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GREENVILLE, S.C.— Seven-time Southern Conference football champion Chattanooga (8-5, 6-2 SoCon/2nd), which returns 14 starters from a team that won eight games and secured their first road FCS playoff game in school history over Austin Peay (W, 24-21), has been tabbed as the favorites by both the coaches to claim the 2024 Southern Conference football crown at the league’s annual media outing held at Hotel Hartness in Greenville.
In a slight change from previous SoCon media days, only the coaches voted on both the all-conference teams and the preseason predicted order of finish. The coaches, however, were not permitted to vote for their team or players.
The Mocs were among the most explosive offensive teams in the Southern Conference last fall and return one of the nation’s top signal-callers in senior Chase Artopoeus (2,672 pass yds, 20 TDs, 7 INTs). He will have arguably the league’s top wide receiving unit to throw the ball to, highlighted by Javin Whatley (55 rec, 977 yds, 9 TDs, 17.8 YPR) and Sam Phillips (60 rec).
Highlighting the returnees on the defensive side of the football are veterans like Jordan Walker (73 tackles, 5.5 TFL, 1.5 sacks, 1 FF) and Reuben Lowery III (26 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 3 PBUs, 3 QBHs, 1 FF) at safety. The Mocs have led the SoCon in total defense in eight of the past 15 years.
In addition to that stat, the Mocs have also done an outstanding job of getting after the quarterback over the past 15 years. That’s especially been the case in each of the previous three, which has seen the Mocs combine for a whopping 103 quarterback takedowns, including 36 last season.
Returning on the defensive side of the ball is nose tackle Marlon Taylor (30 tackles, 8.5 TFL, 5.0 sacks, 3 QBHs, 1 FF)—the league’s preseason Defensive Player of the Year. This is another area where the Mocs have excelled since 2009, having produced each of the last three league Defensive Player of the Year honorees, with Devonsha Maxwell claiming the award in both the 2021 and 2022 seasons, while the 2023 award winner was edge rusher Jay Person.
Head coach Rusty Wright is especially proud of his team’s overall growth over the past couple of seasons, which finally saw the fruits of that hard work rewarded last fall with a trip to the postseason and first road playoff win in program history against in-state rival Austin Peay (W, 24-21).
"You’ve really seen this team grow and you’ve seen this program grow a little bit," Chattanooga head coach Rusty Wright said. "Now it’s up to the next group to keep growing it and that’s what you try and do, but I think there’s a different mentality and a different way to go about doing things once we got past those points and I think these guys want to be successful and I think they have worked hard to be successful," Wright added.
The team expected to provide the biggest challenge to Chattanooga’s title hopes, according to both the league’s coaches and media, is the team that knocked the Mocs out of the 2023 FCS playoff: Furman (10-3, 7-1/2023 SoCon Champions). The Paladins, who defeated Chattanooga 26-7 in the second round of the FCS Playoffs, saw their 2023 season end in Missoula, Montana, with a heartbreaking 35-28 overtime loss to eventual national runner-up Montana.
The Paladins, under the direction of eighth-year head coach Clay Hendrix, are one of only three teams to reach double-digit wins in each of the past two seasons. The Paladins have posted a 20-6 record over the past couple of campaigns, including a 10-3 mark last season following their 15th Southern Conference title and first outright crown in 33 years.
Furman will be hard-pressed to repeat their performance of the previous two 10-win seasons, with the return of just seven starters from last year’s team that posted a 7-1 league record, with the lone blemish coming in the final regular-season game at Wofford (L, 13-19).
Furman was buoyed by a defense that led the league in total defense for the first time since 2004, utilizing a fierce pass-rush that led the league with 38 sacks last fall. Luke Clark, who was Furman’s sacks leader with 6.5 quarterback takedowns last season, is also a preseason all-league selection by the head coaches.
On offense, the Paladins lose both starting quarterback Tyler Huff, who was the coaches’ SoCon Offensive Player of the Year last season, and all-conference running back Dominic Roberto, who finished ranking eighth on the school’s all-time rushing ledger. Four of five starters along the offensive front also must be replaced.
The top returning position on the offensive side of the ball entering the 2024 campaign is wide receiver, with Joshua Harris (42 rec, 380 yds, 2 TDs, 9.0 YPR), who is a preseason all-league pick according to the league’s head coaches, leading the unit. He is one of the team’s most veteran returnees.
Furman had eight all-conference honorees, with the headliners on the first team being defensive tackle Xavier Stephens (35 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 3.0 sacks, 1 INT), offensive lineman Luke Petit (started six games at offensive guard), and place-kicker Ian Williams (18-of-24 on FGs/21-of-21 PATs).
While Furman might return little in the way of experience, it’s not as if the Paladins return having no experience. In fact, Furman platooned its players on defense, particularly the defensive and offensive lines, for most of the season, making that single-digit number of starters returning somewhat deceiving.
As for head coach Clay Hendrix, he seemed confident about his team’s overall prospects moving forward in 2024.
"I am extremely excited to get to work with this team and we lost some veterans, and one thing is there are some different personalities that make up this team…The offensive line room is a little quieter now, but that’s not always a bad thing," head coach Clay Hendrix said.
"I think for us…the way we’ve tried to be built is to be playing with old guys and our retention has been good and I think we played three freshmen last year and played two the year before and also I think it’s a little bit of the time of college football right now with all the retention and we’ve have really great retention that’s allowed us to have a lot of older guys, but we have a bunch back that have played a lot of football and maybe they haven’t been starters but they have played a lot of meaningful snaps for us," Hendrix added.
Coming off a 7-4 campaign and flirting with a return to the FCS Playoffs for the first time in 40 years and for just the second time in program history, Western Carolina (7-4, 5-3 SoCon/T-3rd) was picked to finish third in the SoCon poll by the league’s coaches.
The Catamounts had the nation’s most explosive offensive unit last fall (509.1 YPG) and return Cole Gonzales, who was the media’s SoCon Offensive Player of the Year and is the preseason pick by the coaches in 2024. Gonzales was spectacular following a campaign that saw him throw for 2,803 yards, with 28 TDs and only eight INTs.
While Gonzales does return and a total of 14 starters are back, the Catamounts will have new coordinators on both sides of the ball following the departure of offensive Cade Bell for the University of Pittsburgh, while former defensive coordinator Chazmon Scales is now a defensive assistant at Samford.
Set to take over the offensive coordinator responsibilities for the 2024 season is Rylan Wells. Wells was promoted from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator after Cade Bell left for Pittsburgh to occupy the same position.
Wells has a great relationship with his head coach, as he was the three-time Pioneer Football League Player of the Year during his time as quarterback at Jacksonville where he played for Kerwin Bell.
Set to take over the reins to lead the defense this fall is former Tusculum head coach Jerry Odom, who, like Wells, has a longtime friendship and good working relationship with WCU’s ol’ ball coach.
Three starters are back on the offensive line, which was a position the Catamounts saw rank as one of the top units in the league last season. Six starters are back on the defensive side of the football, highlighted by veteran Jaquarius Guinn (26 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 2.0 sacks, 1 QBH) along the defensive front, as well as Samaurie Dukes (29 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 4 PBUs, 3 INTs) at defensive back.
All told, the Catamounts ended up having 10 players chosen to either the all-league first or second team, highlighted, of course, by Gonzales, who is the coaches’ preseason offensive player of the year.
The fourth-place team picked in the poll, according to the league’s head coaches, was Mercer
(9-4, 5-3 SoCon/T-3rd). The Bears were one of three teams that made the FCS Playoffs last fall, and the Bears won an opening round contest against Gardner-Webb (W, 17-7).
For Jacobs, winning has never been an issue. After all, he was 74-17 in his previous coaching stops at Notre Dame (Ohio) and Lenoir-Rhyne, boasting what is currently the sixth-best winning percentage among coaches at the NCAA Division I and II levels, respectively. In the 2023 season, he helped guide the LR Bears to a 13-2 recorded, which ended with a semifinal loss in the NCAA Division II playoffs.
Interestingly, Jacobs, who is the 21st coach in Mercer history and now succeeds Cronic as the head coach of the Mercer Bears, also succeeded Cronic as the head coach of the LR Bears back in 2019.
The Bears return 12 starters from that team that made an FCS playoff appearance a year ago, but will be charged with finding a new quarterback to lead the offense, as Carter Peevy has moved on. One of those main competitors to assume the starting role under center this fall will be Lonnie Ratliff IV, who comes to Macon from Holmes Community College, where he passed for 1,605 yards and with eight touchdowns and a pair of INTs.
Others that must be replaced from the offensive side of the ball from a year ago are arguably the two top wide receivers in the SoCon from a year ago, in Ty James and Devron Harper, who will both be in camp with the Minnesota Vikings as undrafted free agents.
Six starters highlight the returnees on the defensive side of the football, which includes preseason all-league selections, in linebacker Ken Standley (97 tackles, 15 TFL, 4.0 sacks, 2 INTs, 1 FF, 9 QBHs) and defensive back Myles Redding (77 tackles, 10.0 TFL, 2.5 sacks, 2 FFs), who return to lead a unit that was stout last season, ranking second to only Furman in both total defense (345.1 YPG) and scoring defense (21.4 PPG).
Jacobs will rely on that unit this fall, as well as being reliant upon some of the talent he procured from the transfer portal on the offensive side of the ball, with the most notable of those additions having been Dwayne McGee, who was Jacobs’ running back at Lenoir–Rhyne.
The Division II All-American running back rushed for over 4,000 yards during his time at Lenoir–Rhyne and will give the Bears offense an immediate boost.
Chris Hatcher’s Samford Bulldogs (6-5, 4-4 SoCon/T-5th) were the 2022 SoCon champions after winning 11 games and, like Furman, made it all the way to the FCS quarterfinals before losing to the eventual national runner-up North Dakota State. They will have to replace Walter Payton Award candidate Michael Hiers under center this fall. The Bulldogs were selected to finish fifth by the league’s coaches.
"The biggest thing about last season is that we just started so poorly," Samford head coach Chris Hatcher said of the 2023 season. "We go to Western Carolina in week two and they put it to us and rightfully deserving of that win…we had four hour lightning delay in that one and they of course put it to us but after that we kind of caught fire a little bit and we had a chance and had the ball late with a chance to beat Furman and ended up getting beat by six and we still get to the very end and if we beat Mercer and UT-Martin…two ranked teams…we go to the playoffs," Hatcher added.
The Bulldogs would split those two games, losing a heartbreaker 28-21 at Mercer before closing out the season with a 27-17 home win over UT-Martin, which likely kept the Skyhawks out of the postseason.
There is plenty of optimism moving into the 2024 campaign, however, with a new man leading the offense, as both Nik Scalzo and Quincy Crittendon were locked in a tight battle during the spring, and that will likely continue into fall camp.
Whomever is the starter for the Bulldogs this fall, big numbers are likely to follow, as there is talent returning at the skill positions, and in particular, at wide receiver, heading into the 2024 season.
The first order of business offensively, however, might be to figure out a way to replace starting running back Jay Stanton, who has moved on due to graduation. The good news for the Samford running game is there is experience waiting in the wings to take over for the 2024 season, as Toledo transfer Demonta Witherspoon returns to the fold to handle the ground game responsibilities for the upcoming season.
Witherspoon saw action in 10 games last season, finishing out the campaign with 302 yards and four touchdowns on 77 rush attempts, averaging 3.9 yards-per-carry last fall. The leading returning wideout heading into the 2024 season is SoCon Freshman of the Year wideout Brennan Jenkins, who comes off a 2023 campaign, which saw him haul in 40 passes for 304 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 7.6 yards-per-catch.
One area of improvement that needs to take place this season is pass protection. Given the nature of the offense the Bulldogs utilize, high sack numbers to the opposition are always going to occur. In 2023, keeping Hiers upright certainly wasn't easy for the offensive front, as the Bulldogs ranked 119th nationally in sacks allowed last season (39), surrendering an average of 3.55 sacks-per-game last fall.
All told, the "Hatch Attack" was once again pretty prolific, however, as the Bulldogs finished the season averaging 424.8 YPG last season, which ranked 16th in all of FCS football.
Additionally, the Bulldogs finished 35th nationally in scoring offense, surrendering 29.0 PPG. The Bulldogs again posted a top 10 passing offense last fall, finishing the season seventh nationally, averaging 286.7 YPG through the air in 2023.
Defensively, the Bulldogs will have a new man in charge. Chris Boone has departed, making way for Adam Braithwaite to take the reins of the defense. In addition to his duties as the defensive coordinator, the experienced Braithwaite will also coach the Bulldogs safeties this fall.
After the Bulldogs made some strides in the right direction back in 2022, Samford took some steps back in the wrong direction in 2023. The Bulldogs ranked 83rd nationally in total defense (385.6 YPG), which isn't necessarily horrible, however, it's not good enough for the Bulldogs to be at the elite level, especially since the Bulldogs offense wasn't as prolific as it was a year ago.
East Tennessee State (3-8, 2-6 SoCon/T-7th) isn’t that far removed from a Southern Conference title, having won 11 games back in 2021 and made the final eight of the FCS playoffs before losing to eventual national champion North Dakota State, 27-3.
The past two seasons have been forgettable ones for the Bucs faithful, however, winning a total of just six games in two seasons, including just three times in league play. It was time for a change, and that change comes in the form of the youthful enthusiasm of first-year head coach Tre Lamb.
Fresh off leading Gardner-Webb in each of the past couple of seasons, he’s ready to go full steam ahead in Johnson City. The 34-year-old head coach is ready to win, and the former Tennessee Tech quarterback and all-time leading passer has quite the history with the Southern Conference, which includes his unique family lineage that has exposed him to football in this league from a very young age.
"The Tri-Cities area is booming a lot like Greenville did 10 years ago and Chattanooga did five years ago…The price of real estate is going up and a lot of people are moving up there and it’s a beautiful place to live and the fanbase is is terrific and they’re blue collar and they come to the games and support the program financially and a great place to raise a family, so I couldn’t be happier and this is a dream come true for me and coaching in the Southern Conference and I mean that sincerely…I grew up watching the Southern Conference and my uncle played at Furman and coached at Furman and Mercer, so I’ve seen and been to every stadium and for me to be a head coach in this league is important to me," head coach Tre Lamb said.
His uncle, Bobby Lamb, is currently leading the startup efforts at Division II Anderson University, as the Trojans begin play for the first time ever as a football program in the fall of 2024.
Bobby Lamb was a star quarterback, assistant coach, and highly successful head coach at Furman for 29 years before helping Mercer's program get back up and running after a 72-year hiatus, spending seven seasons in Macon.
Tre Lamb's grandfather, Ray Lamb, was also a highly successful high school coach in the state of Georgia for 35 years before becoming a member of the University of Georgia's staff as the head of high school relations. Ray Lamb was enshrined in the Georgia's Sports Hall of Fame in 2021.
Ray Lamb's other son--Hal Lamb--who is also Tre Lamb's father, was a state championship-winning head coach at Calhoun County High School for 21 years before retiring in 2019. In 2012, the quarterback leading Calhoun County to the state title was none other than Taylor Lamb, which is Hal Lamb's nephew. Taylor Lamb went on to an outstanding career at Appalachian State and is currently an offensive assistant at Virginia.
According to Tre Lamb, having a family in coaching has been especially key.
”I’ve leaned on my family a lot…especially in the tough times and I kinda resort to my grandad (Ray Lamb) and my dad (Hal Lamb) or my uncle Bobby [Lamb] and I ask them what they would do in these certain situations or maybe how would you discipline this player or how would you handle this with your team or should I give my day off here because their legs look tired and those sort of things and they’ve been real helpful with situations like that," Lamb added.
The Bucs will be one of the dark horses to watch in the Southern Conference this fall and could end up finishing much higher than the No. 6 spot they are currently projected by the coaches to finish in the preseason.
A total of 23 transfers from Gardner-Webb are slated to join the program this fall, including Gardner-Webb quarterback Jaylen King, who is coming off a strong performance in his rookie campaign with the Bulldogs.
King shined in his freshman campaign with the Bulldogs last season, passing for 1,223 yards and completing 107 throws, including 11 for scores. He started the final seven games of the season for Gardner-Webb. He was also effective on the ground last season, finishing out the season with 401 rushing yards to go with five scores.
VMI (5-6, 4-4 SoCon/T-5th) came in at No. 7 in the preseason coaches poll and will once again be led by Danny Rocco, who enters his second season of the rebuilding project in Lexington. Rocco is taking things one day at a time, and not looking too far into the future with his team.
The Keydets were one of the most improved teams in FCS football last season, and the Keydets are looking to grow even more as a program this fall. They have the right kind of momentum and a good nucleus returning on both sides of the ball, which should undoubtedly make them a factor once again and make them a tough out in the Southern Conference.
As a part of the media day festivities, the Keydets brought players All-SoCon running back Hunter Rice and defensive back Tahj Summey. Rice did a little bit of everything for the Keydets a year ago, which included even throwing a touchdown pass, which he did in a win over Wofford. Rice ranked third in the league in rushing yards last season, finishing the season with 837 yards and six touchdowns on 168 attempts, averaging an impressive 5.0 YPC.
The other really good news for the VMI offense is that it returns starting quarterback Collin Shannon, as well as three starters along the offensive line. VMI also returns a host of talented defensive veterans, including William Dixon, who is back to help anchor the defensive line, as well as linebacker Stephen Dean III, who was a key component of a defense that proved to be one of the better units in the league last fall.
The Keydets finished the 2023 season ranked sixth in the SoCon in total defense (375.2 YPG), while also finishing the campaign ranking in the top five in scoring defense, surrendering 24.9 PPG, ranking fifth overall in the conference.
So with Rocco's first season a major success, what are the realistic goals for the 2024 season in Lexington? With plenty of veteran leadership returning on both sides of the ball, it is not unrealistic for VMI fans to expect to set the bar at finishing a place or even two spots higher in the standings this fall, as Rocco continues to build the VMI brand and identity in the always-tough Southern Conference.
It's unrealistic to think that every season VMI is going to be an upper-echelon finisher in the league. However, it is realistic to believe the Keydets can do it with some consistency every two or three years, and perhaps even challenge for a title again at some point like they did in the spring of 2021, which saw them claim their first since 1979.
In terms of challenges in the non-conference, the Keydets will start the season at CAA member William & Mary, as VMI looks to snap one of the longest losing streaks in a series between two FCS foes in the season opener, having dropped 25 straight to the Tribe. It will mark the first clash on the gridiron between the two since 2011, when VMI dropped a 24-7 contest in Lexington.
"Coach has been reminding us every day about that streak…Like we had something to do with those 25 straight losses to them [William & Mary]," running back Hunter Rice said. "But we realize this game means a lot to the people around VMI and it also means a lot to us and we can’t wait until that opening Thursday night rolls around and we get to tee-it-up with a really good William & Mary team," Rice added.
Selected to finish No. 8 and No. 9 in the polls, respectively, are both Wofford (2-9, 2-6 SoCon T-7th) and The Citadel (0-11, 0-8 SoCon). The Terriers, who are under second-year head coach Shawn Watson, finished the 2023 season with two huge wins, winning at The Citadel (W, 11-3) and defeating No. 2 Furman (W, 19-13), in one of the biggest upsets in league regular-season history.
"Those wins carried over into the spring and was neat because it showed the belief we had to have in each other to get the job done in those two games to close the season," Wofford head coach Shawn Watson said. "We’ve had to do a rebuild and a reboot and the neat thing has been is the kids always believed and never wavered in that and we were right there in a lot of games and I think that kept them going. Our defense kept us in a lot of games early when we had some injuries at quarterback and while we waited for other young guys to mature there and that was key and we started to click there at the end of the season and it was really neat to see," Watson added.
Both played well in the spring and remained in a battle for the starting responsibilities for the upcoming season.
Ryan Ingram, who is in his fifth year as a running back with the Terriers' football program and battled some injuries, still managed to finish second in the league in rushing last season with 837 yards and six scores, leading the team with 156 carries last fall. Ingram finished the season ranking third in the league in rushing average (83.7 YPG).
One of his premier performances of the season came in an early Southern Conference road loss at VMI, finishing that contest rushing for 136 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. That was one of four 100-yard rushing performances of the 2023 season.
The reason Wofford stayed in the majority of games it was able to be competitive in last season is its outstanding defense, and the area hit hardest by graduation is the defensive front.
Bookend Brandon Maina returns as the lone starter returning from a year ago. Maina started 10 games along the defensive line, finishing out the 2023 season with 45 tackles, while tying for the team lead with four sacks last fall.
Finally, the Bulldogs will have to hope things get better this fall. They certainly can’t get any worse for head coach Maurice Drayton, who heads into his second season as the head coach with a little better idea of what the Bulldogs’ capabilities might be this fall. One thing about the Bulldogs is that they will have a new quarterback under center, in Jonathan Bennett, who immediately competes for the starting job.
The Bulldogs’ lone all-league pick from Tuesday afternoon’s festivities at Hotel Hartness in Greenville was punter James Platte, who was a second-team all-league selection.
Most teams report for preseason camp next week. Keep an eye out for our team-by-team previews coming up in August, as Redshirt Sports continues to gear up for another exciting season of Southern Conference football. The coaches poll and the preseason all-league teams are both listed below.
Team (1st-place votes) Total
Offensive Player of the Year: Cole Gonzales, Jr., QB, Western Carolina
Defensive Player of the Year: Marlon Taylor, Sr., DL, Chattanooga
