Furman focused on this football season, not last two

UTC's James Stoval is tackled by Furman's Trey Robinson, left, and Richard Hayes III at Finley Stadium on Saturday, October 10, 2015.
UTC's James Stoval is tackled by Furman's Trey Robinson, left, and Richard Hayes III at Finley Stadium on Saturday, October 10, 2015.

FURMAN

Coach: Bruce Fowler (24-35 in 5 years) Date against UTC: Sept. 17 at Greenville, S.C. Last season: 4-7 Returning starters (O/D/S): 6/7/3 Projected order of finish (Coaches/Media): 7/7 Local players: Freshman QB/P Alex Darras, Notre Dame; senior DE T.J. Warren, Ooltewah Coming Monday: Mercer

Most people left the Furman University campus after the spring semester ended.

Not Trey Robinson.

The senior safety and 2015 All-Southern Conference selection, who is from Spartanburg, S.C., decided to stay on campus all summer, taking only the occasional trip to Union, S.C., to visit his grandparents.

The thought was to remain focused to try to help get the Paladins back in contention in the league. Robinson even stayed in town while his roommates took a recent trip to Miami.

After an 8-6 season in 2013 that included a share of the conference title, the Paladins won seven games combined the last two years. The high point of 2015 was a 16-15 win over Football Bowl Subdivision opponent Central Florida, but Furman lost five of its last six games and finished 4-7.

"We showed from the beginning of last season that we can play with anybody put out on the field, but we also showed at the end of the season that if we're inconsistent and don't do what we're supposed to do, we can get beat by anybody," Robinson said at Wednesday's SoCon media day. "We have to make sure the attention to detail is there.

"That's been the focus we've had this offseason."

Fifth-year senior quarterback Reese Hannon said the goals for the team haven't changed at all, despite a couple of sub-par seasons.

"We didn't have a great season last year, but that's in the past," Hannon said. "We can only control what we can control, and that's how we work every day, and we've had a great offseason doing that.

"If we continue to do that moving forward, we can let the results take care of themselves."

Robinson said the key to that is "believing in what they're doing."

"We have to trust the process," he said. "We have to believe that what we're doing is working, that we're working as hard as anybody else, that we have as good of players as anybody else in the league. We just have to put everything together, believe in the guys in the locker room and believe we have enough to win in the SoCon, which we do.

"We just have to go out and prove it."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.

Upcoming Events