Note: The following was written by Scott Keeler, who worked as a reporter at the Greenville News for more than 25 years and continues to cover the Southern Conference. “Keeler’s Corner” will also appear throughout the season.
Keeler can be found on Twitter @Scott_Keeler
THE CITADEL
2020-21 record: 2-10, 2-6 SoCon
Offensive starters lost: 1
Defensive starters lost: 0
Specialists lost: 0
The Citadel was one of only two Southern Conference programs that managed to play all eight league games in the spring, but a seventh-place finish marked the lowest of head coach Brent Thompson’s tenure. The Bulldogs will look to rebound in Thompson’s sixth season on the legs of Jaylan Adams.
After standout quarterback Brandon Rainey wrapped up his collegiate career with The Citadel’s four nonconference games last fall, Adams was pressed into duty in the spring when he made seven starts. No SoCon player had more carries in league play than the sophomore, who finished with 757 yards and nine touchdowns in 11 games total.
The Citadel’s offense was dealt a blow in the preseason when running back Alex Ramsey’s odd journey to Charleston, South Carolina, ended prematurely due to a season-ending injury. Ramsey transferred for his final season after leading the SoCon with 1,326 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns for VMI in 2019. After transferring, Ramsey opted out of the COVID-affected 2020 season and entered the transfer portal before deciding to stay at The Citadel.
A weapon Adams will have this fall is big-play wide receiver Raleigh Webb, who will return for his sixth season. Webb has averaged 21 yards per reception in his career and ranks second in school history with 19 touchdown catches.
Defensively, The Citadel is led by senior linebacker Willie Eubanks III. The All-American and Buck Buchanan Award watch list member had 69 tackles in eight games last season after posting 112 stops in 2019.
Matthew Campbell, a first-team All-SoCon selection each of the past three seasons, returns at punter. Campbell, who’s on the watch list for FCS Punter of the Year honors, averaged 41.6 yards per punt last season with 17 downed inside the opponents’ 20-yard line.
September game to watch: vs. Charleston Southern, Sept. 11. After a season-opening trip to FBS No. 22-ranked Coastal Carolina on Thursday and before hosting Division II North Greenville on Sept. 18, The Citadel’s only FCS game of September comes against its crosstown rival. The Bulldogs lead the series 7-5 and will be shooting for their third consecutive win in it.
ETSU
2020-21 record: 4-2, 4-2 SoCon
Offensive starters lost: 0
Defensive starters lost: 0
Specialists lost: 0
After going from the top to the bottom of the Southern Conference in Randy Sanders’ first two seasons as head coach at ETSU, the Buccaneers rebounded with a 4-2 showing in the spring. ETSU had the distinction of being the only SoCon team to defeat 2020 league champion VMI. Much like in their magical season of 2018 which resulted in the Bucs’ first SoCon championship, all six games this spring were decided by no more than eight points.
ETSU will look to maintain that consistency of being positioned to win those close games this season. When it comes to consistency for the Bucs, nobody needs to look any further down the roster past No. 1 Quay Holmes. The Walter Payton Award watch list member had 640 yards rushing and eight touchdowns last season, averaged 5.2 yards per carry and led the SoCon with 106.7 yards rushing per game.
The dangerous kick return threat also led the SoCon and ranked second nationally in all-purpose total yards (1,094) and yards per game (182.3). In 2019, Holmes rushed for 1,143 yards and seven touchdowns. He won SoCon Freshman of the Year honors in 2018 after rushing for 928 yards and 13 touchdowns. Holmes enters this season 1,285 yards shy of becoming ETSU’s all-time leading rusher.
As if Holmes wasn’t enough for SoCon defenses to try to contain, junior Jacob Saylors is also back. He’s rushed for 1,525 yards in his ETSU career and owns the school record for yards per carry at 6.3.
Paving the way for Holmes and Saylors up front are All-SoCon preseason first-team selections in junior lineman Tre’mond Shorts and junior tight end Nate Adkins.
First-team All-SoCon linebacker Jared Folks and defensive back Tyree Robinson lead the defense. Folks, whose college career began at Temple, where he redshirted as a freshman in 2014, earned SoCon Defensive Player of the Year honors last season after posting a team-high 50 tackles. Robinson had the game-sealing forced fumble in ETSU’s 24-20 win at VMI and a fumble return for a touchdown in the Bucs’ 28-21 win at The Citadel.
Sophomore Tyler Keltner, an All-SoCon preseason first-team pick, returns at placekicker. Keltner made all 15 of his extra points and was 7-of-10 on field goals, including a school-record 54-yarder, last season.
September game to watch: at Samford, Sept. 25. After visiting Vanderbilt to open the season on Saturday and hosting its next two games, ETSU will leave Tennessee for the first time and open SoCon play on the last Saturday of September. The Bucs will be seeking consecutive wins over Samford for the first time ever. After losing 24-17 at Samford in 2019, ETSU won by the exact same score at home last season.
FURMAN
2020-21 record: 3-4, 3-4 SoCon
Offensive starters lost: 2
Defensive starters lost: 1
Specialists lost: 0
Furman went 6-2 in the Southern Conference in each of Clay Hendrix’s first three seasons as head coach and was the preseason favorite to win the 2020 league title. After a 3-1 start, the Paladins ended on a three-game losing skid for a rare losing season. Offensive consistency was perhaps the biggest issue. In two wins over Western Carolina and Samford, Furman piled up 79 points, but it combined for just 69 points in its other five games.
Fifth-year senior running back Devin Wynn will look to help lead the Paladins’ quest to get back on track. The All-SoCon first-team preseason selection ran for 511 yards and five touchdowns last season and ranks in the top 10 in school history in rushing yards (2,468) and touchdowns (25). He’s averaged 5.9 yards per carry in his career.
Another weapon returning for Furman’s offense is tight end Ryan Miller. Miller found the end zone in five of the Paladins’ seven games last season as six of his 15 catches went for touchdowns. The Associated Press first-team All-American has averaged 17.6 yards per reception in his career.
Furman’s defense should get a boost by the return of bandit Elijah McKoy, who missed all of the spring season due to injury. The fifth-year senior has 236 tackles in his career, including 91 in 2018, which ranked second in the SoCon.
Sophomore Timmy Bleekrode returns to handle kicking duties for the Paladins. Bleekrode made 6-of-7 field goals and averaged 43.6 yards per punt last season. Of his 36 punts, 17 were downed inside the opponents’ 20-yard line.
September game to watch: vs. North Carolina A&T, Sept. 4. Shaking off the disappointing spring season could be accelerated for Furman with a victory over the FCS 25th-ranked Aggies. It will be the first-ever meeting between the schools and will be North Carolina A&T’s first game in 623 days after the program opted out of last season.
MERCER
2020-21 record: 5-6, 5-3 SoCon
Offensive starters lost: 3
Defensive starters lost: 2
Specialists lost: 2
Drew Cronic’s first season as head coach at Mercer probably went nothing like he could’ve imagined. But in the end, it resulted in the Bears’ first winning record in Southern Conference play since joining the league in 2014.
Mercer went 0-3 last fall then dropped its SoCon opener at Wofford in the spring. But the Bears ended the spring by winning four of their last five games, including consecutive wins over then No. 9-ranked Chattanooga, No. 17 Furman and No. 20 ETSU. While there was limited fan support due to COVID restrictions, Mercer went 4-0 at home in league play.
While the Bears took significant roster hits at offensive skill positions via the transfer portal, they managed to rank third in SoCon play at 27.1 points scored per game and averaged 357.9 yards per game. The offense was led by freshman quarterback Carter Peevy, who threw for 1,318 yards and eight touchdowns and also rushed for 186 yards and four touchdowns.
Peevy and Coastal Carolina transfer Fred Payton have been competing in the preseason and Cronic has said that both will play this season. Payton started 11 games for the Chanticleers from 2018-20.
Sophomore lineman Solomon Zubairu and freshman linebacker Isaac Dowling will lead a defense that had a SoCon-best 29 sacks over its full 11-game schedule last season.
Zubairu, an All-SoCon first-team preseason selection, led the league with 10.5 tackles for loss including 5.5 sacks. Dowling had a team-high 91 tackles including 6.5 sacks, which ranked second in the SoCon.
September game to watch: at Furman, Sept. 25. Mercer opens the season Thursday against Point, travels to Alabama the following week and then has a week off to prepare for its SoCon opener in Greenville, South Carolina. The Bears snapped a three-game losing streak in the series with a 26-14 win over the Paladins in the spring.
SAMFORD
2020-21 record: 4-3, 4-3 SoCon
Offensive starters lost: 1
Defensive starters lost: 1
Specialists lost: 1
During these highly uncertain times, there’s always things you can count on. Things like death, taxes and a Samford quarterback putting up monster offensive stats. That’s the case for the Bulldogs’ Liam Welch, who’s on the Walter Payton Award watchlist and the preseason pick as Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Year.
Welch ranked second in the country last year in total offense with 424.2 yards per game. He was fourth nationally in passing yards (373.3) and efficiency (160.6), threw 12 touchdown passes and ran for four more. Against VMI, Welch shattered the SoCon single-game record with 570 yards passing.
Leading the protection up front for Welch will be All-SoCon first-team preseason selection Gavin Orr, a junior right tackle. A top target of Welch’s returns this season in Ty King, another All-SoCon first-team preseason pick. King averaged 87 yards per game receiving last season and 18.5 yards per catch.
Leading rusher Jay Stanton, who ran for 479 yards and six touchdowns while averaging 5.4 yards per carry, is also back.
Defensively, Samford will lean on All-SoCon first-team preseason picks Armond Lloyd and Chris Edmonds to lead the way. Lloyd, a 6-3, 306-pound tackle had 33 tackles and 2.5 sacks last season. Edmonds is a first-team All-American and finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award. The free safety had 40 tackles and ranked third nationally with a SoCon-best four interceptions.
The Bulldogs will look to build off what was a winning spring season, but one that was so close to being so much more. Samford led 17-14 in the fourth quarter of a 24-17 loss at ETSU in the season opener. Two weeks later at Furman, the Bulldogs led 37-23 with less than seven minutes left in the fourth quarter before going on to fall 44-37 in overtime. Two weeks later against VMI, Samford led 30-17 with less than six minutes to go in the fourth quarter and went on to a 38-37 loss in overtime.
September game to watch: vs. Tennessee Tech, Sept. 2. After all those heartbreaking late losses in the spring, Samford gets the chance to exorcise some of those same past demons in Thursday’s season opener. The last time these teams met in 2019, Samford led 44-28 late in the fourth quarter before Tennessee Tech scored two touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversions in the final 1:18 of regulation. The Bulldogs went on to fall in overtime, 59-58.
No. 18 CHATTANOOGA
2020-21 record: 3-2, 3-1 SoCon
Offensive starters lost: 0
Defensive starters lost: 0
Specialists lost: 0
In Chattanooga’s limited window of time on the field last season, the Mocs displayed why many consider them to be the most talented team in the Southern Conference. After a 13-10 loss at FBS member Western Kentucky in its only fall contest, Chattanooga won its first three SoCon games in the spring. The Mocs then played nearly all backups in a 35-28 loss at Mercer before opting out of the remainder of their schedule.
This season, Chattanooga is the favorite to win the league in voting by the coaches and media. Offensively, the Mocs should be led by 2019 SoCon Freshman of the Year Ailym Ford. The All-SoCon first-team preseason selection rushed for 1,081 yards and nine touchdowns in 2019. Last season, he had 92 yards against Western Kentucky but didn’t participate in the spring.
Tyrell Price is another proven running back the Mocs have back. Pryce rushed for 697 yards and nine touchdowns as a freshman in 2018. A season-ending injury the next season opened the door for Ford. Price led Chattanooga last season with 226 yards and four touchdowns.
Sixth-year senior left guard Cole Strange, the 2020-21 SoCon Jacobs Blocking Award co-winner, leads the Mocs’ offensive line.
Who will be handing off to Ford and Price is still up in the air, but the Mocs have three quarterbacks with SoCon experience competing for the job. Drayton Arnold, an Old Dominion transfer, started all five games last season for Chattanooga. Cole Copeland made the SoCon All-Freshman team after appearing in six games for the Mocs in 2017 before taking a hiatus and returning in the spring. Robert Riddle, a 2018 SoCon All-Freshman team member, accounted for nearly 2,500 yards of total offense in 11 games over his two seasons at Mercer.
All-SoCon first-team preseason picks Devonnsha Maxwell and Brandon Dowdell lead the defense. Maxwell had 5.5 sacks as a freshman in 2018, seven sacks in 2019 and an eye-popping five sacks and seven tackles for loss in only four games last season. Dowdell has six career interceptions in 34 games, including 23 starts. He’s also averaged 8.7 yards on 27 career punt returns.
September game to watch: vs. Austin Peay, Sept. 2. Many FCS programs open the season on Thursday, including this battle of ranked teams as Austin Peay is No. 20 in the preseason Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll. Chattanooga has a 6-0 lead in the series between the Northernmost Division I school in Tennessee and the Southernmost. The teams last met in 2014.
No. 17 VMI
2020-21 record: 6-2, 6-1 SoCon
Offensive starters lost: 4
Defensive starters lost: 5
Specialists lost: 2
So long 25-game losing streak. Hello top 25.
Just three years after winning for the first time in two-and-a-half seasons’ worth of games, VMI enters the 2021 season ranked No. 17 in the preseason Stats Perform poll. VMI’s first-ever appearance in a preseason poll comes after its magical spring season in which it captured its first Southern Conference championship since 1977 with its most wins in league play since going 6-0 in 1962. The effort earned Scott Wachenheim the Eddie Robinson FCS Coach of the Year Award.
Standout quarterback Reece Udinski, who stayed with the program in the spring after announcing he’d be transferring to Maryland to play this fall, helped guide the Keydets to a 4-0 start. When VMI’s all-time leading passer was lost for the remainder of the spring, it could be thought that the clock had struck midnight on the Keydets. However, freshman Seth Morgan came along and the offense didn’t miss a beat.
While Udinski completed 124-of-172 passes for 1,087 yards and seven touchdowns, Morgan completed 122-of-171 passes for 1,374 yards and 10 touchdowns.
A credit for both quarterbacks’ success could go to Jakob Herres, who became the first wide receiver to earn SoCon Offensive Player of the Year honors since 2004. Herres is back this season to build off an eight-game slate in which he had 80 catches for 978 yards, averaging 122.2 yards per game, and eight touchdowns.
Fellow All-SoCon first-team preseason pick Marshall Gill leads VMI’s offensive front. The senior left tackle has made 30 starts in his career.
While the wins weren’t coming like they did this spring, VMI’s offense had been making major improvements the last couple of seasons. The difference this spring was the defense. After allowing 48.2 points per game in 2018 and 37.8 points per game in 2019, the Keydets gave up 21.8 points per game last season.
No one played a bigger role in that turnaround more than SoCon Defensive Player of the Year Stone Simmons. He’s back this season after leading the SoCon in tackles with 10.9 per game and also had 9.5 tackles for loss.
Spur linebacker Ethan Caselberry, an All-SoCon first team preseason selection, also returns this season. Caselberry had 44 tackles, five tackles for loss, two sacks, six pass breakups and two interceptions last season.
September game to watch: vs. Wofford, Sept. 25. The SoCon opener for both teams will be a battle of the last two SoCon champions and a rematch of a thriller from last season. Herres caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Morgan with 35 seconds left in the game to lift VMI to a 36-31 win in Spartanburg on March 27.
WESTERN CAROLINA
2020-21 record: 1-8, 1-5 SoCon
Offensive starters lost: 5
Defensive starters lost: 1
Specialists lost: 0
Following a third consecutive losing season, there are plenty of new faces around the Western Carolina football program. Most notable is new head coach Kerwin Bell, who was hired on April 27, exactly one month after the Catamounts’ spring season ended.
Bell may be most well known to college football fans as a Florida quarterback that went from being a walk-on to an SEC Player of the Year in the 1980s. However, he’s made his mark as a coach ever since his playing days ended. Bell came to Cullowhee after serving as offensive analyst at Florida in 2020 and offensive coordinator at South Florida in 2019. His previous last season as a head coach came when he guided Valdosta State to a 14-0 record and the Division II national championship in 2018.
The quarterback on Valdosta’s national title team was Rogan Wells, who is one of 17 transfers Western Carolina has this season. The fifth-year senior, who played last season at Tusculum, has piled up 8,982 passing yards and 84 touchdowns along with 2,032 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns in his collegiate career.
Fifth-year senior linebacker Ty Harris, who’s appeared in 43 career games and made 31 consecutive starts, leads the Catamounts’ defense. Harris had a team-high 90 tackles last season, giving him 301 in his career. He also had 8.5 tackles for loss, including four sacks.
The defense should also get a boost with the return of junior defensive end Jayden Pauling, who missed all of last season with an injury. Pauling made just seven starts in 2019, but had 51 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks and five forced fumbles.
September game to watch: vs. Eastern Kentucky, Sept. 4. In addition to the excitement of a new season, for Western Carolina there’s also the new coach, new schemes and new uniforms. Western Carolina officials have dubbed the opener “White Out Whitmire,” with fans encouraged to wear white. On the field, the Catamounts will be trying to avenge a 49-17 loss at Eastern Kentucky last fall.
WOFFORD
2020-21 record: 1-4, 1-4 SoCon
Offensive starters lost: 4
Defensive starters lost: 2
Specialists lost: 0
Perhaps the oddest Southern Conference football season ever resulted in a truly odd sight - Wofford near the bottom of the league standings. The Terriers looked every bit the part of a team coming off three consecutive SoCon championships when they defeated Mercer, 31-14, in the spring opener. However, Wofford dropped its next four games and then cancelled its final two due to injuries and COVID-related opt outs. The 1-4 mark was the lowest winning percentage the Terriers have ever produced in the SoCon.
The program took another blow in June with the retirement of longtime assistant and former wingback Wade Lang. Lang spent 33 seasons as a Wofford assistant, including the last 31 as offensive coordinator.
There are 43 newcomers to the team between freshmen and transfers, giving the Terriers a total of 111 players entering this season. In last season’s finale against The Citadel, fewer than 60 were able to suit up.
While the record didn’t reflect it, the Terriers had a somewhat typical season on offense. Wofford ranked second in the SoCon in rushing at 234.2 yards per game and third in scoring at 26 points per game.
Irvin Mulligan, who rushed for a team-high 342 yards and averaged 6.7 yards per carry last season, returns this season. Helping pave the way for Mulligan and others is senior left tackle Zak Kurz, who is an All-SoCon first-team preseason selection. Kurz had 22 knockdown blocks last season.
Junior end Michael Mason returns to lead the defense. Mason, another All-SoCon first-team preseason pick, had 24 tackles including 5.5 tackles for loss last season. As a freshman in 2019, Mason only made two starts but led the Terriers with 10.5 tackles for loss including seven sacks.
September game to watch: at Elon, Sept. 4. This will be a matchup of traditionally solid programs coming off disappointing seasons as Elon went 1-5 this spring before having its final two games cancelled as well. Looming after Elon is Wofford’s home opener against No. 19 Kennesaw State two weeks later and a trip to No. 17 VMI to open SoCon play on Sept. 25.