The Paladin Walk Blog

FCS Fantasy Football

This my third year playing in the Kard's Korner FCS Fantasy Football League. In the past two seasons I've gone with a lot of players I knew very little about, and for the last two seasons I've finished middle of the pack or lower.

This season I changed my draft strategy. I went we only players I knew, mainly SoCon or top ten FCS teams. Here's a view of my roster:

QB
Renaldo Gray FUR
Ricky Santos UNH

RB
Broddrick Coles NST
Cedrick Gipson FUR
Lamar Lewis GSU
K LeVan UNH
Mike Brown FUR

WR
Jason Foster (I get points as a qb or wr) GSU
Patrick Sprague FUR
RJ Webb FUR
Eric Allen MONTANA
K VanFleet GEORGETOWN

So how's this team doing. After two games first place with a combined score of 224 my closest league rival has 164. This week I'm going with a line up of:

Santos
Cole
Foster
Lewis
LeVan
Sprague
Webb
VanFleet

Wish me and good luck against my North Dakota St rival.

8 Days Till Kickoff #8 Andrew Thacker

Andrew Thacker  | SS
6-1  198  | SR
Gainesville HS

Andrew is back for his final season, and brings with him 34 career starts the most on the team. Thancker will be the backbone of the defensive backfield and by the way he's look in the pre-season I think he's ready to have his biggest year. Thacker ran the third fastest 40-yard dash 4.31 in spring testing on the Furman track.

Andrew has been on of my favorite Furman players over the last 4 years, he got my attention with his big time tackles against GSU his freshman season. Good luck Andrew this season.

22 Days Till Kickoff Meet #22 Cedrick Gipson

Cedrick Gipson  | TB
5-9  197  | SR
Lakewood HS

Prior to the 2007 pre-season workouts I thought Gipson was a bit underrated as a FCS tailback. After seeing him workout in the early pres-season I can't help but feel that Cedrick is going to have his breakout year. Can Gipson have a breakout year with All-American Jerome Felton getting a bulk of carries too? I think so.

What's impressed me so far about Gipson is his speed, and his confidence at running straight ahead. Not many teams APP included will catch CG if he breaks into the secondary.

I also think CG will benefit from a more experienced o-line this season and some very talented backup tailbacks. Well CG break records? No. But I do think we will see Cedrick gain over 1000 yards rushing and make plenty of noise catching the ball out of the backfield.

Another Quick trip to the coast, and Congrats to Jerome

I just returned from another quick trip to the coast and I missed the first practice from the season but no worries I should have an update from tomorrow's practice.

Some good news for Jerome Felton today, Jerome has been invited to play in the 83rd annual East-West Shrine All-Star Game. This is good news for Furman (exposure) and Felton (draft status). It is unusual that the last Furman player to play in the shrine bowl was also a fullback (Dinkie Williams).

Good luck Jerome, I think your going to have a monster season.

Furman and Wofford are OK

Call me a masochist, I continue to read the Clemson PR from the Anderson Independent. Today's post is a fan's guide to the upcoming football season. Jake Grove writes a detailed and interesting post about football, tailgating and another of my passions 'fantasy football.' But again Furman and Wofford get the high school treatment, downplaying their football and us FCS football fans.

I quote Jake: "Tigers and Gamecocks are a way of life in the Upstate. Sure, Furman and Wofford are OK, but the reality is that most people who live in or are from this part of the state fall into one of two camps: Clemson or South Carolina."

Jake I would personally like to invite you to spend a Saturday afternoon with me tailgating and watching the Paladins this season. I think you will find that about 14,000 + fans are just as passionate and know how to have a good time as much as Tiger and Gamecock fans.

How many years will it take the IAA stigma to disappear?

I just read this post form the Anderson Independent Online, that reviewed the upcoming season for Clemson. The post again shows the complete lack of knowledge by some sports journalist.

“Sept. 15 vs. Furman: The Paladins are a decent I-AA team, but that won’t get them much today. Clemson 42, Furman 3.”

First Furman is not a decent IAA team. Furman plays in Division 1 (FCS) Football Championship Subdivision.

Second I wouldn’t be surprised to see Furman be the Tigers toughest out of conference opponent.  Hopefully FCS teams such as APP, Furman, JMU, UMass, GSU, Montana, etc… will chalk up some wins in the early seasons of the FCS classification, and the IAA tag will start to disappear.

Calhoun High Players Stand Out

You can read the entire article from the Calhoun Times here, posted below are some of the highlights.

Last week at the annual Furman University Offensive Camp, the Yellow Jackets walked away with various awards. Competition involved 480 players representing at least seven southeastern states.

“It’s probably the best camp at Furman since I’ve been going there from Calhoun,” Jackets’ head coach Hal Lamb lauded. “This was my ninth one.”

Calhoun’s Tre Lamb captured the honor as top quarterback of the camp. Other individual accolades went to Jimmie Broomfield, tops in the lower division (ninth and 10th graders) as a wide receiver and 40-yard dash; Cody Ralston, No. 1 in the 40-yard dash for tight ends; and David Clemons, top junior lineman.

90 Days Till Kickoff Meet #90 Bobby Yawn

Bobby Yawn  DE
6-1  222 | SR
Holly Hill Academy

Bobby Yawn is one of the forgotten. A walk-on that endures the August heat of pre-season workouts. And is a much needed body for practice. And all this might get them special teams play. Yawn is listed at defensive end for his senior season. The past three season his projected position was linebacker. Yawn also was named to the Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll.

High School: 2004 graduate of Holly Hill (AA) High School...football coach was Randy Purvis...played linebacker and tight end...averaged 10 tackles per game his junior and senior seasons...helped his team to a 9-3 record his junior year...also played basketball and baseball...was Holly Hill's Valedictorian and student body president.

College Football Victory Chain Linker

Don't ask me how I found this site. But it's pretty darn cool. Basically, the victory chain linker means that you can attempt to find a victory chain for any and every school that fielded a varsity football team in a particular season. Try out CFVCL here.

Victory chain from Furman to Appalachian Sate 2006 :)
Now, it took 10 degrees of seperation.
Furman beat
Jacksonville St who beat
Eastern Kentucky who beat
Western Kentucky who beat
Southern Illinois who beat
Indiana who beat
Western Michigan who beat
Virginia who beat
North Carolina St who beat
Appalachian St

SoCon Uniform Rankings

SouthernPigskin writer Jason Webster ranked the ACC Teams football uniforms. So I thought I would have a little fun doing the same for the SoCon. I admit this is so speculative, I don’t think many would agree on a specific ranking.

1. Georgia Southern – As a Furman fan I respect the Georgia Southern football program, a lot. And part of the GSU heritage are the old school uniforms. The look is clean, simple and all business. The only negative thing I could say is I think GSU should have left the facemasks alone.

2. Appalachian State –  It pains me to admit that the home uniform for APP is one of the best. Or maybe it’s because they always play like Superman in all black. I would have considered APP for #1 but the away uniforms have major contrast issues for me. I think it’s the use of the yellow.

3. Furman – I would rank Furman’s away uniforms as one of the best in FCS football. The clean all-white look has become a trademark. And how many other schools can pull off a white helmet like Furman. If Furman would come up with it’s own Black Saturday version uniform for special home games I could justify a ranking above APP.

4. Citadel – Coach Higgins has done a great job on the field and also controlling the look of the Bulldogs gear. I also like The Citadel’s white uniforms better than the blue uniforms.

5. Wofford –  I sometimes like the Terriers look, I think it comes down to the player wearing the uniform. Sometimes the uniform looks like it belongs in a high school league but then you see a killer option play and a Wofford player scooting down the sideline and the black and gold looks real good.

6. Chattanooga – The Mocs have changed looks over the years quite a bit. I’m not a big fan of the use of all the yellow/gold. I think the school that pulls this off is Georgia Tech. Chattanooga would do well to re-visit the looks from the 80’s.

7. Elon – Elon has a similar problem to Wofford. The solid color look can look a little high school at times. Elon’s home uniforms aren’t that bad but the away look just doesn’t get it.

8. Western Carolina – Some say Purple is not a football color. IMO Western makes that case. Maybe it’s because they try to look hip, Cat eyes on the helmet, and lots of solid color. It just turns out bad. The biggest mistake Western makes is the all purple home uniform. Western had some nice uniforms during the Waters years. Western is another school that could turn back time and have a nice traditional look.