Alabama NewsCenter 2022 football preview: Faulkner University
Coach Rob Gray sees a lot of leadership on this year's Faulkner Eagles team following last year's 8-2 season. (Faulkner University Athletics)
Rob Gray’s first season as coach at Faulkner University was something to remember.
The Eagles finished 8-2 overall, 5-0 at home and 5-1 in conference. They were 6-0 before they tasted defeat for the first time.
But this was no lucky break, the coach said. Last year’s success was the result of a veteran squad fully buying into the game plan drawn up by assistant coaches.
“We had some really good coaches that came in and worked their tails off,” Gray said. “Those guys made me look really good. Defensive coordinator Blaine Miller, it was his first time calling the defense. Those guys rallied behind him.
“Offensively, we had two first-time co-coordinators (Payton Wasden and Jordan Cagle) who’ve been around ball,” the coach continued. “Their system didn’t change much (and) I tried to put my stamp on it as best as I could.”
The Eagles are ranked 24th in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Football FirstDown Playbook Top 25 preseason poll. The team is ranked in the top 25 to start the season for the first time since 2018.
Alabama NewsCenter is taking a look at the upcoming college football season and today is focused on Faulkner University, an NAIA program in Montgomery.
Alabama NewsCenter: What are the prospects for this season?
Rob Gray: We’re in a totally different conference, in my eyes one of the toughest ones in NAIA. We’ve got a good group coming back. You sprinkle in some incoming freshmen with those guys and how we practice, how we meet, how we prepare and all that stuff. My expectation is – Week 1, win Week 1. Week 2, win Week 2. I’m not saying that we’re not in it to win a conference championship and a national championship. Those are all things that we expect to do, for sure. We expect to win and there’s no going backward from expectation and that bar that we set off of last year. There’s no excuses. Our guys get that. They’ve had that taste of success. They don’t want to go backward to what it was a few years back.
ANC: What is the strength of this year’s team?
Gray: For me, the strength is our leadership. It’s something different than I’ve really seen. People talk about player-led teams being the better teams as opposed to coach-led teams. We’re telling them what we want and how we want it done. We’ve got people in leadership positions who take a lot of pride in it. These guys really, they love each other off the field. They’re not letting anybody slack off at practice because they understand what we’re trying to do at the end of the day.
ANC: Who are your team standouts?
Gray: There’s a good bit of them. Ke’Lontae Varner is a big one for us. JaMichael Morgan, Chris Thompson. On offense, you have Tanner Glisson, Ben Anderson. On defense, Cory Dates, Semaj Washington, Terry Brown, Kylan Wimbish. There’s a good bit of guys who are placed in certain leadership roles and criteria. They certainly take a lot of pride in leading that category.
ANC: What game(s) do your fans have circled on your schedule?
Gray: I hope all of our fans have every home game circled. We need them behind our guys. From a coaching and player standpoint, they’re all important to us and none is more than the one right now, which is Reinhardt (ranked No. 9 nationally). That’s the tone-setter. People call it a rivalry but it’s not really a rivalry. To me right now, they’re really just a nemesis. We’ve got to get over the hump. They’ve beaten us every time we’ve played them since I’ve been here. I think from our players’ standpoint, I don’t think anybody has been a part of a Faulkner team that’s beaten them. They’re the first team circled right now. Point University would be the second team circled. But it’s not like that for us. We’re not overlooking anybody.
ANC: What is your lingering question?
Gray: People may think Year One was a fluke. A lot of people didn’t see the type of work that those guys put in day in and day out, and how they rallied behind each other, how they rallied behind me, how they rallied behind the coaching staff. From the outside looking in, what people will want answered is, ‘Was Year One luck?’ We’re going out there Week One, Week Two and play our butts off. Hopefully by Week 11, they’ll have their answer.
Alabama NewsCenter is posting season previews for all 16 college football programs in Alabama. Read previews for Jacksonville State University, the University of North Alabama, Alabama State University, Birmingham-Southern College and Samford University, and look for a new preview each weekday.
