GREENVILLE, S.C. — Idle this past weekend, Furman's football team returns to action this Saturday when it faces VMI in a 1:30 p.m. Southern Conference contest on Alumni Field at Foster Stadium in Lexington, Va.
The contest will be streamed via ESPN+ and aired over Furman's flagship The Fan Upstate and its four powerhouse stations: 97.7 FM/1330 AM in Greenville, and 97.1 FM/950 AM in Spartanburg. Broadcasts can be secured via Audacy.com, as well as through FurmanPaladins.com.
Fans can also follow the action through VMI-driven StatBroadcast live stats, accessible via FurmanPaladins.com, and receive timely updates and in-game video highlight clips through both the @FurmanPaladins "X" and Furman Paladin Football Facebook platforms.
Furman (2-5, 1-2 SoCon), coming off a 52-20 home loss to Western Carolina on Oct. 19, hopes to rebound against VMI (0-8, 0-4 SoCon), which dropped a 31-10 road verdict at Chattanooga on Saturday.
The Paladins will look to continue their success against the Keydets that includes wins in the last two meetings and triumphs in 13 of the last 15 clashes. A year ago quarterback
Carson Jones threw four first half touchdowns and Furman's defense limited VMI to 189 total yards in a 37-3 win in Greenville — a victory that secured the Paladins' the outright SoCon championship. Furman rolled to a 41-3 win two years ago Lexington.
Furman holds a 31-10 lead in the series and owns a 13-7 slate in Lexington.
The Paladins will look to get their offense going behind true freshman quarterback
Trey Hedden, who has passed for 1,269 yards and nine touchdowns this season. Named to the Jerry Rice Award Watch List last week for the FCS's top freshman, the Tampa, Fla., product has registered his production through the a number of receivers, led by
Colton Hinton (31 rec., 313 yds., 2 TDs), a native of Ashburn, Va., who hopes his second appearance in the Old Dominion this fall will be a winner. Against William & Mary earlier this year he posted an 84-yard touchdown reception.
In addition his solid work at wide receiver, the Paladin sophomore demonstrated effectiveness on special teams with an 84-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Western Carolina.
One area the Paladins will look for improvement is in the running game, which is generating a very un-Furman-like 84.7 yards per game.
Injuries, which claimed a pair of projected starting safeties in the preseason, have continued to take a toll on the Paladin defense, which in October saw its top two defensive linemen, preseason All-SoCon senior nose guard
Xavier Stephens and all-conference redshirt senior end
Luke Clark, forced to the sideline. In addition, Furman lost its top cornerback, redshirt freshman
Jaylen Moson, following an interception on the final play of the game in the Paladins' 17-16 road win over The Citadel.
Furman's top defender is redshirt senior linebacker
Evan DiMaggio (72 tackles, 5.5 TFL).
Furman won 20 games and went a combined 14-2 versus the SoCon in 2022 and '23. Last season 35 of the 44 players listed in Furman's two-deep (22 players on offense plus 22 on defense) were juniors, seniors, or graduates. Heading into Saturday's game at VMI, 34 of the top 44 own either freshman (23) or sophomore (11) eligibility status.
