• FURMAN FOOTBALL WEEKLY: ETSU

 #94156  by FUwolfpacker
 Mon Nov 18, 2024 1:48 pm
Some interesting stuff on returning players.

Clay confirmed the Ian Williams news about telling them he plans to come back for a 6th year. Said all 4 TEs are expected to be back which I assume includes Burrell. Also said they're going to have to try to get a waiver for Stephens so it's possible he could be back. Said they expect 8-10 lineman to be back which makes me think either a few guys are moving on or there might be a couple of younger guys transferring out. By my count we have at least 12 scholarship OLs on the roster with 3 more potentially coming in. So maybe 2-4 guys moving on, or maybe coach was just guessing. Also said he expected all of our WRs to come back.

I had somehow not realized that Stoneking was out for the year as of a few weeks ago. The number of season ending injuries on that side of the ball is really staggering. Also mentioned Malaki Dobbins played over 30 snaps against ETSU. Dobbins is a guy who's tape was fairly impressive coming out of high school. He played with a lot of effort like Knauber. Like Astro, I'm generally pretty high on the young guys given how much I follow recruiting, but I feel pretty good about the D-line going forward.
 #94157  by FUATT
 Mon Nov 18, 2024 1:54 pm
You look at that and you see some of what is coming into the recruiting class and it's good.

Take the Nettles kid for example. He can add a 3rd down back type capacity to the offense that is maybe stronger than what we have had now.

You look at Hedden in a year two, more mature, year in the weight room, with the same receivers, line with all this experience and snaps, all the TEs and other backs ... we will have the ability to light up the scoreboard.
 #94165  by FUBeAR
 Mon Nov 18, 2024 3:02 pm
MD asked a great question about the value of learning from and overcoming adversity and Coach Hendrix provided a solid answer.

FUBeAR has long contended that while winning our 1st SoCon Championship in 1978 was a great accomplishment, the continued success which followed was much more a result of starting 0-5 in 1979.

The Team Meeting following loss #5 @ Wofford was, IFBO, a watershed moment that solidified that which became the culture of Furman Football; a culture that Coach Hendrix began to fully absorb when he became a part of FU Football in 1982 and with which he imbues these current Paladins every day. Those consecutive Championships we strung together in ‘80, ‘81, ‘82, ‘83, and the National Championship game in ‘85, and National Championship in 1988 don’t happen if we don’t start ‘79 winless in our 1st 5 games, IFBO.

This season, whether it ends in 3-8/2-5 or 4-7/3-4, may be exactly what this group of very young Paladins needed to continue the culture that has brought us more than twice as many Conference Championships as any other SoCon Team.

FUBeAR assumes we would all prefer 1 3-8 or 4-7 season that spawns 2 or 3 SoCon Championships than going 6-5, 5-6, 5-6, 6-5 year after year.

Right?
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