As the 2024 football season quickly approaches for the Barton College Bulldogs, there is a sense that a new era has begun after some of the big stars from the past two or three seasons have moved on.
Gone are All-America running back Jordan Terrell, now in the Canadian Football League, and All-South Atlantic Conference wide receiver Kam Johnson, who is getting ready for his first NFL game as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. All-SAC middle linebacker Shane Perry and center Alex Buschow as well as starting QB Jaquan Lynch and a host of other players who figured prominently in the Bulldogs attack over the past few years have graduated.
But the truth is, despite their obvious losses, the Bulldogs are bringing back a wealth of experienced players in all facets of game from the 6-5 squad in 2023.
“I think we’ve got eight returning starters on defense and seven returning starters on offense, and so, we do have some real experience,” said Barton head coach Chip Hester. “So, although we did lose some really good players, I’m excited. I think we’ve got some guys that have really stepped up.”
A month of preseason practice will be put to the test for the Bulldogs as they welcome West Virginia State to Truist Stadium for the season opener Thursday evening. It will be the first meeting with the Yellow Jackets of the NCAA Division II Mountain East Conference.
“The thing I feel good about right is we’re seeing some guys that are kind of in some new roles and I’ve seen them make some really good plays in practice,” Hester said. “We feel really confident about that group, but until they do it in a ball game, you just don’t know. I was just talking with a high school coach and we were talking about the season and told him that I can’t wait to see everything play out, just to see where we are, what we need to work on. And so I’m confident, but you don’t know and we don’t know much about our opponent. We don’t have a common opponent, and so it’ll be an interesting game, for sure.”
LAST DANCE IN SAC
Barton restarted its football program from a 71-year dormancy in the spring of 2021. This will be its fifth season and last playing as a member of the NCAA Division II South Atlantic Conference. The Bulldogs will move back to their home conference, Div. II Conference Carolinas when it adds football starting in 2025.
The SAC was a tough place for the Bulldogs to find their legs as a new program. Barton played most South Atlantic teams during its first two seasons as a scheduling partner, but has a 12-20 mark against SAC competition since 2021. The league is one of the most rugged Div. II football conferences around, something Hester knew going in since he spent 18 years at Catawba, including 11 as head coach.
“I’ve been in the SAC for a long time and we kind of know what we’ve got in the conference, but it’s our last bite of the apple and we want to leave a good impression,” he said. “You don’t want to talk too much about what you’re going to do, but we want to compete and so it’s our last chance to compete against these guys on the whole and we want to leave a good impression when we leave.”
Barton has some new opponents this season beyond West Virginia State. The Bulldogs will visit SAC foe Emory & Henry in week 3 before hosting new South Atlantic member Anderson the following week.
Also visiting Truist will be Lenoir-Rhyne, Catawba and UVA Wise as Barton has just five home games this fall.
OFFENSIVE OVERHAUL
While seven offensive starters are back, the backfield will have a very different look.
Stepping in under center is sophomore Trevor Nored, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound transfer from the University of Rhode Island. He will get the start with fellow starting candidate Luke Smith starting the season injured.
“Trevor and Luke were having great competition, but Luke got a little banged up,” Hester said. “And so it’s never good to have a guy get banged up, but Trevor’s gotten the majority of the reps the last two weeks, and so that’s given him some comfort. We feel like he’s got a ton of potential. He’s got a great quick release, very accurate thrower in practice and so I’m anxious to see him in a ball game.
“He has shown in a couple times where we had quarterback live, and I think he moved well in the pocket, and hopefully he can make some plays with his feet as well. So I’m excited.”
Behind Nored will be sophomore Tay Long and redshirt freshman Dakauri Davis as the duo tasked with replacing Terrell, who was among the national Div. II rushing leaders each of the last three seasons.
“We do feel like we’ve got good variety in our offense,” Hester said. “I think those guys, Tay Long and Dakauri Davis, both are young, younger guys, but both really talented guys, so I think they can do some good things out of the backfield as well. And we feel like we’ve got a bunch of good receivers. So I hope that we are tough to defend this year, because we’ll be a little bit more maybe — I hesitate to say balanced — because we want to be able to run it when we need to run it and throw it when we need to throw it and maybe not have it dictated to us so much as we did last year.”
The receiving corps has the most experience with returners Jayden Flood-Brown, Isaiah Jacobs, Zakvil Smith and Jevon Myers leading the pack. A pair of local products will see time as Beddingfield High graduate Raekwon Batts will get the start at fullback while former Fike High standout Noah Rowland goes to tight end when the Bulldogs employ that formation in their spread attack.
The offensive line has two three-year starters in left tackle Trey Pickard and right guard Hunter Sauls while Connor Sauls at center, Seth Phillips at left guard and Jalen Brown at right tackle all have extensive playing experience.
Offensive coordinator Landon Mariani is starting his third season in Wilson.
“We’ve got guys that are going to be hard to replace, but, you know, I have to encourage the guys that are in their positions to not try to be that person, that quarterback or that wideout or that running back or that linebacker,” Hester said. “We want them to be the best version of what they do. I think I’ve seen good progress and now it’s just time to do it on Thursday night.”
Andrew Bontekoe will handle all the kicking duties and Hester believes the freshman from Ardrey Kell High in Charlotte is ready to fill the shoes of graduated former kicker Bear Huggins.
“His nickname is ‘Bionic Toe’ and anytime you’ve got a guy named ‘Bionic Toe,’ you know he’s got some talent!” cracked Hester. “Obviously he doesn’t have the experience that Bear had, but we’re pretty excited about it. He’s got some pop in that leg and I hope that he’ll be able to calm his nerves and just go out and do what he’s been doing. And if he does that, I think we’ve got a really good one.”
DEFENSIVE EXPERIENCE
The defense of coordinator Treiston Burnette will be led by All-Piedmont Division linebacker Matt Smith, who will be surrounded by fellow returnees. Mike Webb and Kolbi Anderson are back at the corners while Connor Stanley is at free safety and senior Dereck Barringer is the strong safety. Sophomore Keno Jones moves up alongside Smith in the middle linebacker slot while Matthew Leach is at rover. Ja’Correy Bible, Darius Williams, Nasir Winston and Jerome Bridgers all bring experience to the secondary.
The line is the area of the defense that has seen the most change. Cash Devaughn is back for his second year at noseguard while newcomers Sam Brady, a graduate student from Virginia, and Bailey Carraway, a junior from Coastal Carolina, bring Div. I experience to the end spots.
Joshua Hightower, a 6-2, 245-pound redshirt freshman from Smithfield-Selma High, will start at tackle.
“You’re looking through our roster, you look at guys that really have taken a really good step forward,” Hester said. “I think he’s one of those guys. He has really. Last year, we saw potential. He worked hard in the weight room, and he’s really had a good training camp and he’s really probably ahead of schedule, from where, what we would think of a guy being ready to play.”
While this year’s team will look a lot like last year’s team upon closer inspection, Hester ventured that this group has its own qualities that he’s excited to see develop.
“I even have made the comment to our coaching staff — I feel like this is it sounds like I’m a little crazy, and I might be a little crazy — but I think overall, we’re probably more athletic and bigger this year than we were last year,” he said. “That’s not a dig on the guys that left. I just think overall, guys who continued to develop, and the young guys have really developed in the program, this conditioning staff and all those folks have done a lot of really good work. I think we’re in a pretty good place.”
2024 SCHEDULE
Sept. 5 West Virginia State
Sept. 14 at Chowan
Sept. 21 at Emory & Henry*
Sept. 28 Anderson*
Oct. 5 at Carson-Newman*
Oct. 12 at Wingate*
Oct. 19 Lenoir-Rhyne*
Oct. 26 at Newberry*
Nov. 2 Catawba*
Nov. 9 at Limestone*
Nov. 16 UVA Wise
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