The first game in the 125th year of Sewanee football kicks off Saturday at 2 p.m. EDT at the Tigers' Harris Stadium, which surrounds the fourth-oldest NCAA field in the United States, and the Tigers will be hosting a first-time opponent.
The visitor is Southwestern University from Georgetown, Texas, which used to be in Sewanee's league but did not have football then. The Pirates program was reinstated in 2013 after a 63-year absence and is 22-37 under coach Joe Austin but with winning records the last three seasons.
Southwestern was 6-4 in 2017 and last year but lost its all-conference quarterback and tight end and its top running back.
Sewanee has been undergoing a steady rebuild of its own under third-year coach Travis Rundle. After winning just three games combined the three years before he took over, the Tigers went 3-7 in 2017 and 4-6 with a 3-5 league record last season, and that was with quarterback Alex Darras from Notre Dame High School ending both seasons early with injuries.
The 6-foot-3, 225-pound senior has completed 227 of 383 passes for 2,805 yards and 20 touchdowns in his two partial seasons and been effective running the ball as well. His backup is 6-foot freshman Cooper Hancock from Connecticut.
Freshmen George Morrice and Michael McGhee, the latter from Central High, are in the top two spots on the depth chart at running back, and freshmen are listed No. 1 also at right tackle and No. 2 also at one wide receiver, tight end, four offensive-line positions, two defensive-line spots, one linebacker and three secondary positions.
Sophomores Henry Proctor and Warren Matthews are ahead of the newbies in the D-line, but Joe Schauer and JT Mitchell are backed by fellow seniors at the other spots in that position group. Senior Thomas Richardson is listed as a safety starter with juniors William Phillips, Wesley Porter, Walker Weatherly, Pierce Johnson, Jackson Menefee and Emmanuel Adesanya filling the other secondary and linebacker roles.
Senior Micah Maes is the top receiver, punter and holder for place-kicks, and Alan Puri, Drew Maddox, Cyrus McCullough and Colin May are other veteran wideouts. Junior Will Koopman is the No. 1 tight end.
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.