com/PaladinFootball/status/1058805910582157312

[PaladinNation]

I thought Chatty had an identity under Huesman - strong athletic D, a versatile offense with mobile QBs, solid runningback tandems, power backs, and slasher backers, and receivers to that could beat you over the top. I could never figure out what Arth was trying to make the team???

When Fowler came to Furman, I think there was still a hangover from the late years of BL. Mediocre OL play, and most of the time putting an offensive scheme over player fit. No surprise, mediocrity, and for us Furman fans - frustration. So, I understand how Moc fans feel.

My take is currently three SoCon teams have an identity; Furman, Samford, and The Citadel. The reason I'm not putting Wofford in there is I'm still not sure what Conklin is trying to do. It will interesting to see how Wright shapes the Mocs - I like him and getting them back into fighting shape is good for the SoCon.

I still think we won't see what Hendrix's model is until 2020. The obvious angle Hendrix is taking at Furman is building deep offensive lines and defensive lines. The 2019 class is a perfect example, athletic, long, aggressive offensive linemen, and an a300-pound nose guard.

I think we're on the cusp of the renascence of SoCon football. Lots of very good young players, and hungry coaches.

[Milktruck74]

I thought Chatty had an identity under Huesman - strong athletic D, a versatile offense with mobile QBs, solid runningback tandems, power backs, and slasher backers, and receivers to that could beat you over the top. I could never figure out what Arth was trying to make the team???

When Fowler came to Furman, I think there was still a hangover from the late years of BL. Mediocre OL play, and most of the time putting an offensive scheme over player fit. No surprise, mediocrity, and for us Furman fans - frustration. So, I understand how Moc fans feel.

My take is currently three SoCon teams have an identity; Furman, Samford, and The Citadel. The reason I'm not putting Wofford in there is I'm still not sure what Conklin is trying to do. It will interesting to see how Wright shapes the Mocs - I like him and getting them back into fighting shape is good for the SoCon.

I still think we won't see what Hendrix's model is until 2020. The obvious angle Hendrix is taking at Furman is building deep offensive lines and defensive lines. The 2019 class is a perfect example, athletic, long, aggressive offensive linemen, and an a300-pound nose guard.

I think we're on the cusp of the renascence of SoCon football. Lots of very good young players, and hungry coaches.

I'm not sure what kind of O or D the Mocs will have in 2019, but knowing Rusty's work ethic and having played with him, I can assure you the identity will be much closer to what Huesman had than what Arth was trying to do. The Mocs will be a disciplined, blue collar, hard Nosed, hit you in the mouth, "johnny lunchbox" group....I fully expect to see them carrying metal lunchboxes to class!!!! IT probably won't happen overnight, but they will be the team that everybody hates to play....maybe not the team that beats you on the scoreboard, but the team that beats you up.

[PaladinFan]

I'm not sure what kind of O or D the Mocs will have in 2019, but knowing Rusty's work ethic and having played with him, I can assure you the identity will be much closer to what Huesman had than what Arth was trying to do. The Mocs will be a disciplined, blue collar, hard Nosed, hit you in the mouth, "johnny lunchbox" group....I fully expect to see them carrying metal lunchboxes to class!!!! IT probably won't happen overnight, but they will be the team that everybody hates to play....maybe not the team that beats you on the scoreboard, but the team that beats you up.

Just off memory, Huseman also struggled some in his early days in Chattanoonga. UTC played .500 ball the first four years under Huesman, and eventually started to break out in year 5. If I correctly recall, the Mocs lost a ton of really close games in those first four years. For a long time, I thought they were doing everyone in the conference a favor by trying to spread the ball between Terrell Robinson and Jacob Huesman, the latter of which was clearly the better QB.

[PaladinFan]

I thought Chatty had an identity under Huesman - strong athletic D, a versatile offense with mobile QBs, solid runningback tandems, power backs, and slasher backers, and receivers to that could beat you over the top. I could never figure out what Arth was trying to make the team???

When Fowler came to Furman, I think there was still a hangover from the late years of BL. Mediocre OL play, and most of the time putting an offensive scheme over player fit. No surprise, mediocrity, and for us Furman fans - frustration. So, I understand how Moc fans feel.

My take is currently three SoCon teams have an identity; Furman, Samford, and The Citadel. The reason I'm not putting Wofford in there is I'm still not sure what Conklin is trying to do. It will interesting to see how Wright shapes the Mocs - I like him and getting them back into fighting shape is good for the SoCon.

I still think we won't see what Hendrix's model is until 2020. The obvious angle Hendrix is taking at Furman is building deep offensive lines and defensive lines. The 2019 class is a perfect example, athletic, long, aggressive offensive linemen, and an a300-pound nose guard.

I think we're on the cusp of the renascence of SoCon football. Lots of very good young players, and hungry coaches.

Furman had some talent in those years, but was mired in poor execution from players and coaches. I feel bad for guys like Reese Hannon, who were absolute warriors for the Paladins but mired behind predictable offensive playcalling and bad OL play. I would have loved to have seen Hannon play on a better team.

There's a lot to be excited about at Furman. In Hendrix's first two seasons, they've entered the final game of the year with a shot at the SoCon title. With roster turnover, the vast majority of the team in 2019 will be "his guys."

[Milktruck74]

There is some Truth to that....however, keep in mind Huesman had to overcome year and years of a losing culture. He inherited a team that lost 11 games. A team that lost to a D2 school. Rusty is getting a group that went 9-13 over the last two seasons, but won 38 (or close) games the 4 seasons before that...these kids signed with Chattanooga because they were a winner, that’s what they expect. Huseman also inherited a completely apathetic fan base. Rusty is inheriting a fan base that is angry at the last two seasons, but he is not getting the same apathy. It won’t take him 4 seasons to rebuild/reload/retool.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mocs123]

We have way more talent now than when Huesman first got here. We were 1-11 with our only win being NINA? Cumberland. Other than BJ Coleman he went 6-5 his first year with the same team. I really thought he deserved to be the SoCon COY in ‘09. It took him a couple of years to build the culture and recruit the talent to really win. We have talent now. We’re not deep in a lot of areas (lots of turnover under Arth), and we have some ares of need, but I have no doubt Wright will get us headed in the right direction.

[chattownmocs]

0I think Arth will be a good coach ultimately. Maybe not, Akron is a pretty bad job. Arth seemed to be a good recruiter, kind of, but I liked Huesman's recruiting strategy. He went after guys that just lacked size a lot of the time, especially on the D-line, which of course was where he got so many of his best players. Arth got a lot of highly rated guys but to me its not a great sign when someone is prototypical NFL size coming out of high school and is "falling" to FCS. Huesman was fortunate with inuries to Keionta Davis and Davis Tull in high school too. But gues like Isiaiah Mack and Taylor Reynolds etc, were just undersized or they would have been at a bigger school.

[PaladinFan]

0I think Arth will be a good coach ultimately. Maybe not, Akron is a pretty bad job. Arth seemed to be a good recruiter, kind of, but I liked Huesman's recruiting strategy. He went after guys that just lacked size a lot of the time, especially on the D-line, which of course was where he got so many of his best players. Arth got a lot of highly rated guys but to me its not a great sign when someone is prototypical NFL size coming out of high school and is "falling" to FCS. Huesman was fortunate with inuries to Keionta Davis and Davis Tull in high school too. But gues like Isiaiah Mack and Taylor Reynolds etc, were just undersized or they would have been at a bigger school.

In my view, FCS recruiting is a lot about not "missing" on the bulk of your class and having a coaching staff that can elevate their game. Good teams are also able to find a handful of diamonds in the rough who are overlooked due to injury history, size, or some other measurable.

Furman's Adrian Hope is a good example. Hope led the state of Florida in sacks, and notched something like 56 in two years in their highest classification. He had 15 sacks this year as a freshman, and finished either first or second nationally in that category. The dude is an elite pass rusher and, if he keeps this pace, will obliterate conference records in that category.

I can only guess that the primary reason Hope isn't in the SEC right now with his skills is because he's 6'1 215 lbs. That's the size of a safety at that level, not an edge rusher. Furman got a guy that I presume was overlooked by bigger schools because his measurables didn't fit their profile.

[PaladinNation]

Furman is doing some interesting things this recruiting season.

Like all schools, they have their board of prospects, offered a large group of players, tried to get their top guys to commit early.
Furman gets all of them to sign early, except one who wants to wait till February.

Around mid-season, lots of preferred walk-on offers started appearing, and I mean a lot. I've mentioned that my wife is an administration at a private school in Gville. Going to their games as well as being connected to the private school community in the area, I was excited to see Furman involved with the best private school players in the area. When you look at the 2018 Wofford Roster two of their best players, played at Christ Church and St. Joe's. I'm pretty sure Furman was never involved in either Stoddard or Mangum.

So far for 2019 Furman has signed a full-scholarship player Jacob Johanning, Conference, and District POY as an offensive lineman, and two-way starter and leading tackler in North-South All-Star game. Furman's picked up three PWO commits from a linebacker, quarterback, and wide receiver, plus a rumored fifth pickup from a public Greenville high school QB. The cherry on top is signing TL Hanna 310 pound nose guard Devonte Jones and Brynes LB/S Jalen Miller.

It's been a long, long time since Furman has made the local community a recruiting priority. I think this is a great move, Wofford and Citadel have been kicking Furman's tail in recruiting homegrown players.

A rumor and based on some weird things that happened during recruiting is that Furman has tightened admissions. It's no secret if you following the Furman boards that Wofford commit and brother to a three-year starter at Furman wasn't offered by Furman until the very end of the recruiting window and after a ton of Patriot League schools started offering.

Using Twitter as our Furman recruiting analysis tool, Furman is rounding out this recruiting class with a bunch of PWO offers to under-the-radar players that fit into the high-academic mold. How this will play out, we will see. I personally think this is smart, get the full-scholarship players you really want, don't give a player a scholarship just to get a body signed to fill a roster void. Get in guys that have a chip on their shoulder that wants to play and prove they belong, PWO's.

PaladinFan has mentioned this several times, during the latter years of Lamb and the Fowler era… Furman had IMO more than a fair share of players that didn't contribute — whatever the reasons may have been. Hendrix and the current staff appear to be willing to leave a spot open than just fill it.

[PaladinFan]

Furman is doing some interesting things this recruiting season.

Like all schools, they have their board of prospects, offered a large group of players, tried to get their top guys to commit early.
Furman gets all of them to sign early, except one who wants to wait till February.

Around mid-season, lots of preferred walk-on offers started appearing, and I mean a lot. I've mentioned that my wife is an administration at a private school in Gville. Going to their games as well as being connected to the private school community in the area, I was excited to see Furman involved with the best private school players in the area. When you look at the 2018 Wofford Roster two of their best players, played at Christ Church and St. Joe's. I'm pretty sure Furman was never involved in either Stoddard or Mangum.

So far for 2019 Furman has signed a full-scholarship player Jacob Johanning, Conference, and District POY as an offensive lineman, and two-way starter and leading tackler in North-South All-Star game. Furman's picked up three PWO commits from a linebacker, quarterback, and wide receiver, plus a rumored fifth pickup from a public Greenville high school QB. The cherry on top is signing TL Hanna 310 pound nose guard Devonte Jones and Brynes LB/S Jalen Miller.

It's been a long, long time since Furman has made the local community a recruiting priority. I think this is a great move, Wofford and Citadel have been kicking Furman's tail in recruiting homegrown players.

A rumor and based on some weird things that happened during recruiting is that Furman has tightened admissions. It's no secret if you following the Furman boards that Wofford commit and brother to a three-year starter at Furman wasn't offered by Furman until the very end of the recruiting window and after a ton of Patriot League schools started offering.

Using Twitter as our Furman recruiting analysis tool, Furman is rounding out this recruiting class with a bunch of PWO offers to under-the-radar players that fit into the high-academic mold. How this will play out, we will see. I personally think this is smart, get the full-scholarship players you really want, don't give a player a scholarship just to get a body signed to fill a roster void. Get in guys that have a chip on their shoulder that wants to play and prove they belong, PWO's.

PaladinFan has mentioned this several times, during the latter years of Lamb and the Fowler era… Furman had IMO more than a fair share of players that didn't contribute — whatever the reasons may have been. Hendrix and the current staff appear to be willing to leave a spot open than just fill it.

Hendrix mentioned when he was hired that he wasn't going to give a scholarship player that didn't fit what he wanted in a player.

I do not know much about the internal workings of recruiting. That stuff seems very black box. My guess is that Furman is keeping powder dry for players that check all of their boxes and might be using partial offers to land local players.

These PWOs seem to be guys that want to keep playing, don't have a bunch of offers, and are local. Seems like a good group to target.

As for Mangum, the local paper reported after the Furman game that he had offers from most of the SoCon, but not Furman. He seems to have taken that personally (though he would have been recruited by the Fowler administration).

[FUBeAR]

Hendrix mentioned when he was hired that he wasn't going to give a scholarship player that didn't fit what he wanted in a player.

I do not know much about the internal workings of recruiting. That stuff seems very black box. My guess is that Furman is keeping powder dry for players that check all of their boxes and might be using partial offers to land local players.

These PWOs seem to be guys that want to keep playing, don't have a bunch of offers, and are local. Seems like a good group to target.

As for Mangum, the local paper reported after the Furman game that he had offers from most of the SoCon, but not Furman. He seems to have taken that personally (though he would have been recruited by the Fowler administration).I thought Furman had offered Stoddard. 247 confirms that to be the case.

https://247sports.com/player/andre-stoddard-26280/

[PaladinFan]

I thought Furman had offered Stoddard. 247 confirms that to be the case.

https://247sports.com/player/andre-stoddard-26280/

Not sure if it had anything to do with it, but in the 2013 class (the one before Stoddard's, I believe), Furman took Kealand Dirks, Ridge Gibson, Isaac Garcia, and Antonio Wilcox. In the latter Fowler years, Furman couldn't run the ball to save the kingdom.

He probably made the right call to avoid a program with a crowded backfield that struggled to run the ball.

[chattownmocs]

In my view, FCS recruiting is a lot about not "missing" on the bulk of your class and having a coaching staff that can elevate their game. Good teams are also able to find a handful of diamonds in the rough who are overlooked due to injury history, size, or some other measurable.

Furman's Adrian Hope is a good example. Hope led the state of Florida in sacks, and notched something like 56 in two years in their highest classification. He had 15 sacks this year as a freshman, and finished either first or second nationally in that category. The dude is an elite pass rusher and, if he keeps this pace, will obliterate conference records in that category.

I can only guess that the primary reason Hope isn't in the SEC right now with his skills is because he's 6'1 215 lbs. That's the size of a safety at that level, not an edge rusher. Furman got a guy that I presume was overlooked by bigger schools because his measurables didn't fit their profile.

Exactly. People need to remember that some of these kids develop later than others. One kid can reach his physical peak at 15 and another might not until 19 or 20. Sometimes a kid is 6'3" 270 because he has some bad weight on him and that is often very difficult to get off of them. Another kid might be 6'3" 210 but ready to add lots of lean muscle without losing a step.

I'd be asking questions like "when did you hit your growth spurt?" That sounds odd but if it was 16 instead of 12, that kid might have a while lot more physical potential all other things being equal.

[PaladinNation]

Not sure if it had anything to do with it, but in the 2013 class (the one before Stoddard's, I believe), Furman took Kealand Dirks, Ridge Gibson, Isaac Garcia, and Antonio Wilcox. In the latter Fowler years, Furman couldn't run the ball to save the kingdom.

He probably made the right call to avoid a program with a crowded backfield that struggled to run the ball.

From what I remember Stoddard had maybe an offer early - I believe Stoddard was looking for a dream offer or PWO from Notre Dame. Maybe that was just the rumor around the tailgating. I pretty sure Furman moved on - also Stoddard had an academic credit issue - and had to wait a year to enroll/participate at Wofford. He actually helped coach SJCS in what would have been his true freshman season.

Stoddard ended up being a helluva player and a great fit for Wofford. Just as Johanning the first SJCS player ever to be chosen to play in an all-star game - IMO could be one of the gems of the 2019 class.

[PaladinNation]

Exactly. People need to remember that some of these kids develop later than others. One kid can reach his physical peak at 15 and another might not until 19 or 20. Sometimes a kid is 6'3" 270 because he has some bad weight on him and that is often very difficult to get off of them. Another kid might be 6'3" 210 but ready to add lots of lean muscle without losing a step.

I'd be asking questions like "when did you hit your growth spurt?" That sounds odd but if it was 16 instead of 12, that kid might have a while lot more physical potential all other things being equal.

great point… Furman has two players in the 2019 class that - despite a lot of offers have room to grow. Jumper (19 offers) is a 6-4 255 OT, he'll enroll early and I bet Furman will have him on a big-time strength-conditioning program over the next two years. Jack Barton (20 plus offers) is a lean 6-4 225 DE. Barton should develop into a DE that can easily carry 240 -250 pounds and still be athletic player.

[SU DOG]

The Samford class has fewer stars than most other recent classes - one 3*** and one 2** IMO, however, this is an outstanding group. One of those non-stars is a LB with several FBS offers including one from an ACC team(Pitt). We have one "under the radar" player that the coaches are just giddy about. Jamal Ellis(no stars) is a 6-3, 290 DL who is strong and quick. He was mainly a track team athlete excelling in the discus and shot put. He had a phenomenal breakout senior year, and the biggies moved in, but he kept his commitment to Samford. Recruit Georgia article seems to indicate that Ellis was probably above FCS level, and shows a video of him making a a TD saving tackle on a RB almost 30 yards downfield.xnodx

Late bloomers and overlooked players are a necessity for FCS recruiting. Sure, it's nice to have a starry class, but not having one is not a prelude for those players to be unsuccessful. Samford currently has 4 players in the NFL who were never highly ranked by 247Sports coming out of high school. I also saw last year a 247Sports 3*** rated OL with 6 FBS offers, reduced to a 2** after his early commitment to Samford.:(

I also agree 100% with those who have posted that SoCon recruiting in the early period was exceptionally good. This conference is under valued by most outsiders, IMO.

[SCPALADIN]

Furman is doing some interesting things this recruiting season.

Like all schools, they have their board of prospects, offered a large group of players, tried to get their top guys to commit early.
Furman gets all of them to sign early, except one who wants to wait till February.

Around mid-season, lots of preferred walk-on offers started appearing, and I mean a lot. I've mentioned that my wife is an administration at a private school in Gville. Going to their games as well as being connected to the private school community in the area, I was excited to see Furman involved with the best private school players in the area. When you look at the 2018 Wofford Roster two of their best players, played at Christ Church and St. Joe's. I'm pretty sure Furman was never involved in either Stoddard or Mangum.

So far for 2019 Furman has signed a full-scholarship player Jacob Johanning, Conference, and District POY as an offensive lineman, and two-way starter and leading tackler in North-South All-Star game. Furman's picked up three PWO commits from a linebacker, quarterback, and wide receiver, plus a rumored fifth pickup from a public Greenville high school QB. The cherry on top is signing TL Hanna 310 pound nose guard Devonte Jones and Brynes LB/S Jalen Miller.

It's been a long, long time since Furman has made the local community a recruiting priority. I think this is a great move, Wofford and Citadel have been kicking Furman's tail in recruiting homegrown players.

A rumor and based on some weird things that happened during recruiting is that Furman has tightened admissions. It's no secret if you following the Furman boards that Wofford commit and brother to a three-year starter at Furman wasn't offered by Furman until the very end of the recruiting window and after a ton of Patriot League schools started offering.

Using Twitter as our Furman recruiting analysis tool, Furman is rounding out this recruiting class with a bunch of PWO offers to under-the-radar players that fit into the high-academic mold. How this will play out, we will see. I personally think this is smart, get the full-scholarship players you really want, don't give a player a scholarship just to get a body signed to fill a roster void. Get in guys that have a chip on their shoulder that wants to play and prove they belong, PWO's.

PaladinFan has mentioned this several times, during the latter years of Lamb and the Fowler era… Furman had IMO more than a fair share of players that didn't contribute — whatever the reasons may have been. Hendrix and the current staff appear to be willing to leave a spot open than just fill it.

If you're referring to Slay, he officially de-committed.

[gofurman]

bump. I want to keep this updated from time to time. Furman got a transfer QB from MTSU who played WR for them as a true FR.

[gofurman]

Any news on other SoCon team with regards to transfers in or out or losses of players? Furman lost two out - Morehead was a great RB but had to quit w injuris and Cam Burnette was a starting WR and transferred. We got one in as noted - transfer QB from MTSU who played WR for MTSU as a true FR and was recruited to play QB for them.

your teams? I want to keep the front page updated - anyone gone or new to the team?

[kdinva]

One of VMI's "co-starters" at HB; Quan Myers, is "grad transferring" to Mars Hill........guess who VMI plays on 7 September? BTW, VMI has four backs getting reps this spring, all are doing fine, all should contribute. VMI also has new coaches for the O and D-Line, secondary, RB's. Team has embraced them, and Spring Ball has been very productive. Final spring scrimmage is this Friday, 5:30/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEmqsnJT5lM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jihj1DNk-4Q

http://www.vmikeydets.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=43765&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211799226&DB_OEM_ID=9800

http://www.vmikeydets.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=43765&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211790514&DB_OEM_ID=9800

http://www.vmikeydets.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=43765&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211792730&DB_OEM_ID=9800

[HootyHoo]

I'm quite positive that the Socon season consists of teams competing for the right to lose to THE Kennesaw State Owls in the playoffs. Am i wrong?

[Reign of Terrier]

I dunno but you're here about 7 months too early

[JSUSoutherner]

I dunno but you're here about 7 months too early

I'm sure he's already left and won't see this reply for another 7 months.

[PaladinFan]

I'm quite positive that the Socon season consists of teams competing for the right to lose to THE Kennesaw State Owls in the playoffs. Am i wrong?

And it'll be only the second decent team KSU plays all season.

Look at this garbage. https://ksuowls.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=254

Were local high school teams not available? You'd have a tougher time playing the Citadel's cheerleaders.

[FUBeAR]

And it'll be only the second decent team KSU plays all season.

Look at this garbage. https://ksuowls.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=254

Were local high school teams not available? You'd have a tougher time playing the Citadel's cheerleaders.I think you mean VMI's Cheerleaders


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8h_uTq8kqQ

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/postandcourier.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/b1/ab1e6e54-a018-5c25-9d7e-6e3d7f9b609f/58013ab4f3465.image.jpg

[Mocs123]

And it'll be only the second decent team KSU plays all season.

Look at this garbage. https://ksuowls.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=254

Were local high school teams not available? You'd have a tougher time playing the Citadel's cheerleaders.



That is a terrible schedule. I guess KSU knows that it can make the playoffs by getting the Big South autobid - if they don't there is no way that get an at large with that garbage. I'd be quite happy playing KSU in the playoffs next year.

[JSUSoutherner]

I'd be quite happy playing KSU in the playoffs next year.

Why? Tired of getting beat by us?

[ElCid]

And it'll be only the second decent team KSU plays all season.

Look at this garbage. https://ksuowls.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=254

Were local high school teams not available? You'd have a tougher time playing the Citadel's cheerleaders.

Hey a couple of them are kind of mean looking.

[FUBeAR]

Hey a couple of them are kind of mean looking.
You’re right...

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/c2/32/bb/c232bb5a4a20e88d06a732f52ce27a32--bulldogs-winner.jpg

[gofurman]

Why? Tired of getting beat by us?

MUCH MUCH rather play and lose or win to JSU than these KSU guys that think they are all that by winning a one turnover game vs Wofford and hanging their hats on that one game. Do something for a few years first huh? JSU I can respect. KSU seems to be barking a lot for winniing the Big South and one playoff game. They are doing v well and becoiming a strong team fast but let's not go too far.

JSU has more history

(Furman has won the last two v JSU - one very easily and one that broke JSU hearts!)...

And WOW does KSU want to make sure they have a great record this year. While Furman plays TWO FBS schools (Virginia Tech and Georgia State) and then Wofford and ETSU and Samford etc... KSU plays Kent State as their 1 FBS and then a lot of high schools. Doesn't mean KSU is bad - they may be great! - but boy they really scheduled easy. That's the easiest sched I have seen in years

At least SoCon (Furman) plays the big big south (Charleston Southern) - let's see how that goes... they get us at the best time possible - Brand new QB in his first college game. If Chuck South can't beat us that game then that says a lot

[JSUSoutherner]

JSU I can respect.

JSU has more history


LMFAOOOOOO

If you say so.

[PaladinFan]

MUCH MUCH rather play and lose or win to JSU than these KSU guys that think they are all that by winning a one turnover game vs Wofford and hanging their hats on that one game. Do something for a few years first huh? JSU I can respect. KSU seems to be barking a lot for winniing the Big South and one playoff game. They are doing v well and becoiming a strong team fast but let's not go too far.

JSU has more history

(Furman has won the last two v JSU - one very easily and one that broke JSU hearts!)...

And WOW does KSU want to make sure they have a great record this year. While Furman plays TWO FBS schools (Virginia Tech and Georgia State) and then Wofford and ETSU and Samford etc... KSU plays Kent State as their 1 FBS and then a lot of high schools. Doesn't mean KSU is bad - they may be great! - but boy they really scheduled easy. That's the easiest sched I have seen in years

At least SoCon (Furman) plays the big big south (Charleston Southern) - let's see how that goes... they get us at the best time possible - Brand new QB in his first college game. If Chuck South can't beat us that game then that says a lot

Furman has won the last three against JSU (2004 post season, 2005, 2006).

There is almost zero chance that Furman starts a "brand new QB in his first college game." Shiflett played in about every game for MTSU. Grainger played in four contests last year. I think Sisson played in 3.

[Mocs123]

Why? Tired of getting beat by us?


We'll see what happens in September. I'm not sure if JSU is improved, but I expect we field a much improved team over the 2017 team that you saw last. Of course I thought we had really good teams in 2014 and 2015 when we lost by 3 in OT, lost by 3 in regulation, and lost by 6 in OT in the playoffs. Hopefully some new blood helps us get over the hump.


I know KSU should be in the playoffs due to the weak OOC schedule and easy Big South. I also know JSU should win the OVC autobid and get in the playoffs. I'm just hoping that We are in the playoffs. The SoCon is a much tougher conference than the Big South or OVC, so to get in the playoffs this year, I think we have to beat EIU and either JSU or JMU. If all three teams make the playoffs, we may all three meet with regionalization the way it is. I'd be OK playing KSU in a round and then playing JSU the next round.

[JSUSoutherner]

We'll see what happens in September. I'm not sure if JSU is improved, but I expect we field a much improved team over the 2017 team that you saw last. Of course I thought we had really good teams in 2014 and 2015 when we lost by 3 in OT, lost by 3 in regulation, and lost by 6 in OT in the playoffs. Hopefully some new blood helps us get over the hump.


I know KSU should be in the playoffs due to the weak OOC schedule and easy Big South. I also know JSU should win the OVC autobid and get in the playoffs. I'm just hoping that We are in the playoffs. The SoCon is a much tougher conference than the Big South or OVC, so to get in the playoffs this year, I think we have to beat EIU and either JSU or JMU. If all three teams make the playoffs, we may all three meet with regionalization the way it is. I'd be OK playing KSU in a round and then playing JSU the next round.

I don't think UTC will be as good as the 14 and 15 teams. Though I don't think JSU will be either.

But it's a home game. So...

[SCPALADIN]

Hey a couple of them are kind of mean looking.

Are the current female cheerleaders Citadel cadets or CofC students (or both)? My wife was a CofC student and cheered for Cit back in the mid 90s...aside from that, she's perfect.

[Mocs123]

I don't think UTC will be as good as the 14 and 15 teams. Though I don't think JSU will be either.

But it's a home game. So...

I don't think this years UTC will be as good as the 2014 or 2015 teams either, but I do think we will be much better than 2017 and a step up from 2018. My guess is more like the 2013 team (worst case) or 2016 team (best case).

[ElCid]

At least SoCon (Furman) plays the big big south (Charleston Southern) - let's see how that goes... they get us at the best time possible - Brand new QB in his first college game. If Chuck South can't beat us that game then that says a lot

...you did see what we did to them late last year, right?

[PaladinFan]

...you did see what we did to them late last year, right?

They've got a new coach and some level of mystery. Some Furman fans are a bit more uneasy about our QB situation than others.

[ElCid]

They've got a new coach and some level of mystery. Some Furman fans are a bit more uneasy about our QB situation than others.

I wouldn't be worried about them too much. I think they are in for a couple down years...at least.

[HootyHoo]

MUCH MUCH rather play and lose or win to JSU than these KSU guys that think they are all that by winning a one turnover game vs Wofford and hanging their hats on that one game. Do something for a few years first huh? JSU I can respect. KSU seems to be barking a lot for winniing the Big South and one playoff game. They are doing v well and becoiming a strong team fast but let's not go too far.

JSU has more history

(Furman has won the last two v JSU - one very easily and one that broke JSU hearts!)...

And WOW does KSU want to make sure they have a great record this year. While Furman plays TWO FBS schools (Virginia Tech and Georgia State) and then Wofford and ETSU and Samford etc... KSU plays Kent State as their 1 FBS and then a lot of high schools. Doesn't mean KSU is bad - they may be great! - but boy they really scheduled easy. That's the easiest sched I have seen in years

At least SoCon (Furman) plays the big big south (Charleston Southern) - let's see how that goes... they get us at the best time possible - Brand new QB in his first college game. If Chuck South can't beat us that game then that says a lot

KSU has a lot to be proud of: back to back conference championships with quarterfinal appearances, a respectable 5-2 record vs the SOCON, including a 52-42 win over Furman. The Owls will win the Big South this year, while the SOCON watches us play in December from home....again.

[PaladinFan]

KSU has a lot to be proud of: back to back conference championships with quarterfinal appearances, a respectable 5-2 record vs the SOCON, including a 52-42 win over Furman. The Owls will win the Big South this year, while the SOCON watches us play in December from home....again.

They have a lot to be proud of. The schedule is not one of those things. That schedule is laughable.

Yes, KSU will make the post season. They'll win a terribly bad conference and probably not have a single competitive game all season. They will probably have a sterling record by virtue of playing hardly any good teams. They'll get a bye and sit at home while some SoCon team manages a grueling conference schedule and a first round playoff game. Yes, a fresh KSU team who hasn't played a competitive game all season probably squeaks by that SoCon team again.

And yes, congratulations, KSU beat the worst Furman team in decades by 10 points.

[Reign of Terrier]

KSU is like Clemson sans the national titles.

They'll have a recruiting advantage over the Socon/SEC teams ( "oh no he compared the socon to the SEC let's have 2 dozen MVFC posters who take pride in playing in the same conference as NDSU tell me I'm wrong") because they can credibly promise a conference championship and or a shot at the playoffs because their conference is so weak. It doesn't invalidate the quality of their team/players, but if you see KSU take the next step in the next couple years, that's why.

I say this as someone who's a fan of a team that could also credibly make the claim to a conference championship/playoff spot. But we're more like, I dunno, Oklahoma or Stanford. We have to work for it.

[HootyHoo]

KSU is like Clemson sans the national titles.

They'll have a recruiting advantage over the Socon/SEC teams ( "oh no he compared the socon to the SEC let's have 2 dozen MVFC posters who take pride in playing in the same conference as NDSU tell me I'm wrong") because they can credibly promise a conference championship and or a shot at the playoffs because their conference is so weak. It doesn't invalidate the quality of their team/players, but if you see KSU take the next step in the next couple years, that's why.

I say this as someone who's a fan of a team that could also credibly make the claim to a conference championship/playoff spot. But we're more like, I dunno, Oklahoma or Stanford. We have to work for it.

Don't blame KSU for the weak conference. Kennesaw State applied for membership to the Southern Conference, and was denied in favor of East Tennessee State and Mercer. I won't hate on your SOCON/SEC comparison since the southern conference birthed the SEC. I agree with your Clemson/KSU comparison as well. The Owls are on a similar trajectory to the Tigers.

[PaladinFan]

Don't blame KSU for the weak conference. Kennesaw State applied for membership to the Southern Conference, and was denied in favor of East Tennessee State and Mercer. I won't hate on your SOCON/SEC comparison since the southern conference birthed the SEC. I agree with your Clemson/KSU comparison as well. The Owls are on a similar trajectory to the Tigers.

KSU can't help that they play in a weak conference. KSU has exactly one conference opponent that finished with a winning record in 2018 - Monmouth.

What they can help is the rest of the schedule - that is about as bad as I've seen any team's out-of-conference schedule, especially for a team that talks about itself as a national contender.

Then again, what incentive does KSU to produce a decent schedule? They're all but guaranteed 11+ wins, a lofty seed, and a playoff bye. Playing weak competition isn't going to help the Owls in the post season, but it will all but guaranteed they get there.

I personally would like to see KSU in the SoCon, though I think conference membership likes the 8 game round robin football schedule. I'd be more in favor of pulling the BigSouth's autobid, though.

[JSUSoutherner]

The Owls are on a similar trajectory to the Tigers.

No they aren't.

[CID1990]

They've got a new coach and some level of mystery. Some Furman fans are a bit more uneasy about our QB situation than others.

There's no mystery.

Cheatwell is gone and they are back to their normal place: ass

[UpstateBison]

KSU can't help that they play in a weak conference. KSU has exactly one conference opponent that finished with a winning record in 2018 - Monmouth.

What they can help is the rest of the schedule - that is about as bad as I've seen any team's out-of-conference schedule, especially for a team that talks about itself as a national contender.

Then again, what incentive does KSU to produce a decent schedule? They're all but guaranteed 11+ wins, a lofty seed, and a playoff bye. Playing weak competition isn't going to help the Owls in the post season, but it will all but guaranteed they get there.

I personally would like to see KSU in the SoCon, though I think conference membership likes the 8 game round robin football schedule. I'd be more in favor of pulling the BigSouth's autobid, though.

Why would you be in favor of pulling their autobid? They beat the SoCon champ in the playoffs.


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[JSUSoutherner]

Why would you be in favor of pulling their autobid? They beat the SoCon champ in the playoffs.


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Everyone beats SoCon champs in the playoffs. It's not really a big deal.

[PaladinFan]

Everyone beats SoCon champs in the playoffs. It's not really a big deal.

Here's a list of the SoCon champs that also won the national championship (i.e., nobody beat them, much less "everyone")

Furman (1988)
Marshall (1996)
GSU (1999)
GSU (2000)
App State (2005)
App State (2006)
App State (2007)

I'm sure you don't want to compare the OVC's playoff resume to the SoCon's.

I mean, even just taking the last two years SoCon champs have won 3 playoff games (and had to play each other in the second round). JSU has 1 win.

[UpstateBison]

Here's a list of the SoCon champs that also won the national championship (i.e., nobody beat them, much less "everyone")

Furman (1988)
Marshall (1996)
GSU (1999)
GSU (2000)
App State (2005)
App State (2006)
App State (2007)

I'm sure you don't want to compare the OVC's playoff resume to the SoCon's.

I mean, even just taking the last two years SoCon champs have won 3 playoff games (and had to play each other in the second round). JSU has 1 win.

30 years since a current SoCon team won a championship. JSU played in 2015 championship.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JSUSoutherner]

Here's a list of the SoCon champs that also won the national championship (i.e., nobody beat them, much less "everyone")

Furman (1988)
Marshall (1996)
GSU (1999)
GSU (2000)
App State (2005)
App State (2006)
App State (2007)

I'm sure you don't want to compare the OVC's playoff resume to the SoCon's.

I mean, even just taking the last two years SoCon champs have won 3 playoff games (and had to play each other in the second round). JSU has 1 win.

Who was our win?

[PaladinFan]

30 years since a current SoCon team won a championship. JSU played in 2015 championship.


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JSU annually has one of the easiest routes to the national championship of any team in the country (though now I believe that honor goes to KSU). Frankly, it is surprising to me that a program that loads up with transfers and has virtually no resistance in conference play makes as little noise in the postseason as JSU does.

Besides, I'm responding to the dumb statement that "everyone" beats the SoCon champ. That's plainly not true.

You can make anything relative. It has been nearly 10 years since any team not named James Madison or NDSU won a national title.

As I've said before, five years ago the SoCon took a punch that would have folded most conferences - losing two national title contending powers in the same season. Everyone knew there would be a period of transition. I see that period of transition coming to a close very soon, though.

[PaladinFan]

Who was our win?

My recollection is that JSU, playing at home, needed a fourth comeback to beat the SoCon's third best team.

[FUBeAR]

What’s the name of that Dickens classic?

A Tale of Two Trolls?

...seems most apt...as does FUBeAR’s Favorite Cheer/Hashtag: #FUATT

[Reign of Terrier]

Here's a list of the SoCon champs that also won the national championship (i.e., nobody beat them, much less "everyone")

Furman (1988)
Marshall (1996)
GSU (1999)
GSU (2000)
App State (2005)
App State (2006)
App State (2007)

I'm sure you don't want to compare the OVC's playoff resume to the SoCon's.

I mean, even just taking the last two years SoCon champs have won 3 playoff games (and had to play each other in the second round). JSU has 1 win.

If I'm not mistaken the OVC has had only 2, maybe 3 teams win a playoff game that wasn't against a non-scholarship or other-OVC team in the last ~30 years or so.


30 years since a current SoCon team won a championship. JSU played in 2015 championship.


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You keep putting out this very dumb argument that, because the socon hasn't gotten to the final four or championship, we *must* be inferior to other conference. You're chest-beating/stroking your own shaft over conference affiliation when it's actually probably a better idea to look as the FCS being run by specific teams not conferences.

Here are the conferences with the most top 4 finishes since 2010:
MVFC: 12
CAA: 9
Southland: 5
Socon: 3
OVC:1

Now, let's take out the teams that have the most top 4 appearances (NDSU, EWU, SHSU--those three teams account for literally half of the top 4 appearances in the last decade) and rank them. We will also take out Georgia Southern, for obviously reasons:
CAA: 9
MVFC: 4
OVC: 1
Big Sky: 1
Southland: 0
Socon: 0

And really, the discrepancy gets worse if you throw in JMU, New Hampshire, SDSU and in the conversation, which I think you should when talking about top programs in the FCS for obvious reasons. That brings it to:
CAA: 5
MVFC: 2
Big Sky: 1
OVC: 1
Southland: 0
Socon: 0

Now, this is where that the well of comparisons run a little dry. I think it's safe to say that the FCS is conclusively run by NDSU, followed by EWU, SHSU and JMU. Then after that, it's a second tier of New Hampshire and SDSU. After those 6 teams, you have this mass of humanity with teams like Jacksonville State, Kennesaw state, Wofford, Maine, Illinois State, Youngstown State, Montana, and a bunch of CAA teams.

By your measure, Montana is a better team than Wofford right now because they made the semifinals in 2011, in spite of the fact that they have won less games in the last decade and not making the playoffs since 2015. Is Youngstown State or Towson or Delaware a better program right now than Kennesaw State or Wofford? Because each of those three programs indeed made it to a championship game, but they haven't won a playoff game or made the playoffs in the last decade other than that outlier.

Is Maine a better program right now than Wofford because Maine made it to the semifinals this past year, even though their coach bailed after the season, while the program hadn't won a playoff game in like the previous decade?

Fact is, we're a subdivision run by teams, not conferences. Also, you could argue that some of those teams benefit from geography (JMU is a better program than SHSU but has less semifinal appearances), but that's another discussion. The top/relevant teams are:
1) NDSU
2) EWU
3) JMU (even though they have less semifinal appearances)
4) SHSU
5) SDSU
6) New Hampshire
7) stalwart quarterfinalists like JSU, Maine, Kennesaw State, Wofford etc. Each has something special about them (Wofford=gets at least a win and only gets boatraced by NDSU, JSU had the magical run, KSU is a wunderkind, etc)

You keep bringing up the subjective standing of the socon without any nuance because you're a troll. I don't know how many different ways I can explain how dumb your comments are.


JSU annually has one of the easiest routes to the national championship of any team in the country (though now I believe that honor goes to KSU). Frankly, it is surprising to me that a program that loads up with transfers and has virtually no resistance in conference play makes as little noise in the postseason as JSU does.

Besides, I'm responding to the dumb statement that "everyone" beats the SoCon champ. That's plainly not true.

You can make anything relative. It has been nearly 10 years since any team not named James Madison or NDSU won a national title.

As I've said before, five years ago the SoCon took a punch that would have folded most conferences - losing two national title contending powers in the same season. Everyone knew there would be a period of transition. I see that period of transition coming to a close very soon, though.

The FCS is run by 5, maybe 6 teams if you consider New Hampshire's constant playoff presence and wins. The fact that New Hampshire is the 6th best program of the last decade and they don't feel like it kind of demonstrates how totally bull**** anyone claiming anything about conference superiority or superiority of any program outside of NDSU (huge gap), EWU, JMU, SHSU, and SDSU. But even then, one could argue it's really just the top 3.

[JSUSoutherner]

My recollection is that JSU, playing at home, needed a fourth comeback to beat the SoCon's third best team.

It was tied at the beginning of Q4. We were up two touchdowns 7 minutes later. Not sure that's a "comeback". Sounds to me like we were playing a typical SoCon team. You know, a team that can't finish a game.

Also I think it's hilarious you are still carrying the "ETSU was third best" mantra.

[PaladinFan]

It was tied at the beginning of Q4. We were up two touchdowns 7 minutes later. Not sure that's a "comeback". Sounds to me like we were playing a typical SoCon team. You know, a team that can't finish a game.

Also I think it's hilarious you are still carrying the "ETSU was third best" mantra.

Ugh. I'll take criticism of the SoCon, but not from a JSU fan. Weak conference, weak schedule, perennial underachiever.

Is the "can't finish a game" trope a good argument when your team lost their next contest by 4 touchdowns?

[FUBeAR]

Is the "can't finish a game" trope a good argument when your team lost their next contest by 4 touchdowns?

Do I think ETSU was a good team last year? I do. Do I think they were better than Furman or Wofford? I don't.If the argument can be made that ETSU was NOT better than Furman (+2) last year (and I believe it CAN), then one can also argue they were CERTAINLY not better than Samford (-11)...and also not better than VMI (+3), UTC (+3), CIT (+3), WCU (+2), and Mercer (+3).

So...if we accept those arguments, which each have definitive merit, then we can safely conclude that JaxSt was able to come from behind and steal a Home Playoff win from the worst Team in the SoCon.

[JSUSoutherner]

Ugh. I'll take criticism of the SoCon, but not from a JSU fan. Weak conference, weak schedule, perennial underachiever.

Is the "can't finish a game" trope a good argument when your team lost their next contest by 4 touchdowns?

The problem in Maine wasn't finishing. We never started that game.

Nonetheless, I find the 'weak conference' bit funny too when you want to use playoffs as a metric considering the OVC won more playoff games than the SoCon last season. Since 2012, we are 7-0 against the SoCon. 5 of those teams were SoCon champs.

So if you want JSU fans (namely me) to quit telling you guys your conference is overhyped AF, maybe try beating my 'lowly OVC team' sometime.

If I were you I'd just be happy your team bailed on us in 2015.

Has there been a team who has beat more SoCon team more in recent years than JSU?

[PaladinFan]

The problem in Maine wasn't finishing. We never started that game.

Nonetheless, I find the 'weak conference' bit funny too when you want to use playoffs as a metric considering the OVC won more playoff games than the SoCon last season. Since 2012, we are 7-0 against the SoCon. 5 of those teams were SoCon champs.

So if you want JSU fans (namely me) to quit telling you guys your conference is overhyped AF, maybe try beating my 'lowly OVC team' sometime.

If I were you I'd just be happy your team bailed on us in 2015.

Has there been a team who has beat more SoCon team more in recent years than JSU?

Oh, we've been over this. How many of JSU's wins over the SoCon are against one team - UTC? That's not dominance over the SoCon - that's dominance over UTC.

Besides, I can cherry pick stats too and point out that Furman beat JSU in three straight seasons. Dominance over the OVC or dominance over one team?

No one is "overhyping" the SoCon. You are, in fact, on a thread about the SoCon. Has anyone said the SoCon is a sure national title contender? Has anyone said the SoCon is the best conference in the country? Did anyone say last season ETSU was a world beater or do we all talk about them as a flawed fourth-year program that had some impressive moments to make the post season?

No. You are trolling for the sake of trolling.

At bottom, the SoCon teams and Jacksonville State are pretty much the same - there are some good teams that fall short in the postseason.

[Reign of Terrier]

Has there been a team who has played SoCon teams more in recent years than JSU?
I think this conversation is kind of bleh but I nevertheless FYP.

Chattanooga had a nice little run for the couple years Wofford has sucked, but let's be real, over the course of the last decade, the only remaining Socon team that has been consistently "good" is Wofford. I'm not saying that as a Wofford fan, just look at the win/loss. My criticism of "the FCS is about individual teams when it comes to the playoffs, not conferences, extends to the socon as well

ETSU and Samford have made the playoffs but not won a game. VMI, Western Carolina, and Mercer haven't made the playoffs. The Citadel and Furman have one 2 games or less. Chattanooga had a brief encounter with consistency, but only won 3 playoff games.

Wofford's won 4 playoff games in the last 3 years, which is more than the rest of the conference combined. We have as many playoffs win in the last decade as the rest of the conference combined. I'm not going to sit here and pretend like Wofford would whip or even beat Jacksonville State because quite frankly I'm agnostic on the question.

And I know, the socon has been screwed heavily by regionalization and that's part of the reason why they haven't been able to get more W's. But every team but Wofford and Chattanooga has accomplished equal to or less than Southeast Missouri State in the last decade. Now, I think regionalization is an excellent explanation for why that's the case (i.e if the 2016 Citadel and 2017 Furman teams didn't have to match Wofford, they would have probably won another game), but we really can't pretend like that's a certainty until other teams start consistently winning games.

I think it's obvious that the socon, even post App/GSU is better than most of the FCS, and you can judge that based on whom they lose to in the playoffs, how they lose in the playoffs (competitively), or just getting into the playoffs. I think the current playoff format is sub-optimal for having tournament outcomes reflect rank-order quality of teams.

But right now, I don't think it's kind of dumb to dick measure with JSU because right now they, like Wofford, are a top 12ish program. They don't have a great record because the Socon is a bad conference or worse than the OVC (they aren't) but because JSU is constantly one of the top tier teams in the FCS. That's the constant.

[Reign of Terrier]

Sidenote: The OVC has 11 playoff wins in the last 25 years. The Socon has 12 in the last decade.

JSU and Wofford account for 12 of those 23 total wins.

[SU DOG]

Strange that a JSU fan would low-rate the SoCon when the Gamecocks would jump at the chance to join. I have visited their Board many times and have seen numerous posts lamenting the fact that they are saddled with the OVC. To a person, they stated that a move to the SoCon would be welcomed. As for me, I wouldn't mind seeing them in the SoCon, and I have publicly stated that many times, but I'm not overly concerned one way or another. Their facilities are incredible, and that now includes most all of their sports. The Commissioner said yesterday that there was room for SoCon expansion, but that would be dealt with by his replacement. Will JSU ever be considered? I dunno.

[Reign of Terrier]

If I'm not mistaken, part of the reason why JSU doesn't join the socon (at least from what hearsay I've absorbed from boards such as this one and a couple articles about sun belt expansion) is because they have FBS aspirations.

And apparently the reason why the Socon doesn't want Kennesaw State is because of those FBS aspirations and the fact that they have a yuge budget.

[PaladinNation]

I don't see it happening… Furman has raised admissions standards - based on some recruiting weirdness this past season it's putting Furman's coaches at a disadvantage against it's closest conference academic rival Wofford. I don't see Furman, Wofford, and the Citadel sponsoring JSU or KSU.

The big topic for the future of the SoCon is basketball. The SoCon became a mid-major darling in 2019. Furman's basketball cred has blown up - Wofford's is fantastic - UNCG is making noise. If I were the new SoCon Commish basketball would be my lead priority when it comes to the future of the SoCon and expansion.

[SU DOG]

I think the FBS aspirations for JSU have yielded to reality. For example the school's endowment, according to Google, is less than $13 million, and that is paltry by most any comparison. Academic standards for Just Show Up could also definitely be a problem with the SoCon, especially the privates. As for basketball, however, JSU could hold their own in the SoCon. Yes, Samford beat them easily, but that was very early in the season, and JSU went on to become a VERY good team. They are committed to having good teams in all of their sports. IMO, however, they will probably continue be an OVC member for a long time.

[JSUSoutherner]

Strange that a JSU fan would low-rate the SoCon when the Gamecocks would jump at the chance to join. I have visited their Board many times and have seen numerous posts lamenting the fact that they are saddled with the OVC. To a person, they stated that a move to the SoCon would be welcomed. As for me, I wouldn't mind seeing them in the SoCon, and I have publicly stated that many times, but I'm not overly concerned one way or another. Their facilities are incredible, and that now includes most all of their sports. The Commissioner said yesterday that there was room for SoCon expansion, but that would be dealt with by his replacement. Will JSU ever be considered? I dunno.

Don't worry, I low rate the OVC as well.

I don't know that our facilities alone would woo the SoCon. I always figured the private schools would block us should we be suggested.

Regardless the odds of us leaving the OVC for anywhere right now are about .000001%

I think this conversation is kind of bleh but I nevertheless FYP.

Chattanooga had a nice little run for the couple years Wofford has sucked, but let's be real, over the course of the last decade, the only remaining Socon team that has been consistently "good" is Wofford. I'm not saying that as a Wofford fan, just look at the win/loss. My criticism of "the FCS is about individual teams when it comes to the playoffs, not conferences, extends to the socon as well

ETSU and Samford have made the playoffs but not won a game. VMI, Western Carolina, and Mercer haven't made the playoffs. The Citadel and Furman have one 2 games or less. Chattanooga had a brief encounter with consistency, but only won 3 playoff games.

Wofford's won 4 playoff games in the last 3 years, which is more than the rest of the conference combined. We have as many playoffs win in the last decade as the rest of the conference combined. I'm not going to sit here and pretend like Wofford would whip or even beat Jacksonville State because quite frankly I'm agnostic on the question.

And I know, the socon has been screwed heavily by regionalization and that's part of the reason why they haven't been able to get more W's. But every team but Wofford and Chattanooga has accomplished equal to or less than Southeast Missouri State in the last decade. Now, I think regionalization is an excellent explanation for why that's the case (i.e if the 2016 Citadel and 2017 Furman teams didn't have to match Wofford, they would have probably won another game), but we really can't pretend like that's a certainty until other teams start consistently winning games.

I think it's obvious that the socon, even post App/GSU is better than most of the FCS, and you can judge that based on whom they lose to in the playoffs, how they lose in the playoffs (competitively), or just getting into the playoffs. I think the current playoff format is sub-optimal for having tournament outcomes reflect rank-order quality of teams.

But right now, I don't think it's kind of dumb to dick measure with JSU because right now they, like Wofford, are a top 12ish program. They don't have a great record because the Socon is a bad conference or worse than the OVC (they aren't) but because JSU is constantly one of the top tier teams in the FCS. That's the constant.

FWIW, I think Wofford and JSU would be a helluva game. I'm like you, I'd have no idea who to pick. I just like triggering the Furman fans. They seem to think they are important for some reason. :D


If I'm not mistaken, part of the reason why JSU doesn't join the socon (at least from what hearsay I've absorbed from boards such as this one and a couple articles about sun belt expansion) is because they have FBS aspirations.

And apparently the reason why the Socon doesn't want Kennesaw State is because of those FBS aspirations and the fact that they have a yuge budget.

From what I've heard exactly nothing has been discussed as far as FBS and personally I think it'd be a bad move. I see Kennesaw moving up before we ever think about it. Like you said, they have the money. We don't.

[PaladinFan]

Don't worry, I low rate the OVC as well.

I don't know that our facilities alone would woo the SoCon. I always figured the private schools would block us should we be suggested.

Regardless the odds of us leaving the OVC for anywhere right now are about .000001%


FWIW, I think Wofford and JSU would be a helluva game. I'm like you, I'd have no idea who to pick. I just like triggering the Furman fans. They seem to think they are important for some reason. :D



From what I've heard exactly nothing has been discussed as far as FBS and personally I think it'd be a bad move. I see Kennesaw moving up before we ever think about it. Like you said, they have the money. We don't.

Jacksonville State lost to Maine by 4 touchdowns.
Jacksonville State beat ETSU by 7.

Wofford beat ETSU 30-17
Wofford beat Elon 19-7
Elon, the week before playing Wofford, lost to Maine in Orono by 1.

Transitivity doesn't work in football, but based on late season/playoff results, my guess is Wofford would beat JSU by a couple of scores.

[JSUSoutherner]

Jacksonville State lost to Maine by 4 touchdowns.
Jacksonville State beat ETSU by 7.

Wofford beat ETSU 30-17
Wofford beat Elon 19-7
Elon, the week before playing Wofford, lost to Maine in Orono by 1.

Transitivity doesn't work in football, but based on late season/playoff results, my guess is Wofford would beat JSU by a couple of scores.

KSU beat Wofford by 3 points. KSU beat JSU in 5OT a week earlier.

Since you wanted to play the transitive game I figured I'd show you a better comparison.

[Milktruck74]

The Mocs picked up 3 out of the portal. I don't know anything out of the Cammack Kid, Jones is suppose to be a real talent, but just got caught up in the fray with the new staff....but Roberts is a solid get for us. Mack Brown processed him. He is listed at LB, but he had 199 carries for 2,200 yards and 37 rushing TDs, 12 catches for 400 yards and five receiving TDs his senior year...so if need be, he knows how to find the Endzone on the offensive side of the ball.





T.J. Cammack (https://gomocs.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=6825&path=fb)
DL
6-0
260
Fr.
Rome, Ga. / Rome HS
Navy Prep



Kam Jones (https://gomocs.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=6826&path=fb)
LB
5-11
225
So.
Gwinett, Ga. / Peachtree Ridge HS
Louisville



Kayne Roberts (https://gomocs.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=6827&path=fb)
LB
6-2
220
So.
Greenback, Tenn. / Greenback HS
North Carolina

[PaladinFan]

Not necessarily football related, but Furman's AD, Mike Buddie, has just accepted the same position at Army.

[Mocs123]

New DC at Chattanooga anounced

https://gomocs.com/news/2019/6/4/football-wright-names-lorenzo-ward-defensive-coordinator.aspx

[Milktruck74]

New DC at Chattanooga anounced

https://gomocs.com/news/2019/6/4/football-wright-names-lorenzo-ward-defensive-coordinator.aspx

This is a HUGE addition to our staff. I played for Whammy on his first round at UTC, and he is a great coach and an even better man!!!! I’ve been chomping at the bit for this announcement to be official.....unofficially he was Rusty’s first call and has actually been on campus since the Week Rusty came on board. He has an incredible Defensive mind and I’m glad he is a Moc again!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JSUSoutherner]

This is a HUGE addition to our staff. I played for Whammy on his first round at UTC, and he is a great coach and an even better man!!!! I’ve been chomping at the bit for this announcement to be official.....unofficially he was Rusty’s first call and has actually been on campus since the Week Rusty came on board. He has an incredible Defensive mind and I’m glad he is a Moc again!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So basically we will only drop 40 on you guys instead of 50?

K. :D

[Milktruck74]

So basically we will only drop 40 on you guys instead of 50?

K. :D

If y’all hang 40 on us, your kicker is handed the Groza right after the game....he will have a a dozen over 50 yards!!!! Our D is going to shut down the red zone next year....and our red zone starts at mid-field. Haha. Well, that may be a stretch, but I seriously doubt get anywhere near 40.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JSUSoutherner]

If y’all hang 40 on us, your kicker is handed the Groza right after the game....he will have a a dozen over 50 yards!!!! Our D is going to shut down the red zone next year....and our red zone starts at mid-field. Haha. Well, that may be a stretch, but I seriously doubt get anywhere near 40.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah I personally don't like blowouts anyway. I like giving our opponents close, competitive, soul-crushing defeats.

Like this one: :D
https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CVfqDRvVEAAVtbB.mp4

[FUBeAR]

Yeah I personally don't like blowouts anyway. I like giving our opponents close, competitive, soul-crushing defeats.

Like this one: :D
https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CVfqDRvVEAAVtbB.mp4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOAGA7rTvpo

[JSUSoutherner]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOAGA7rTvpo

Whooooo carrrrreeeessss?

[Reign of Terrier]

Whooooo carrrrreeeessss?

Some of y'all weren't on this board circa 2008-2010 when App State was on here, and their rebuttal to every Furman comment was the youtube clip of the miracle on the mountain

[JSUSoutherner]

Some of y'all weren't on this board circa 2008-2010 when App State was on here, and their rebuttal to every Furman comment was the youtube clip of the miracle on the mountain

Oof.

I didn't even know who Jax State was until 2011. I didn't understand the game of football until 2013.

So a clip from 04 from a school that isn't even a rival and would rather go take a FBS beatdown check than honor a rematch with us is at the bottom of the list of things I care about.

[walliver]

Some of y'all weren't on this board circa 2008-2010 when App State was on here, and their rebuttal to every Furman comment was the youtube clip of the miracle on the mountain

App State wasn't very good that year, but extremely lucky. They had a near-miraculous Liberty meltdown and the miraculous Miracle on the Mountain, and losses to Wofford and GSU. If FU had run the play Bobby Lamb claims was called, the word "woofed" would have never made it into the AGS vocabulary.

[Milktruck74]

Oof.

I didn't even know who Jax State was until 2011. I didn't understand the game of football until 2013.

So a clip from 04 from a school that isn't even a rival and would rather go take a FBS beatdown check than honor a rematch with us is at the bottom of the list of things I care about.

Seems like not returning the home and home is an issue with Jax St. y’all need to get a stronger AD and quit rolling over. Ha.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JSUSoutherner]

Seems like not returning the home and home is an issue with Jax St. y’all need to get a stronger AD and quit rolling over. Ha.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey, fun fact: we have you on the hook for two beatdowns at our place. Don't think you're done after next season.

[PaladinFan]

Some of y'all weren't on this board circa 2008-2010 when App State was on here, and their rebuttal to every Furman comment was the youtube clip of the miracle on the mountain

Did someone say App State?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqi9JKzKWzs

[PaladinFan]

App State wasn't very good that year, but extremely lucky. They had a near-miraculous Liberty meltdown and the miraculous Miracle on the Mountain, and losses to Wofford and GSU. If FU had run the play Bobby Lamb claims was called, the word "woofed" would have never made it into the AGS vocabulary.

I was in the stands that day. It was the most surreal experience.

I don't really have an issue with the decision to go for two or the play itself. It was a freakish play.

[bonarae]

Meanwhile...

ETSU signs TWO ex-FBS QBs in the same week. One from Coastal and the other from the Miami Hurricanes.

http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i=20190606111959042745104&ref=hea&tm=&src=FCS

- - - Updated - - -

Meanwhile...

ETSU signs TWO ex-FBS QBs in the same week. One from Coastal and the other from the Miami Hurricanes.

http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i=20190606111959042745104&ref=hea&tm=&src=FCS

[SU DOG]

https://medium.com/@SoConJohn22/socon-football-2019-ranking-the-top-tight-ends-and-offensive-lines-6d615eacda24 (https://medium.com/@SoConJohn22/socon-football-2019-ranking-the-top-tight-ends-and-offensive-lines-6d615eacda24)

Too low for the Samford O-Line. IMO.

- - - Updated - - -

https://medium.com/@SoConJohn22/socon-football-2019-ranking-the-top-tight-ends-and-offensive-lines-6d615eacda24 (https://medium.com/@SoConJohn22/socon-football-2019-ranking-the-top-tight-ends-and-offensive-lines-6d615eacda24)

Too low for the Samford O-Line. IMO.

[gofurman]

Did someone say App State?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqi9JKzKWzs

That's ALL PRO NFL Furman Jerome Felton CRUSHING Future NFL App State player

- - - Updated - - -


Did someone say App State?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqi9JKzKWzs

That's ALL PRO NFL Furman Jerome Felton CRUSHING Future NFL App State player

[gofurman]

Whooooo carrrrreeeessss?

Last TWO times Furman played JSU:

playoffs 2004. Furman 49. JSU 7. Yes. FORTY NINE to SEVEN
REG Season 2005. Furman wins on last play in clip above.

Maybe one day JSU. Maybe one day. Lol. Jk w ya. Good luck in your games this year ! No offense meant. Just playin w y'all.

- - - Updated - - -


Some of y'all weren't on this board circa 2008-2010 when App State was on here, and their rebuttal to every Furman comment was the youtube clip of the miracle on the mountain

Exactly. Thanks for perspective.

[gofurman]

Meanwhile...

ETSU signs TWO ex-FBS QBs in the same week. One from Coastal and the other from the Miami Hurricanes.

http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i=20190606111959042745104&ref=hea&tm=&src=FCS

- - - Updated - - -

Meanwhile...

ETSU signs TWO ex-FBS QBs in the same week. One from Coastal and the other from the Miami Hurricanes.

http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i=20190606111959042745104&ref=hea&tm=&src=FCS

Damn. That Miami kid sounds scary

[gofurman]

Anyway ..any other updates to rosters in SoCon? I got the two ETSU QBs from FBS. Man. That's something

- - - Updated - - -

Anyway ..any other updates to rosters in SoCon? I got the two ETSU QBs from FBS. Man. That's something

[walliver]

I was in the stands that day. It was the most surreal experience.

I don't really have an issue with the decision to go for two or the play itself. It was a freakish play.

I've read an interview with Bobby Lamb where he stated that the play he called was a pass over the middle, not to the outside. The article never explained where along the line the play was changed: I guess Bobby didn't want to pass the blame along (which is the right thing for a head coach to do).

[walliver]

Damn. That Miami kid sounds scary

He looks good based on the brief description.
On the other hand, he wasn't good enough to start at Miami either (at least not under the new regime).

[JSUSoutherner]

Last TWO times Furman played JSU:

playoffs 2004. Furman 49. JSU 7. Yes. FORTY NINE to SEVEN
REG Season 2005. Furman wins on last play in clip above.

Maybe one day JSU. Maybe one day. Lol. Jk w ya. Good luck in your games this year ! No offense meant. Just playin w y'all.

- - - Updated - - -



Exactly. Thanks for perspective.

You guys are holding onto 15 year old wins over a team with their worst coach in their D1 history?

Man, if that doesn't scream "look how irrelevant we've been in the past decade" I don't know what does.



Lol jk.




Or am I?

[Milktruck74]

Anyway ..any other updates to rosters in SoCon? I got the two ETSU QBs from FBS. Man. That's something

- - - Updated - - -

Anyway ..any other updates to rosters in SoCon? I got the two ETSU QBs from FBS. Man. That's something

Jay Person was added to the Mocs LBs today. Person was a three-star product at Bradley Central High School in Cleveland, Tenn., and spent last season at Appalachian State. He played in two games last year, so he still has 4 to play.

[BlackNGoldR3v0lut10n]

He looks good based on the brief description.
On the other hand, he wasn't good enough to start at Miami either (at least not under the new regime).

Which is what happens when you have a QB from another P5 school come in, creating a crowded house at the U. Weldon's father is a gentleman named Casey Weldon. If that name is somewhat familiar to you, it should. Weldon was a pretty good QB at Florida State where he was the Heisman Trophy runnerup to Desmond Howard. We're blessed to have him and if we by some sense, semblance, miracle or grace of God win the national title with Weldon, we should send a thank you note to Manny Diaz and Tate Martell, much like every Clemson Tiger fan should have sent one to a certain analyst on the Alabama staff for Trevor Lawrence.

[PaladinFan]

Which is what happens when you have a QB from another P5 school come in, creating a crowded house at the U. Weldon's father is a gentleman named Casey Weldon. If that name is somewhat familiar to you, it should. Weldon was a pretty good QB at Florida State where he was the Heisman Trophy runnerup to Desmond Howard. We're blessed to have him and if we by some sense, semblance, miracle or grace of God win the national title with Weldon, we should send a thank you note to Manny Diaz and Tate Martell, much like every Clemson Tiger fan should have sent one to a certain analyst on the Alabama staff for Trevor Lawrence.

Furman fans are indebted to Urban Meyer and Chris Leak. That regime change led to Ingle Martin looking for a new home.

[FCS_pwns_FBS]

Off topic, but I notice former Furman linebacker Reynard Ellis is on Phil Steele's preseason all-Sun Belt team after sitting out a year.

I don't think I noticed him when I was watching Furman in the playoffs in 2017, but I only needed to look at his stats from his true freshman year to know he's probably a player that plays above his athletic ability because he knows where the ball will be.

[PaladinFan]

Off topic, but I notice former Furman linebacker Reynard Ellis is on Phil Steele's preseason all-Sun Belt team after sitting out a year.

I don't think I noticed him when I was watching Furman in the playoffs in 2017, but I only needed to look at his stats from his true freshman year to know he's probably a player that plays above his athletic ability because he knows where the ball will be.

He is a good player.

It was a bit of an odd departure from the program. Quoting an article from Scott Keeler last February:


The Furman football team will have the first of 15 practices in February on Friday as spring football begins. When the Paladins take the practice field it will be without 2017 leading tackler Reynard Ellis. Furman coach Clay Hendrix said that the program and Ellis have mutually decided to part ways.

"He's going to try to find somewhere that's a better fit for him and we wish him the best," Hendrix said.

http://www.furmansportsreport.com/2018/02/ellis-to-transfer-as-spring-football.html

I took that as a bit of a unique statement. It was not just that he was transferring - they would have simply said that. It was that the decision was "mutual."

[PaladinNation]

After the Ellis announcement — it was odd — Ellis was on the sidelines of the last season's spring game. Ellis also was back last year for a pre-season scrimmage with another GSU player.

I agree with Paladin Fan — Ellis was a good player for Furman in 2017.

[Milktruck74]

I heard a rumor out of Chattanooga that the coaching staff is frantically scouring the portal to find a second RB to compliment Price. Coaches feel that is the only missing piece to a great season. We will see.

[PaladinFan]

I heard a rumor out of Chattanooga that the coaching staff is frantically scouring the portal to find a second RB to compliment Price. Coaches feel that is the only missing piece to a great season. We will see.

While I think that having another guy to share Price's work load is a good idea (I have long argued that UTC's offense was far too predictable in how it spread touches to only two or three players), I am not sure that UTC is one backup RB away from taking that next step.

[walliver]

10 years ago, who would have thought that college players could be bought and sold on the internet ;).


I just hope that football never becomes as wild as college basketball, where mid-majors are being turned into farm teams for the big guys.

[FUBeAR]

I heard a rumor out of Chattanooga that the coaching staff is frantically scouring the portal to find a second RB to compliment Price. Coaches feel that is the only missing piece to a great season. We will see.Jeez - is Price’s self-esteem that low that the Mocs need to bring in a Player just to tell him good things about himself? :D

[PaladinFan]

10 years ago, who would have thought that college players could be bought and sold on the internet ;).


I just hope that football never becomes as wild as college basketball, where mid-majors are being turned into farm teams for the big guys.

Of course, I'm not sure many impact players are going to be on the transfer portal in late June.

[gofurman]

https://medium.com/@SoConJohn22/socon-football-2019-ranking-the-top-tight-ends-and-offensive-lines-6d615eacda24 (https://medium.com/@SoConJohn22/socon-football-2019-ranking-the-top-tight-ends-and-offensive-lines-6d615eacda24)

Too low for the Samford O-Line. IMO.

- - - Updated - - -

https://medium.com/@SoConJohn22/socon-football-2019-ranking-the-top-tight-ends-and-offensive-lines-6d615eacda24 (https://medium.com/@SoConJohn22/socon-football-2019-ranking-the-top-tight-ends-and-offensive-lines-6d615eacda24)

Too low for the Samford O-Line. IMO.

Big takeaways. Woff returns all 5 OL. HUGE.
WCU trying to protect possibly best offensive player in league in Tyrie Adams ... loses 4 OL. That’s a big hurt

[The Cats]

Well...since the 3 of you have, apparently, voted Mercer off of SoCon Island, I’ll follow the great American Tradition and refuse to accept the results of said election.

They just wanted to see if you would notice. I told them you would.

[gofurman]

Off topic, but I notice former Furman linebacker Reynard Ellis is on Phil Steele's preseason all-Sun Belt team after sitting out a year.

I don't think I noticed him when I was watching Furman in the playoffs in 2017, but I only needed to look at his stats from his true freshman year to know he's probably a player that plays above his athletic ability because he knows where the ball will be.

Ellis was a big loss for us. He and McKoy were a stellar tandem at LB. Now we have McKoy and Mr Hope as great ones (all conference and all america respectively). Wish we still had Ellis as that would be 3 greats ! But it wasn't a fit. wish him well

[gofurman]

bump adding Citadel transfer LB and Wofford QB from App State etc...

[PaladinFan]

bump adding Citadel transfer LB and Wofford QB from App State etc...

Didn't realize the App transfer (Peyton Derrick) is the younger brother of former Furman QB Dakota Derrick.

[gofurman]

Didn't realize the App transfer (Peyton Derrick) is the younger brother of former Furman QB Dakota Derrick.

Didn't know that either. I didn't make the connection - from App to Wofford.. a little odd in that Wofford wants a true option QB and that's not what I think of w App QBs?

[PaladinFan]

Didn't know that either. I didn't make the connection - from App to Wofford.. a little odd in that Wofford wants a true option QB and that's not what I think of w App QBs?

Wofford has never really been a true split veer option team like Georgia Southern was and the Citadel is. Conklin has stated his desire to become more of a passing threat offensively.

The difference to this point is that Wofford, offensively, has tried to live in two worlds. They want to throw more, but their QBs are not particularly good passers. Perhaps this Derrick kid is a guy that will fit the mold of a QB who is more of a passing threat that can also run option instead of an option QB that can occasionally heave the ball down the field.

[JSUSoutherner]

Hi, JSUSoutherner here with your monthly "UTC Sucks" post.

Enjoy your weekend. xdrunkyx

[SU DOG]

Speaking of UTC, do they really want to leave the SoCon? I think this article is probably WAY off base.

https://www.chattanoogan.com/2019/7/2/392726/Randy-Smith-Mocs-Should-Get-Out-Of.aspx

[Milktruck74]

Speaking of UTC, do they really want to leave the SoCon? I think this article is probably WAY off base.

https://www.chattanoogan.com/2019/7/2/392726/Randy-Smith-Mocs-Should-Get-Out-Of.aspx

Randy Smith is a Douche. As another poster put it...he doesn't realize that the average Chattanoogan doesn't see a difference in MTSU, Chattanooga or Carson-Newman. All are D2, in their eyes. If you ain't SEC, you ain't Division 1. So that said, most of the Fan Base actually realizes that the SoCon is a good fit for UTC for Football and all the other sports. A SunBelt affiliation would increase out Travel budget tremendously for other sports and would not really bring in more fans than we already see. While I would love to see the mocs play App State and GaSo on a regular basis again, Texas St, Ark St and Coastal are not going to fill the stands. SunBelt is not the answer. A few years back there was talk of the OVC and with TTU, UTM, APSU all being instate, that almost made sense....almost. the SoCon is Chattanooga's home and it isn't going to change. And as bad of an idea making a conference change to try and fill the stadium for football home games is....it canonly be compounded by making that conference the SunBelt!!!!

[SU DOG]

Most of us in the SoCon have the same type of problem. Just as Milktruck said, none of us are considered D-1 if we aren't in the SEC. And yes, the G5 teams also have this problem. At Chattanooga or Birmingham it's Tide, Vols, or some other SEC bunch. You can see these jerseys or other paraphernalia at the games It is disgusting to realize how many Samford Alums are Tide Pride Members. This is not a new topic, and this reality isn't going to change. It is what it is.

[PaladinFan]

Randy Smith is a Douche. As another poster put it...he doesn't realize that the average Chattanoogan doesn't see a difference in MTSU, Chattanooga or Carson-Newman. All are D2, in their eyes. If you ain't SEC, you ain't Division 1. So that said, most of the Fan Base actually realizes that the SoCon is a good fit for UTC for Football and all the other sports. A SunBelt affiliation would increase out Travel budget tremendously for other sports and would not really bring in more fans than we already see. While I would love to see the mocs play App State and GaSo on a regular basis again, Texas St, Ark St and Coastal are not going to fill the stands. SunBelt is not the answer. A few years back there was talk of the OVC and with TTU, UTM, APSU all being instate, that almost made sense....almost. the SoCon is Chattanooga's home and it isn't going to change. And as bad of an idea making a conference change to try and fill the stadium for football home games is....it canonly be compounded by making that conference the SunBelt!!!!

I think it is worthwhile to look at the Savannah News article on Georgia Southern's athletic budget on moving to the SunBelt. It exploded.

And, of course, UTC doesn't have a history of success like App and GSU did. Going from a mid-tier SoCon team to the FBS sounds like a recipe for a decade or more of 2-10 seasons.