SEWANEE, Tenn. — With only six seniors and coming off a winless season, the Sewanee football program couldn’t be looking anywhere but up as the 2010 season starts Saturday.
But coach Robert Black and his Tigers are looking up for other reasons. The seniors are quality leaders — including the three captains, cornerback Chalankis Brown for the defense, center McLain Still from Baylor School for the offense and kicker Geoff Marolda for special teams — and the juniors and sophomores who make up the bulk of the team have another year of strengthening and experience.
Then there are the freshmen. Four promising newcomers give the Tigers renewed talent at quarterback, and other rookies will be helping right away. While Black’s three full recruiting classes may come to full fruition in another year or two, he is convinced the 2010 season will be a step back toward the program’s old prominence — even as victories in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference remain hard to come by.
The challenge begins Saturday at Earlham in Richmond, Ky., a team that has just changed conferences after going 5-5 last year.
“It’s going to be a great test for us,” said Still, beginning his second season at center after two at defensive end. “Their record was better, but the SCAC is like the SEC of Division III — tough week in and week out. We’re going up there to show them we’re in a tougher conference.
“I have no doubt we’re going to get the victory, but in the worst-case scenario we’ll have another good chance to win the next week [at home] against Washington & Lee. I think this team finally has composure. It’s as close as any group that’s ever played here.”
Still said the 2010 Tigers are having fun together yet working hard, and Black agreed with that.
“We were here on campus eight days before another soul showed up, and the closeness shows,” the coach said. “I felt the team kept working last year, and we prepared every week. We just weren’t good enough to make plays when we had to.
“But we’re a faster team this year, and I feel like we’re a fit group,” Black added. “We have seven starters back on offense, and several others played a lot. And we’ve moved some guys who played on offense to defense, where we lost our starting line but have some very solid linebackers and defensive backs.”
Said Still: “Coach [Josh] Taylor had an incredible offseason program for us, and we’ve got guys who can catch and run, so I’m excited about it.”
Brown has been an All-American at cornerback and returning kicks, and he was a big-play receiver used on occasion on offense last year. He’ll be more involved in the entire offense this year, Black said, and sophomore Michael Porch from Tyner at tailback and junior Zeke Wilson at fullback are a year better behind the freshman quarterbacks.
“All four are very good,” Black said, noting that Lee Schurlknight from South Carolina and Curtis Johnson from Atlanta both will play Saturday, and Cyrus Wittig from Kansas “is right there with them but got dinged up early in camp.” The fourth freshman QB, Robert Spilman from Virginia, is 6-foot-5 and working at receiver, “and he’s good, too.
“All the freshmen were very deliberately recruited, and there’s not a bad football player among them,” Black said, adding that they averaged a 3.8 grade point average and a 1270 SAT score in high school.
“There have been some surprises with them, but all the surprises have been positive,” Black added.
Derrick Duncan from basketball and John Ugori from soccer are older newcomers who add athleticism, and junior cornerback Alfonza Knight and junior linebackers Andrew Walters and Zac Atkins are proven defensive stalwarts.
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