Furman baseball ready to open the 2018 season

Furman ace Grant Schuermann will get the opening day start Friday
when the Paladins begin the 2018 season against Marist at 4 p.m.

The Furman baseball team is set to begin the 2018 season Friday with six position starters returning, along with senior left-handed starter Grant Schuermann. While Schuermann was the best pitcher in the Southern Conference the last month of the 2017 season and there's plenty of experience around him, the shoes to fill are pretty big.

Gone are Colorado Rockies' third-round draft pick Will Gaddis as well as outfielder Carter Grote, who may have had more moxie than anyone to ever wear a Furman uniform. Other key starters who've graduated include catcher Cam Whitehead and outfielder Sky Overton. These players helped lead the 2017 Paladins to a school-record 33 wins in a season and a spot in the final game of the SoCon Tournament.

Picked to finish fourth in the SoCon by the league's media and sixth by the coaches in the preseason, Furman will kick off the season with a three-game series against Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference preseason favorite Marist beginning Friday at 4 p.m. at Latham Stadium.

"One of the biggest things that we keep talking about is that we've got to have some serious grit. We don't think we're quite as talented as we were last year. But with the leadership and experience we have, if we have a little grit and refuse to let ups and downs get to us, I think we can be very successful," Furman coach Brett Harker said. "We definitely still have enough talent to do it. ... We can embrace being the underdog that's getting overlooked and use it to our advantage."

While Gaddis capped off his spectacular career with another great season last year, it was Schuermann who commanded the Friday starting spot by season's end and he will resume that role in the season opener. Coming back from Tommy John surgery that cost him the 2016 season, Schuermann went 4-0 with an 0.71 ERA over his final five starts last season capped by a 6-1 win over regular season champion Mercer at the SoCon Tournament.

After Schuermann, the weekend rotation consists of junior right-hander Jake Crawford Saturday and true freshman lefty Matt Lazzaro on Sunday. Junior Heath Hawkins, whose been Furman's best reliever, was expected to challenge for a starting spot. However, Hawkins has been dealing with a nagging bicep injury that Harker said will likely see him need to build up arm strength coming out of the bullpen again. The left-right-left rotation gives the Paladins a new look that Harker believes could be a benefit.

"It's something we haven't been able to do since I've been here, so it'll be nice to switch it up," Harker said. "Schuermann and Lazzaro are very similar, so it's kind of nice to put in a righty that's completely opposite in between with Jake being a harder thrower with a big breaking ball.

"Lazzaro has flat out earned his spot. To earn that spot as a weekend starter for a freshman isn't easy to do. He's not only going to have a bright future with us, I think he's going to have an immediate impact and win us a lot of games as a freshman."

In a sport where defense is often overlooked but can prove very detrimental when not played well, Harker is happy to have his starting infield back intact. It's led by All-SoCon first baseman Brandon Elmy (.341, 11 HR, 49 RBI), who had his terrific 2017 season end with a hamstring injury with two games left in the regular season. Other starting infielders include Sims Griffith at second, Bret Huebner at shortstop and Crawford at third.

Senior Jason Costa (.318/5/21) takes over behind the plate in place of Whitehead. Costa made 33 starts, including 17 at catcher last year.

The Paladins should also receive a boost from first baseman Deon Sanders, who will miss the first portion of the season due to spring football practice. He hit seven home runs and played terrific defense in replacing an injured Elmy as a freshman in 2016, before missing last season with an injury. 

In the outfield, preseason All-SoCon pick Landon Kay (.332/11/37) is back in right while Jabari Richards (.304/6/30) mans left. In center, it will either be redshirt freshman David Webel or highly-touted true freshman Ben Davidson. Webel was an opening-day starter last season and hit .333 over six starts before having his season cut short by injury.

"We've got a lot of innings returning in the infield. Our right side has been starting for three years and we feel good about that," Harker said. "I think the strength of our program is our outfield. We've got four outfielders who are going to make it hard to decide who to put out there. I think we're pretty fast and we will be able to cover some ground out there."

This weekend's games will be live streamed on the SoCon Digital Network. When not conflicting with men's basketball, audio streams will be available on TuneIn Radio and IHeartRadio.com and WPLS-FM 95.9 in the Furman area. Links are available at FurmanPaladins.com.

Single-game tickets are $5, while season tickets for all 30 home games - including Fluor Field contests against Clemson and South Carolina - are available for $50 at FurmanPaladins.com.

For the second season in a row, I'll be providing recaps of each game, as well as features and notes throughout the season here at furmansportsreport.com.

Reconnected Paladins roll over Wofford

In Bob Richey's first season as Furman men's basketball head coach, the keyword has been "connected." That not only entails sharing the ball on offense, but playing together defensively as well.

Facing a Wofford team loaded with offensive weapons all over the court Saturday, team defense was all the more important and the Paladins rose to the occasion. Furman rallied from an early nine-point deficit to record a dominant 76-52 win before a sellout crowd of 2,552 at Timmons Arena.

In holding Wofford to its fewest points since the season opener (52 against South Carolina), Furman pulled even in the standings with the Terriers. Both teams are 17-9 overall and third in the Southern Conference at 8-5.

"I thought we played as hard as we have all year and we were as connected as we have been all year on defense," Richey said. "We got back to the understanding that even though the team has capability to score 80, that's not who we are. ... We've got to go out there and defend and individual defense isn't good enough, especially when you're facing an offense that talented.
"We were great teammates out there today. We flew around on defense and moved the ball. That's what Furman basketball's about."

Coming off a devastating overtime loss at the The Citadel and an uninspired home loss to UNCG, Richey shook things up a bit Saturday. For the first time this season - without an injury being the reason, there was a change in the starting lineup as Jordan Lyons replaced Devin Sibley.

Just over three minutes into the game, it appeared that Furman may be in for another tough day. SoCon leading scorer Fletcher Magee had a layup and a 3-pointer and Wofford had an 11-2 lead when Richey called timeout 3:14 into the game.

"I really just called them down. We'd missed three layups and they hit a couple of transition shots," Richey said. "We had good intent. It wasn't the same as Wednesday (against UNCG) when we got off to a really lethargic start."

The Paladins responded with a 16-0 run, holding the Terriers scoreless from the 16:46 mark to the 9:12 mark of the first half. It became a 37-7 run before Wofford scored the last three points of the half as Furman held a 39-21 lead at the break. Nine different Paladins had at least one assist in the opening half. It was the lowest point total of any half this season for the Terriers, who missed all nine of their 3-pointers in the rest of the half after Magee hit their first attempt.

The bench played a big role in the surge for Furman as they scored 21 points in the opening half. On the first possession after Sibley entered, he immediately drove to the hole and drew a foul from Magee. Sibley, Clay Mounce and Jalen Williams each had six points off the bench in the half. In just his second game action since Jan. 24 after dealing with back spasms, Williams added five rebounds and two blocked shots in seven first-half minutes.

"I felt like I had a chain on or something, because I was ready to get out. It was fun to be out there," Williams said. "I played inspired basketball because of the people in my life and on this team. They're my brothers and my family. I've been going through some tough things off the court and they've really helped me stay the course."

Furman didn't let up coming out of halftime with a 7-0 run. Daniel Fowler, who somehow didn't score in the big first half, had 12 points midway through the second half. His last bucket came on a dunk with 9:16 left that pushed the lead to 62-38. Furman led by as much as 31 in the second half.

Magee was held 13 below his scoring average as he and Nathan Hoover led Wofford with 10 points apiece. Wofford, which entered Saturday ranked No. 1 in the SoCon and No. 5 in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage at 42.1, made 30.4 percent (7-of-23) Saturday. The Terriers shot 35.2 percent from the floor overall.

After Cameron Jackson's 20-point performance in the Terriers' win over Furman in Spartanburg on Jan. 13, Matt Rafferty and Williams held Wofford's terrific post player to four points and seven rebounds. The Terriers had a 39-26 rebounding advantage in that first meeting as well, but just a 36-35 edge Saturday as Furman big men Rafferty, Williams and Mounce all logged significant minutes.

It was the first time all season that Rafferty and Williams were on the court together at the same time. Mounce was also in the game with both for some minutes as well.

"I wasn't real happy about getting outrebounded by 21 on Wednesday night," Richey said. "I just felt like we were able to do some things to go big and just bring some physicality to the game. We probably should've done it Wednesday night and in some other games where we've been dealing with some size, but this team tonight showed that we're capable of doing that."

John Davis scored 13 points to lead the Paladins, while Fowler finished with 12 and three steals. Rafferty had nine points and 10 rebounds. Mounce had eight points and Williams had seven points and six rebounds. Furman had 18 assists and seven turnovers, while forcing 15 turnovers.

"Our connectivity and defense had been slacking lately, but we got it together a little bit today," Rafferty said. "We've got to continue doing that every day, including practice. ... We had to get back to our biggest strength, which is our chemistry."

Furman next hosts Chattanooga Thursday at 7 p.m.

UNCG completes series sweep of Furman

On the opening possession of the Furman-UNCG Wednesday night, the Spartans' Demetrius Troy drove hard to the bucket and threw up either a terrible shot or an innovative pass off the backboard. Whatever it was, after the ball bounced straight back to Troy and he laid it in it went down as a layup.

Then UNCG 6-foot-9 forward Jordy Kuiper banked in a 3-pointer and later 6-8 reserve Kyrin Galloway banked in a 3-pointer. And this wasn't even the half that UNCG shot 64 percent from the floor in.

It was that kind of night for Furman. While some fluky shots went down in the first half for the Spartans, there was nothing fluky at all about their 80-67 win. It's the second year in a row that UNCG (18-6, 9-2) has visited Timmons Arena and left with a double-digit victory. In the Paladins' last 24 SoCon games at home, their only other loss came on a last-second, one-point defeat at the hands of ETSU earlier this season. UNCG becomes the first SoCon team to sweep the season series with Furman since the 2014-15 season when the Paladins went 5-13 in league play.

"It was a disappointing performance tonight, pretty much across the board. I didn't think we came out with the intensity that we needed to start a game of this magnitude," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "We weren't aggressive enough on either end of the floor to win a game like that."

Coming off seeing a 17-point second half lead evaporate in a tough overtime loss at The Citadel Saturday, the Paladins (16-9, 7-5) came sputtering out of the gate. UNCG led 8-0 before Daniel Fowler's layup just over three minutes into the game. Six minutes in, the Spartans led 16-4. Over eight-and-a-half minutes in, it was 21-7.

Furman clawed its way back to trail 31-29 on Matt Rafferty's layup with 3:23 left in the first half, but the Paladins could never grab the lead. After taking a 36-31 lead into halftime, UNCG's Marvin Smith scored the first five points of the second to push the lead to 10.

Furman shaved that lead to three at the 15:38 mark, but the Spartans answered with a 10-2 run. The Paladins never got within six the rest of the way. After Fowler's layup cut the lead to 55-49 with 9:01 left, UNCG went on a 19-6 run over the next five-and-a-half minutes to take its biggest lead of the night at 19.

"I thought our guys started to play with much more fight (late in the first half) and went to halftime expecting us to come out with more fight and we just didn't," Richey said. "This game's not for the weak-minded. When you're not prepared mentally for fights and to go after people, it can get hard on you quick."

UNCG used its superior length to outrebound Furman 38-17, including 19-5 in the second half. The Spartans had 12 offensive rebounds for a 12-0 edge in second-half points. Despite committing 16 turnovers and only forcing 10, UNCG had a 15-9 advantage in points off turnovers. The Spartans scored 40 points in the paint thanks to a bevy of dunks and layups. In the second half, UNCG shot 64 percent from the floor and made 13-of-16 of its two-point shots.

Meanwhile, UNCG held reigning SoCon Player of the Year Devin Sibley to six points on 2-of-5 shooting from the floor in 29 minutes. It's the fewest shots Sibley has attempted in a game in which he's played at least 24 minutes in since Nov. 21, 2015.

"They've got size and length and play much bigger than we do, but we didn't get outrebounded like this in past games (against UNCG)," Richey said. "I don't care how small you are or how big they are, if you get beat by 21 on the glass, you got whipped."

Smith led five Spartans in double figures with 18 points. Troy and Francis Alonso each scored 12 points and combined for nine assists. James Dickey added 11 points and 12 assists.

After missing Saturday's game with an injury, Andrew Brown returned to the lineup Wednesday and led Furman with 15 points. Fowler was the lone other Paladin in double figures with 12.

In a conference as good as the SoCon is, teams simply can't afford to let a devastating loss like Saturday's beat them twice. Richey wasn't completely sure if that was the case for his team Wednesday, but he said it appeared that way early on

"The only other time this season where I feel like I did tonight about us just not giving the effort that was needed was the Winthrop game. Going into that game, we had some bad practices," Richey said. "The surprising thing about tonight is that we've had a pretty good two days (of practice) considering what we went through (Saturday).
"It definitely looked like it was lingering tonight. I could definitely see that it looked like we came out emotionless."

Furman next hosts Wofford Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

Furman football completes recruiting class

After 10 high school football players signed with Furman in the new early signing period in December, six more faxed in their commitment letter on the traditional February signing day Wednesday.

Along with three transfers that are already on campus and currently participating in spring practice, the total class size for this season is 19. In his first recruiting campaign with a full season of head coaching under his belt, Furman coach Clay Hendrix is a fan of the new earlier period.

"I love it. I would've loved to have had all of them in December. I don't think that will ever happen, but I think we can sign a good corps of kids going forward in December," Hendrix said. "We've had these six settled for a couple of weeks, so it was a nice January. We weren't doing a lot of babysitting trying to hold on to guys. Our kids have been solid."

Following a successful 2017 season that saw Furman win eight games and advance to the second round of the FCS playoffs, success seems to have continued in this recruiting season. Of course, that will ultimately be determined over the course of the next few years.

During Furman's annual National Signing Day Celebration Wednesday at the American Burger Company in downtown Greenville, Paladin fans heard from every assistant about the newly signed players at their position. Recruiting coordinator/outside linebackers coach Duane Vaughn said that out of all the players who made official visits to Furman's campus, only one didn't sign.

The newest Paladins include the sons of three former NFL players. Linebacker Jax Hackett is the son of former Pro Bowl and All-Southern Conference linebacker at Appalachian State, Dino Hackett. Wide receiver Zack Peterson is the son of Todd Peterson, who was a placekicker in the NFL for 12 years. Cornerback/return specialist Amir Trapp, a junior transfer from Clemson, is the son of James Trapp. Trapp was a defensive back for 11 years in the NFL and also an Olympic sprinter. 

This year's class focused on defensive needs. The Paladins signed four defensive backs, three defensive linemen and three inside linebackers.

"We were really thin at inside linebacker and that's a quality group we added. They're a little bigger and more athletic," Hendrix said.

Offensively, the Paladins signed three wide receivers, two quarterbacks, two running backs, an offensive tackle and a tight end. Quarterbacks was a focus following the graduation of P.J. Blazejowski.

While senior Harris Roberts, redshirt freshman JeMar Lincoln and others are taking the snaps at quarterback currently in spring ball, Hendrix said new signees, Hamp Sisson and Conway's Darren Grainger, will get their chance to compete when they arrive in July.

"We told them we will give them every opportunity to compete for the job," Hendrix said. "I'd be really surprised if that decision (on a starting quarterback) doesn't go well into August. There's no preconceived redshirt plans at that quarterback position. We're going to find out who our best one is."

Bios for all the new players can be found here.

2018 Furman Football Signing Class

QB Darren Grainger, 6-4, 190, Conway

QB Hamp Sisson, 6-0, 185, Birmingham, Ala.

RB Devin Abrams, 6-1, 205, Pensacola, Fla.

TB Corey Watkins, 5-9, 185, Evans, Ga.

WR Dejuan Bell, 5-9, 160, North Augusta

WR Louis Hall, 6-0, 180, Canton, Ga.

WR Zach Peterson, 6-2, 180, Roswell, Ga.

TE Ryan Miller 6-1, 205, Jackson, Tenn.

OT Anderson Tomlin, 6-5, 275, Birmingham, Ala.

DE Melton Brown, So., 6-3, 264, Louisville, Ga. (Georgia Southern)*

NG Cameron Coleman, 6-3, 285, Elizabethton, Tenn.

DT Taylor Hodge, 5-9, 255, Tyrone, Ga.

ILB Braden Gilby, 6-2, 220, St. Petersburg, Fla.

ILB Jax Hackett, 6-2, 205, Greensboro, N.C.

ILB Cooper Hardin, So., 6-1, 228, Chattanooga, Tenn. (Navy)*

CB Travis Blackshear, 5-10, 175, Savannah, Ga.

DB Jonah Griffin, 5-11, 180, Savannah, Ga.

CB Amir Trapp, Jr., 5-8, 170, Clemson (Clemson)*

S Dae'one Wilkins, 6-0, 200, Spring Hope, N.C.

*transfer

Furman blows 17-point lead in loss at Citadel

Daniel Fowler had 10 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 0 turnovers in Furman's
100-92 overtime loss at The Citadel Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman.

CHARLESTON - For the first 72-and-a-half combined minutes of Furman's two games against The Citadel this season, the Paladins outscored their biggest rival 184-128. But somehow the season series ended up in a split.

Citadel outscored Furman 27-11 over the final 7:18 of regulation Saturday and the Bulldogs went on to a 100-92 overtime win at McAlister Field House. When the teams met in Greenville a month ago, the Paladins won 107-67.

Furman led by as many as 17 in the second half Saturday. Last season in Charleston, the Paladins saw a 28-point second half lead cut to three before hanging on. Three Citadel 3-pointers and a layup in the final 59 seconds of regulation sunk Furman's hopes of hanging on Saturday. The Bulldogs then scored the first seven points of overtime to help seal the improbable win.

"They hit some tough (3-pointers), but they also hit some open ones (down the stretch). That's what they do, and they do it well at home," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "I didn't think we had the defensive focus. We were a half-second late on a lot of assignments.
"We thought we got up and we thought we were good. The next thing you know, they're hitting all these threes. Then we got a little passive offensively. It's a bad recipe for success."

Furman (16-8, 7-4 Southern Conference) led by 10 with less than two minutes left in regulation. Citadel's Kaelon Harris had a layup and a three-point play sandwiched around a Devin Sibley missed free throw to cut the lead to 82-77 with 1:13 left. The Bulldogs then began trading two free throws for 3-pointers.

Jordan Lyons hit two free throws before Harris hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 84-80 with 59 seconds left. Daniel Fowler hit two free throws before Zane Najdawi hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 86-83 with 42 seconds left. John Davis hit two free throws before Matt Frierson's hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 88-86.

After that 3-pointer though, Furman didn't substitute someone in for Sibley as it had done on previous offensive possessions in the final two minutes. Sibley, who entered Saturday shooting 58.1 percent from the foul line, missed a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left. Citadel's Frankie Johnson, who missed a game-tying layup with five seconds left against ETSU on Monday, hit the game-tying layup with five seconds left Saturday.

On Furman's last possession of regulation, Fowler passed to Davis, who was knocked to the ground as he went for the catch. The ball went out of bounds as time expired. Officials reviewed the video and couldn't find a foul.

Citadel made its first six shots of the game for a 16-9 lead 4:30 into the game. Furman answered with a 10-2 run capped by Clay Mounce's 3-pointer that gave the Paladins their first lead. Geoff Beans' 3-pointer with 8:48 left in the first half gave Furman a lead it didn't relinquish until Johnson's layup with five seconds left.

Facing a Citadel team that ranks No. 3 in the country in turnovers forced at 18.6, Furman had just two turnovers in the first half. Lyons' buzzer-beating 3-pointer gave the Paladins a 52-44 lead at the break. Furman finished with 10 turnovers, including two critical ones in overtime. The Paladins were 11-of-26 on 3-pointers before missing their final seven, including all six in overtime.

"It was very similar to last year here, but the missed a couple late (last year) and we rebounded them. Today, they didn't miss any of them late and we missed some free throws," Richey said. "Wofford lost in here. ETSU almost lost in here and they won at Mercer. Anybody who's following the league right now knows that Citadel's playing really well.
"Sometimes we over-hype wins and we overreact to losses. We've got to figure out what we've got to do to get better, then go do that and march forward."

Davis and Sibley led Furman wih 18 points apiece. Matt Rafferty had 14 points and eight rebounds, but a season-high four turnovers. Rafferty had just one turnover in his previous four games combined. Lyons finished with 12 points, while Fowler had 10 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and no turnovers. Making his first start this season in place of injured Andrew Brown, Geoff Beans had nine points on 3-of-4 3-point shooting. Clay Mounce had nine points and eight rebounds also for the Paladins.

Najdawi scored a game-high 28 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots for Citadel (9-14, 4-7). Frierson had 21 points, while Harris had 18 points and seven rebounds. Johnson finished with nine points and nine assists.

Furman returns to action Wednesday as the Paladins host UNC Greensboro at 7 p.m.

Paladins run win streak against Mercer to five

Jordan Lyons scored 12 points in the second half to help Furman
defeat Mercer 85-73 Thursday night. Photo courtesy of Furman.

Furman won its fifth consecutive game in its series against Mercer Thursday night in Macon, Ga. Unlike the previous three meetings, which were decided by a total of seven points, the Paladins were able to breathe a little easier down the stretch of this one. Devin Sibley was one of five Furman players in double figures with a game-high 21 points as the Paladins won 85-73.

Coming off a 21-assist, 7-turnover effort in a 100-66 win over Western Carolina, Furman had 18 assists and eight turnovers Thursday. The Paladins made 15-of-30 3-pointers, marking their first game of shooting at least 50 percent from beyond the arc since an 87-57 win at VMI on Dec. 30.

"It was really good to see the guys continue to play with confidence. I just thought they played with a great belief on offense, and continue to move and share the ball," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "It's been nice to get back to that the past two games."

Combined with Wofford's loss at The Citadel Thursday, the victory puts the Paladins (16-7, 7-3 Southern Conference) in a third-place tie with the Terriers in the conference standings.

Despite the Bears (10-13, 3-7) not having injured standout guard Ria'n Holland, a back-and-forth game could've been expected given the series history and the game being held at Hawkins Arena. It was back-and-forth for all of nearly six minutes. Sibley's 3-pointer at the 14:09 mark of the first half gave Furman a lead it never relinquished.

Among the Paladins' 15 3-pointers were some very timely ones. A 3-pointer by Andrew Brown gave Furman its biggest lead of the first half at 34-25 with 6:46 left. An 8-0 Mercer run shaved the lead down to one, but the Paladins didn't allow a point over the final 2:27 of the half. The only points of the final 2:16 came on Geoff Beans' 3-pointer with 50 seconds left that gave Furman a 41-35 lead at the half.

Jordan Lyons' 3-pointer with 9:52 left gave the Paladins their first double-digit lead of the night. Furman's next two field goals were another 3-pointer by Lyons and one by Sibley that gave the Paladins their biggest lead at 70-54 with 7:11 left. Mercer never got closer than nine the rest of the way. After Furman ran out nearly the entire shot clock, John Davis sealed the win on a rainbow 3-pointer that made it 83-71 with 1:17 left.

Sibley's 21-point effort moved him into a tie with Mel Daniel for ninth-place on Furman's all-time scoring list with 1,707 career points. He was one of five Paladins in double figures. John Davis continued his hot streak with a brilliant line of 14 points, seven assists and one steal. Davis was one of four starters who didn't commit a turnover.

"Turnovers have been a key for us. Playing on two feet and moving it before the trouble comes. Once you see a second defender come, move it," Richey said. "We've done a really good job of that."

Lyons, playing about 80 miles from his Peachtree City, Ga. home, had 12 points off the bench - all in the second half. Brown had 11 points, Matt Rafferty scored 10 and Beans hit a season-high 3-of-5 3-pointers for nine. Daniel Fowler had eight points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

"Jordan made some big plays. He's got that ability and he continues to grow as a player," Richey said. "He had a big game last year down in Macon as well. It's encouraging to see his growth because that just makes us more dangerous."

Jordan Strawberry led five Bears in double figures with 18 points, to go along with six assists, five rebounds, one steal and no turnovers. Desmond Ringer, who had 22 points and seven rebounds in Furman's 74-71 win in Greenville earlier this season, was limited to 10 points and two rebounds Thursday.

Mercer, which entered Thursday's game ranked second in the SoCon in 3-point shooting percentage at 38.8 percent, made 5-of-26 (19.2 percent) from beyond the arc Thursday. When the teams met in Greenville this season, the Bears hit just 3-of-17 (17.6 percent) 3-pointers.

The Paladins headed to Charleston following Thursday's win ahead of Saturday's 1 p.m. game at rival The Citadel.

Ellis to transfer as spring football begins

The Furman football team opens spring practice
on Friday. Photo courtesy of Furman.

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.

Pressed into duty three games into the season after a rash of injuries at linebacker, Ellis made the Southern Conference's All-Freshman team. Ellis had a team-high 92 tackles, including five tackles-for-loss and an interception.

In a related move, Navy transfer Cooper Hardin has shifted from fullback to linebacker. Hardin was an All-State linebacker at Farragut High (Tenn.) in 2016, where he also played running back. He had 116 tackles, including 10.5 sacks, and rushed for 1,477 yards and 19 touchdowns in Farragut's 2016 Class 5A state championship season.

"We were a little bit thin at the linebacker position anyway," Hendrix said. "Cooper will be a really good fit there."

Former Wren High standout receiver/returner Bailey Rogers has also decided to transfer. Rogers tweeted that he plans on going to an "undecided FBS program as a preferred walk-on this fall." Rogers had one rush for 11 yards and returned two kickoffs for 40 yards last season.

Hardin and fellow transfers Melton Brown, a defensive end from Georgia Southern, and Amir Trapp, a cornerback/returner from Clemson, are among the 76 Paladins who will be participating in spring practice.

Early Spring
Furman's 15 spring practices are scheduled from Feb. 2-28, with the annual Purple-White Scrimmage tentatively set for Saturday, Feb. 24. If that seems earlier than usual, it is. Last year at this time, Hendrix was still getting his new staff in place. With not much of a transition in staff and less to do schematically this year, Hendrix was more comfortable with going a little bit earlier.

"We have an early spring break. The thought was to get all of spring practice in before the break. I'd prefer not to split it up. That spring lifting, running and speed training is huge for us, especially this year. We will have a great long stretch there where we can focus on that," Hendrix said. "With an early spring, if you get somebody nicked up a little bit they have more time to recover."

The early spring also means running back/first baseman Deon Sanders, who's on scholarship for football, will be able to rejoin the baseball team having only missed the first couple of weeks of its season. Sanders is healthy after missing the last two football seasons and one baseball season due to injury.

While 16 starters return from last season, spring football will provide an early look at some positional battles this season. That includes quarterback where P.J. Blazejowski graduated following a stellar senior season in 2017.

"We're a somewhat experienced group, but we're still a really young group as a team. So we've just got to keep developing," Hendrix said. "I think our coaches will be better a year into it as well. We all know each other. I think the key for us is to just keep progressing."

Schedule released
Furman's 2018 football schedule has been announced. It includes back-to-back road games to start and end the season with five home and two away games sandwiched in between.

The Paladins open the season Sept. 1 at Clemson before traveling to Elon for the teams' third meeting in a year. Furman's home opener is Sept. 15 against Colgate, which will wrap up non-conference play.

"All those (FBS) games are challenges, and obviously that one even more so. But our kids will be excited about going over there and playing, and I like playing those games. They help us in recruiting," Hendrix said. "We know all about Elon. They'll be good again. Then a lot of people don't realize Colgate ended up being co-champions of their conference, where Lehigh got the automic bid (to the FCS playoffs). I think it's a little bit tougher schedule than last year."

Furman begins SoCon play Sept. 22 at ETSU. After playing at the Buccaneers' new stadium, the Paladins won't go back on the road until Oct. 27 at The Citadel. In between, Furman hosts Western Carolina Sept. 29, has a bye Oct. 6, hosts Wofford Oct. 13 and hosts Samford Oct. 20. The regular season home finale is Nov. 3 against Chattanooga. The Paladins wrap up the regular season at VMI Nov. 10 and at Mercer Nov. 17.

Abernethy leaving
One of the main objectives for Hendrix this season is for his team to get stronger, faster and tougher. He said the Paladins were exposed at times last season, particular following losses at Samford and the playoff loss at Wofford.

The team will try to do that this year without Furman strength and conditioning coach David Abernethy, who's leaving to focus more on his private business, Tsunami Bar. Abernethy has been at Furman since June of 2012.

"David did a really good job for us and will be a hard guy to replace. I'm happy for him," Hendrix said. "(Strength and conditioning assistant coach) Trent Caldwell has done a great job of taking it and running with it. There's some things that we wanted to change, so he's tried to make some adjustments. I think that area's like offense and defense - you're always trying to tweak it to make it better."