Furman Football 2013 Opponent Sketch: Elon
By John Hooper
GREENVILLE, S.C.–Furman opens up its Southern Conference home portion of the schedule against the Elon Phoenix (Oct. 5), who will be playing their final season as a member of the SoCon in 2013. The Phoenix will be joining the Colonial Athletic Association following the 2013 season. Furman will open the month of October by hosting the Phoenix in a kickoff scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at Paladin Stadium.
The Paladins and Phoenix have enjoyed a strong rivalry over the years on the gridiron, with the 2013 meeting between the two teams marking the 17th meeting between the two schools, with Furman holding an 11-5 all-time series advantage, including a 30-17 win last season at Rhodes Stadium which allowed the Paladins to snap a four-game losing streak to the Phoenix. Elon is a team looking to recover from a second-straight losing season, as the Phoenix had a string of four-straight winning seasons from 2007-10, but have registered 5-6 and 3-8 records in 2011 and ’12, which are the first two seasons for Jason Swepson at the helm of the football program.
The Phoenix handed the Paladins one of their most bitter defeats in recent memory back during the 2011 season, as the No. 17 Paladins lost a 41-34 decision at Paladin Stadium, keeping the Paladins out of the FCS playoffs after having had such a promising season to that in Bruce Fowler’s first season as the Paladins’ head coach.
Had Furman won that game two years ago against the Phoenix, it would gotten the Paladins to seven wins, and more importantly, likely would have gotten them into the FCS postseason for the first time since 2006, as Furman already had wins over a pair of top five foes, in No. 3 Appalachian State (20-10) and No. 4 Wofford (26-21).
Elon has paced the Southern Conference in passing offense each of the past two seasons, but it will a vastly different looking offense when the Phoenix make the trip to Greenville for the Oct. 5th meeting, as both quarterback Thomas Wilson and star wide receiver Aaron Mellette have both graduated. Mellette, of course, finished his career as the SoCon’s second all-time leading receiver, 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. There have been several meetings worthy of mention between the Paladins and Phoenix on the gridiron over the years, and few Elon fans will forget the 1999 meeting between the then Figthing Christians and Paladins at Paladin Stadium in a night game to open the campaign. Playing in their first transitional season as Division I football playing member, Elon shocked Furman with a 24-22 win in Greenville.
It would be Elon that would build a two touchdown lead in the second half, as the Division I-AA Independent used a versatile wishbone offense led by Elon Hall-of-Fame quarterback Derrick Moore to take a 24-10, with 5:10 remaining in the third quarter, and that would prove to be just enough for the Fighting Christians to hold on for a two-point win in Greenville. Furman would tack on a pair of scores on a Derrick Russell 1-yard plunge and a Hershal Pleasant 30-yard fumble return for a score to get within a couple of points, as the Paladins’ two-point conversion failed to close out the third quarter.
Neither team would get on the scoreboard in the final quarter, but the Paladins would miss a pair of golden opportunities to win the game, including one as a result of an Elon fumble at its own 29 with 1:38 to play. However, with a chance to win the game, Furman placekicker Jason Wells missed a 36-yard field goal attempt with 38 seconds to play to seal the memorable program win for Elon.
The loss to Elon by Furman would actually prove to be a springboard of success for the Purple and White, as the Paladins went on to win games over North Carolina (28-3) and Appalachian State (35-21), as the Paladins won seven-straight games following the win over the Fighting Christians and would tie for the Southern Conference regular-season crown. The Paladins returned to the postseason for the first time since 1996, losing in the opening round to defending national champion UMass (30-23, OT) in overtime.
A year later, Furman would return the favor by once again opening the season with a game against Elon, who were this time playing under a new monicker, as the Elon Phoenix. In what was a defensive struggle for most of the night, the Paladins used special teams and a gritty effort on the defensive side of the football to secure a 16-3 win at Paladin Stadium.
Elon actually held the advantage in gained yardage, with a 325-236 lead in total offensive yards, but the Paladin defense was opportunistic, forcing six turnovers in the contest (four fumbles, two INTs) in holding the Phoenix out of the end zone in the contest.
Furman placekicker Danny Marshall booted three field goals and eventual Walter Payton Award winner and Paladin junior running back Louis Ivory rushed for 182 yards and a scored on a late 75-yard scoring run with less than a minute to play, accounting for the Furman scoring in the season-opening win. Two years later and in the first campaign with Bobby Lamb as the head coach of Furman, the Paladins would earn their most decisive win in the series, getting a 57-7 win over the Phoenix in Greenville.
On a night which saw a one hour and forty minute rain delay, the Paladins would post a resounding, 57-7 win over the Phoenix at Paladin Stadium. Senior quarterback Billy Napier was sensational en route to garnering Southern Conference Player of the Week Billy Napier, who completed 8-0f-10 passes for 273 yards and four TD passes to lift the seventh-ranked Paladins to the 50-point win.
In 2003, Elon was an official Southern Conference member and its first game as an official member of the league came against Furman, which also came at Paladin Stadium. In the season opener on a late muggy, August night in Greenville, the No. 8 Paladins posted a 24-7 win over the Phoenix, led by Bo Moore’s 221 yards passing and a pair of TDs in the win.
The 2004 meeting would be one which was uneventful, though Furman got its second shutout win with Bobby Lamb as the head coach, as the Paladins posted a 10-0 win on the road at Elon. It was a very “vanilla” night for No. 3 Furman offense, which had a game looming on the horizon against No. 2 Georgia Southern at Paladin Stadium,which would decide the Southern Conference title.
In 2007, the Paladins and Phoenix engaged in maybe the most exciting meeting between the two teams, with Furman holding off Elon, 52-49, in a game which for the first time in the rivalry, Furman came into the matchup as the underdogs. Elon brought the nation’s No. 14 ranking to Greenville in early November and with a potential playoff bid on the line, led by one of the nation’s top quarterbacks, Scott Riddle.
Powered by fullback Jerome Felton’s career-high 154 yards and four TDs, the Paladins were able to overcome a Southern Conference record-setting performance from Riddle, who three for a league record 534 yards and three scores on 38-0f-52 passing in the losing effort. The 101 combined points marked the highest scoring game in Paladin Stadium history, eclipsing the 96 points Furman and The Citadel tallied in 1994. The 2008 season saw Elon get its first of four-straight wins over the Paladins, including the Phoenix’s first win over Furman at Rhodes Stadium, as No. 7 Elon made relatively easy work of Furman, getting a 31-10 win over the Paladins.
Elon was able to break open what was a close game in the second half and posted a 391-320 advantage in total offense, including out-rushing the Paladins, 231-72, in the contest. One of the best meetings in recent memory would come in 2009, which saw the Paladins seemingly be in position to pull of the upset win, however, the Phoenix would come back and dash those hopes.
After a long pass completion from Jordan Sorrells to Sederrick Cunningham got the Paladins deep into Elon territory on a third-and-long play, the Paladins would eventually turn a 10-6 deficit into a 12-10 lead after Tersoo Uhaa’s 1-yard plunge with 1:56 remaining. A botched snap forced Matthew Cesari to try and get the two points, however, he was tackled short of the goal line, leaving Furman’s advantage at just two points.
Riddle and the Phoenix would eventually drive down and into the freshman Adam Shreiner’s field goal range, where he calmly converted a 37-yard kick, giving the Phoenix a 13-12 lead with two seconds remaining. On the kickoff, the Paladins fumbled the ball in the end zone, and reserve linebacker Travis Greene fell on it for the Phoenix, giving No. 12 Elon the 19-12 win.
The 2010 season would see the Paladins needing to win to stay alive for the postseason at Rhodes Stadium, however, while it had been a season in which Elon had struggled much of the way, it would rally to find a way to even its record at .500 (5-5) on the season, overcoming a 25-24 deficit with a little less than eight minutes to play to get the five-point win on Senior Day.
Elon and A.J. Harris showed virtually no signs of being one of the worst rushing teams in FCS football, as Harris rushed for 103 yards and two touchdowns, including what proved to be the game-winner with 7-yard scoring run with 5:11 remaining. Blake Thompson’s interception of a Cody Worley hail-mary pass as time expired to preserve the win.
However, by far, the most disheartening loss for Paladin fans, maybe in the history of the series, to the Phoenix, occurred in 2011, as the 17th-ranked Paladins dropped a 41-34 decision to Elon. The Phoenix were all that stood between the Paladins and a playoff bid. However, Thomas Wilson had a big day, throwing for 279 yards and four scores to almost certainly flatten Furman’s playoff hopes. For a quarterback that had more INTs (18) than TDs (17) coming into the contest, he obviously showed no signs of that against the Paladins in that late-season meeting back in ’11.
Naturally, with Wilson having a big day, it would also prove to be a big day for All-American and Payton Award candidate wideout Aaron Mellette, who hauled in 144 yards worth of passes and two TDs, including what proved to be a momentum-changing scoring catch–a 55-yarder to give the Phoenix a 34-27 lead–in the fourth quarter.
On Furman’s ensuing possession, Chris Forier’s pass was intercepted by Joshua Jones and returned 40 yards for a TD, giving the Phoenix a 14-point (41-34) lead with just 3:59 to play, ultimately spelling doom for the Paladins.
The 2012 meeting:
Furman 31, Elon 17
Oct. 27, 2012
Elon, N.C. /Rhodes Stadium
Recap:
ELON, N.C.–Furman’s defense finished the day with six sacks and held a potent Elon offense to just 363 yards of total offense and 17 points en route to posting a 31-17 win on Saturday afternoon at Rhodes Stadium.
The win snapped a four-game losing skid to the Phoenix, as well as snapping Furman’s three-game losing streak this season, dating back to the Paladins’ 45-24 win over Western Carolina back on Sept. 22. The win improves the Paladins to 3-6 overall on the campaign and 2-4 in league play, while Elon falls to 3-5 overall and 1-4 in SoCon play.
The 363 yards allowed by the Furman defense was the second-lowest total allowed by the Paladin defense, and the game also marked the second time in nine games this season that the Furman defense has held an opponent to less than 100 yards rushing in a game as the Furman defense limited Elon to just 80 yards on the ground.
The six sacks by the Furman defense marked the second time in Bruce Fowler era that the Paladins have recorded six quarterback hits, matching that total in a 14-7 win at Chattanooga last season. Five of those six sacks came on the last possession of the game for the Elon offense.
Not to be overlooked was the performance of Furman senior running back Jerodis Williams, who finished the afternoon rushing for 95 yards and a pair of scores on 21 rush attempts, while also hauling in a pair of passes for 11 yards in the win.
Williams entered Saturday’s contest needing just 87 yards to eclipse the 1,000-yard for the second-straight season, and with his 95 yards on Saturday, now has 1,008 rushing yards on the campaign. He becomes the first Paladin running back to rush for 1,000 yards in back-to-back campaigns since the school’s all-time leading rusher Louis Ivory went over the 1,000-yard rushing barrier in both the 2000 and ’01 campaigns.
With his performance on Saturday, Williams inches closer to Furman’s Top 5 all-time rushing list, having now rushed for 2,935-career yards going into the Paladins’ final two games against Appalachian State and The Citadel. Williams needs 104 yards in the final two games to surpass Larry Robinson’s (1973-76) career rushing total of 3,038 yards for fifth-place on the list.
Furman’s defense would set the tone from the outset of the game, and after Elon took the ball after winning the coin toss, the Furman defense was able to hold the Phoenix to a three-and-out, which quickly allowed Jerry Rice Award candidate Reese Hannon and the Furman offense to go to work.
Hannon, a freshman signal-caller from Greer, S.C., would turn and hand the ball to either Williams or Hank McCloud on the first seven plays of the afternoon, but on a 2nd-and-7 play from the Elon 27, he faked the hand-off to Williams and found freshman wideout Gary Robinson for a 23-yard connection off the play-action to get the Paladins inside the five-yard line.
Two plays later, Williams plunged in from a yard out to give the Paladins a 7-0 lead. Elon would tie the game on its third possession of the day, as the Phoenix got a positive start to the drive after a 17-yard punt return by Jeremy Peterson to the Elon 41. The Phoenix ground game would gain 50 of the team’s 80 ground yards on the day on the first five plays, with Akron transfer Karl Bostick logging most of the work, finishing with 28 of those rushing yards on three carries.
The scoring though, would be left up to Elon’s bread-and-butter, which is it’s potent passing attack, led by quarterback Thomas Wilson and Walter Payton Award candidate wide receiver Aaron Mellette, who hooked up for the final nine yards of the drive to tie the contest, 7-7, with 1:13 remaining in the opening quarter.
It would be as close as the Phoenix would get the remainder of the afternoon.The Paladin offense would offer a swift response, mounting a 75-yard drive on the ensuing possession to take a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way.The Paladins converted two key third down plays in the drive with Hannon completing an 8-yard pass to junior wide receiver Ryan Culbreath on a 3rd-and-5 play to get the Paladins down to the Elon 38.
Five plays later, Hannon and the Paladins faced another third down play, with the scenario being a 3-and-7 from the Elon 24. Once again, Hannon would hook up with the reliable Culbreath for a 20-yard gain to get the Paladins inside the five for the second time on the afternoon. Williams found pay dirt for the second time on the afternoon with a 4-yard scamper with 10:16 remaining in the half to give the Paladins a 14-7 lead and cap an 11-play, 75-yard drive.
It would be the opportunism of the Paladin defense that ultimately would swing the momentum of the game in favor of the Paladins midway through the second quarter.
It looked as if Elon was once again poised to tie the football game following the Furman scoring drive having moved the ball 69 yards down to the Paladin 6-yard line.However, on a 1st-and-goal play Bostick got the hand-off from Wilson on a stretch play to the right side, but the Paladin defense swarmed the play and knocked the ball free from the transfer running back, and it was picked up by Furman sophomore defensive back Marcus McMorris, who returned the ball 95 yards for a score, giving the Paladins a 21-7 lead with 7:48 to play until the half.
The play provided a huge momentum swing in the game. For McMorris, it was his second TD of the season, as he also had a 52-yard INT return for a score in Furman’s other Southern Conference win, which was a 45-24 decision against Western Carolina.
After Elon tacked on a 24-yard field goal by Adam Shreiner with 5:04 to play in the half to make it a 21-10 game on the Phoenix ensuing drive, the Paladins would get their biggest play on the offensive side of the football for the half courtesy of freshman fullback Ernie Cain.
Hannon connected with All-America tight end Colin Anderson for a 28-yard pickup to get the Paladins just inside Elon territory at the Phoenix 47. On the very next play, Cain took a hand-off on a trap play and ran it out the back side where the field was wide open, out-racing a couple of Elon defensive backs en route to giving Furman a 28-10 lead with 4:29 to play in the half and that would be how the teams would enter the halftime locker room.
Furman, which got the ball to start the second half, would get its only points of the second frame on a 22-yard field goal by Ray Early to give the Paladins a 31-10 lead with 8:50 remaining in the third quarter.
The Furman defense would make maybe its biggest defensive stand on the Elon’s first possession of the second half. It appeared Shriner had tacked on his second field goal of the day, cutting Furman’s lead to 18, at 31-13. However, Furman was flagged for running into the kicker, giving the Phoenix a fresh set of downs after Phoenix head coach Jason Swepson opted to take the points off the board and try and let his offense score seven.
But the Paladin defense would once again stand tall, as after the penalty, the Phoenix had the ball at the Furman 8-yard line. A pair of Tracy Coppedge runs got the Phoenix down to the three, but after Bostick rushed for no gain on 3rd-and-goal, Swepson decided to leave the fate of the drive once again in the hands of his senior quarterback in hopes of seven points.
But on fourth and goal, Wilson found tight end Chris Harris towards the right corner of the end zone, but Harris could not keep his foot inbounds, so the Paladin defense held. Elon would tack on another score in the fourth quarter, as Wilson tossed his second scoring pass of the day to Mellette from two yards out with 9:21 to play, making it a 31-17 game. Furman’s defense would hold strong the rest of the way and the offense was efficient, taking precious time off the clock.
On Elon’s final drive, the Paladins would amass five of their six sacks. Two Paladins finished the day with a pair of sacks, as sophomore linebacker Gary Wilkins posted a pair of sacks, while senior Ricky Lang also notched a pair of QB tackles to account for four of the Paladins’ six on the afternoon. McMorris and junior defensive end Shawn Boone rounded out the sacks total on the day for the Paladins with one apiece.
The Paladins held a 367-363 advantage in total offense, including a substantial 106-yard (186-80) advantage in rushing yards.
Furman’s Hannon finished the day connecting on 11-of-19 passes for 181 yards with an INT, with his favorite target being sophomore Gary Robinson, who hauled in three passes for a career high 80 yards. Culbreath also had three catches for 34 yards. Cain finished with a career-best 60 rush yards and a TD on just six carries.
The Paladins’ defensive efforts were led by sophomore linebacker Gary Wilkins, who finished just shy of double digits, with nine stops, with two of those being sacks. In addition to his 95-yard fumble return for a score and one sack, McMorris added a pair of tackles.
For Elon, Wilson connected on 23-of-33 passes for 283 yards and a pair of scoring tosses. His favorite target was Mellette, who hauled in 14 passes for 194 yards and two scores. Elon’s ground efforts were led by Bostick, who rushed 10 times for 44 yards.
On the defensive side of the ball, Elon was paced by linebackers Blake Thompson and Jonathan Spain, who each finished the day with 11 stops to tie for game-high honors. The win for the Paladins means they avoid becoming the first Furman football team since 1972 to finish a season with less than three victories.
Long before making the jump to Division I college football, Elon has enjoyed a a strong tradition on the football gridiron. Known as the Elon College Fighting Christians in the early 198o’s when the school played as an NAIA member of the South Atlantic Conference. The Phoenix would reach the top of the FCS mountain in 1980, as the Fighting Christians would claim the national championship.
Led by All-American running back Bobby Hedrick, who went on to rush for a school record 5,606 yards during and 60 TDs his career, including 185 yards in the NAIA title game against Northeastern Oklahoma. Hedrick was named all-state, all-district and all-conference all four years, while also being selected as a Second Team All-American twice in his career, and his performance was a big reason the Fighting Christians were able to complete the season with a 13-1 record.
A year later, the Fighting Christians would claim their second-straight NAIA national title, claiming a 3-0 win over Pittsburg State out of Kansas in a hard-fought contest, as Phil Renn’s 23-yard field goal was the difference inside the friendly confines of Burlington Memorial Stadium.
The Fighting Christians would undergo a transformation upon joining the Division I FCS football ranks, in terms of branding and the image of their program, as the Fighting Christians would become the Phoenix in 2000. Aside from the successful 1999 campaign, the Phoenix would struggle in its early years as a Division I member at the FCS level, under the direction of Al Seagraves and former East Tennessee State head coach Paul Hamilton.
It wouldn’t be until Pete Lembo arrived in 2006, which would see the Phoenix begin to take a significant turn for the better, as the program, which joined the Southern Conference in 2003, went from the cellar in the league standings, to a viable contender for the league title and playoff bids.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Elon 2013 Football Preview: When Elon rolls into Paladin Stadium to face Furman in a key Southern Conference clash on Oct. 5, it will be a Phoenix team under third-year head coach Jason Swepson facing plenty of question marks.
For the past seven seasons, Elon has featured the SoCon’s top passing attack in each of those campaigns, but this fall, Elon must replace its top two offensive weapons, in quarterback Thomas Wilson and wide receiver Aaron Mellette.
The losses of those two to graduation were huge when taking a closer look. After all, Mellette finished his career second in Southern Conference history with 304 catches for 4,254 yards and 44-career scoring grabs.
Wilson finished his career behind only Scott Riddle in career passing yards for the Phoenix football program, as he passed for 6,422 yards in his Elon career. Elon will be making its final appearance as a Southern Conference member this fall, with 14 starters (5-0ffense, 9-defense) returning for the swan song campaign.
The feeling around Elon is that it might be a crucial season for Swepson, who will enter his third season still looking for his first winning season at the helm after four-straight under the direction of Pete Lembo.
The Offense:
Taking over under center for the Phoenix under center for an offense that led the Southern Conference in passing yardage per game, with an average of 296.7 YPG, will be Mike Quinn (20-f0r-29 passing, 115 yds, 2 TDs), who will be entering his junior season in a Maroon and Gold uniform.
Quinn is coming off a solid spring for the Phoenix, and in the spring game, which concluded spring drills, Quinn connected on 11-of-16 passes for 125 yards, with a TD and an INT, including a beautiful 47-yard TD strike, in leading the No. 1 offense for the Phoenix. He established himself as the starter from the outset, but will still need to hold off a couple of incoming freshmen talents challenging for the job in fall camp.
Despite holding the starting status as of now, Quinn will have to maintain his lead in the race for starting quarterback in fall camp, needing to hold off JUCO transfer Trevor Vasey (Cumberland, R.I. / Dean Junior College), as well as redshirt freshman John Loughery.
The 6-3, 193-pound Quinn saw action in four games last season, and he has a big-time arm. The receiver that will take the role as go-to-receiver for Elon this fall will be Kierre Brown (45 rec, 642 yds, 4 TDs, ), who has excellent size and speed, and has a tough act to fall as he looks to continue the elite lineage established by predecessors Terrell Hudgins and Aaron Mellette. After all that preceding duo did was become the top two receivers in Southern Conference history. Rashaun Rorie (21 rec, 256 yds, 1 TD, 12.2 YPR), Ricky Brown (4 rec, 24 yds, 1 TD, 6.0 YPR) and Andre Davis (17 rec, 142 yds, 8.4 YPR) will also figure in prominently to the Elon passing game this fall.
The Phoenix must also replace starting tight end Chris Harris, who has graduated, with Doug Warrick (4 rec, 51 yds, 12.8 YPR) expected to step into that role this fall.
One of the biggest struggles over the past seven seasons for the Phoenix has been the ground game, with Elon finishing in the bottom two of the league’s rushing average per game in every season since the 2009 season, which was a campaign which Elon might have featured its most versatile offense in its history as a Southern Conference program.
Returning to lead the ground game for the Phoenix this fall will be the trio of Karl Bostick (103 rush att, 354 yds, 2 TDs, 3.4 YPC), Tracey Coppedge (106 att, 432 rush yards, 2 TDs, 4.1 YPC) and Truc Phan (43 att, 153 yds, 3.6 YPC) return as the running backs who saw a glut of the carries for the Phoenix offense. All three were the same type of running back, in that they were speed backs, but are not built for running the ball on extended drives and in short-yardage situations.
However, there is one back who could be a factor in-between the tackles this fall, and that is redshirt freshman B.J. Bennett. Bennett could very well find himself as the starting running back for the Maroon and Gold this fall, as he had a tremendous spring, logging a majority of the reps. He had nine carries for 18 yards and a couple of rushing scores in the Phoenix annual spring game, while Coppedge rushed for 37 yards on nine carries.
The Elon offensive line returns three starters from last season, as (LT) Austin Sowell, (RT) Gavin Billings and (C) Clay Johnson all return along the Elon offensive line this fall. Elon must replace right guard Justin Ward and left guard Kyle Herbert, who have both graduated. (RG) Jacob Ingle and (LG) Derek Vereen could step in and fill those vacancies along the front this fall.
The Defense:
In Jason Swepson’s first two seasons at Elon, the Phoenix haven’t been pushovers on the defensive side of the football, and finishing fourth and sixth in the SoCon in total defense, respectively, in those two seasons. Last season, the Phoenix were able to finish the season to finish a respectable sixth in the SoCon in total defense (386.5 YPG).
Returning to lead the Phoenix along the defensive line this fall will be the tandem of Jay Brown (38 tackles, 3.5 TFL, 1.5 sack) and Jordan Jones (38 tackles, 7.5 TFL, 1.5 TFL, 2 FRs, 1 FF), who are a pair of talented defensive ends that are among the top defensive end tandems in the SoCon heading into the 2013 season.
Occupying the respective defensive tackle positions will likely be Michael Pearson (21 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 0.5 sack, 2 FRs) at nose tackle, while freshman Jack Williams (2 tackles) will compete for a starting spot at the other defensive tackle position.
Linebacker is probably the strongest component of the Elon defense heading into the 2014 season, and the Phoenix have two of three starters back from last season, including a potential All-America candidate, in Jonathan Spain (120 tackles). Spain was a second-team All-Southern Conference performer last season, and he finished ranking third in tackles-per-game (10.9) last fall. An argument could be made that he is the best middle linebacker since Chad Nkang roamed the middle for the Phoenix.
Though the Phoenix have to replace All-SoCon performer Blake Thompson at OLB, the Maroon and Gold welcome the return of Odell Benton (47 tackles, 6.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 1 INT), who is another experienced, athletic performer slated to start alongside Spain at strong side linebacker this fall. Thompson will likely be replaced by Quinton Lightfoot (3 tackles, 1.0 TFL) to make up the starting linebacking contingent heading into the season.
The secondary should be another strength on the defensive side of the ball for Swepson’s defense this fall, as all four starters are back. The Phoenix ranked atop the SoCon league in pass defense (156.9 YPG) last season, and the Phoenix finished the season ranking fifth in all of FCS football in the particular statistical category. The Phoenix welcome the return of Ed Burns (37 tackles, 3 PBU, 1 INT) and David Wood (28 tackles, 5 PBUs, 1 INT, 1 FR, 1 FF) as the starting corners, while Chandler Wrightenberry (70 tackles, 4.0 TFL, 3 PBUs) and Miles Williams (59 tackles, 2 INTs) are set to occupy the respective safety positions.
It is also important to note that the Phoenix made an important hire on the defensive side of the football during the off-season, as Brad Sherrod will be in his first season as the Elon defensive coordinator.
A former linebacker for Duke, Sherrod also spent 11 seasons as a coach for the Blue Devils (1997-2005), serving a majority of that tenure under Ted Roof, while spending the past three seasons on K.C. Keeler’s staff at Delaware (2010-12), before Keeler was fired as the head coach of the Blue Hens this past winter. Sherrod will simplify the Elon defense, and it will be a unit unheralded among its SoCon brethren this fall, but it will be a unit that will keep the Phoenix in most ballgames in 2013.
For you FCS fans, you will remember there being a great link between the Duke football program and the Delware football program. It was the place where defensive end Shawn Johnson plied his trade as an All-ACC defensive end prior to transferring Keeler’s Delaware program in 2003, helping the Blue Hens post one of the most dominant runs in FCS history en route to the program’s only FCS national title. Sherrod also will be familiar with the Southern Conference, spending time at Western Carolina under Dennis Wagner in the 2008 and ’09 seasons before he headed to Delaware.
The Elon defense, which was mostly a 4-3 scheme last season, will likely once again utilize a 4-3 base this season, but could be more multiple depending on the opponent. With the athleticism of the 2013 unit, it is a possibility to see the Phoenix utilize a number of different schemes depending on opponent, including some slant-50, or a 3-4 scheme.
Finally, the kicking game is a big question mark, as second-team All-SoCon kicker Adam Shreiner must be replaced. Of course Paladin fans remember the death-nail he delivered in 2009 after the Paladins had seemingly upset the Scott Riddle-led Phoenix at Paladin Stadium, before Riddle and Hudgins got Elon into Shreiner’s range, and he converted on the 37-yard field goal to give Elon the lead, and then the fumbled kickoff by Furman in the end zone was recovered by Elon to account for the final score-line of 19-12.