Furman Football 2013 Opponent Sketch: The Citadel

GREENVILLE, S.C.–With all the transition and re-alignment going on within the Southern Conference, charter members The Citadel and Furman continue to battle it out on the gridiron.

The Paladins will open Southern Conference place on Sept. 28, with a game in what promises to be a muggy, sticky early Fall afternoon in Charleston in the 93rd renewal of the Southern Conference’s most-played rivalry. Though the Paladins have a substantial (57-32-3) series lead, the Paladins were soundly defeated, 42-20, in Greenville by the Bulldogs last season.  Furman’s 57 wins against the Bulldogs are the most wins it holds against any program.

It was The Citadel’s first win in the Upstate since 1998. The meeting also marked the first time the bitter rivals met at season’s end since 1993, when the rivalry game, during the late 1980’s and early ’90’s routinely saw the two teams enter the contest with either a Southern Conference title or Division I-AA playoff bid on the line.

The Paladins and Bulldogs are two schools that make the Southern Conference what it is, and with Appalachian State and Georgia Southern on the way out of the league, the two charter members carry the torch when it comes to highly successful traditions within the league.

The two have combined to win 14 Southern Conference football crowns, with the Paladins having raised the title trophy a league high 12 times, which is tied for the most with Appalachian State. The Bulldogs have won two titles, claiming the crown in 1962 and 1992, and the Bulldogs will be one of the teams favored to claim the crown this fall, with Appalachian State and Georgia Southern ineligible for the crown.

In The Citadel’s 22-point in Greenville last season, which raised some eyebrows, as the Bulldogs broke open a close football game in the second half. The win allowed the Bulldogs to get to 7-4 overall on the season and on the brink of receiving a playoff bid. For the Paladins, it was a bitter end to a disappointing season. The seven win season was only the second seven-win campaign the Bulldogs had enjoyed since that last championship season back in 1992, which came under the direction of Charlie Taafe. The only other seven win campaign came under current head coach Kevin Higgins, which was back during the 2007 campaign.

Last season’s meeting saw the Bulldogs roll up a 374-298 advantage in total offense, including a 309-196 advantage in rush yards. The Citadel, which will be entering its fourth season utilizing the triple option offense in 2013, finished ranking fourth nationally in rushing offense last fall, averaging 284.0 YPG. The 22-point margin of defeat on the home turf to the Bulldogs was the worst home defeat the Paladins have suffered against The Citadel since 1974, when The Citadel blanked Furman, 24-0, in Greenville. The 22-point loss was also the largest margin of defeat the Paladins suffered on their home turf in five home games last season.

The Bulldogs defeated a pair of Top 10 foes in back-to-back weeks last season, getting a 23-21 win over No. 3 Georgia Southern at Johnson-Hagood Stadium, while going on the road the next week and getting a shocking, 55-28, win over No.8 Appalachian State. The Bulldogs would ascend into the Top 10 of the national rankings, getting as high as No. 10 in the country, which was their first ranking since the ’08 season, and their highest ranking since that ’92 SoCon title team.

Two years ago, Furman opened its Southern Conference slate against a gritty, but young Citadel team on the road, and when the dust settled, the Paladins had snapped a tw0-game losing streak in Charleston, with a 16-6 win in a defensive struggle. Place-kicker Chas Short solid, connecting on three field goals, including a career-long, 46-yard effort to allow the Bruce Fowler to pick up his first win as the Paladins’ head coach.

S0 many of the meetings in this series have come down to fourth quarter, and even overtime games, such as both the 2005 and ’07 meetings. Furman will likely head to Charleston as the underdog in this league opener, and a win against a Citadel team that will likely be picked in the top three by most preseason publications and experts, would prove huge in the way of confidence for the Paladins for the remainder of the league slate.

The Citadel Tradition:

The Citadel has enjoyed a strong tradition on the gridiron in the Southern Conference, having enjoyed league membership since football commenced its inaugural season on the SoCon gridirion in 1936. The Citadel has been a solid foe for all Southern Conference teams over the years, including Furman, and have claimed a pair of Southern Conference football crowns, which came 31 years apart, in 1961 and ’92.

The Bulldogs, noted for their military tradition first, but not too far behind that tradition is the tradition of success on the football gridiron. The Bulldogs have a tradition as rich as any in the Palmetto State,  and have seen much of their measurable success on the gridiron coming in the modern era, particularly in the 1980’s and ’90’s.

The Bulldogs claimed Southern Conference glory for the first time in 1961, lifting the league’s trophy under the direction of Eddie Teague. A year prior to that first Southern Conference triumph, Teague had led the Bulldogs to an 8-2-1 mark, including a 4-2-1 mark in Southern Conference play, as well as a 27-0 Tangerine Bowl win over Tennessee Tech.

Jerry Nettles was the Bulldogs’ leader under center, while halfbacks Tommy Edwards and Easley Easterburn got the call when the Bulldogs needed ground yards during those early 1960’s successful seasons. Nettles ranks 12th in school history, with 1,900 passing yards, while Easterburn was a First Team All-SoCon selection in the 1961 season, and rushed for a combined 807 yards in the ’60 and ’61 campaigns.

The Bulldogs would slowly build on those two successful campaigns and the early 1960’s, and over the next three decades, would become one of the more formidable programs in the Southern Conference. All three of The Citadel’s Division I-AA playoff appearances in the late 1980’s and early ’90’s saw the Bulldogs lose to either the eventual national champion or national runner-up.

Furman Rivalry Heated Up In Late 1970’s

While its always been a heated rivalry between The Citadel and Furman, with stories of the Furman horse being painted Citadel Blue in the late 1960’s,  but on the gridiron, it would be the late 1970’s when the rivalry between the Bulldogs and Paladins would enter a new era of competitiveness, with both programs now competing with the upper echelon of the SoCOn.

One of the memories that will forever live in the minds of Furman fans will be the 1978 meeting between the two schools—a matchup that would ultimately end up deciding the Southern Conference title—with Furman getting a 17-13 win over the Bulldogs to claim the crown.

Furman needed a goal-line stand on a Citadel drive late in the fourth quarter, as the Paladins kept talented Citadel running back Stump Mitchell out of the Sirrine Stadium on a fourth-and-goal, allowing Furman to claim the first of its league-standard 12 Southern Conference crowns. The Paladins went on to finish 8-3 in 1979.

From there, the rivalry reached a new level, with both schools having won a Southern Conference title, but after that first title, the Paladins would seemingly easily surpass the Bulldogs, and from 1982-90, the Paladins won eight-straight in the series.

With Furman having no hopes of reaching the postseason in 1987, the one game that meant something to Paladin nation was the regular-season finale at Citadel’s Johnson-Hagood Stadium, and this game alone would play a huge role in establishing momentum for Furman’s lone national championship season in 1988.

The Paladins entered the contest with a 6-4 record, while the Bulldogs came into the matchup with a 4-6 overall mark. The Paladins handed the Bulldogs one of their worst beatings inside the friendly confines, rolling up a school record 676 yards en route to a 58-13 win.

Furman denied the Bulldogs a shot at the league title in 1988 (30-13) and in 1990 (30-17), with the 1990 contest between the two rivals being before the third-largest crowd (18,190) in Paladin Stadium history.

It was the 1998 meeting between the two that saw the Bulldogs forge a comeback for the record books. It was October 17, 1998, and Paladin Stadium was especially alive with the home-side nearly fully purple and white on what was a beautiful, mid-October Saturday afternoon. 

It looked as if it would be a near-perfect sequence of events on that particular homecoming Saturday, and after the Paladins jumped out to a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter, it looked like a homecoming win over the arch-rival Bulldogs would be a mere formality.

Former standout Furman wide receiver Des Kitchings was in high gear on that afternoon, scoring two of the Paladins three TDs in the contest—one of which came on 65-yard run on a reverse, and the other coming on a 52-yard pass from quarterback Justin Hill early in the second quarter, which gave the Paladins a 21-0 lead with 10:30 remaining in the half.

That is where the perfect Saturday for the Paladins would end, however, as the Bulldogs stormed back dominated the next 40 minutes of football. It was Citadel signal-caller Stanley Myers and running back Antonio Smith that did a large majority of the damage, as the duo would keep the Paladin defense off-balance the remainder of the game to help the Bulldogs to the 25-24 win.

Myers connected on an astounding 18-of-19 passes in the contest for 167 yards and a TD, while Smith rushed for 110 yards and a couple of TDs to help the Bulldogs rebound for the win. Myers completed 18-straight passes against the Paladin defense, setting a new Southern Conference standard for consecutive pass-completions in a single game. That record would later be shattered by Appalachian State’s Richie Williams, also against the Paladins, when he completed 28-consecutive throws against the Paladins in 2004.

Trailing 25-24, the Paladins had a chance to win the contest late in the fourth quarter, driving all the way to the Citadel 31, but Jason Wells’ potential game-winning field goal was blocked by Citadel cornerback Marcus Johnson and the Bulldogs were able to preserve the one-point, come-from-behind win.

he two have had a pair of overtime decisions in the recent past. Both the 2005 and ’07 meetings needed overtime to decide things between the two archrivals, and both were at The Citadel’s Johnson-Hagood Stadium.

It was Furman that fell behind 21-7 in the ’05 contest, and the Paladins had plenty of ground to make up when starting signal-caller Ingle Martin exited the lineup with cramps in the third quarter in the sweltering Charleston October heat.

Backup signal-caller Renaldo Gray would come into the contest, and his versatility as a run-pass threat would save the fifth-ranked Paladins, as Furman would score 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to force overtime, eventually winning a triple overtime thriller, 39-31.

The Paladins had only 226 yards of total offense through the first three quarters, as their offense was stymied. However, after Gray came into the game, the Paladin offense found another gear and generated 235 yards the remainder of the game in getting the thrilling win.

In 2007, it was the Duran Lawson show, as the Bulldogs rolled up a school-record 641 yards en route to a 54-51 overtime win over the Paladins on another warm afternoon in the Port City.

The 641 yards gained by the Bulldogs were not only a Citadel record for single-game total offense, it was also the most yards ever given up by a Paladin defense, eclipsing the previous record surrendered by a Furman defense, which was 640 yards to Georgia Southern in the 1985 national championship game.

Lawson set a single-game Citadel record for total offense, accounting for 486 total offensive yards (386 passing, 100 rushing) of the 641 yards gained by the Bulldogs offense on the afternoon.

Not lost in the loss for the Paladins was the performance by wideout Patrick Sprague, who had a record-breaking afternoon for a Furman receiver. Sprague caught nine passes for 238 yards and three scores, setting the school record for receiving yards in a single game.

In stark contrast to the ‘05 and ’07 meetings, the ’03 meeting  in Charleston was one that was a much more defensively slanted contest, with the Bulldogs taking a narrow 10-9 win, benefiting mostly from late-game Paladin miscues.

Furman rebounded from a 10-0 halftime deficit, getting a 29-yard field goal from Danny Marshall late in the third quarter and the Paladins finally found the end zone via Furman backup quarterback Josh Stepp, who scampered in from three yards out to make the score 10-9. However, a bad exchange on the extra-point attempt forced the Paladins into a botched PAT.

Furman was then forced into an onside kick to try and get the ball back, but The Citadel recovered and was able to run all but 12 seconds off the game clock. The Paladins eventually got the ball back with only 12 seconds remaining at their own 16, but could not get within Marshall’s field-goal range and time ran out, with the Bulldogs holding on for the 10-9 win.

The Citadel’s 1992 Championship Season

The 1992 season for The Citadel was one which saw everything come together and the Bulldogs experienced their greatest moment as a program, claiming the league crown by finishing 6-1 in the SoCon, including a 10-1 regular-season mark. The Bulldogs would finish 11-2 before losing to eventual national finalist Youngstown State, 42-17, in Charleston. The Bulldogs’ only other loss came in the regular-season, which was a 34-13 home loss to the eventual national champion Marshall Thundering Herd.

Leading the powerful Citadel wishbone offense was quarterback Jack Douglas, who would put together maybe the best career of any Citadel offensive player in the history of the program. Douglas was able to lead the Bulldogs in rushing three out of the four seasons he quarterbacked the Bulldogs, enjoying his best season toting the football in 1991, as he gained 1,152 yards on the ground for the Bulldogs, which was just a year preceding the Bulldogs’ second Southern Conference title.

Douglas still remains the school’s all-time total offense leader (6,737 career yards), and he continues to rank third in school history in rushing yards, as he completed his career with 3,908 yards on the ground. His 884-career rushing attempts rank as the most all time rushing attempts in school history.

He was the catalyst in that ’92 season offensively for the Bulldogs, helping The Citadel post one of the best offensive seasons in school history. The Bulldogs even featured one of the league’s most talented tailbacks, in Everette Sands, who posted 1,449 yards rushing, which accounts for the second-best single-season rushing season in Bulldogs’ history. Cornwell Caldwell led the receiving efforts, with 24 receptions for 538 yards.

In the playoffs, the Bulldogs opened up against the MEAC Champion North Carolina A&T Bulldogs, and were the national No. 1 overall seed entering the postseason. What ensued was a 44-0 win by the Bulldogs over the Aggies, as The Citadel out-gained the Aggies, 431-297 in total offense, including limiting North Carolina A&T to just 94 rushing yards in the first-round win.

Douglas would notch a career-best passing effort in the contest, throwing for 142 yards and also had a 2-yard scoring run to open the Bulldogs’ scoring account on the afternoon. He established his new career-high on only three completions in the opening half of play.

In the second round of the FCS postseason, the Bulldogs welcomed traditional I-AA powers Youngstown State to Johnson-Hagood Stadium, and Jim Tressel’s Penguins offered what was a substantial test, downing The Citadel, 42-17. The Penguins jumped out to a 21-0 second quarter lead, but the Bulldogs made things interesting early in the fourth quarter, as his 30-yard field goal brought the Bulldogs within four points, at 21-17, with three minutes to go in the game. Three TDs by the Penguins in the final 11 minutes put the game on ice, ending the greatest season in Citadel football history.

Other Playoff Appearances:

The Bulldogs also made Division I-AA playoff appearances in 1988 and 1990, facing eventual national championship game participant Georgia Southern in each of those respective postseasons.  Under the direction of former legendary head coach Charlie Taafe, the Bulldogs would first breakthrough and qualify for the Division I-AA playoffs after completing the regular-season with an 8-3 mark, including a 6-2 mark in Southern Conference play.

The Bulldogs were 38-20 losers to Georgia Southern in the opening round of the Division I-AA playoffs in 1988, and at the time, the Eagles were playing as an independent Division I-AA member. The game, which was played in Statesboro, GA., at Georgia Southern’s Allen E. Paulson Stadium, saw the Bulldogs jump out to an early 3-0 lead with a Hank Burris 41-yard field goal just five minutes into the football game, and a 10-yard run by legendary running back Gene Brown extended the Bulldogs’ lead to 10-0 with 4:46 to play in the opening quarter.

Georgia Southern would score on back-to-back drives, getting a 75-yard jaunt from Joe Ross and a three-yard run Frank Johnson, giving the Eagles a 14-10 lead. However, The Citadel bounced back and got another scoring run from Brown, which came this time from five yards out, getting the Bulldogs on the scoreboard just 50 seconds before the half, and giving the Bulldogs a 17-14 lead at the half.

Johnson added a 28-yard run for the Eagles on their opening drive of the second half to give the Eagles their first lead of the day, at 21-17, but Burris would cut Georgia Southern’s lead to just a point, 21-20, after a 23-yard field goal with 4:21 to play in the third quarter. From there, however, it was all Eagles, scoring the final 17 points of the game to bring an end to The Citadel’s 1988 season. Georgia Southern would make it all the way to the national title game before losing, 17-12, to Furman in Pocatello, Idaho. The Citadel ended the season ranked 14th in the national polls.

The Bulldogs would be more thoroughly beaten by the Eagles in the second meeting between the two in the same venue a couple of years later, as Georgia Southern posted a decisive, 31-0, win over the Bulldogs. The story of the game was a Georgia Southern offense, once again led by Joe Ross, as the Eagles rolled up 437 yards, including 283 yards on the ground. The Eagle defense, meanwhile, limited the Bulldogs to a meager 167 total offensive yards.

Great Wins:

The Bulldogs have had some very notable success against the higher classification of Division I, getting wins over the likes of Arkansas (10-3) and Army (15-14) in 1992, while defeating the South Carolina Gamecocks (38-35) in 1990. The win over Arkansas proved to be enough to force then Razorbacks head coach Jack Crowe searching for a new job after the loss in Little Rock.

The Citadel QB Duran Lawson Set A Number Of Career Records, Including Becoming The School’s All-Time Leading Passer In 2007

For all the Bulldogs accomplished in the 2007 season, it was a shame the Bulldogs weren’t able to parlay such success into a playoff bid, charting its most successful season on the gridiron in 15 years, as The Citadel won seven games for the first time in a season for the first time since that championship season of 1992. The Bulldogs accomplished that feat, producing a 4-3 conference mark, which included a 54-51 win over Furman.

In non-conference play, the Bulldogs gave us a glimpse of just how talented a football team they might be, when The Citadel wouldn’t go easily into the Madison afternoon, losing just 45-31 to the No. 7 Wisconsin Badgers.

The Bulldogs would feature the best offense in school history, with Andre Roberts, who would go on to become the greatest receiver in school history and the third round draft selection (88th pick) of the Arizona Cardinals in the ’09 draft, while Duran Lawson, who had battled injuries and would unfortunately see his final campaign as a Bulldog come to an end as a result of another ACL tear in a late-season loss to Georgia Southern with a playoff bid at stake in Statesboro.

Lawson would have likely become the school’s all-time leader in total offense, and it was his game against Furman, which saw him establish a new single-game total offense record (486 yards), while leading his Citadel offense to a school-record 641 yards of total offense in the 54-51 overtime win over Furman.

Not to be lost in the offensive success was that of the defense, which finished as the SoCon’s best unit in total defense (356.5 YPG). The Bulldogs were as complete a team as their was in the Southern Conference in 2007, however, it was one of the strongest league contingents in the football-rich history of the conference.

The prolific Bulldogs offense in 2007 was one that put up some big-time numbers, including crossing the 70-point plateau twice during the campaign. In an early-season battle against Webber International, the Bulldogs set a school record for margin of victory, with a 76-0 win. Late in the season, the Bulldogs took command early in the game against VMI in the Battle For The Silver Shaiko and never looked back en route to a 70-28 win over VMI.

The 70-point outburst in the regular-season finale against arch-rival VMI allowed the Bulldogs to set a new program mark for points scored in a season, totaling 434 points on the campaign, while the 2,703 passing yards by Duran Lawson and Bart Blanchard in ’07 were the most in school history.

Wide receiver Andre Roberts had the best season in school history recorded by a Citadel wideout, hauling in 78 passes for 1,060 yards and 10 TDs. Roberts was the favorite target of both Lawson and Blanchard on the season, and Roberts’ 78 catches in a single season set a new school mark, breaking the previous record of 69 catches set by Scooter Johnson in 2003.

Lawson finished out his senior season setting a new school standard for total offense in a single season, with 2,436 yards of total offense, with a single-game school-record 486 yards of total offense in a 54-51 overtime win over Furman. Lawson also set career school marks for passing yards (5,436), completions (511) and career completion percentage (61.7%).

Rounding out the record-breakers in the most prolific offensive season in school history was running back Tory Cooper, who became the Bulldogs’ first 1,000-yard rusher since the 1994 season, and his 21 TDs and 126 points in a single season set new single-season scoring marks, breaking marks previously set by Terrance Rivers in 1994. Cooper finished the season with 1,041 yards rushing and 19 TDs, while also hauling in a pair of TD catches. His four rushing scores in a win at Chattanooga tied the school mark for rushing TDs in a single game.

 2013 Opponent Sketch: The Citadel Bulldogs

Citadel Starting Quarterback Ben Dupree Enters Campaign Having Made 24-consecutive starts

The Citadel heads into the 2013 season stocked full of talent on both sides of the football, returning 19 players with starting experience from a year ago.

It’s a Citadel team that won games against No. 3 Georgia Southern (23-21) and No. 8 Appalachian State (55-28) in back-to-back last season.

The Offense:

The best news on the offensive side of the football is the Bulldogs return the full compliment of quarterbacks, with both Ben Dupree ( 25-of-42 passes for 387 yards, 3 TDs, 2 INTs/839 rush yards, 9 TDs) and Aaron Miller (34-of-69 passing, 513 yards 1 TD, 3 INTs/262 rush yards, 5 TDS) back to lead the triple option Citadel offense this fall.

Dupree and Miller have tag-teamed the starting duties under center for the Bulldogs each of the past two seasons, and Dupree has started 24-straight games for the Bulldogs under center entering the 2013 season.

Dupree is one of the top rushing signal-callers in the FCS entering the 2013 season, and has only improved as a passer as his career has progressed in The Citadel Blue. In his previous three seasons under center for the Bulldogs, Dupree has rushed for 1,671 yards to rank 17th on the school’s all-time rushing ledger, while his 18 rushing TDs places him 11th in school history in rushing scores. Against the Paladins last season, Dupree rushed for 84 yards and a score, while also completing 2-of-4 passes for 51 yards for a TD and an INT.

The Bulldogs’ ground game will be headed up by Darien Robinson (140 rush att, 1,007 yards, 6 TDs, 7.2 YPC) and will be among the most talented, versatile backfields in the SoCon this fall. Robinson became the first player to rush for 1,000 yards out of the Bulldogs backfield since Tory Cooper accomplished the feat in The Citadel Blue back during the 2007 season.

Robinson’s supporting cast in the Bulldogs’ backfield will be a good one, although the Bulldogs did lose Rickey Anderson and Van Dyke Jones out of the backfield to graduation. Anderson and Jones managed to rush for a combined 2,102 yards during their respective careers. Still, the Bulldogs have some strong slotbacks returning to the fold, with veteran Terrance Martin (26 rush attempts, 140 yards, 5.4 YPC) returning to headline the returnees at slotback. Jake Stenson (5 rush attempts, 19 yards) came out of the spring at the other slotback position, and was a player that was a solid, young talent as a redshirt freshman last season.

The Bulldogs don’t go to the air all that often, but when they do decide to utilize the aerial route, they have some capable wideouts returning for the 2013 season. Highlighting the big-play receivers is former quarterback Matt Thompson (13 rec, 284 yds, 1 TD, 21.8 YPR), who is entering his third season as a Citadel wide receivers, and is coming off a 2012 season, which saw him lead the Bulldogs in receiving.

Joining Thompson at wide receiver this fall for the Bulldogs will be redshirt freshman Brandon Eakins, who played in every game on special teams last season, while Eakins’ classmate Julian Walker is another up-and-coming talent.

The Citadel Returns All Five Starters Along Its Offensive Line, Including Jacobs Blocking Award Winner Mike Sellers At Center.

The Bulldogs return five players with starting experience along the offensive line for the 2013 season and look to have one of the top offensive lines in the Southern Conference entering the campaign. The Bulldogs ranked fourth in the nation in rushing yards per game last season, as the Bulldogs churned out 284.0 YPG in 2012.

Anchoring the returnees on the offensive line for the 2013 season for The Citadel will be the reigning Jacobs Blocking Award winner, in center Mike Sellers, who enters his senior season as one of the top offensive linemen in the country. The reigning top offensive lineman in the Southern Conference was a consensus First-Team All-America selection last season.

Lining up alongside Sellers at the respective guard positions for the Bulldogs this fall will be Keith Carter and Jim Knowles, as Carter will start on the left side while it will be Knowles on the right. Knowles has started 21 of 22 games over the past two seasons, while Carter enters the campaign having started 19-consecutive games at left guard for the Bulldogs.

The two starters at the respective offensive tackle positions will be Devin Bice and Cullen Brown return as the two offensive tackles, with Bice anchoring the left tackle position, while Brown will hold down the right tackle spot. It will be the second season for Bice and Brown to tandem at the offensive tackle positions for the Bulldogs, as Brown actually started his career as a tight end for the Bulldogs before being moved to offensive tackle.

Alex Glover returns at tight end for the Bulldogs this fall, and he will figure prominently into the offense mostly as a blocking presence on the edge this fall, but has a great pair of hands and could figure into the Citadel passing game this fall even though he failed to record a catch in 2012.

The Defense:

The Citadel was extremely young on the defensive side of the football last season, and with a knee injury to an all-conference defensive lineman in the spring, coupled with season-ending injuries to a pair of standout linebackers at a crucial point in the season as the Bulldogs tried to make a playoff push, it could have seen the Bulldogs struggle defensively in 2012. However, despite injuries, the Bulldogs showed depth and resilience and rebounded to put together a solid unit last season, despite youth and inexperience at some positions.

–Though the Bulldogs must replace Chris Billingslea as a result of graduation, The Citadel does welcome the return of a fully healthy Derek Douglas (17 tackles, 8.0

Derrick Douglas Is A Game-Changer At Defensive End

TFL, 5.0 sacks, 1 FR, 1 TD, 1 FF), who missed the first part of the 2012 season with an ACL injury, which he suffered in fall camp. Douglas will have a mix of veterans and youth on the defensive line next fall, with the experienced Bay Amrhein (32 tackles, 5.0 TFL, 0.5 TFL) also back in the fold at defensive end. He will team with Joe Phillips (4 tackles) at defensive end, while the young, but talented Mitchell Jeter (28 tackles, 6.0 TFL, 4.0 sacks) is expected to line up alongside the all-league performer Douglas at defensive tackle, with Jeter playing nose for the Bulldogs this fall.

Douglas might be the best individual defensive lineman, along with Chattanooga’s Tull, and heads into the 2013 season headlining a Citadel defense that tied for third in the SoCon in sacks last fall, recording 26 quarterback takedowns. The Bulldogs were an extremely young defense last fall, but still finished a respectable fifth in the SoCon’s defensive hierarchy last season, yielding 383.2 YPG in 2012.

Though The Citadel was young at linebacker last season, the Bulldogs acquitted themselves extremely well at the position, which is why the Bulldogs find themselves ranked second among the nine linebacking units heading into the 2013 season. Rah Muhammad (46 tackles, 2 FFs, 1 FR) and Carl Robinson (54 tackles, 3.0 TFL, 1 FR). Both were exceptionally talented and instrumental last season to the Bulldogs’ defense, which lost the likes of Rod Harland and Tolu Akindele from the 2011 corps, and both went down with season-ending injuries. At the time Robinson went down with his season-ending injury, he was leading the team in tackles.

Another pleasant surprise of the linebacking corps was James Riley (43 tackles, 3.0 TFL, 1.5 sacks), who saw action in four games last year after Muhammad went down with a season-ending injury. In Riley’s debut in the starting lineup in a narrow loss at Wofford, he was exceptional, posting 12 tackles and a sack.

Freshmen Brandon Staton, Preston Durham and Joe Crochet also look to figure into the rotation at linebacker this fall for the Bulldogs. The only significant loss to the linebacking unit heading into the season is Carson Smith, who finished the 2013 season leading the team with 91 stops.

The secondary was a unit that helped the Bulldogs field a formidable unit against the pass last season, and what was a somewhat unknown unit coming into the 2012 season, and it ended up being a unit that ranked second against the pass in the SoCon last fall.

Though the Bulldogs as a team picked off just six passes last season, the unit was extremely stingy against the pass, allowing just 161.5 yards through the air last season.

The main anchors of that secondary last season will be the ones positioned to lead the Citadel Blue into the 2013 season on the back line. Sadath Jean-Pierre and Brandon McCladdie quietly became one of the league’s top tandems of cornerbacks last season, with McCladdie garnering second-team All-SoCon honors with two picks and 45 tackles last season. Jean-Pierre ended up ranking second on the club in tackles last season, with 80 stops, with 65 of those being solo stops, while also breaking up five passes.

Austin Boyle and Davis Boyle were the two mainstays at the respective safety positions coming into the 2012 campaign, the Bulldogs will have to look to new stars at the positions this season, however, with the Boyles no longer in the program. Those new roles will likely fall to Julian Baxter and Walker Smith.