The SoCon Spread

Samford (4-7, 3-5 SoCon/5 th in SoCon)   Quincy Crittendon is the SoCon's top returning quarterback (photo courtesy of Samford Athletics) While the 2024 season seemed a little off for everyone in the SoCon, especially after Hurricane Helene, it seemed like the 2024 version of Samford football was from some bygone era, especially on the offensive end of the field. Perhaps the even more surprising thing about the 2024 Samford Bulldogs was the improvement defensively amid having such offensive struggles. At times last season, Samford's version of the 'Hatch Attack' offense was a hard-watch, and at some point, during the Alabama State game, fans probably thought it was time for a new plan to be hatched all together.  The struggles on offense, however, couldn't be put solely on quarterback Quincy Crittendon, who was in his first season as the starting quarterback for Samford, and it was the junior quarterback that, at times, helped the Bulldogs salvage something on offe...

  Furman all-conference offensive guard Luke Petit (photo courtesy of Furman Athletics) Furman (3-8, 2-5 SoCon/8th in ‘24) If you watched Furman football last season, it was likely unfamiliar to you if you popped in a tape of the 2022 and '23 seasons, which saw the Paladins post a combined 20 wins, with its best back-to-back campaigns on the gridiron since a period early in the new millennium, which saw the Paladins 29 games over the course of three seasons from 2004-06, including 21 in '04 and '05 alone. Unlike that period, however, the Paladins had 46 seniors graduate off that 2023 team and that's not counting a few underclassmen that transferred and had eligibility remaining. All told, the Paladins had to replace 37 of its 44 from the two-deep roster, making the 2024 team one of the youngest in the 119-year history of Furman football.  There was also the tragic loss of defensive lineman Bryce Stanfield just prior to spring practice started in 2024, which hung over th...