2024 Samford Football Preview: Offense
Samford fell short of lofty expectations last season, struggling with being the hunted rather than hunting. In 2022, Samford went from being predicted to finish 6th in the Southern Conference to going undefeated in SoCon play, securing the programโs first ever outright SoCon title. Then the Bulldogs beat Southeastern Louisiana in the second round of the FCS Playoffs before falling to powerhouse North Dakota State in the quarterfinals.
For 2023, the Bulldogs returned their All-American QB in Michael Hiers along with RB Jay Stanton and WR Chandler Smith. The 2022 magic ended up not transferring over to 2023 as Samford missed the playoffs and finished with a 6-5 record.
In week 2 against Auburn, QB Michael Hiers suffered a shoulder injury and battled through an AC sprain the rest of the season. Hiers never looked the same as in 2022 throwing for less yards and half of the touchdowns (18) he threw in 2022. Samford then went 0-2 in must win, one-score SoCon games.
The Bulldogs did finish the season with a ranked win over then #19 UT-Martin knocking them out of the playoff picture.
That was last year, 2024 is shaping up to be a brand new season. Samford head coach Chris Hatcher enters his 10th season leading the Bulldogs.
The aforementioned Hiers, Stanton, and Smith are all graduated. This team did lose key players in the transfer portal with starting G/C Jabari Brooks going to UCF. DB Kourtlan Marsh transferred to Memphis and DE Kobe Stewart went to Buffalo.
Samford will be starting a new quarterback as redshirt junior Quincy Crittendon and redshirt senior Nik Scalzo are battling it out. Only Crittendon has starting experience as he started the aforementioned playoff game vs SELA and the game at North Dakota State.
On defense, head coach Chris Hatcher did have to replace defensive coordinator Chris Boone who went on to be the new linebackers coach at Troy. Hatcher brought in Tennessee Tech defensive coordinator Adam Braithwaite to lead this unit.
Samford was picked to finish fifth by the SoCon coaches in this yearโs preseason poll and received votes in the preseason FCS coaches poll.
This Bulldog offense will need different players to step up, who might those players be? Letโs get into the offense.
The 2023 Samford offense in some ways did not live up to the 2022 offense. However, when looking at the numbers, Samford still finished second in the SoCon in points per game (29.0) and total offense (424.2 yards per game). The offense was otherworldly in 2022 and there had to be some regression in 2023. Inconsistent offensive line play along with Hiersโ shoulder injury, this offense maybe never have had the chance to be completely dominant like 2022.
The 2023 Samford offense finished 49th in the country in SP+ which is a tempo and opponent adjusted measure of how efficient you are.
This 10th version of this Hatch Attack offense will have a new signal caller in 2024. The seniors that have been leading this team the last couple years have graduated. The quarterback battle is ongoing between Quincy Crittendon and Nik Scazlo. Whomever the starter might be has a lot to live up too. The legacy of previous Samford QBs lives on with Devlin โDuckโ Hodges, Liam Welch, and recently Michael Hiers, who set the standard.
At media day, Crittendon mentioned what he learned from backing up Hiers the last couple seasons.
โI think what played a big part in that was just being behind Michael Hiers,โ said Crittendon. โA guy who loved the game, practiced it and preached it. He was a perfectionist I like to say. Sitting behind him and soaking up all the information I can. It just helped me and pushed me to the next step in life and the next step in being a ball player.โ
QB Quincy Crittendon vs SELA, photo courtesy of Samford Athletics
Either Crittendon or Scalzo are slated to take that mantle. It is just a matter of who shows this coaching staff that they are ready to live up to past performances. We have seen the heroics of Crittendon from 2022 but Scalzo has yet been able to show if he is capable in game situations. Scalzo is finally fully healthy after suffering multiple ACL injuries throughout his football career. Both quarterbacks are somewhat unknown as neither have seen consistent in-game action.
In previous iterations of Samford QB battles, the starter has not been known until we all see who steps out there for the first series.
Samford might be known as an Air Raid offense while having great quarterback play but the last two years, the Bulldogs have been more dedicated to running the football. Former running back Jay Stanton ran for 971 yards and 11 TDs last season. At local media day, Chris Hatcher joked that it felt like Stanton was at Samford for โnine of his ten years at Samford.โ
Stanton is gone but backup RB Damonta Witherspoon returns who ran for 331 yards and five TDs in 2023. Samford did add three new running backs from the transfer portal including Alabama walk-on Jonathan Bennett, Birmingham-Southernโs Kobe Hughes and Toledoโs Micah Kelly.
Two cool stories in Bennett and Hughes. Bennett played his high school football locally at Oak Mountain High School. Then Hughes from nearby Helena who had to find a new school after Birmingham Southern College shut down.
Chris Hatcher said they are still looking for a number one running back and Witherspoon along with Kelly feel like the favorites in large part due to them having past playing experience. Yet another question that has to be answered before the West Georgia opener.
Over at the wide receiver position, Samford is looking to replace 1,755 yards and 8 touchdowns from 2023. Chandler Smith, Ty King, and RJ Starkey are gone. The 2023 SoCon Freshman of the Year in Brendan Jenkins is back for the Bulldogs who tallied 304 receiving yards and 4 TDs.
Samford Scoop asked Samford offensive coordinator Ricky Turner about Jenkins and what caused him to shine in 2023.
โBrendan has been good, had a good spring. Just an awesome kid, went to a really good high school there in Georgia, probably one of the better high school football programs in Georgia. He came ready to play as a freshman and it helped with the school he came from.โ
Returning along with Jenkins are seniors DJ Rias, Iaan Cousin and E. Jai Mason. Rias finished with 403 yards last season which was good for third on the team. Rias represented Samford at SoCon Media Day this offseason with two other teammates.
Samford also added six wide receivers in the portal highlighted by Pittsburgh transfer Jaylon Barden and UCF transfer Stephen Martin. They also added three more players who did not see much action at their old stops in Ole Miss WR Rayf Vinson, Alabama WR Samuel Willoughby and UAB WR Teddy Davenport.
Back to Barden, he originally started out at Georgia Southern but spent the last three seasons at Pitt. Barden also appeared in the punt return game and could see himself back there for Samford also. Stephen Martin did not play much at UCF but has great size at 6-foot, 5-inch, 220-pounds.
They also added some other freshman and one who has been making waves at preseason camp and that is WR Preston Bird. The 5-foot, 10-inch, 170-pound receiver was mentioned by head coach Chris Hatcher at local media day as a player to watch out for.* OC Ricky Turner said that Bird was ahead of the other freshman receivers at that time in camp.*
*Pro tip if a coach mentions a player by name without you asking about him in a press conference setting, thatโs a good sign.
At the tight end position, Samford has to replace Michael Vice. They added Florida State transfer Vance Nicklaus, who is the grandson of golf legend Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus is another one of these Power Four (yes P4 now, R.I.P. to the Pac-12) players who did not get to play much at their previous stops. It remains to be seen how much the tight end will be featured in this offense.
Samford does have to replace some key pieces at the wide receiver position but you have to trust this staff that they recruited quality players and will develop talent at this position.
Moving over to the offensive line, Samford returns four of their five starters from a season ago. G/C Jabari Brooks transferred to UCF but the other starters return. G Chris Noble was pre-season second team All-SoCon and he returns. G Luke Byrne is back along with T Zach Brown and C Cooper Frazier is also back.
T Jayme Motley-Simmons transferred to North Alabama who played some in 2023.
On the roster, Samford has three graduate seniors and three other seniors in this offensive line room. Other younger guys also played last season. They have plenty of experience and that will be massive with a new starting signal caller in 2024. This group definitely has potential to be the strongest part of this Samford offense.
To recap, this Samford offense has more questions than answers. That is to be expected considering the turnover of players who had played a lot of football for Samford. The two biggest questions remain, who will start at quarterback and who starts at running back?
It may take a few weeks for the new pieces on this Samford offense to get into a rhythm so Samford should lean on this experienced offensive line early until they get it rolling.
Later this week, we will discuss the defense with their new defensive coordinator along with how the schedule shapes up.
