GREENVILLE, S.C.–The 2014 Furman football season has been a disaster so far, but it’s far from being over and there’s still plenty of time to rite the ship, as the Paladins head into week six facing what is their toughest test to this point in the campaign, as undefeated and No. 3 Coastal Carolina (5-0) pays a visit to Paladin Stadium.
For the first time Saturday, Furman’s offense would begin to see light at the end of what has been a very dark tunnel, and that light was provided true freshman quarterback P.J. Blazejowski. If Blazejowski starts Saturday night for the Paladins, it will mark the third-straight season in which a true freshman will have started under center the Paladins.
The native of Jacksonville, FL, came into his first game as a college quarterback in Furman’s 35-17 loss to Western Carolina. It was time for Bruce Fowler and his staff to try one last thing, and that was bring in Blazejowski for starter Dillon Woodruff. Furman’s new weapon under center–‘Purple Blaze’–could be the answer to some of the offensive issues that have plagued the Paladins early on this season.
Though the numbers don’t necessarily reveal it, Blazejowski would change the complexion of Saturday’s game against the Catamounts. He completed 4-of-15 passes for 75 yards and a TD, while rushing nine times for 56 yards, as he replaced Woodruff midway through the third quarter, with the Paladins trailing 28-10.
One thing that the stats won’t reveal from Saturday’s game was Blazejowski’s confidence and leadership. It was evident the Paladin offense looked different than it had since the injury to Reese Hannon. It’s not a slight on Dillon Woodruff, who played well given the circumstances through the first four starts he was asked to step in for the Paladins, but it’s more of a testament to the type of skill-set that Blazejowski brings to the Paladin offense.
It’s kind of like the show “Whose Line Is It Anyway” with the catch of the show being the ability for the cast to be funny in an impromptu fashion, given a subject to curtail their jokes and skits to and then running with it.
It takes a certain talent. In many ways, the same can be said for Blazejowski, who was given a situation, probably was still and is still learning some of the playbook, but he was told to go out there and make plays Saturday against the visiting Catamounts.
On his first possession as a collegiate quarterback, Blazejowski showed good wheels, with a 15-yard run to give the Paladin offense a first down, however, a pair of incompletions and a two-yard run forced the Paladins to punt the ball back to the Catamounts.
Furman’s defense would force a punt, and the on Blazejowski’s second possession, he would lead Furman to its second score of the day, despite having 92 yards to cover after the Catamount punt was downed inside the 10 with 1:06 remaining in the third quarter.
Blazejowski finished the drive by connecting on 4-of-6 passes for 75 yards on the drive, while registering a 10-yard run early in the drive. He showed the quickness and athleticism that had Furman’s coaching staff giddy at his signing last February. He would cap his second drive of the day with the offense, completing a 28-yard strike to Jordan Snellings for the score.
But to steal a phrase often used by head coach Bruce Fowler, things haven’t gone according to plan this season, which was much the same case as last season, when the Paladins would see Hannon struggle with two seperate injuries early on, while Woodruff broke his shoulder in his only start against Gardner-Webb, leading the Paladins to scramble to find a quarterback.
It led directly to a 3-5 start last season, but the Paladins would eventually rally for eight wins, a Southern Conference title and the program’s first trip to the postseason since 2006 with a strong run down the stretch.
In the opener against Gardner-Webb this season, Hannon broke his ankle and was lost for the season, forcing Furman to go with Woodruff, who had barely seen any reps until fall camp, having to sit out practices last season with the shoulder injury.
Woodruff was able to help the Paladins to a 25-20 win in his first start of 2014 at Mercer, but has struggled to find the time to do much else since, as he has been sacked 13 times, and with the Paladins’ inability to run the football, it has renderd the Furman offense predictable. In fact, Furman has not held the lead in a football game since the fourth quarter of the PC game, or 126:45 of total game action, which is two games and half-a-quarter.
Furman’s coaching staff has had to play musical quarterbacks for the better part of the past three seasons, starting in 2012 with an injury to senior Dakota Derrick in the home opener against Coastal Carolina.
All told, seven different quarterbacks have started the past three seasons , including Derrick, have stepped under center or into the shotgun since that home opener better than two years ago. In 2013 alone, the Paladins played five different signal-callers and this season Furman has already employed three and it’s less than halfway through the campaign.
On that particular evening on what was a rain-soaked Paladin Stadium turf, Furman Paladin nation was introduced to another impressive freshman quarterback named Reese Hannon. All Hannon did was end up passing for 255 yards and four scores, leading the Paladin offense to points on their final six drives in what turned out to be a heartbreaking, 47-45, defeat to the Chanticleers.
Hannon was also strong in his performance coming off an oblique injury, which forced him to miss the season opener at Gardner-Webb last season, as he finished the game against the Chanticleers completing 17-of-31 throws for 191 yards and two TDs.
Saturday night’s game will likely see another starter under center for the Paladins, which would be the third of the season, as Blazejowski, although not officially having been named the starter, conventional wisdom would lead one that inevitable conclusion, will likely be given the starting nod over Woodruff, and if not, expect both to play.
A lot of buzz surrounded Clemson this past week after DeShawn Watson–the nation’s top quarterback recruit according to several recruiting services, including Rivals and 24/7, and he showed those lofty prognositications, at least so far, were right on, as he tossed a school-record six TD passes in his first start against North Carolina.
Blazejowski probably will not have that type of opener against Coastal Carolina as Watson did againt the Tarheels, but it seems pretty obvious he is a special talent. It was evident last Saturday in his limited time against the Catamounts, making crisp throws and sound decisions, especially when to pull the ball down and run it or to make a throw on the run.
He certainly showed he has the strongest arm of the three quarterbacks, and maybe has the strongest arm since Ingle Martin was under center back in 2004 and ‘05. It was also evident that Blazejowski can make a variety of different throws, but on some of his throws Saturday, it looked as though the Paladin wideouts were not expecting the ball to be thrown with quite the zip that they were thrown with.
It was also evident the former standout quarterback for Bartram Trail High School isn’t shy about throwing the deep ball when he has time and has a man, and on one instance Saturday, threw a beautiful spiraled pass just out of Chad Scott’s reach on a deep go route.
During his time at Bartram Trail, the 6-0, 175-lb dual-threat signal-caller was a 6A All-State performer, passing for 2,468 yards and 17 TDs as a senior, while rushing for 874 yards and 14 scores, accounting for 31 TD responsibilities. He led Bartram Trail to the semifinals of the state playoffs, after starting 0-5. Blazejowski runs in the 4.5-4.6 range in the forty-yard dash, and throws especially well on the run.
Should Blazejowski draw the start Saturday, he’ll face a Coastal Carolina team that has won 16 of its past 19 games in the past two seasons, which included a 42-27 win over Montana last season in the FCS playoffs before losing to eventual national title winner North Dakota State in the FCS quarterfinals.
In fact, the Chanticleers are 24-8 under Joe Moglia, and the Teal and Black have won the past three meetings with the Paladins, dating back to 2011, which was Bruce Fowler’s first season as the head coach.
One thing the Paladins have in their favor Saturday night is success against Top five ranked foes at Paladin Stadium, sporting a 2-1 mark inside the friendly confines against teams ranked in the Top 5 under Fowler, having defeated both No. 5 Wofford (26-21) and No. 3 Appalachian State (20-10) in 2011, while dropping a 38-17 home contest to No. 2 Georgia Southern in 2012.
Blazejowski will face a defense that is a veteran unit, and one that has given up nine points in the past three weeks and has surrendered a TD since a 31-30 win over North Carolina A&T in the second week of the season. The Chanticleers are a veteran unit, having returned eight starters from last season’s unit, led by one of the nation’s top linebackers, in Quinn Backus.
All that being said, Furman sits at 2-3 and 1-1 in the SoCon, and plenty of work cut out for it if it wants to find itself in the postseason for a second-straight season, but it’s not a situation Blazejowski is all too unfamiliar with. After all, Blazejowski led Bartram Trail to eight-straight wins and a playoff appearance after an 0-5 start in his senior season.
We’ll know soon enough whether or not ‘Purple Blaze’ is able to leave a talented Coastal defense in a purple haze on Saturday night at Paladin Stadium. If he does, it would be enough to turn around what has been a tough season to this point for one of the preseason SoCon title favorites. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.