Elon To Join CAA For 2014-15 Academic Year

Elon Record-Setting Quarterback Scott Riddle (2007-10)

GREENVILLE, S.C.–A decade after joining the Southern Conference as an official member, the Elon Phoenix have decided to change conferences, following four other members having made the decision to leave the SoCon over the past six months.

The Phoenix are the third football-playing member to decide to move out of the league, joining Appalachian State and Georgia Southern, with College of Charleston and Davidson having already left the SoCon’s hardwood scene.

The Phoenix are leaving the Southern Conference to join the Colonial Athletic Association, which is a league many felt the Phoenix were positioning themselves for a move in recent weeks.

Elon will finish out the 2013-14 season as a league member, and will officially join the membership of the CAA for the 2014-15 academic year.

Strictly looking at football, the loss of Elon to the league’s football landscape obviously pales in comparison to the departures of Appalachian State and Georgia Southern. What has to particularly disconcerting for the league office is that Elon left the Southern Conference for another FCS football conference, becoming the first football member school to leave for a league that quite frankly has not been as good as the SoCon on the gridiron the past couple of seasons, and one that is in more dyer shape than even the SoCon at this point in time.

The CAA, which features the likes of Villanova, James Madison, William & Mary and Delaware as its core membership in football, was left reeling a bit in terms of its football membership when Old Dominion made the move to Conference USA. James Madison is likely on its way to the Sun Belt in 2014, once its feasibility is complete next fall.

Elon contributed little to the league in the two major sports, with only two of its 18 conference titles on the men’s and women’s side coming in the two revenue sports, with both being regular-season North Division titles in basketball, winning divisional crowns in 2006 and 2013. Elon did advance to the Southern Conference Basketball Championship game in 2008, losing to Davidson.

The closest the Phoenix came to success on the Southern Conference gridiron was in 2009, finishing the regular-season with a 9-2 record, including a 7-1 mark in league play before losing, 27-10, in a de facto Southern Conference title game clash with Appalachian State. In the opening round of the playoffs of that ’09 season, the Phoenix lost a heartbreaking, 16-13, overtime decision to CAA member and defending national champion Richmond.

Elon Record-Setting LB Chad Nkang (2003-06)

While the success Phoenix may not have been there as a team on the gridiron, Elon has certainly produced some memorable individual talents from its inception into the league in 2003 under the direction of Al Seagraves. The Phoenix first individual talent that really made a name for himself in the Southern Conference was Chad Nkang, who converted from fullback to linebacker following his freshman season, becoming one of the best in the modern era to grace the SoCon’s gridiron at the second level of the defense.

Nkang finished his Elon career as the school’s all-time leader in tackles (414), and was the 251st pick of the 2007 NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars before getting cut in 2009.

Nkang would be the first of four players to really make a name for themselves in the Southern Conference. After struggling in its first three seasons in the SoCon under the direction of Seagraves and then Paul Hamilton, the Phoenix will call on then-Lehigh coach Pete Lembo to try and change the prospects of a program that had gone just 3-19 in its first 22 Southern Conference games from 2003-05, finishing no higher than last in the league standings.

Lembo would change those fortunes immediately for the Phoenix in 2006, making the Maroon and Gold competitive and a high-octane passing offense was implemented in place of the I-Formation, power running style that existed under Hamilton. Elon posted a 5-6 record, including a 2-5 mark in league play in Lembo’s first season, allowing his new team to finish tied for fifth in the Southern Conference standings at season’s end.

Also in 2006, the Phoenix would see a young promising receiver join its ranks, in Terrell Hudgins, and with the arrival of a certain signal-caller that would change the face of the program a year later, the Phoenix became an instant contender in the SoCon football hierarchy. Hudgins would thrive as a receiver with a young freshman gunslinger throwing him the football, in Scott Riddle. Hudgins almost went to East Carolina, but didn’t fit in with the team through the first couple of weeks at ECU and decided to transfer to Elon.

Riddle would help lead to the Phoenix to a 7-4 record, with late-season losses to Furman (52-49) and The Citadel (42-31), dashing the playoff hopes of the Phoenix. The Phoenix were part of a four-way tie for third place in the SoCon standings in one of the most competitive seasons in the SoCon in recent memory.

The new found sensation of Riddle would see the freshman set single-season school and SoCon passing record for yards (3,817 yards), completions (346), attempts (508), touchdown responsiblities (40) and touchdown passes (31). The 31 scoring passes for were an NCAA Division I single-season freshman record.  Riddle would set a single-game Southern Conference record in the late-season road loss at Furman, throwing for league single-game record 538 yards.

Hudgins had a remarkable sophomore season himself, as the Rocky Mount, N.C., hauling in 117 passes for 1,474 yards and 18 TDs. Hudgins’ 117 catches were league and school records, while his 16-catch, 219-yard receiving effort against Liberty would set a new school mark, and would also rank as a Southern Conference single-game receiving mark.

The 2008 season, which was a 12-game slate for most schools, would see the Phoenix ranked for nearly the entire season in the Southern Conference, and some felt it was the Phoenix that would extinguish the Mountaineers’ grip on the Southern Conference championship trophy. The 12-game slate for the Phoenix would see Elon finish with an 8-4 overall mark, with losses coming at No. 4 Richmond (28-10), at No. 2 Appalachian State (24-16), No. 4 Wofford (55-20) and at No. 20 Liberty (26-3).

The Phoenix had started the season with a bang, getting off to a 6-1 start to the season, ranked as highly as No. 3 in the nation, but the 35-point home loss to the Wofford Terriers sent the Phoenix into a tailspin down the stretch, which it would never recover from, as the Maroon and Gold lost three of their final four games, which left the playoff committee unimpressed and Elon out of the postseason.

Elon Dropped Its Only Playoff Game As A Division I Member In Overtime In 2009, With A 16-13 Loss To Defending National Champ Richmond.

It was the 2009 season which would see unprecedented expectations greet the Phoenix entering the campaign, with some tabbing the Phoenix to unseat mighty Appalachian State, who entered the campaign with five-straight Southern Conference titles, and hadn’t lost to the Phoenix on the gridiron since 1964, giving reason for many to raise their collective eyebrows.

The Phoenix, at least for awhile, would give credence to those lofty expectations, winning eight of their first nine ballgames in the 2009 season, and rarely being challenged by Southern Conference competition.

The only game in which Elon encountered any sort of adversity in the early portion of the Southern Conference slate was in Greenville against Furman, as the Phoenix were able to get a 19-12 win at Paladin Stadium by scoring twice in the final two seconds to gain the victory.

Hudgins was sensational in the win for Elon, as he hauled in a 16 passes for 209 yards and a score to help the Phoenix to the victory, and in the process, became the all-time receptions leader in Division I football, surpassing both Purdue’s Taylor Stubblefield (317) of the Football Bowl Subdivision, as well as Florida A&M’s Jacquay Nunnally (316), finishing the win over Furman with a total of 331 career catches.

The Phoenix would eventually meet Appalachian State at Rhodes Stadium for a game that in effect decided the Southern Conference title, with the No. 1 Appalachian State and No. 2 Elon facing off for what would have seemed to be a dream matchup for the 2009 Southern Conference title, as it had been a two-horse race the entire season. But what seemed like a good matchup, given the dominance by both teams through their respective SoCon slates, would see only one team rise to the occasion, with Appalachian State once again flexing its championship muscle by coming up with a 27-10 win over the Phoenix in front of a sold out crowd at Rhodes Stadium.

For the first time all season, the Mountaineers ripped down the Phoenix veil of invicability, picking off Riddle three times in the opening half en route to taking a 21-0 lead. Even with an injured Armanti Edwards, the Mountaineers could not be stopped and it would be the closest the Phoenix have come to raising a Southern Conference championship trophy in their decade membership in the nation’s fifth-oldest conference.

A tough, 16-13, overtime loss to Richmond in the opening round of the FCS playoffs would see one of the career of Terrell Hudgins come to an end, and it was truly an outstanding career for the Rocky Mount, N.C., native. Not only would Hudgins finish his career as the SoCon’s all-time leading receiver, but also would finish his career as the NCAA Division I all-time leading wideout, breaking all of former NFL Hall of Famer and FCS great Jerry Rice’s records. Hudgins finished his career with 395 career receptions for 5,250 yards and his 28-career 100-yard receiving yard games are also an FCS record. He had 52-career scoring catches, which was the most in Elon and SoCon history when he graduated in ’09.

The ’07 season saw Hudgins combine with Michael Mayers to give the Phoenix the most versatile receiving unit in the FCS, as the two speedy wideouts combined to haul in with Mayers to haul in an FCS record, with 207 catches in 2007, while the 2,358 combined receiving yards for the two receivers were a Southern Conference record.

Former Elon All-SoCon Return Man Michael Mayers (2004-07)

Hudgins would eventually be a free agent signee of the Dallas Cowboys in the 2010 NFL Draft, but could never parlay his talent as a receiver in college into the pro ranks, with speed being the biggest issue for many pro scouts. He was eventually cut by the Cowboys shortly after entering camp.

Elon hasn’t approached the success it enjoyed as a program in 2009, and a year later, despite high expectations to return to the FCS postseason and challenge again for a Southern Conference title, the Phoenix would struggle. Elon stumbled to a 2-5 start on the campaign, losing three games to ranked opponents by a TD or less, including close losses at No.1 Appalachian State (34-31) and at home against No. 9 Wofford (28-21) in consecutive weeks.

The 2010 season would be the end of one star’s career for the Phoenix, and would be the birth of another. Quarterback Scott Riddle would eventually lead the Phoenix to a 6-5 mark, and with Riddle’s departure, it was the end of an era that saw one of the league’s most dominant passing attacks in league history for the previous four years.

During his senior season, Riddle would become the SoCon’s all-time leading passer, finishing out his career with 13,264 passing yards, becoming the FCS’ all-time leader in 1,168 career completions. He also was the SoCon’s all-time leader in TD passes to end his career, with 105 scoring tosses.

The Phoenix would not only lose Riddle to graduation, but also head coach Pete Lembo, who left to take the head coaching job at Ball State shortly after the 2010 season. During his five seasons at Elon, he would help turn the Elon program in the right direction, at least in the immediate, as he led Elon to four-straight winning seasons after taking over in 2006, and its only playoff appearance and matching its best season as a Division I member, with nine wins in 2009. He concluded his career at Elon with a 35-22 record.

While Riddle was gone, it was Aaron Mellette that shined in 2010 in the absence of Hudgins, as he became Riddle’s favorite receiver in the high octane passing attack of the Phoenix, hauling in 86 passes for 1,100 yards and 12 TDs. It would be the beginning of another star-studded career for an Elon receiver. Riddle would sign with the Jacksonville Jaguars, but never played a down with the organization, as he was cut during camp.

The Phoenix would be competitive in 2011 under first-year head coach Jason Swepson, but suffered through its first losing season since 2006, as the Phoenix finished with an identical 5-6 record, and were 3-5 in SoCon play to finish tied for sixth in the Southern Conference standings. One of the few bright spots in Swepson’s first season was a win at No. 17, as the Phoenix brought an end to the Paladins’ playoff hopes with a 41-34 win.

All-SoCon Wide Receiver Aaron Mellette (2009-12)

The 2011 season was the most difficult season for Elon as a member of the Southern Conference since the days of Paul Hamilton as the head coach. The Phoenix finished tied for eighth in the Southern Conference standings, posting just a 1-7 mark in league play, and a 3-8 mark overall. It was the worst season in league play for Elon since going winless against the league in 2005.

Despite the struggles, it was another solid season for the passing attack, which was the SoCon’s statistical champion for a seventh-straight season, averaging 296.7 YPG. The lone Southern Conference win for the Phoenix came with a 42-31 win over a Western Carolina team that hasn’t claimed a Southern Conference win since October of 2010.

But, it was the end of another outstanding career for an Elon wide receiver, as Aaron Mellette concluded his remarkable career following the legendary Hudgins, and doing so in fine fashion.

All Mellette during his career was complete it as the Southern Conference’s second all-time leading receiver behind only his predecessor, with 304 catches for 4,254 yards and 44-career scoring grabs. Mellette was recently a seventh-round draft selection of reigning NFL champion Baltimore Ravens, and many believe that Mellette is ready to be the first Phoenix player during its Division I membership to make a real impact at the next level.

Entering the 2013 season, Elon holds a 31-45 record in its time as a Southern Conference member, with that one playoff appearance. The Phoenix have four winning seasons as a SoCon member, which all came under the direction of Lembo. Elon has six losing campaigns in the league, including two-straight, along with losing campaigns in ’03, ’04, ’05 and ’06. Elon has one final season to try and win a Southern Conference title, while also trying to just win a game against Appalachian State for the first time in half a century.

It’s unclear what the future holds for Elon and the SoCon, but the Phoenix move isn’t one that necessarily negatively affects the league on the gridiron, despite the individual accolades. In fact, the argument could certainly be made that it allows the league to strengthen itself by adding a member that figures more prominently and more consistently in the league’s title race.