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| Joshua Harris (2) is one of seven returning starters for Furman, which is ranked No. 12 entering the 2024 season. Photo courtesy of Furman |
There are plenty of shoes to fill as Furman prepares for the 2024 football season. The Paladins return only seven starters (out of 24 positions) from a Southern Conference championship team that went 10-3 last season, which culminated in a heartbreaking overtime loss at Montana in the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs.
But don't mention the word "rebuilding" around the team. At the very least, don't mention it around Furman coach Clay Hendrix.
"Obviously, we have an abnormally high number of guys (not back this season) but you lose players every year. I don't like that 'rebuild' term because rebuilding gives a sense of falling down," Hendrix said at the SoCon Media Day event. "We're not rebuilding. We've been building since we've been here. I think we're kind of built for this."
Entering Hendrix's eighth season as head coach at his alma mater, it appears the program has built into a national power once again. A program where expectations are to compete for SoCon and FCS national titles every season, no matter the losses in personnel.
Evidence of that feeling carrying beyond Greenville came Monday. As the Paladins began their first full week of practicing in full pads in preseason camp, the FCS Stats Perform (media) preseason poll was announced and Furman is ranked 12th. While the Paladins finished sixth in last season's final poll, a No. 12 ranking is respectable for a team that doesn't return it's starting quarterback, starting running back, four starting offensive linemen and 11 of its 15 leading tacklers from a year ago.
For a comparison to previous teams coming off a SoCon title, Furman was ranked 19th in the 2019 preseason poll and No. 21 entering the 2014 season.
The poll also reflects that the SoCon may finally be regaining some respect that seemingly evaporated the second Appalachian State and Georgia Southern left for the FBS' greener pastures of Wednesday night games and conference road trips to Texas.
Chattanooga enters this season ranked ninth. The Mocs were picked to win the league title this year, while Furman was second in the preseason coaches poll. There's no longer a SoCon preseason media poll because why would the league want media attention, I guess. Western Carolina is ranked 20th, while Mercer and Samford also received votes.
Those ranked teams will have a chance to further strengthen views of the SoCon this September. Furman's non-conference schedule includes a trip to 15th-ranked William and Mary on Sept. 21, while Western Carolina visits No. 3 Montana on Sept. 21. That trip comes a week after the Catamounts play at Elon, which was the leader among others receiving votes - three points shy of ranking 25th.
Chattanooga's non-conference schedule begins with FBS games at Tennessee and Georgia State to start the season before hosting Portland State to end September. Portland State has been a mediocre FBS program the past few years, but it plays in the exalted Big Sky Conference where teams like Eastern Washington - which lost to Portland State last year - receive 14 votes for the preseason Top 25 after going 4-7 last season.
If you don't think preseason polls matter, think again - at least in the world of the FCS. As the Paladins know all too well from building the program back up, it seems to be a whole lot simpler staying in the polls than getting in the polls.
Furman's most notable position battle this preseason obviously comes at quarterback, where SoCon Offensive Player of the Year and Furman Male Athlete of the Year Tyler Huff has departed to spend his final season of eligibility at Jacksonville State.
It appears the two leading candidates to take over as starting quarterback are redshirt sophomore Carson Jones and freshman Trey Hedden. Jones had some ups (at Chattanooga) and downs (at Wofford) late last season when pressed into duty because of an injury to Huff. At 6-foot-3 and 231 pounds, Hedden is a big-armed QB with legs like running back Dominic Roberto - another graduated star gone from last season. That combination makes for an exciting prospect.
"I think the strength of the guys we have right now (at quarterback) is the ability to get the ball down the field," Hendrix said. "And we've got as talented a receiver group as we've had. ... Seeing a few more balls thrown down the field only helps the run game. It helps a lot of things."
Another spot to watch this preseason is the defensive backfield. With all the defensive rotations that Furman makes, there are a number of non-starters that still have quite a bit of playing experience returning. That's not so much the case in the secondary though. If you include spurs like Cally Chizik, there are nine defensive backs gone from last season.
As Hendrix has mentioned in the past, this time of year pretty much everyone is in competition. There are no guarantees based on playing time in the past.
"Everybody's got their chance. We were sitting here (at Media Day) two years ago and nobody knew who Tyler Huff was," Hendrix said. "I really like our group. They've done everything we've asked them to do to go have a good August.
"We've got some really talented young guys who could've played a year ago, but we just didn't have to play them. ... I'm excited to get out and watch them play."
A total of 117 Paladins are in preseason camp. Among those are 23 sophomores and 63 freshmen. Following Fan Day on Saturday, Aug. 17, Furman will transition more into a season mode of practice as it prepares for it's season opener at FBS' sixth-ranked Ole Miss on Aug. 31.
Eight Paladins make preseason All-SoCon
Along with the coaches poll, the All-SoCon preseason team was announced at Media Day and eight Furman players were recognized by the league's coaches.
Offensive lineman Luke Petit and defensive lineman Xavier Stephens made the first team, along with kicker Ian Williams and return specialist Colton Hinton. Paladins on the second team include running back Grant Robinson, wide receiver Joshua Harris and linebackers Luke Clark and Evan DiMaggio.
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