The 121st season of Sewanee football begins today on the South's oldest field, and the Tigers welcome back an old foe the program hasn't faced since 1966.
Kenyon College from Gambier, Ohio, provides the opposition for the 2 p.m. EDT game on Hardee-McGee Field at Harris Stadium, and the Lords had an even tougher time last season than Sewanee did. The Lords were injury-plagued and 1-9 in their third season under coach Chris Monfiletto after going a combined 10-10 the first two.
Tommy Laurendine enters his fifth season heading the Tigers with a 15-26 record, but they were just 2-8 last year. They haven't lost a home opener since 2009, however, and they have won four of their last five overall openers.
Sewanee also is blessed with some quality experience, including the man operating the triple-option offense, quarterback Cody Daniel. He has a career average of 63.1 rushing yards per game, and despite its record, Sewanee was the Southern Athletic Association's top rushing team for the last three years and the No. 6 team in NCAA Division III last year in time of possession.
Kenyon, by the way, was seventh in time of possession, and it has quarterback Jake Bates and five linemen among its nine returning starters on offense. The Lords have eight defensive starters back from last year.
Sewanee's returners besides Daniel include senior taiback Devante Jones and senior fullback Andy Moots in the triple-option attack, and Chris Wasden is a senior at split end with Divine Maloney a junior at tight end, but the offensive line is loaded with sophomores and freshmen to go with 6-foot-6, 300-pound junior left guard Riley Malone. John Gaither from Cleveland High School is a freshman expected to start at center.
Callum Wishart from Ooltewah High is the senior place-kicker who is third in the young SAA with 85 career points, and classmate Grant Fuller from Calhoun (Ga.) High is a starting linebacker. Glenn Ireland from Baylor School is a sophomore starting at free safety.
The leader of the Sewanee defense is senior rover Alex Kops, who topped the Tigers in tackles the last two years. He had 63 in 2014, with three for lost yardage.
The other Tigers listed as defensive starters for today are senior noseguard Lonnie Scott, senior Brandon Campbell and sophomore Elijah Brooks-Davis at defensive end, juniors Tony Dykes, Emmanuel Bell and Rob Mullaney with Fuller at linebacker and junior Kirk Murphy and sophomore John Cleveland at cornerback. Cleveland also is the punter.
Sewanee and Kenyon met six times from 1946 to 1966, five times on Hardee-McGee Field, and the Tigers won 13-6 in the first meeting and 40-0, 47-13, 41-7, 53-0 and 41-12 after that. That means very little today, of course, almost a half-century after the series took a break.
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.