WOFFORD at Furman
Saturday, November 19, 2022 - 12:00 PM
Paladin Stadium - Greenville, SC

THE FURMAN GAME
Wofford travels to Furman on Saturday in the final game of the season for the Terriers ... The Terriers are 3-7 overall and are 3-4 in the Southern Conference after losses at Chattanooga, against Elon, at Virginia Tech, at Kennesaw State, against Mercer, at Samford, and at Western Carolina, along with wins over The Citadel, East Tennessee State and VMI ... Furman is 8-2 on the season and 6-1 in league play after wins over North Greenville, East Tennessee State, Charleston Southern, The Citadel, Western Carolina, VMI, Chattanooga and Mercer, with losses to Samford and Clemson ... A win this weekend over Wofford would secure a share of the SoCon title for the Paladins, but Samford has secured the league's automatic playoff bid ...  Last season the Paladins were 6-5 overall and 4-4 in the Southern Conference to finish tied for fourth ...  They were picked to finish fourth by the SoCon coaches and media this season ... Furman is currently ranked 12th in the Stats Perform FCS poll and 13th in the FCS Coaches poll.

GAME INFORMATION
Radio - Wofford Digital Network (Jim Noble, Thom Henson and Van Hipp)
TV - ESPN+
Stats - LINK
Wofford Game Notes - LINK
Wofford Football Media Guide - LINK
Wofford Football Yearbook - LINK
Southern Conference Information - LINK

TERRIER TOP NOTES
Here are the top notes of interest heading into the Furman game ...
    • Wofford and Furman played the first football game in South Carolina in 1889 and have met 95 times overall with the Paladins holding a 55-33-7 lead in the series. In the last ten meetings, Wofford holds a 6-4 advantage.
    • The Terriers are 3-2 on the season after naming Shawn Watson interim head coach.
    • After four straight playoff appearances (2016-2019) this will mark the third straight season Wofford has missed the post season.
    • As the Terriers move towards a passing offense, Jimmy Weirick set a school record with 409 passing yards against ETSU. He also now holds the school single season records for completions (162), attempts (280) and passing yards (2,052).
    • The passing offense was ranked 98th in the nation after Samford game, but is now 75th overall at 205.7 yards per game.
    • In the national rankings, the Terriers are 97th in total defense (429.5) and are 100th in total offense (307.8), while Furman is 24th in total offense (429.3) and 52nd in total defense (365.8).

ABOUT WOFFORD
After playing a spring and fall season in 2021, the Terriers welcomed a return to normal with a spring practice, summer strength and conditioning sessions and camp in August to prepare for 2022. The biggest changes - besides time to develop players - has been a switch to a pro spread offense.
    The offensive line has seen nine different players start games, with only Al Hogan starting all ten games. The skill positions has evolved into three receivers, one tight end and one running back in most formations. Leading the receivers are Landon Parker with 34 catches for 665 yards, Dylan Djete with 23 catches, Devin Mathews with 15 receptions and R.J. Khayo with 13 catches as nine total receivers have caught passes. Tight ends are led by Jacob Ritchie and Jordan Davis. Nathan Walker is back for his fifth season at running back with 88 carries for 289 yards and six touchdowns. He is joined by freshman Kyle Parsons who has 98 carries for 476 yards and two touchdowns, while Ryna Ingram has 47 carries and four touchdowns in four games played. A three-way battle during camp at quarterback between Bryce Corriston, Cade Rice and Jimmy Weirick has led to Weirick starting all ten games with 162 completions on 280 attempts, along with ten touchdowns.
    The defense remains a 3-4 base, with the defensive line led by usual starters Micheal Mason, Brandon Maina and Chuck Smith. Mason leads the team in sacks with 7.5 and tackles for loss with 8.5. The linebackers feature David Powers, who has a team-high 61 tackles and an interception, along with Jalen Marshall and Eli Purcell who are third and fourth on the team in tackles, respectively. In the secondary, Jaheem Hazel and Isaiah Wadsworth start at cornerback, with Tahir Annoor and Miles Richardson at safety. Jaheem Hazel leads the team with sixpass break-ups and Tahir Annoor has three fumble recoveries. Amir Annoor, Miles Richardson and Matthew Clayton have the other three interceptions for the team.
    Atkins Roberts and Bridger Jones handle placekicking. Jones has 22 kickoffs with three touchbacks and is 5-of-6 on field goals and 20-of-20 on PATs. Roberts has 17 kickoffs with three touchbacks. Roberts and Landon Parker handle punting, with Collin Springer back at long snapper for his fifth season. The return game features Kyle Parsons and Garrett Vernon on kickoffs and  R.J. Khayo handling punt returns.

SENIORS LAST LAP
The VMI game marked the final regular season home contest for 20 Wofford seniors. The group includes six fifth year seniors: Al Hogan, Landon Parker, Nick Russo, Colin Springer, Nathan Walker and Jimmy Weirick. The fifth-year players won the 2018 and 2019 Southern Conference Championships, along with NCAA FCS Playoff appearances in 2018 and 2019. There are also 14 true seniors, who were part of the 2019 SoCon Championship teams and a playoff appearance. They are: Forrest Alvarez, Tahir Annoor, Jysiah Cromer, Jacob Drag, John Harrington, Jr., Jaheem Hazel, R.J. Khayo, Micheal Mason, Jeremy Michaux, Miles Richardson, Jack Scroggs, Jason Swann, James Wells, and Jackson Zehr.

IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
A few Terriers are appearing in the national rankings this season ... Kyle Parsons is 61st in kickoff returns at 20.5 yards and 57th in all-purpose yards ... Tahir Annoor is first with three fumble recoveries ... Landon Parker is 12th in yards per reception with 19.56 along with 55th in receiving yards per game ... RJ Khayo is 5th in punt return touchdowns ... Michal Mason is 17th in sacks per game with 0.75 and 12th with two fumble recoveries.

A CHANGE AT THE TOP
Wofford College head football coach Josh Conklin announced on Thursday, Oct. 6, his resignation. Shawn Watson, the Terriers assistant head coach and offensive coordinator will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Watson has over 35 years of coaching experience, including a stint as head coach at Southern Illinois (1994-96). It marks the first time in school history that the football team has had an interim head coach. Tyler Carlton will take over primary play-calling duties for the offense. 

A WIN FOR WATSON
The win over The Citadel on October 16, 2022 was the first for Shawn Watson as interim head coach. His last head coaching win was on November 16, 1996 when Southern Illinois defeated Southeast Missouri in the final game of the season. That is a stretch of 25 years and 11 months, or 9,464 days between wins. Tim Albin, head coach at Ohio University, had a 22 year gap (1999 at Northwestern Oklahoma State to 2021) between head coaching wins which is the second-longest known gap.

COACH SHAWN WATSON SHOW
Wofford Sports Properties, the multimedia rights partner for Wofford College Athletics, has announced the Coach Shawn Watson Show. The show is part of an expanded selection of coaches shows that began last season. The shows, sponsored by Budweiser of Spartanburg, are hosted by the voice of the Terriers, Jim Noble. The Shawn Watson Show begins in September and will debut every Monday during the football season. The first episodes of the Jimmy Garrity (women's basketball) and Jay McAuley (men's basketball) will debut in late December. Fans can listen to the "Wofford Terriers Coaches Show" podcast in a variety of ways, including on the iTunes, Amazon, Google and Spotify podcast platforms, along with www.woffordterriers.com/podcast. A video version can be found on YouTube.

GOAL LINE CLUB
Help carry the ball for the Terriers and sign up to be a 2022 Goal Line Club member. Pledge as little as $1 to contribute to an athletic endowed scholarship. Established in 2012, the Goal Line Club has proven hugely successful in helping raise scholarship dollars for the Wofford College Athletics Endowment. Goal Line Club members have donated a combined total of more than $368,538 for the Goal Line Club Endowed Scholarship Fund since the inception of this initiative. Click HERE to donate!

WOFFORD APP
Be sure to download the new Wofford Terriers mobile app presented by SubStation II launched this fall! Featuring real-time news alerts, schedules, exclusive multimedia content, gameday details and more, the new Wofford app is free and compatible with both iOS and Android devices.Through the app, Wofford fans will enjoy a personalized mobile experience with the ability to manage tickets, and receive breaking news and score notifications for the teams they follow.