GREENVILLE, S.C. — The Furman football team hits the road to take on Southern Conference rival East Tennessee State this Saturday at William B. Greene, Jr. Stadium in Johnson City, Tenn. Kickoff is set for noon.
The contest will be broadcast in the Upstate over the Nexstar Network Channel CW62, streamed via ESPN+, and aired over 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 ETSU-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 (2-7, 1-3 SoCon) will look to halt a four-game losing skid on Saturday against East Tennessee State (6-4, 4-2 SoCon), which enters the game ranked No. 21 in this week's Stats Perform FCS Poll. The Buccaneers, who are coming off a 24-21 home victory over Western Carolina last Saturday, are receiving votes in the AFCA FCS Coaches Poll.
The Paladins hope to add to their edge in a series they lead, 29-9. Furman has won the last two encounters and are 6-2 versus ETSU since the Buccaneers rejoined the SoCon in 2016. Two years ago head coach
Clay Hendrix's squad claimed a 27-14 win in Johnson City.
In a span of one year Furman has gone from the SoCon's most experienced squad to the youngest. In 2023 the Paladins' 44-man (offense-defense) late regular season two-deep sported 35 players with junior, senior, and graduate level experience. Furman's current 44-man two-deep contains only 14 juniors, seniors, or graduate level players, along with 21 freshmen.
The Paladins have seen two quarterbacks, redshirt sophomore
Carson Jones and true freshman
Trey Hedden, split time this year. Jones, who owns three starts, has passed for 642 yards and three touchdowns, while Hedden, who last month was named to the Jerry Rice Award Watch List, has thrown for 1,347 yards and 10 scores. Their favorite target has been sophomore wide receiver
Colton Hinton (44 rec., 478 yds., 3 TDs).
Injuries have taken a toll on Furman's defense in 2024, beginning with the tragic passing of rising senior and projected starting tackle
Bryce Stanfield in February. The Paladins lost projected sophomore starting safety A.K. Burrell and projected starting redshirt junior spur
Justin Hartwell with knee injuries in the preseason, senior preseason All-SoCon nose guard
Xavier Stephens (knee) late in the fourth quarter of The Citadel game, and starting cornerback Jaylan Moson (broken collarbone) on the final play (interception) of The Citadel contest.
Furman, which ranked among FCS leaders in turnovers gained the last two years (29 in 2022; 27 in 2023), have collected only nine miscues this season and just one in the last 10 quarters.
One bright spot defensively has been the play of redshirt senior linebacker
Evan DiMaggio (89 tackles, 5.5 TFL).
