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| Furman freshman quarterback Trey Hedden is expected to make his first start Saturday against Stetson. Photo courtesy of Furman |
Furman freshman quarterback Trey Hedden appears set to make his first start when the Paladins host Stetson at 2 p.m. Saturday. He will look to provide a spark similar to the one he made in Furman's loss to Charleston Southern in the home opener last Saturday, albeit this time without the turnovers.
Hedden came in with 5:40 left in the first half last week and directed the Paladins on a touchdown drive that gave them the lead. He guided Furman on another scoring drive that ended on a go-ahead touchdown on its first possession of the second half. Hedden finished with 193 yards on 12-of-25 passing. Hedden also fumbled three times, lost two of them, threw an interception and was sacked four times.
Sophomore Carson Jones, who made the first two starts this season, will also likely see action Saturday. Jones was 6-of-10 passing for 42 yards last week, including an interception on the third play of the game.
"Obviously, Trey gave us a boost in some areas. He didn't take care of the ball like he should have for various reasons," Furman coach Clay Hendrix said Friday. "But I still think this thing (starting quarterback job) is going to be decided in a week or two. It might though. We'll see.
"I'm really proud of how they both practiced this week. In a lot of ways last week felt like the first week ... and Ole Miss already feels like it was an August scrimmage from two months ago. So I'm looking forward to seeing that progression."
After losing a turnover battle by four - the largest deficit during Hendrix's tenure as head coach - last week, it's imperative that whoever's playing quarterback must protect the ball.
"Ball security is job security," Hendrix said. "We've just got to be better and I think that will come with experience."
As the last couple of seasons have shown, having a quarterback that's a threat to run has been a big part of Furman's offensive success. While no one is expecting Tyler Huff type of rushing numbers from Hedden or Jones, Hendrix is confident both can run and he wants to see them do more of it moving forward.
Hedden longest run last Saturday was a 10-yard gain, but that was a result of a busted play. As Huff showed, making something out of nothing is another positive aspect of having a mobile quarterback.
"I don't know that there's a lot of difference in either one running, expect that one of them (Hedden) is 230 pounds," Hendrix said. "I'd like to see them both be more assertive in the run game."
Burrell to miss 6-to-8 weeks
Joshua Burrell, a graduate transfer from Florida State who has two years of eligibility remaining, will miss six-to-eight weeks with a high ankle sprain he suffered on the third play of the game last week. It's a blow to an offense that has shown a good deal of success in utilizing big, pass-catching tight ends the last few seasons.
"It's not like we can't do that stuff, but if you had him available you're probably going to try to take advantage of that even more," Hendrix said. "I hate it for him, but he's already had the surgery and is doing well. ... It especially stunk the other (Saturday) night because we had a lot planned for him."
Hendrix said Burrell's injury is similar to the one that sidelined offensive lineman Luke Petit for the rest of the season last year, but Petit's injury was suffered in week six. He said by the end of last season, while Petit wasn't healthy enough to play, he was moving around pretty well.
An eerie old feeling of 2018
In addition to turnover issues on offense, Furman's defense has had their own - as in a lack of. The Paladins only had one game in each of the previous four seasons in which they didn't force a turnover but have yet to force one this season. The last time the Paladins had back-to-back games without getting a turnover was the first two games of the 2018 season.
Much like this season, Furman opened that year getting blown out by a national FBS power in Clemson. The next week, freshman quarterback Darren Grainger fumbled on the second play of the game. Elon returned the fumble for a touchdown and went on to blow out the Paladins. That turnover was kind of similar to Jones' interception on the third offensive play last week.
The third week of 2018, Furman was scheduled to host Colgate a year after stomping the Raiders on their home field. The threat of Hurricane Florence - and Colgate's refusal to move the game to another day - caused the game to be cancelled. While no hurricane is expected Saturday, heavy rain has been on the forecast all week.
Furman tried to make up that cancelled game with finding an opponent on its open date of Oct. 6 that season. There was only one other FCS team that also had a previously cancelled game and an open date of Oct. 6, With long road trips to San Diego and Drake sandwiched around that open date that school refused to play Furman - home or away.
That school just happened to be this week's opponent, Stetson.
Furman can certainly hope that some parts of 2018 continue this season, as Furman ended up going 6-4 and earning a share of the Southern Conference championship that year. That lost game - and likely seventh win - probably cost the Paladins a trip to the FCS playoffs that season though.
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