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Former Kennesaw State cheerleader Tommia Dean has received $145,000 after settling a lawsuit with the university in response to its actions following a protest at a KSU football game in 2017, per Rosie Manins of the Marietta Daily Journal.
According to the Associated Press, Dean and four other KSU cheerleaders took a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality.
Dean said in the suit that Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren and former state Representative Earl Ehrhart then convinced school president Sam Olens to keep the cheerleaders off the field during the national anthem for the next two home games.
That occurred, but the cheerleaders came back when the University System of Georgia ruled the U.S. Constitution protected their right to protest, per the AP.
Per Manins, the Georgia Department of Administrative Services will write a $93,000 check to Dean, with $52,000 going to her lawyers for legal fees.
Manins received a copy of the agreement from the state through the Open Records Act:
"A compromise has been reached. The intent of this agreement is to buy peace of mind from future controversy and forestall further attorney's fees, costs, or other expenses of litigation, and further that this agreement represents the compromise, economic resolution of disputed claims and, as such, shall not be deemed in any manner an admission, finding, conclusion, evidence or indication for any purposes whatsoever, that the KSU defendants acted contrary to the law or otherwise violated the rights of Dean."
Per the Associated Press, Dean said in the suit that Warren and Ehrhart were racially motivated in their complaints to Olens.
A federal judge found no evidence and dismissed those claims in February, but Dean is appealing Warren's dismissal as a defendant in the case.
Former Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze was named as Liberty's new head coach on Friday.
USA Today's Tom Schad and Dan Wolken were first to report Freeze would be hired.
Freeze has been away from the sidelines since resigning as Rebels coach in July 2017 amid a scandal.
Per ESPN's Mark Schlabach, he stepped down after Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork found a "pattern of personal misconduct" with the coach, including phone calls to a number associated with a female escort service. Freeze denied purposefully making those phone calls.
"We call the wrong numbers all the time," he said.
Freeze ultimately took responsibility and agreed to resign. Had he not, he would have been terminated, per USA Today's Kevin Spain.
Although Freeze helped Ole Miss return to relevance by going 39-25 during his five years in Oxford, he did not leave the program in good shape. Among other charges, the Rebels were alleged to have provided impermissible benefits and to have made recruiting violations.
Ole Miss self-imposed a postseason ban for the 2017 season, citing a lack of institutional control. The NCAA later added an additional year on the postseason ban and placed scholarship restrictions on the program.
The NCAA also handed Freeze a two-game suspension for failure to monitor his staff. That ban only took effect if he was hired for the 2017 or 2018 seasons.
Liberty is coming off a 6-6 season. Former Flames head coach Turner Gill retired earlier this week after seven seasons on the job, going 47-35 and winning four Big South championships.
KENNESAW, Ga. — It's one thing to build a program into a national power, but it's entirely different to build one from scratch.
The support, money and logistics associated with starting a college football program are enough to make an administrator's head spin.
Despite that, several startup programs have found success over the last 20 years, including Georgia State, Old Dominion and South Florida—which played its first game in 1997 and was ranked No. 2 in the nation in 2007.
Two decades ago, Kennesaw State University was a blip on the college athletics radar. A commuter school. A road sign on I-75 just northwest of Atlanta that, if you weren't paying attention, you would miss as quickly as that Chick-fil-A a couple of exits ago that you desperately wanted to stop at for lunch.
Fast-forward 20 years, and Kennesaw State is much more than a road sign; it's a full-fledged destination university that's about to make a major splash on the college football scene.
A project that's been six years in the making, the Owls will join the world of college football as part of the Big South Conference in FCS in 2015, with their season opener taking place on September 3 against East Tennessee State in Johnson City, Tennessee.
How did they do it? A blend of a coaching superstar, support from the community and a staff that's familiar with the state of Georgia.
A Front Man
Around most of Georgia, Vince Dooley is known as the man who brought a national championship to Athens. In Kennesaw, though, he's known as the man who became the first face of Kennesaw State football.
Dooley was named as the chairman of Kennesaw State's football exploratory committee in December 2009. That committee included 34 people and four subcommittees, and it was charged with coming to a consensus on whether or not to pursue football.
"It took us about seven months, but finally, with a document about an inch thick, the consensus was, overwhelmingly, that we recommend to the president that he move forward with starting a football program," Dooley told Bleacher Report.
Why take the risk of attaching his name to a startup program in rather uncertain economic times?
Simple. Dooley recognized that, for Kennesaw State, football was the logical next step.
"This is a school that started out as a commuter school, and then it became a residential school," he said. "Now it has dormitories and a dining hall, and the next big step is to give it a culture and something for people to be proud of with a mascot, their colors and a fight song. Football does that more so than any other sport on campus."
It wasn't without pressure, though.
The Georgia Board of Regents was the determining factor in whether or not to allow Kennesaw State to pursue football. It recently allowed Georgia State to start up a program just as the economic crisis of 2008 began to take hold, and it requested that Kennesaw State find $5-10 million to cover startup costs before being approved.
"They took a little bit of a firmer stance than they have in the past," Dooley said. "Georgia State started football, and they didn’t have hands on as much now. They’re watching everything and making us jump through a lot of financial hoops, and they’ve been able to do that."
Fifth Third Bank hopped on board and became the first business to partner with the Kennesaw State football program. Their investment will be prominent in Year 1. The 8,318-seat soccer-specific stadium built in 2010, which is located adjacent to campus and was used by the now-defunct Atlanta Beat of the Women's Professional Soccer league, has been rebranded for football as Fifth Third Bank Stadium.
"This relationship has always felt like a great match due to the similarity in our growth plans, community commitments and values,” said Hal Clemmer, President and CEO of Fifth Third Bank Georgia. "Our expanded relationship with KSU reflects our plans to continue growing in Cobb County, the broader Atlanta metro area and throughout the state, supporting our communities and building our brand."
The pressure to find a company willing to take a risk on a startup plan helped the committee focus on what's important and how to build the program the right way.
"It’s because of that that we really think they have a sound plan, good leadership in position and got the right coach," Dooley said.
Homegrown Head Coach
The "right coach" was one who wouldn't take no for an answer, and one with more ties to the state of Georgia than roads named "Peachtree" in the metro Atlanta area.
Brian Bohannon didn't know much about Kennesaw State University when he was the wide receivers coach at Georgia Tech under Paul Johnson.
He barely even knew it existed.
"I live in Woodstock, which is eight miles from the Kennesaw State campus," Bohannon told Bleacher Report. "I’m commuting to Georgia Tech every day down I-75, which can be challenging. I had heard of Kennesaw State, but I knew nothing about it. I had never been on campus."
Yet when Kennesaw State president Daniel S. Papp began the quest to get football approved, Bohannon was immediately interested.
"As I’m hearing all of these rumblings of football starting at Kennesaw State, Chip Rogers—a former state senator—is coaching my 10-year-old son’s basketball team," Bohannon said. "He said that [the team] is going to watch Kennesaw State play basketball, and I asked if I could go because I’ve never been over there. I said, ‘Listen, I think they’re going to start football, and I might be interested in this job.'
"So we go over to the Convocation Center, and they weren’t very good at basketball at the time. They had just transitioned to a new coach. I walk in and the place is packed. I’m going, ‘you gotta be kidding me?’"
Bohannon's connections in Georgia were a huge selling point for athletics director Vaughn Williams. As an FCS team in the talent-rich Peach State, the administration and various committees knew they'd have to find a relentless worker who knew the recruiting grounds backward and forward.
Bohannon's work in the Peach State, his time as a Georgia receiver and his roots as the son of a legendary head coach—Lloyd Bohannon, who coached in Griffin, Georgia—made him a natural fit.
| Year | School | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1990-1993 | Georgia | WR |
| 1994-1995 | West Georgia | Assistant Coach |
| 1996 | Gardner-Webb | WR Coach |
| 1997-1999 | Georgia Southern | WR Coach |
| 2000-2001 | Georgia Southern | DB Coach |
| 2002-2007 | Navy | WR Coach |
| 2008-2012 | Georgia Tech | WR Coach |
| 2013-Present | Kennesaw State | Head Coach |
"I wanted somebody from this state," Williams told Bleacher Report. "Football in this state is huge, and I felt it was very important to have somebody who has recruited here, who has played here and who has lived here at all levels. Bohannon happened to have all of those attributes, and a lot of others did too, but it was important to have a native son."
Bohannon didn't sit back on his Peach State resume and assume they'd find him. He tracked down Williams in December 2012—two months before football was even announced by the school.
On a cold, rainy Christmas Eve at the Marietta Diner just southwest of campus, the two met for a job interview that would define the future of the program.
"We talked for a couple of hours, not really football—just stuff," Bohannon said. "He said, ‘Brian, have you ever seen the stadium?’ I said no, and we went up to the stadium. I walk in to basically a brand-new stadium, all chair-back, and my mouth drops. The thing about it is that I’ve been by the school the entire time, and I had seen all the buildings all the time."
"Now I’m walking through the football stadium after going to the basketball game and thinking, ‘You have to be kidding me. There’s a brand-new football locker room with 101 lockers, and they don’t even have football yet,'" he explained. "You see the support of the students and fans at the basketball game, the dedication of the program to a sport that doesn’t exist yet and I thought, ‘This is a no-brainer.’"
Bohannon got a taste of what Kennesaw State wanted to be, and he wanted more.
"I went after the job. I hadn’t interviewed for a job in 17 years," he said. "I took the job with Coach Johnson and that wasn’t really even an interview. He took me out to eat at Snooky’s in Statesboro and asked, 'what time can you be here?' I went after this one. I’m contacting people on the committee. I’m doing everything I can, because to me, this was a no-brainer."
On March 24, 2013—just a month and change after the school announced football as a sport that will start in 2015, Bohannon was named its head coach. What's more, in an effort to provide stability, Williams signed Bohannon to a seven-year contract.
"We gotta lock down Georgia as much as we can, and we are doing a good job of that," Williams said. "Brian had an understanding of what he wanted to do. We needed individuals who wanted to be here for a while, and that’s the top priority. I signed Brian to a seven-year contract right out of the gate, because we need to keep this staff together as long as we can."
The combination of Williams and Bohannon leading the charge is a perfect fit in the eyes of Dooley.
"[Bohannon] was the right man for the job, and he’s done a terrific job in the two years of recruiting, organizing the staff," Dooley said. "He’s got an incredible enthusiasm. I’ve never seen two people, the AD and the football coach, with as much enthusiasm. The first game, Vaughn will be running out first with the flag leading Brian, whose eyes will be huge."
Buying In
With Bohannon set and a small staff in place, it was time to spread the word.
The lifeblood of any program is recruiting. Kennesaw State isn't going to go toe-to-toe with the Georgias, Georgia Techs and big-time regional programs on the recruiting trail and win many battles. The skeleton staff of Bohannon, offensive coordinator Grant Chestnut, defensive line coach/recruiting coordinator Liam Klein and linebackers coach Shane Bowen set out to make it known to high schools that they're planning on acting like those programs with prospects.
"Not knowing what we could recruit was a challenge. Who can we get? Who can’t we get? I took the state and divvied it up," Bohannon said. "The first spring evaluation, four of us went to every school in the state of Georgia. It was the old-school, ‘come see us, this is what we have, this is what we’re doing’ type of thing."
It wasn't long until Bohannon and his staff got their first commitment in program history.
Quarterback Chandler Burks of nearby South Paulding High School became the first to commit to the Owls, and he has the pride in the program that the staff is constantly looking for on the recruiting trail.
"You have to start somewhere," Burks said in June 2013, according to Doug Roberson of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "If it has to start with me, I don’t mind. This program is going to be successful. You look at who they are recruiting, they are going for the best of the best. We are going to start a tradition that will start a dynasty."
Finding commitments for the 2014 class proved to be incredibly challenging though. Anybody who signed as part of the first recruiting class in school history had to agree to a year-and-a-half of nothing but practice.
"We were fundamentally oriented—four skill sets per position," Bohannon said. "That’s all you’re working on getting better at. We adopted the EAT motto—effort, attitude and toughness. We created competition, changed up what we did and did everything we could to keep them engaged. We involved them in leadership seminars once a week. The fall was devoted to that. Was it a challenge? Absolutely. Youth is a challenge."
Youth in players, but "youth" as a program and as coaches as well.
"Sometimes my walk from the locker room to the practice field, I talk to myself and remind myself, 'Hey, know where you are,'" Bohannon said. "We’re taking baby steps. Our kids have had a great attitude laying a foundation and being a part of history. They’ve really bought in."
Community Support
On the field, Bohannon and his staff were busy laying the foundation for a successful program. But a program is much bigger than the product on the field.
Williams engaged other programs who recently started football, including Georgia State, Old Dominion, UNC-Charlotte and others, to find out what the right path to success is. They were all in consensus: It takes partners, fans and community to truly build a successful program, and Kennesaw State has that by the boatloads in suburban Atlanta.
"We have a game-day community football committee with around 95 people from around Kennesaw, including neighbors, mayors, commissioners, the Chamber, businesses," Williams said. "They’re all involved. We are all thinking about how game day is going to be and how it impacts the community, and it’s been meeting for almost two years now. You have to have your community involved."
Community involvement is great, but it also takes money. With Fifth Third Bank already on board, Williams and his staff set out to get in front of as many local and regional businesses as possible. Everything from the press box to the loge section to the student section will be sponsored—mostly by businesses that have ties to the program and local community.
"We’ll have a lot more fans 10 years from now, but right now, we have a community behind us," Williams said. "They’re supporters. They went to school in different places, and that’s fine. A lot of them said to use football to showcase the institution."
That institution, though, didn't have much of an athletic identity prior to the announcement that football would begin in 2015.
Things have changed.
"We wanted to make it easy, and start building traditions," Williams said. "There was no fight song before we got here. We changed the logo. All of these different thing are new, and we wanted to engage people in all of these things. Engage everybody in every part of the process, and people feel like they’re a part of this thing, because they are."
The Future
With a fertile recruiting ground in its own backyard and the path Georgia State took to FBS and the Sun Belt as a precedent, it might be assumed that Kennesaw State is on the fast track for college football's highest division.
Wrong.
The words of other startup schools that Williams spoke to during the process have stuck with him: "Be who you are."
Kennesaw State is a school that is only 32 years into athletics, has soccer and lacrosse using the football stadium and fills the FCS void left in the state after Georgia State and Georgia Southern moved up to FCS.
"Ten years from now, I think we are winning FCS championships," Williams said. "I think we will have the most amazing game day in FCS football. I think our supporters will have turned into rabid fans. We’ve spread that brand. This community will be painted in black and gold."
Bohannon disagrees with that goal, but in a way, that pleases Williams and Owls fans.
"I told the first class, 'The goal here is to compete for a championship before you leave.' We aren’t here just to do it, we are here to win. We have a five-year plan, from scholarships to the whole ball of wax. The goal is to win an FCS championship."
After many steps off the field to accomplish that goal, the first step between the white lines takes place Sept. 3 in Johnson City, Tennessee, at Kermit-Tipton Stadium.
It's only fitting that the field in Johnson City is named after a local legend who's well-versed in taking college programs from the outhouse to the penthouse—former Florida and current South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com unless otherwise noted, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports' composite rankings.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
WHO: Coastal Carolina (1-0, 0-0 Big South) at Furman (0-1, 0-1 SoCon)
WHEN: Sept. 8, 2012, 5:00 p.m. EST
WHERE: Paladin Stadium (16,000)
Overview: Furman will open its home slate on Saturday, facing Palmetto State rival Coastal Carolina and will look to shake off the ill-effects from what was a disappointing 24-21 season-opening loss at Samford Saturday.
The game was especially heartbreaking for Paladin fans, since it was the Southern Conference opener, and a game that the Paladins could have just as well won, but four turnovers on the evening ultimately spelled the ultimate disaster.
Furman now looks to even its record against a team that upended the Paladins, 30-23, in the 2011 season opener in Conway in what was Bruce Fowler's first game as the head coach of the Furman football program.
Coastal Carolina, meanwhile, was impressive in its season opener on Saturday, as the preseason No. 3 pick in the Big South posted a 29-13 win over North Carolina A&T to open the 2012 campaign.
Like Furman last season, the Chanticleers have a new coach, as Joe Moglia has taken the reins of the Coastal Carolina football program after David Bennett was fired last December. Moglia is one of the more interesting stories in Division I college football, coming to CCU from TD Ameritrade, as the Chairman of the Board for the Fortune 500 company.
Moglia's career on the gridiron is even more bizarre, as he has not actually served on the sidelines as a college coach in 27 years, until serving as a consultant for the Nebraska football program for their Big 12 Championship team two years ago.
Moglia hasn't served directly in a coaching or coordinator role since 1983, when he was the defensive coordinator for the Dartmouth Green for two seasons (1982-83) and prior to that, Moglia served on the Lafayette staff from 1978-80 as a defensive and special teams coach.
Prior to that, Moglia was a coach at the high school ranks.
After such a long hiatus, Moglia got his head coaching career off to a strong start, notching a victory in his first game , which is something that not even the great Furman coach Bruce Fowler was able to do last season.
Saturday's meeting between the Paladins and Chanticleers will mark the third all-time meeting between the two schools, with CCU holding a 2-1 all-time series edge on the strength of last season's 30-23 win. The only other meeting between the Chanticleers and Paladins at Paladin Stadium occurred back in 2007 when the Paladins were able to get a 27-17 win.
Furman will put an impressive streak on the line on Saturday evening against the Chanticleers, as the Paladins have claimed 21 straight wins over non-conference foes at Paladin Stadium, dating back to the 1999 season opener against Elon, which Furman lost 24-22.
Coastal Carolina is coming off a 7-4 2011 season and finished 3-3 in Big South play, which was good enough to help the Chants finish third in the Big South's final standings last fall.
Preview: Last season's matchup between Furman and Coastal Carolina had plenty to keep even the neutral fan on the edge of his seat, as there were big plays on both sides and it was a close football game throughout.
Ultimately, mistakes spelled doom for the Paladins on that muggy evening in Conway a little over a year ago—a fumble by Tyler Maples that led to CCU's game-winning score and a Ray Early blocked PAT—and the 2011 season-opening loss was strangely similar to the 2011 season-opening loss by the Paladins at Samford.
Several key performers return on both sides of the ball from last season's seven-win Coastal Carolina club.
On offense, the Chanticleers return nine starters from a unit that was efficient last season, but lacked the explosiveness that the Chanticleer offense showed in the season opener against Furman.
Last season, the Chanticleers finished the season ranking 90th nationally in total offense (323.5 YPG in 2011), 67th in scoring offense (24.6 PPG in 2011), 70th in passing offense (186.4 YPG in 2011) and 74th in rushing offense (137.2 YPG in 2011).
In last week's win , the Chanticleers showed some of that big play ability once again, finishing the contest by rolling up an impressive 437 yards of total offense, including 274 yards through the air.
At the controls of the Coastal Carolina offense for a second-straight season is dual threat signal-caller, senior Aramis Hillary (148-of-226 passing, 1749 yds, 14 TDs passing, 5 INTs, 81 rush att, 268 yds, 7 TDs rushing in 2011).
Hillary, now in his second season as the full-time starter, was nothing short of impressive in the season-opening win, completing 19-of-28 passes for 274 yards, with a TD and a pair of INTs.
Against Furman last season, Hillary led the CCU offense to one of its four 400-yard offensive efforts of the 2011 campaign, accounting for 194 of CCU's 426 yards total offensive yards, and maybe even more importantly, led a turnover-free evening for the Chanticleer offense.
Hillary, one of seven returning starters on the offensive side of the ball for CCU, will have some all-league weapons at his disposal once again this fall, including wide receiver Matt Hazel (32 rec, 488 yds, 6TDs, 15.2 YPR in 2011), and one of the nation’s top tight ends, David Duran (5 rec, 75yds), who was granted a sixth year of eligibility after an injury cut his season short after just four games last fall.
Hazel got his 2012 season off to an outstanding start, as he hauled in three passes for 57 yards and a score. Duran had a couple of catches for three yards.
Last season against Furman, Hazel was Coastal's second-leading receiver, hauling in three passes for 41 yards, including a 39-yard reception, in the seven-point win.
The most impressive receiving performance by the Chanticleers last Saturday was the one put forth by Nick Mastromatteo. Mastromatteo was Coastal Carolina's leading option when the Chanticleers went to the air, as Mastromatteo hauled in seven passes for 114 yards.
He has the kind of speed and elusiveness that could cause the Furman defense some struggles on Saturday.
Mastromatteo is coming off a 2011 season which saw him haul in 27 passes for 512 yards as a reserve receiver in 11 games. As a punt return threat a couple of years ago, Mastromatteo averaged 8.8 yards-per-return last fall.
Mastromatteo will start at the slot receiver position for the Chanticleers on Saturday night.
Mastromatteo was a pretty solid kick return threat against the Paladins last season, with four returns for 88 yards, including a 39-yard return after a Furman first-half TD.
Rounding out the starters at wide receiver on Saturday night for CCU will be South Carolina transfer DeMario Bennett.
Bennett, a 6-2, 190-pound junior is a big play threat in the Chanticleer offense, and is coming off a solid season opener with CCU, as he hauled in three passes for 39 yards and averaged 13.0 YPR.
Bennett was suspended for the first half of the 2011 season, but in eight games last fall, he performed solidly in his role as a reserve, catching 14 passes for 164 yards and a couple of scores. Bennett also threw a TD pass last season, hooking up with Hazel on a 32-yard strike in the loss to Liberty.
One of the areas that wasn't necessarily a strength for CCU last fall was the running game, as the Chanticleers were just 74th in the FCS in rushing offense, averaging just 137.2 YPG on the ground last fall.
In the 30-23 win over Furman last season, CCU ended the contest by rushing for 231 yards, which stood as the top rushing performance of the season until the Chanticleers faced two of the worst rushing defenses in the nation—Charleston Southern and Western Carolina.
The Chanticleers fielded a balanced ground game against the Paladins last season and Jeremy Height (57 rush att, 197 yds, 3.5 YPC in 2011) headlines that ground attack this fall.
It was Height that hurt the Paladins the most last season, leading the Chanticleers in receiving (3 rec, 43 yds) and ranking second in rushing (17 rush att, 59 yds) in the 30-23 win .
In the win over North Carolina A&T last Saturday, it was a career night for the senior running back, amassing a career high 109 rushing yards on 20 carries, including a 22-yard first half scoring run.
Height also had three receptions for 37 yards.
Another significant senior role player on the offensive side of the football on Saturday might be running back Marcus Whitener (60 rush att, 318 yds, 5.3 YPC), who will spell Height in the backfield for CCU on Saturday night.
Former Furman offensive line standout Patrick Covington has done a solid job in fostering talent in the trenches as the Chanticleers' offensive line coach over the past few seasons.
This fall, Covington welcomes the return of four starters to a veteran front that is anchored by preseason All-Big South left tackle Jamey Cheatwood. Cheatwood was part of that front that looked dominant at times against the Paladins last season.
The strength of the 2012 Furman football team is no doubt its defense, with eight starters returning, including four preseason First or Second Team All-SoCon selections. The strength of the defense this season is the defensive line, as all four starters return from last season's unit.
The quartet up front is anchored by bookends Shawn Boone and Josh Lynn.
The two were impressive in the season opener against CCU last season, especially Boone, who turned in his top performance of the 2011 season in that contest, recording six tackles, two tackles-for-loss and a sack.
Boone has good speed, quickness and overall athleticism and is one of the top athletes on the Paladin defense.
In the season opener against Samford last Saturday, Boone recorded three tackles and a couple of quarterback hurries.
Lynn, a preseason First Team All-SoCon pick, was also strong in last year's loss to Coastal Carolina, registering five tackles, 1.5 TFL and a sack.
Lynn had five tackles last week, but both he and Boone were held without a sack.
Coming into his senior season, Lynn has recorded 21.5 TFL and seven sacks. Boone and Lynn combined for over a third of the team's 21 sacks last fall, as the defensive end duo registered a combined eight sacks on the campaign—Lynn with a team-leading five sacks, Boone with three sacks.
The two veterans that will start at defensive tackle on Saturday afternoon will be Neal Rodgers and Colton Keig.
Going into the 2011 season opener against CCU, the defensive interior was thought to be a weakness for the Paladins and Furman was undersized at both positions.
As the season progressed, however, it was clear that Rodgers and Keig were holding their own along the Furman defensive front and the duo became two of the more underrated defensive tackles in the SoCon.
Rodgers was outstanding against Coastal Carolina last season, playing one of the best games of his career. He recorded five tackles and a TFL in the seven-point loss.
In Saturday's season opener, it was Keig who had a career afternoon, recording six tackles and 0.5 TFL in the three-point loss. Rodgers did not register a tackle in the season opener.
Another area that seems to have a bright future is the Furman linebacking corps, which graduated two of three starters. The one veteran who returns is one of the top linebackers in the SoCon, preseason Second Team All-SoCon LB Mitch McGrath.
McGrath is a real difference-maker on this defense for the Paladins and he was impressive in the loss at Samford, recording 13 tackles.
McGrath is coming off an excellent 2011 season, recording 87 tackles, 13.5 TFL, four sacks and four INTs. In many ways, McGrath is the key to this unit and one of the reasons I believe that Furman will have one of the best defenses in the Southern Conference this fall.
Joining McGrath at linebacker in the starting lineup on Saturday will be veteran Matt Solomon at middle linebacker, while Gary Wilkins is slated to start at the other OLB position.
Some CCU folks might remember Wilkins from last season's encounter, as he continuously pressured the Chanticleers' punter and even partially blocked one CCU punt.
He is one of the top athletes on the defensive side of the ball and is coming off a 10-tackle performance in the season-opener against Samford.
Solomon has waited three seasons for the opportunity to start in the middle of the Furman defense and the hard-hitting senior now finally gets his chance, as he will be making the third start of his career on Saturday.
He had eight tackles and broke up a pair of passes in the Paladins' loss at Samford.
The secondary is not the unit it was last season, at least at the cornerback position, but there is plenty of talent returning at each of the safety positions.
All-SoCon tandem Greg Worthy and Nathan Wade are both big hitters in the Furman secondary, and both were relatively quiet in the season opener at Samford last week. Worthy completed the season opener with five stops, while Wade had eight tackles and a PBU.
This duo could play a huge role in Saturday's contest. Wade did not play in last season's meeting with CCU, serving a four-game suspension to begin the season.
Rounding out the starters in the Furman secondary this fall will be Derrick Murray and veteran Cortez Johnson.
Murray, who played opposite Steed as a starter last season, looked shaky in the season opener against Samford, yielding a couple of big passing plays to the Bulldogs. He had good coverage on one of the pass plays, but mistimed his jump, allowing the Samford receiver to come down with the football.
He finished the game with a pair of tackles.
Johnson is one of the fastest players on the Paladin roster and is also one of the veteran leaders of the secondary, even though he has played most of his career as a reserve.
Last week against Samford, he posted five stops.
The defensive side of the football sees some impressive talent returning for the Chanticleers.
The defense lost an All-American CB to graduation and the NFL, but seven starters return to a unit that ranked 57th nationally in total defense (355.2 YPG) and 74th in scoring defense (27.9 PPG) last season.
The Chanticleers will utilize a 4-2-5 defensive scheme against the Paladins on Saturday.
One of the veteran anchors of the CCU defense heading into Saturday's matchup will be defensive end Quinton Davis (39 tackles, 5.5 TFL, 2.0 sacks in 2011), who was one of the key pieces of the defensive line last season.
He has started 23 of 26 games for the Chanticleers. Last season, Davis was able to record three tackles and 1.5 TFL against the Paladins.
In the season opener against North Carolina A&T, he was held to just one tackle.
Teaming with Davis at defensive end on Saturday will be Jamel Davis (20 tackles, 3.0 TFL, 1.0 sack in 2011).
Davis is another athletic presence along the defensive front for the Chanticleers and was solid in the season opener with three tackles from his bookend position. Davis will be making his 14th start for the Chanticleers on Saturday.
In the win over Furman last season, Davis recorded four tackles and a sack.
The defensive interior will be anchored by both Jeffery Salley (14 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 1 FF, 1 FR in 2011) and Johnny Hartsfield (22 tackles, 3.5 TFL, 1.0 sack in 2011).
Both Salley and Hartsfield recorded three tackles in last week's win over the Aggies.
Salley will be making just his second start for CCU on Saturday, having played as a reserve in his freshman season. Salley had a tackle and also made one of the biggest plays of the 2011 meeting between the two teams when he recorded a Tyler Maples fumble in the fourth quarter to set up CCU's game-winning score.
Hartsfield will be making his ninth start for the Chanticleers on Saturday.
The senior is coming off a solid performance last week, as he posted three tackles and half-a-tackle-for-loss.
Defensive end Chris Thomas (30 tackles, 8.5 TFL, 3.5 sacks in 2011) was a Second Team All-Big South pick last season and will be a key player once again this season as a reserve at bookend.
Linebacker was a strength for CCU last season, and this season should be no different, with the unit anchored by strong-side LB Mike McClure (36 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 1 FF, 1 PBU).
He ended up leading the defensive efforts for the Chanticleers in the season opener with 12 stops and 3.5 TFL in what was a strong performance against the MEAC foe.
McClure has spent the past couple of seasons as a reserve LB and is slated to make just his second start in his 20th career game for CCU on Saturday.
In the win over the Paladins last season, McClure posted three tackles, a TFL, and broke up a pass in action as a reserve.
His 12 tackles last week were a career best, eclipsing his previous career standard of eight tackles in a loss to Gardner-Webb last fall.
Completing the starting duo at LB on Saturday for the Chanticleers will be Quinn Backus (31 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 0.5 sack, 1 FR in 2011), who will patrol the middle of the CCU defense at middle linebacker.
Backus was able to join McClure in double digit tackles, as he registered 10 stops in their season-opening victory.
Backus is another player that will be making just his second start on Saturday. Against the Paladins last season, Backus did not see action.
One of the second string surprises on the depth chart is 2010 Big South Defensive Player of the Year and two-time All-Big South honoree, middle linebacker Andrae Jacobs (46 tackles, 10.0 TFL, 4.0 sacks).
Jacobs had three tackles and a TFL against the Paladins last season. In action as a reserve last week, Jacobs recorded three tackles and half-a-tackle-for-loss.
The Coastal Carolina secondary gave up some big yardage last week on big plays by the Aggies, but the unit also made its fair share of big plays, most of which came from the Sports Network's National Player of the Week Dontavais Johnson (13 tackles, 5 FRs in 2011), picking off three passes.
Additionally, the senior cornerback also recorded a tackle.
Starting at the other CB position for the Chanticleers on Saturday night will be another senior, Tre Henderson (21 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 3 PBUs in 2011).
Henderson is another playmaker in the secondary and he opened the 2012 season with five tackles.
The two starters at safety will be a pair of juniors, Phillip George (40 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 1 INT, 1 FR in 2011) and Johnnie Houston (49 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 2 INTs in 2011).
Both are veterans and enter having been staples as starters in the CCU secondary since about the middle of last season.
George finished the season opener against the Aggies with six tackles and Houston tallied one stop.
Furman will counter with an offense that seemed to gain its footing as the game progressed last Saturday. The Paladins are led by Conway, S.C.-native Dakota Derrick, the senior signal-caller looking for a measure of redemption after struggling in the season opener.
He also has a chance to get a win over his hometown school.
In the 24-21 setback to Samford in the season-opener, Derrick connected on 11-of-25 passes for 201 yards and a TD with three INTs, and rushed for 22 yards on 11 attempts.
Derrick hasn't had much experience coming into Saturday night's battle against the Chanticleers, having completed 39-of-83 passes for 501 yards in his career, with four TDs and four INTs. He rushed for 273 yards and three scores.
Derrick will be making his fourth career start on Saturday. He has a 1-3 record as a starter.
Derrick saw limited action against CCU last season, relieving Chris Forcier, who had to leave the contest with cramps.
Certainly CCU fans will remember senior running back Jerodis Williams, who really had a game in the 2011 season opener, one that would catapult him to the first 1,000-yard rushing season by a Furman running back since 2003.
All Williams did in the opener against the Chanticleers last season was rush for 141 yards and three TDs on 16 carries to garner Sports Network National Player of the Week accolades.
In Furman's loss last week, Williams rushed for 98 yards and a score on 20 carries.
For his career, Williams has rushed for 2,025 yards—he's currently tied for 10th on Furman's all-time rushing ledger.
The second part of that rushing attack is Hank McCloud, who will be Williams' heir apparent in the offensive backfield for the Paladins next season.
McCloud runs hard and is explosive with good speed.
In the season-opener against Samford, McCloud rushed seven times for 28 yards.
Wide receiver has been one of the biggest question marks for the Paladins this season and it was a position that was shaky at times last Saturday.
Obviously, when mentioning the Paladins corps of receivers, it begins and ends with All-American tight end Colin Anderson.
Anderson was relatively quiet in the season opener against the Bulldogs last week, but he did manage to haul in a 41-yard pass in the third quarter and finish the contest with two catches for 56 yards.
For his career, Anderson has hauled in 62 passes for 1,099 yards and 11 TDs.
Anderson had four catches for 36 yards against the Chanticleers last season.
Wideout Gary Robinson will make just his second start at wide receiver on Saturday for the Paladins.
He has the type of game-breaking speed that could be a factor as a big-play threat. He will be looking to make his first reception as a collegiate wide receiver.
One of the players that should be getting the ball more is split end Ryan Culbreath, who might have the best hands of any Furman wideout.
Culbreath hauled in three passes for 53 yards on Saturday and posted four receptions for 40 yards in last season's loss to the Chanticleers.
Rounding out the inexperienced receiving corps for Furman is senior Will King, who has spent most of his Paladin career catching punts rather than catching passes.
He was effective and reliable in Furman's season opener, however, as he hauled in four passes for 89 yards, including a 36-yard scoring pass from Derrick.
King doesn't have blazing speed, but he is elusive.
One of the most pleasant surprises of the season opener for Furman fans was the solid play of its offensive line, which asked the most questions of any unit heading into the season.
Despite starting a walk-on, center Eric Thoni, and left guard Tank Phillips for the first time, the Paladins rushed for 179 yards on the day and only allowed one sack.
Furman is anchored up front by All-America candidate Dakota Dozier at left tackle.
Final Prediction: Furman has shown it can play well at home in its tradition-rich football history, especially against non-conference foes, recording 21 straight wins over such teams. The Paladins should have a good crowd on hand and they will be treated to what has become a nice Palmetto State rivalry.
Could this be a preview of a future Southern Conference affair?
There's always that possibility, but that would be a few years down the road. As for tomorrow's game, I look for Furman to win, breaking open a close game in the fourth quarter to win by 10-14 points.
24-14, Furman
Every April, small-school prospects are drafted much earlier than most would expect. These selections consistently ignite the same responses from people each and every year.
There's the common response, "Never heard of him."
The follow-up, "Never even heard of that school."
And the classic reaction, "Who the (expletive) is that?"
Justin Bethel will be drafted somewhere in the middle rounds of the 2012 NFL Draft, and when he's picked, someone is sure to question his existence.
Coming out of Blythewood, South Carolina, Bethel was largely unnoticed on the recruiting front.
The head coach at Blythewood High was given a job at Presbyterian College during Bethel's junior year, per Damond Talbot. Upon finishing high school, Bethel had just two offers: a full ride to Presbyterian and a partial scholarship to Charleston Southern.
Bethel chose to attend Presbyterian College, where he was a four-year starter for the Blue Hose. He also became the first player from the school to be invited to the East-West Shrine Game and NFL Scouting Combine.
Today, Bethel looks forward to joining the NFL ranks among players from much bigger schools and more prestigous programs.
After playing cornerback at Presbyterian, most view Bethel as a safety at the professional level. On top of displaying impressive ability in pass coverage, Bethel appeals to teams looking for a safety because of his physical nature when playing at the line of scrimmage. On top of intercepting six passes at the college level, Bethel blocked nine kicks in his four years at Presbyterian.
At 5'11.5" 200 pounds, Bethel has an adequate build for a safety by NFL standards but still has room to add bulk.
A somewhat similar path to the NFL was taken by Pro Bowl safety Nick Collins of the Green Bay Packers. Collins was measured at 5'11" 206 at the 2005 combine and, like Bethel, was a college cornerback at a similarly small school. After playing cornerback during his career at Bethune-Cookman, Collins has successfully made the transition to safety at the NFL level.
While combine numbers only tell a small part of the story, there are some similarities between Collins and Bethel that go further than just height and weight. Collins was clocked at a swift 4.36 in the 40 at the 2005 combine, much better than Bethel's time of 4.58, but Bethel compares favorably to Collins in other measurables.
On the 225-pound bench press, Bethel posted 19 repetitions while Collins posted 11. Bethel's vertical jump was 39.5", just half an inch shorter than that of Nick Collins; however, Bethel broad jumped 10'11", one foot further than Collins at 9'10". Despite many combine tests not applying to certain positions, both the vertical jump and broad jump apply to the safety position in that teams want their safeties to cover a wide range in the middle of the field.
Collins has been sensational in the first seven seasons; to quote Tommy Callahan, Collins has "cat-like speed and reflexes," but Bethel bested Collins's performance in the three-cone drill with a time of 6.79.
That's not to say that Justin Bethel will one day become half the player Nick Collins currently is, but between being small-school prospects and superior athletes, there are some parallels between the two players.
Footage has hit the Internet of Justin Bethel jumping a 60" box jump while standing flat-footed. If you watch the video, do yourself a favor and turn down the volume. The audio is worse than a Nickelback record.
From John Wendling jumping a 66" hurdle to Jarron Gilbert jumping out of a pool, new YouTube sensations are born in April. Standing just over 71" himself, Bethel's 60" flat-footed jump may be the most impressive draft-related YouTube hit in recent years.
NFL Draft Scout has Bethel has the eighth-best free safety and the 192nd overall player in the draft. ESPN Scouts, Inc. gives Bethel a grade of 57, which equates to a fifth-round value.
The best-case scenario for Bethel to be selected likely would be the middle portion of the third round. It only takes one team to look past the fact that he's a small-school product and instead focus on impressive showings against better competition. Bethel intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown against Cal and impressed scouts at the East-West Shrine Game.
If there's a team looking for a sleeper at the safety position in the middle rounds, Justin Bethel could be the guy. While the fourth or fifth round seems to be where most draft gurus think he'll be drafted, don't be surprised if Bethel comes off the board at the end of the third round.
The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers have fielded a football team since only 2003, competing in the Big South Conference in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). In the nine seasons since, they have had a rather successful run.
The Chanticleers are 63-39 since their inception in 2003, with four Big South Conference titles and two FCS playoff appearances. One of those playoff berths was the first at-large bid ever given to a team from the Big South. Not too shabby for a fledgling program.
Presiding over all of this was head coach Dave Bennett. He built Coastal Carolina's football program from scratch and turned them into a contender in the Big South. He was recognized for his efforts by twice being named Big South Coach of the Year, including last season.
The nation was introduced to Coach Bennett earlier this season when he gave an entertaining and somewhat bizarre response during a press conference. The video quickly went viral.
Evidently Coastal Carolina University President David DeCenzo and Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek were not as enthralled with Bennett as the rest of the nation was. They fired him in early December after the Chanticleers finished the season 7-4 and missed the playoffs.
Bennett's dismissal was somewhat surprising, considering he built the Chanticleers football program out of nothing and turned them into winners. Plus, Coastal Carolina is not exactly LSU or Alabama and the Big South is a far cry from the SEC, where a high level of winning is expected and coaches are held to a higher standard when it comes to wins.
Nevertheless, the administration at Coastal Carolina decided that Coach Bennett couldn't take the team to the "next level" and that the football program had plateaued under him. So, they needed to find a high-quality coach who could lead them to unprecedented success.
What happened next was both shocking and disheartening not only for Chanticleer fans, but for college football fans in general.
The school hired Joe Moglia as their new head coach. If you've never heard of him, you are definitely not alone. His most current coaching position was as the head coach of the Omaha Nighthawks of the UFL, a team he led to a measly 1-5 record.
His most recent college experience consisted of being a voluntary unpaid assistant for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in 2009. Prior to that he had worked as the defensive coordinator at Dartmouth from 1981-1983.
What was he doing during that nearly 30-year absence from football, you may ask? Well, he was busy becoming a billionaire while working for business giants Merrill Lynch and TD Ameritrade. From 2001 to 2008 he was the CEO of TD Ameritrade.
Moglia stepped down as CEO in 2008, citing his desire to return to the world of football. However, he stayed on with the company as chairman, further adding to his immense fortune.
Joe Moglia certainly has an impressive career resume. How many of us have been responsible for the fortunes of some of the wealthiest companies in America, after all? The only problem with that resume, however, is that there is absolutely nothing on it that makes him remotely qualified to be the head coach at any Division I school, let alone a successful one like Coastal Carolina.
So how then did Moglia manage to get a job for which he is completely unqualified? The obvious answer is his wealth.
Most FCS schools struggle to support their athletic departments financially. They rely on wealthy donors to help support the school's athletic teams. By adding a well-connected billionaire as head coach of the football team, Coastal Carolina significantly improved its prospects for receiving quite a bit of donations in the future.
It's a shrewd business deal, but completely tramples the integrity of college sports. If the NCAA is all about athletic and academic integrity and amateurism, it sure doesn't show in Coastal Carolina's hire.
How are the Chanticleer football players supposed to trust their own head coach when they know that he isn't qualified to lead them and essentially bought his way into the position? How are they supposed to believe their own school when it comes time for the annual presentation about NCAA rules and the importance of integrity and amateurism?
Let's not sugarcoat what Coastal Carolina's administration has done. They fired a successful coach and replaced him with with an unqualified billionaire who has plenty of money but almost no coaching experience or success.
Coastal Carolina's hire of Joe Moglia is an absolute travesty, completely trampling on the integrity and amateurism of college sports. Hopefully no other schools follow Coastal Carolina's lead, for it is a dishonorable and slippery slope that the school has begun to tread.
It’s September 4th 2010 in Morgantown, WV. The fans are pouring into Touchdown City for the start of the happiest time of the year for Mountaineer fans. The student section is preparing in the blue lot outside Milan Puskar Stadium as only WVU students can on a game day. Yes, it’s finally football season and here’s a breakdown of what could be a big season for the old Gold and Blue.
On that September day, the Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina University make their first trip to Morgantown to face off with the Mountaineers for the season opener.
Coastal Carolina is a FCS team that has only been in existence since the 2003 season. The Chanticleers immediately were competitive in the Big South conference winning the league championship in 2004 through the 2006 season. The Chanticleers coming off a disappointing 5-6 record from 2009 brings back more than 25 juniors from the previous season.
The Coastal Carolina offense struggled to say the least by being outscored 280 to 205 this past season. As for passing, Zach MacDowall led the team with over 1600 yards passing and nine touchdowns while throwing 15 interceptions in eleven games. Tommy Fraser, the team’s all purpose leader, led the ground game with over 600 yards and four touchdowns during the season. The receiving corps was not as productive with the leading receiver, Brandon Whitley, grabbing only 30 receptions for just fewer than 500 yards and four touchdowns.
On the defensive side of the ball, Desmond Steward led the defensive unit with 60 tackles (tied for 18th in the league), of those 22 were solo and 4.5 were for a loss. Josh Norman led the Big South with eight interceptions running all eight back for touchdowns.
Now Let’s Bring On The Mountaineers...
West Virginia begins their 119th college football season the same way they have for the past two seasons with an FCS opponent at home. Coach Bill Stewart begins his third year as leader of the Mountaineers with a 19-8 record overall. The team will try to capture their sixth Big East Conference title, the first under Coach Stewart. Along with the conference title, a return to a major bowl game after a defeat to retired former coach Bobby Bowden and the Florida State Seminoles in the Gator Bowl.
The Mountaineers lose their 2009 starting quarterback Jarrett Brown to graduation and Geno Smith steps in to take over the offense in his sophomore season. Smith played in five games during last season, including the majority of the Gator Bowl after Brown went down to injury. Smith will be sharing the backfield with All-Big East First Team running back Noel Devine who decided to return for his senior season and not entering the NFL draft. Speaking of returns, Jock Sanders, the teams leading receiver, will return for his senior season as well.
In the stat book, West Virginia didn’t fair as well as they had in former seasons as the team wasn’t the leader in any major category other than rushing offense. Noel Devine was the all purpose Mountaineer in 2009 as he ran for over 1400 yards for 13 touchdowns and over 170 receiving yards. Jarrett Brown led the passing attack for the team throwing 11 touchdowns threw the air with six rushing touchdowns and throwing nine interceptions. Abovementioned, Jock Sanders caught the most passes from Brown during the season compiling over 70 receptions with three touchdowns adding 180 on the ground for a touchdown.
For Jeff Casteel’s defensive unit, the Mountaineers’ leading top tacklers from 2009, Pat Lazear and JT Thomas are both returning for their senior seasons for what could be a strong defense this year. The junior tandem of Robert Sands and Keith Tandy were the team leader in interceptions with five with Sands leading the Big East in that category. The Mountaineers will most likely to improve on its rank of fourth in the Big East in total defense in 2009 behind Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and South Florida respectively.
In the end, the Mountaineers, I believe, will over match the Chanticleers in the season opener. West Virginia will beat Coastal Carolina 42-14.
NEXT - Game Two: Friends of Coal Bowl: West Virginia @ Marshall
