Alabama News Center 2023 football preview: Birmingham-Southern College
Anthony Colucci is going into his first season as Birmingham-Southern College's head coach, but he's a familiar face on the BSC sideline after six seasons as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. He also was assistant head coach for the 2022 season. (Birmingham-Southern College Athletics)
Imagine having a college football offseason in which there was a real chance your college might close for good.
Birmingham-Southern (BSC) doesn’t have to imagine. The Panthers lived it.
“In hindsight, it’s hard to put into words, honestly,” head coach Anthony Colucci said. “The mixture of emotions, thoughts, feelings, questions that took place on any given day were different over a six-month span or so.”
The private liberal arts college revealed in 2022 that it could close as early as spring 2023 because of financial and other issues. The college asked the state to provide $30 million as part of a $200 million campaign to save BSC.
Ultimately, the Alabama Legislature created a loan system that could help fund BSC and other institutions of higher education. Now Colucci, who replaced Tony Joe White in December 2022, has his team doing what it would in a normal preseason – getting ready for kickoff.
“We’re getting ready for a game (and) all that stuff is behind us,” said Colucci, who was the BSC offensive coordinator and offensive line coach the past six years. “We’re moving forward. It’s really hard to even reflect back on the magnitude of what that was like.”
With college football season approaching, Alabama News Center is previewing the 2023 season. First up is Birmingham-Southern.
Alabama News Center: What are the prospects for this season?
Anthony Colucci: I feel like our culture and our standard now is extremely high. The last full three seasons that we’ve played here, dating back to 2019 – the COVID year is kind of an outlier year – we’ve played for the conference championship. We had a game on our schedule that it all kind of all came down to, if you will. We feel like we’re at the point now where every year that’s the expectation. Anything short of that is going to be a letdown and frustration. That’s a good pressure to have. That’s a good spot to be in. (BSC is two years removed from its best-ever showing – a 10-2 record that took the Panthers to the second round of the Division 3 playoffs.)
ANC: What is the strength of this year’s team?
Colucci: They have been tested, mentally and emotionally – and probably spiritually – more so than any team we’ve ever had, considering what the offseason added to the plate. And they chose to be here because they want to be here, because they love this place, they love this program, they love this institution. They had every opportunity, every excuse to leave or do something else if that’s what they wanted to do. I think that’s going to be our strength. We are going to be an extremely tight-knit, close group because of what we went through together.
ANC: Who are your team’s standouts?
Colucci: We returned two tight ends, Owen Phillips and Hayden Morton, that we expect to play big roles this season. We return the right side of our offensive line that both had tremendous years last year. Our right tackle is a fifth-year senior. His name’s Michael Gray; we call him Big Mike. He’s 6-5, 300-plus pounds. He has just put in an incredible amount of work in the time that he’s been here and has just totally transformed who he is as a person, who he is as a player, who he is as a leader leading up to this fifth year. Our quarterback returns. Matt McClary started as a sophomore last year and had a really, really good year for a first-year starter as a sophomore. He’s got some competition behind him that will continue to push him. We feel good about that position group. We’ve got a lot of talent at receiver. Those guys will be battling it out to some extent. We did lose some veteran players, but Dayton Green will probably lead the group. He’ll be a returning starter. He’s a really tough, fast, physical kid who plays slot receiver for us. On the defensive side, our guys up front, the first wave of D-linemen, every single one of them will be a veteran player, will be a senior with lots of playing experience. They are really good, dominant players when they want to be. Those guys are Arthur Marsden, Zion Thomas, Joey Kiernan and Sam Taylor, who missed all of last year with a torn Achilles. He had an incredible sophomore year, so he’ll be someone that probably is back on the scene that’s going to be a surprise because nobody’s seen him for the last year. The defense will probably be led by inside linebacker Ty Armstrong. He’ll be a senior. He was a great player, a great leader last year for us as a junior. And then both of our corners are seniors, veteran players – Conner Thornburg on one side and Jett Wilson on the other.
ANC: What game(s) do your fans have circled on your schedule?
Colucci: We talked about this as a coaching staff. As a staff, you have a concern that your team or your players or fans are looking at a date on the schedule. If I were to guess (for) our players, it’s not the first game. It’s potentially the second or third or both. Game two is always the rivalry with that team (Huntingdon) from Montgomery. Game three is Trinity. They’re who we’ve gone toe to toe with for the conference championship the last couple of years. There is going to be a focus and an element for us with the first game – against McMurry in Little Rock, Arkansas, at War Memorial Stadium. Considering the circumstances of the offseason, it is going to be pretty significant. It’s a Thursday night. It’s one of the first college football games. It’s the first night of Division 3 college football. We’ll be one of the first games played in a pretty surreal moment and environment considering the uncertainty that we went through.
ANC: What is your lingering question?
Colucci: I don’t know that we have one. We as a staff are confident, our players are confident, and we’re excited to take it one day at a time and see how it shakes out in the end. We’ve moved forward and we’re excited about what’s to come and the opportunity we have in front of us.
Alabama News Center will be posting season previews for all 16 college football programs in Alabama leading up to the opening of the 2023 football season. Look for a new preview each weekday.
