Sewanee opens its 123rd football season Saturday against the last team it defeated - 20 games ago.
The Tigers have an entirely new coaching staff since going 0-10 last season and mostly new players since that 31-21 home win in the 2015 season opener against Kenyon College. Kenyon's Lords won last year's opener against Sewanee 21-17 in Gambier, Ohio.
They meet again Saturday at noon CDT on Sewanee's Hardee-McGee Field, the oldest in the South. The Tigers play the next three weeks on the road.
"Our guys are looking forward to hitting someone besides each other. We're excited about facing someone else," new head coach Travis Rundle said Thursday.
He added that while the team is still young - with 13 freshmen and 13 sophomores on the two-deep chart - he feels the players, young and old, have picked up well on the new systems. And no one has been talking about the 19-game losing streak or any kind of streak that may lie ahead.
Sam Hearn
Alex DarrasIt's the old "the big game is the next game," and ever since Rundle was hired in March that next opponent has been Kenyon.
"We feel we're pretty well prepared, and we definitely have a lot of speed. We can make plays on the outside," said Rundle, who previously was the defensive coordinator and head strength and conditioning coach at Illinois Wesleyan.
Sophomore Sam Hearn returns at quarterback with his senior brother, Steven, as the leading returning receiver, but the younger Hearn has been in a friendly but fierce competition for the starting spot with freshman Alex Darras from Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga. Darras took a redshirt year at Furman, while Sam Hearn was getting his feet wet in Division III with 1,395 yards and nine touchdowns on 141-of-244 passing and 331 yards and four TDs on 133 rushes.
Both quarterbacks are 6-foot-3 and weigh more than 200 pounds, and both will play Saturday, Rundle said.
"It's been fun watching them compete," he said. "Both could start for most any Division III team in the country. Both have a good grasp of the offense and have great arms. And people will be surprised at how well Alex runs."
Steven Hearn caught 55 passes for 583 yards and five TDs last year. Senior running back Mikey Plancher ran for 581 yars and three scores. Junior center John Gaither from Cleveland High School leads the offensive line, and classmate Tristan Fuller from Calhoun, Ga., is listed as one of the defensive-line starters.
Expected stalwarts on the stop unit include converted defensive back Lee Menefee from Guntersville, Ala., at middle linebacker and junior Karim Antoine and versatile senior Elijah Brooks-Davis in the line, plus junior Conoly Koontz just ahead of freshman Jackson Menefee at one of the outside linebacker spots. At the other, Pierce Johnson joins cornerback Wes Porter and safety Will Phillips as freshmen listed No. 1 on the depth chart.
Glenn Ireland from Baylor School and John Cleveland from Fort Worth, Texas, provide senior leadership and proven ability at the other secondary spots.
Safety Cleveland "has such understanding of how to play the pass," Ireland said. And he had 40 solo tackles and 14 assists plus an interception he returned 57 yards in 2016.
Cleveland was a 2016 preseason All-America punter and came through with a 43.8-yard average and a long punt of 65 yards, but he's only No. 2 on the depth chart there. Sophomore Ben Brown from Signal Mountain "has a cannon for a leg" and has been matching Cleveland's yardage with more hang time in practice, Rundle said.
Sewanee is adding to its considerable traditions with a captains breakfast with the team and halftime ceremony Saturday, the coach said. All the team captains of the past were invited back for this weekend, and the Tigers are expecting grew of about 100 - captains and family members - "from the 1950s to just a couple of years ago," Rundle said.
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.