2023 Roster

[gofurman]

Jackal and I talked about this one earlier this year but kind of bummed to see Seth Johnson go off the roster. His profile listed him as Freshman, RS FR, Senior. Can’t say I’ve ever seen that one before but I assume he wanted to move on to another degree but who knows. Losing him and Coleman certainly cuts down on the heft on the DL.

None of the rest of them are that surprising outside of maybe Noah Henderson.

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Coleman, Johnson and Sochovka were as dominant a trio on the interior as we have had in years - just look at the freakish record breaking FG blocks. Was REALLY hoping we could have two of the 3 back.

I guess Sochovka is returning??

Pretty sure Seth Johnson wasn't even on the field goal block team. So, you're safe there.

Astro and Jackal. I was wrong. You are right.

My apologies. It was Jack Barton I was thinking of

[AllTimeFU]

Panning out, there's always potential for movement:

3 of 5 offensive linemen
All starting defensive backs. Really only Morris out of the typical rotation of DBs.
Looks like only Coleman and Johnson off the two deep defensive line.
Looks like all linebackers are still on the roster
QB
All wide receivers.

The more returning OL the better. We probably won’t have the final picture of returning/not returning for a while. Maybe the beginning of spring semester or spring practice. It will be interesting to see where/when/how the OL that came in for McCutchan’s first season begin to appear in his system in the second year. We took a BIG step forward under his leadership of the OL. We know the trenches is where great football begins and ends.

[The Jackal]

Was thinking some about the offense today. Offseason rambling.

One notable difference between 2022 and 2021 was the frequent use of multiple TEs. You saw Roper do this at Holy Cross. You can see Furman pushing that position hard in recruiting.

Gissinger's addition this past season did a lot for us. He didn't catch many passes or score many touchdowns, but he helped create more multiplicity to the offense.

Here's a good example against Mercer.

This looks like an RPO - essentially a 1 man route against 5 defensive backs. The only receiver actually going for a pass is Harris. Everyone else is blocking (even the other two receivers).

Gissinger pulls backside with the RG. That puts a lot of pressure on the defense. The defensive right has to step up on what looks like a power run. Furman basically puts Mercer in a position where they are exposed regardless of what they do - give up numbers against the run, or come up against the run and surrender the pass.

I love that Furman is committed to this sort of offense. Another year in the system with Huff, Harris, and a lot of pieces intact and we're going to be tough to stop.

[The Jackal]

I was perusing the roster this morning. Not sure I realized how many guys are returning off this year's team. Just a listing of guys that played a bunch this fall:

QB: Huff
RB: Roberto, Hicks, Thomas, Robinson
WR: Harris, Ferguson, Anderson, Dean, Shiflett
OL, Vollmer, Johanning, Hughes, Hundley, Wilson, Toomey, Lamb
TE: Gissinger

DL: Sochovka, Stephens, Jackson, Rodgers, Barton, Stanfield
ILB: Kuzembka, Dimaggio, Gilby, Sciana
SPUR: Achina, Richards, Miller
BAN: Adebayo, Clark, Maier
CB: Blackshear, Robinson, Yates, Chizik
SS: Brinson, McLeod, Hartwell
FS: Ryan, Rhodes

K: Lepvreau, Williams


Other than maybe TE (a position we recruited hard for this spring) and QB (where Wilson's departure leaves an experience gap), we essentially return a two deep of experienced players at every position.

[Paul C]

Things sure do appear to be lined up for 2023 to be a special year.

And in addition to all that experience coming back, we have a year and full offseason w Roper’s offense.

[AstroDin]

Some things to unpack from the Clay interview with Dan.

Clay mentioned Jake Johanning would probably move to center in the spring. Not sure if this is just for the spring or will be permanent.

Grad transfer Cook was mentioned—as a very productive player; he also has a master's in accounting from Wingate. Clay mentioned he's already fitting in.

Furman expects to sign 5-6 on the 1st. We're close to that number now-could be one more not announced.

Furman is saving several spots for grad transfers. CCH mentioned some positions would benefit from an experienced player coming in to help this year. It appears Furman's targets are players still in school who will graduate in MAY.

My guesses are a tight end, another defensive lineman, and an offensive lineman.

Final thought—Furman redshirted most of the 22 class except for Williams and Ferguson. He expects these players to contribute this season.

[FU Hoopla]

Some things to unpack from the Clay interview with Dan.

Clay mentioned Jake Johanning would probably move to center in the spring. Not sure if this is just for the spring or will be permanent.

Grad transfer Cook was mentioned—as a very productive player; he also has a master's in accounting from Wingate. Clay mentioned he's already fitting in.

Furman expects to sign 5-6 on the 1st. We're close to that number now-could be one more not announced.

Furman is saving several spots for grad transfers. CCH mentioned some positions would benefit from an experienced player coming in to help this year. It appears Furman's targets are players still in school who will graduate in MAY.

My guesses are a tight end, another defensive lineman, and an offensive lineman.

Final thought—Furman redshirted most of the 22 class except for Williams and Ferguson. He expects these players to contribute this season.

Yep, sounded like he's going to want another O-Line grad player, if the Dakotas are the benchmark in FCS we need to beef up our depth there to compete, don't want to be thin where one injury throws everything out of whack for the year

[FUBeAR]

Some things to unpack from the Clay interview with Dan.

Clay mentioned Jake Johanning would probably move to center in the spring. Not sure if this is just for the spring or will be permanent.

Grad transfer Cook was mentioned—as a very productive player; he also has a master's in accounting from Wingate. Clay mentioned he's already fitting in.

Furman expects to sign 5-6 on the 1st. We're close to that number now-could be one more not announced.

Furman is saving several spots for grad transfers. CCH mentioned some positions would benefit from an experienced player coming in to help this year. It appears Furman's targets are players still in school who will graduate in MAY.

My guesses are a tight end, another defensive lineman, and an offensive lineman.

Final thought—Furman redshirted most of the 22 class except for Williams and Ferguson. He expects these players to contribute this season.

Also said we have 92 Players in the program right now and we have never had anywhere near that many at this time of the year. FUBeAR thinks the usual number is in the mid 60’s to low 70’s. Players want to stay here. They are using all of their eligibility, not hitting the portal, etc. Of course part of that number is due to Covid extra years of eligibility, but it’s still a very good thing - Recruit, Develop, Retain.

And…said he wasn’t in Columbia in ‘82 when we beat the Cocks, as he was only a Freshman. Said they played South Carolina when he was at NC State, but didn’t elaborate on those outcomes…FUBeAR looked it up …. 1 point win in Raleigh in ‘86 and lost 48-0 in Columbia in ‘87…don’t think he wanted to recall or relate that result. So…Coach Hendrix needs to pick up that win in Williams-Brice that he missed out on in ‘82. With the Paladins sandwiched between UNC & Georgia, the Cocky Cocks just might fail to properly prepare…and we all know the type of ‘p’ performance that leads to…

FUBeAR found it humorous when Coach Hendrix was discussing the Spring practice schedule. Said they would be going on Tuesday’s & Thursday’s at 6:30 AM..and then on Friday afternoons or Saturday mornings…may sometimes both Friday and Saturday with one of those being a light practice. Then he said the funny part… “We’re not going to try to set any records for time spent on the practice field.” Considering that in his playing days, Spring Practice was five (M-F) 3-hour+ full contact practices and a scrimmage on Saturday morning that might last well over 4 hours (‘if y’all hustle in the shower, you might be able to get to the dining hall before they close up lunch service’), pretty sure the NCAA would now have him burned at the stake if we did set any of those records. 20+ hours of full contact practices on 6 consecutive days in a single week just ain’t gonna fly in 2023. We did have Sundays off though (if you didn’t have to report for Training Room treatment). Heck, we were so very grateful & surprised they didn’t make us come in on Sunday to watch film…as we did during the season.

Speaking of being grateful. We should all be very grateful to Jason Donnelly, Clay Hendrix (and other Coaches), and Dan Scott that they do these sessions. Really informative and give us all a real insider’s view of our programs. This doesn’t happen at other schools. FUBeAR is very grateful!

[The Jackal]

Worth noting that Tyler Huff did not even participate in spring practice last year.

I think you began to see the offense really open up after the midway point in the year last season. Furman averaged over 38 points per game starting with the Western Carolina game - part of the schedule that saw Furman play 3 of the top 4 SoCon opponents and two playoff teams.

In those final 7 games, Huff threw for 10 touchdowns and ran for another 7.

It's going to be fun to watch him with a full year in the offense, a full spring practice, and 4 of our top 5 pass catchers returning.

[The Jackal]

Just skimming video again, and I am struck by just how much our offense developed by the end of last season.

Some of the stuff we were doing by the Elon game - all the little details, small movements, ability to manipulate the defense presnap, etc. - just got to a really impressive level by late in the season. With as much as we have returning, it's going to be fun to see what we look like early on with a full year in the system.