Football preview: Birmingham-Southern kicks off spring football season Saturday at Rhodes College
Birmingham-Southern starts the spring football season with high goals. Running back Chris Shufford, center, will be an important part of attaining them. In the previous season, Shufford was a Gagliardi Trophy finalist and led the nation in several categories. (Birmingham-Southern College Athletics)
Tony Joe White has fond memories of the last time his Birmingham-Southern football team squared off against Rhodes College. The Panthers visited Memphis and left the land of the Lynx with a 46-7 victory.
That was in the 2019 season, which seems a bit like ancient history during the pandemic.
“We spent the morning here looking at film and doing some game planning,” said White, whose squad opens its spring 2021 season Saturday with a visit to Crain Field on the Rhodes campus. “Because we haven’t played since, (2019 is) the most recent season and it’s the most recent time that we’ve played them. As we were looking at it, it doesn’t feel like it was that long ago.
“There are other times where you start looking at, ‘Oh, yeah, this happened since we played football last and this happened since we played football last,’” the coach continued. “That stuff feels like it’s been ancient history. There’s been a little bit of both of those feelings.”
Welcome to the second football season of the 2020-21 school year. While Football Bowl Subdivision schools like Alabama, Auburn and UAB navigated the mine field of COVID-19 cancellations in the fall, small schools like Division III BSC delayed their seasons, hoping that they could learn from the trial and error of the big schools.
With a lot of experienced playmakers returning to the field, Birmingham-Southern Head Coach Tony Joe White has big expectations for his Panthers this year. (Birmingham-Southern College Athletics)
What was most evident is the journey to kickoff was the most trying.
“If you can just get through the protocols and get to the game, the game’s the same,” White said. “There aren’t a whole lot of things happening in-game that are problems as far as things you have to deal with. The issues are the different protocols and getting to contests.
“Just talking to some of those coaches that we know at that (Division I) level, the hassle was just making sure that you can keep your guys bought into wearing their mask and staying away from people and protecting themselves to keep from contracting the disease,” he said. “And even if you do everything right, there’s still no guarantees. … You can still catch it.”
White was named the Panthers’ head football coach in November 2016. He became the sixth head coach in program history and third since the program resumed in 2007 at the NCAA Division III level.
With White at the helm, the Panthers became one of the top teams in their conference in his third season. After taking over a last-place program, he led BSC to a third-place finish in the Southern Athletic Association at 6-2 – one game away from a title – and a program record in conference wins.
The Panthers also tied the program record in wins after going 7-3 overall. The mission, White said, was to create a culture in which success is expected.
“I think now we’ve come to a point where just having a winning season isn’t enough,” he said. “I think these guys are going to be truly disappointed if they don’t win a conference championship. They feel like they have a legitimate shot at doing that and they’re the ones that control whether they do it or not. That speaks to continuing to move in the trajectory that we want to in regards to the expectations.”
Alabama NewsCenter: What is the outlook for this spring season?
Tony Joe White: This senior class is the first class that we recruited when I was hired. They’ve kind of grown up together and been in this system for four years now. They feel like they’ve got as good a chance as they’ve ever had of competing for a conference championship. There’s a lot of optimism. There’s a lot of excitement. There’s a lot of confidence, and we’re eager to get out there and get going.
ANC: What is the strength of your team?
White: Our biggest strength is going to be that we’ve got a lot of guys coming back. Just the experience factor, guys that have been in big moments, guys that have been in big plays. They’ve made the big plays. When they were younger they got a lot of reps, so they made some mistakes and learned from them. Of all the things that I’m probably most grateful for as far as strengths go on our team, it’s the experience of a lot of our players.
ANC: Who are the standouts on your team?
White: Obviously, Chris Shufford was a Gagliardi Trophy finalist last year and a unanimous All-American in pretty much every publication. He led the nation in rushing and yards per carry and about three other national categories. We’ve got a couple of linebackers. They’re seniors I’m excited about – Garrett Stevens and Myles Myers. Wes Guilford is as good a corner as there is at this level in the country. And then, our starting quarterback is a four-year starter, Trevor Oakes. He should be able to put us in the right situation.
ANC: What game do your fans have circled on your schedule?
White: I think probably Berry this year. They’re the four-time defending conference champions. If you’re gonna accomplish your goal of winning a conference championship, then you’re gonna have to beat the defending champs for sure. So I think that’s probably the one that everybody’s excited about.
ANC: What is your lingering question?
White: It’s wait and see what COVID tests look like. When you look back in the fall, even at the Division I schools that have more resources than you can imagine to make sure that they get to play, they still had games canceled. They canceled the Ohio State-Michigan game this year. If they can’t play that game, there are no guarantees. So the lingering question every day … we test our guys three times a week, and you just kind of wait to see who’s got it and who’s out.
