2022 Outlook

[AllTimeFU]

I noticed the coaches are on the road this week. Fort Lauderdale, Nashville, Birmingham and Dayton. Nashville is a real hotbed of talent that's really growing. What's the feeling on the 2022 class + transfers and the ability to compete in the conference this year? Is it a battle for 3rd behind ETSU and UTC?

Rankings as of May2
https://www.cbssports.com/college-footb ... ches-poll/

[AstroDin]

I noticed the coaches are on the road this week. Fort Lauderdale, Nashville, Birmingham and Dayton. Nashville is a real hotbed of talent that's really growing. What's the feeling on the 2022 class + transfers and the ability to compete in the conference this year? Is it a battle for 3rd behind ETSU and UTC?

Rankings as of May2
https://www.cbssports.com/college-footb ... ches-poll/

I don't buy ETSU in the title hunt.
I do think we'll be underrated and be the surprise of the SoCon.

[Davemeister]

Don't overlook Mercer or you'll have to answer to FUBear.

[FUBeAR]

Don't overlook Mercer or you'll have to answer to Mercer.

FYP

[AllTimeFU]

Which position group do you think needed the biggest upgrade?

[apaladin]

I noticed the coaches are on the road this week. Fort Lauderdale, Nashville, Birmingham and Dayton. Nashville is a real hotbed of talent that's really growing. What's the feeling on the 2022 class + transfers and the ability to compete in the conference this year? Is it a battle for 3rd behind ETSU and UTC?

Rankings as of May2
https://www.cbssports.com/college-footb ... ches-poll/

Don’t know how much stock you can put in this. They have JMU ranked 3rd and they are not competing in FCS this year. If we are not better than a lot of teams on this list its going to be another very disapponting year.

[DungeonRealm]

This is just the final poll from January this past season, has nothing to do with next year preseason rankings

[FUBeAR]

Which position do you think needed the biggest upgrade?

Gosh….we all gonna have to cogitate on this question for quite a good while. We don’t want to get our answers all turnt round on one another, y’know.

[AstroDin]

Which position group do you think needed the biggest upgrade?

Offense

Obviously more consistency at quarterback — I believe we will see dramatic improvement there as well as competition.
The influence of Justin Roper is going to be fun to watch.

Receivers—more consistency and big playability. Furman has made some changes in this position. Again JR's offense is going to put a spotlight on the receiving corp. FU needs Bell to showcase his ability, Anderson to shine at WR, Harris continues to develop, and Shiflett stays healthy. Next, need contributions from Hughes, Gunn, and possibly the two incoming recruits.

Defense

We will have two youngsters at Bandit. How will these two perform? I think they'll be fine.
Two positions had some injuries that hurt towards the end of the season.
Defensive back and defensive line.

Furman gets Sochovoka and Stainfield back, along with Cujo and an athletic supporting cast should make this season's D line pretty stout.

The defensive backfield had some great games and some games that they were pushed. With many SoCon schools switching to more pass-first offenses Furman has to upgrade and build more depth in the backfield.

Furman brings in Coach Spangler.
The Dins get back Chizik and Yates plus several highly recruited DBs.

The last thing I can think of is of course the kicking game.
Based on the practices and scrimmages I've seen Furman has a star in punter Ryan Leavy, the dude can boom punts. FG kicking will be interesting — is it Lepvreau or the transfer from NCST?

[The Jackal]

Just a few thoughts

Offensively, the big issue for most of Hendrix's tenure has been consistent play at QB. We don't force teams to respect our ability to throw the ball consistently. Harris looks like he has the makings of a big play WR in the passing game.

The running game should be stout. We've got an army of solid running backs and an experienced offensive line.

Defensively, I think there's a lot to get excited about. We had a few DBs out last season that have returned, along with Travis Blackshear. We should be excellent in the secondary if we can find a safety to slot into Dimarcus Clay's spot.

Up front, there's a little less experience but a lot of talent. We'll have some big anchors up front, but will need to get a pass rush out of some younger guys. We look pretty deep at linebacker also.

[AstroDin]

I was having a convo with a friend in Texas who goes to many Texas HS football games.
I casually mentioned The Woodlands—he mentioned the receiving group - so I did a little more digging into our commit Ben Fergenson. Ben is described as having a lot of wiggle after the catch and being a great pass catcher. This play is impressive…

[apaladin]

I was having a convo with a friend in Texas who goes to many Texas HS football games.
I casually mentioned The Woodlands—he mentioned the receiving group - so I did a little more digging into our commit Ben Fergenson. Ben is described as having a lot of wiggle after the catch and being a great pass catcher. This play is impressive…

At 6’0 he’s a little tall to play WR at FU.

[Afurmanfan]

Remember, his coach said Ferguson reminded him of Amendola of another Woodlands grad- Danny Amendola. And he coached both of them.

[Afurmanfan]

I should probably re-read my messages before I post them.

[gofurman]

Which position do you think needed the biggest upgrade?

Gosh….we all gonna have to cogitate on this question for quite a good while. We don’t want to get our answers all turnt round on one another, y’know.

Yep. I see what you did there


And yes. - PASSING THREAT. QB to WR and pass pro. But mainly QB. I think the pass pro was ok sometimes over the last few years and we would just throw it at a receivers feet. Recall that Citadel game. Man, Something like 4-19 in passing or so. Just horrible. They were leaving WRs wide open and we couldn’t complete a pass. I like the running threat of Wilson though we may play the PC kid? But QB has to improve now. If Jace is better then play him