WESTERN CAROLINA · 10/17/2018 · page 1 2018 cata a western carolina athletics media relations...

2018 CATAMOUNT FOOTBALLWCU at Mercer

WESTERN CAROLINA ATHLETICS MEDIA RELATIONS /// RAMSEY CENTER – 92 CATAMOUNT ROAD /// @CATAMOUNTS /// CATAMOUNTSPORTS.COM

• wcu quick facts • Location: ................................................. Cullowhee, N.C., 28723 .............................................................................................. Pronounced “KULL - uh - whee”

Founded: ...............................................................................1889 Enrollment: ..........................................................................11,456 Nickname: ................................................................. Catamounts Colors: ..................................................................... Purple & Gold Stadium: ....................................... E.J. Whitmire Stadium (13,742) Field: .......................... Bob Waters Field (Desso Challenge Pro 2) Affiliation: ........... NCAA Div. I – Championship Subdivision (FCS) Conference: ....................................................................Southern Chancellor: .................................Alison Morrison-Shetler (acting) Athletics Director: ................. Randy Eaton (UT-San Antonio, ‘90)

FOOTBALL HISTORY: First Year of Football: ............................................................1931 Seasons of Football: ............................................................. 85th All-Time / SoCon Record: ..........343-499-23 (.410) / 113-178-3 (.389) NCAA Postseason Appearances (Div. I): ............................. 2 (1) Postseason Record (Div. I): ............................................3-2 (3-1) Best Finish: ...........1983 National Finalist (lost 43-7 to So. Illinois) Last Appearance: .................................................................. 1983 2017 Record: .....................................7-5 (Home: 3-2 | Away: 4-3) 2017 SoCon Record (Finish): .........5-3 (4th) (Home: 2-2 | Away: 3-1)

WCU FOOTBALL COACHING STAFF: Head Coach: ..................................... Mark Speir (Clemson, 1990) • Head Coaching Record at WCU: ..................29-46, 18-32 SoCon • Overall Record: ...................................................................Same A S S I S T A N T C O A C H E S / S U P P O R T S T A F F Brad Glenn (Clemson, 1995) ......................Offensive Coord. / QBs John Wiley (East Texas State, 1984) ............Defense Coord. / ILBs Mark Rhea (Toledo, 1991).................. AHC / Recruiting Coord. / DL John Holt (Appalachian, 2008)...................Run Game Coord. / OL Tripp Weaver (East Carolina, 2012)..........Pass Game Coord. / DBs Pat Mills (Appalachian, 2010) ...............Special Teams Coord. / TE Tyler Carlton (Tulsa, 2009) ......................................................WRs Justin Hood (Ashland, 2008) ................................................. OLBs Reuben Wright (Catawba, 1994) ...............................................RBs Deane Cheatham (James Madison, 2015)............... Def Asst / CBs Al Degraffenreid (Western Carolina, 2017) .......Quality Control (O) Michael Painter (Bowling Green, 2006) ..........Dir. of Football Ops Tommy Chandler (Auburn, 2009) .......................... Dir. of Scouting Evan Barr (Tennessee, 2008) ............ Dir. of Athletic Performance Steven Honbarger (Appalachian, 2001) .... Dir. of Sports Medicine Mike Taylor ..................................... Athletics Equipment Manager Sandy Neuenschwander ...........Football Administrative Assistant

WESTERN CAROLINA MEDIA RELATIONS INFORMATION:Asst. AD/Media Relations (FB Contact): .................Daniel Hooker • Email Address: [email protected] • Office / Cell Phone: ................ (828) 227-2339 / (828) 508-2494Director of Media Relations (Secondary FB): ........ Steven Grandy • Email Address: ..................................... [email protected] of Media Relations: ...................................Denise Gideon • Email Address: .....................................dgideon@email.wcu.eduDirector of Video Operations: .................................. Noah Sautter • Email Address: ................................... [email protected] Fax:...........................................................(828) 227-7688Football Press Box Phone: ...................................... (828) 227-2116Athletics Mailing & Overnight Address: ..................WCU Athletics 92 Catamount Road – Ramsey Center Cullowhee, N.C. 28723

A WESTERN CAROLINA WIN WOULD:

• Halt the three-game seasonal slide for the Catamounts, giving WCU its first win since Sept. 22 over VMI while also sending Mercer to consecutive defeats;• End WCU’s two-game losing skid in the overall head-to-head series with the Bears, giving WCU the slim, one-game lead in the all-time series (3-2);• Give head coach Mark Speir his 30th career victory at the helm in Cullowhee making him just the fifth WCU head coach to win 30-or-more games ... It would put him one win shy of matching Steve Hodgin (31, 1990-96) for fourth on the WCU career coaching chart.

A WESTERN CAROLINA LOSS WOULD:

• Represent the fourth-straight defeat on the season, the longest such losing skid since dropping six-straight back in 2016 ... It’s also be the third-consecutive loss to Mercer in the head-to-head series;• Relegate WCU to a 3-4, .429 overall record after a 3-0 start to the year which had been its best since 1976.

CATAMOUNT QUICK SLANTS:• Western Carolina’s 2018 roster includes a combined 48 players from the state of North Carolina ... Georgia is sec-ond with 27, followed by South Carolina (11), Tennessee (4), Florida (3), Alabama & Ohio (2) ... One each from California, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia;

• Western Carolina enters the 2018 season on the heels of a third, seven-win season over the past four years with a 7-5 mark posted in 2017, just missing out on returning to the NCAA post-season for the first time since 1983 ... WCU was picked sixth last preseason;• WCU has 15 seniors on its 2018 squad – EIGHT players on offense, SIX on defense, and ONE specialist;• WCU returned 13 out of a possible 25 starters between its offense, defense, and special teams units ... That includes SEVEN starters on offense, just THREE on defense, and THREE back on special teams in specialist starters;• Among WCU’s 44 returning letter winners from the 2017 season, NINE earned some sort of postseason honors at the end of the year;• On offense, WCU shattered its single-season rushing re-cord with 2,772 yards on the ground while scoring a school benchmark 389 points, averaging 32.4 points per game ... the Catamount defensive returned three defenders who posted 50-or-more tackles a season ago;• A combined 15 Western Carolina football players SHARE a LAST name – none of which are related:HARRIS ...................................................... Alan (LB), Ty (LB)CAMPBELL ............................................. Chris (LB) Nick (OL)CURRY ...................................................A.J. (QB), Joey (QB)JOHNSON ..................................Charles (WR), Dawson (OL)JONES ................................................ Reggie (DB), Will (QB)SMITH ..............................Darrius (LB), Jess (WR), Tyler (OL)WILSON ....................................... Bryce (DB), Terrance (DB)

2018 CATAMOUNT FOOTBALL SCHEDULE / RESULTSDATE OPPONENT SITE TIME/RESULT TV NOTESSEPT. 1 NEWBERRY CULLOWHEE W, 33-26 ESPN+ T. Adams with 3 rushing TDs, 2 in 4th; WCU has won 9-straight

Sept. 8 BYE WEEK After playing 12-straight weeks of football in 2017 because of Hawai’i, WCU had an early bye week in Week Two in 2018

Sept. 15 at Gardner-Webb Boiling Springs, N.C. W, 28-10 ESPN+ Young with 2 scores, defense 2nd half shutout; WCU, 4-straight W’s

SEPT. 22 VMI * CULLOWHEE W, 52-50 My40/ESPN+ T. Adams accounts for 4 TDs; 102 combined pts, 1,100 yds of offense

Sept. 29 at Furman * Greenville, S.C. L, 44-38 CW62/ESPN+ Road loss despite 577 yds total offense, T. Adams with 5 TD passes

Oct. 6 at Samford * Birmingham, Ala. L, 66-28 ESPN3 Early turnovers are costly; Samford raced to 35-0 lead at end of 1st qtr

OCT. 13 CHATTANOOGA * CULLOWHEE L, 26-6 ESPN+ Three turnovers, safety; WCU held to a pair of Will Horton FGs

Oct. 20 at Mercer * Macon, Ga. 4:00 pm ESPN+ WCU lost 35-33 despite amassing 507 yards of total offense

Oct. 27 at ETSU * Johnson City, Tenn. 3:30 pm ESPN+ First meeting at ETSU’s new stadium; “Blue Ridge Border Battle”

NOV. 3 THE CITADEL * CULLOWHEE 3:30 pm ESPN+ HOMECOMING; WCU defense forced five turnovers in road win in 2017

NOV. 10 WOFFORD * CULLOWHEE 3:30 pm ESPN3 SENIOR DAY; Overtime road loss to ranked Terriers in 2017

Nov. 17 at North Carolina Chapel Hill, N.C. TBA TBA Second-consecutive visit to the flagship school of UNC system

* denotes Southern Conference game /// All times listed are Eastern

GAME #7: WESTERN CAROLINA CATAMOUNTS (3-3, 1-3) at MERCER BEARS (3-3, 2-1)Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018 • 4:00 pm • Macon, Ga. • Five Star Stadium (10,200)

WESTERN CAROLINA Head Coach: Mark SpeirRecord at WCU: 29-46, 7th yrCareer Record: same

GAME COVERAGE:TV BROADCAST: TALENT: Frank Malloy, Jason Patterson, & Kristin Banks RADIO: Catamount Sports NetworkTALENT: Gary Ayers, Daniel Hooker, Greg McLamb, & Jeff BrysonONLINE AUDIO: CatamountSports.comTWITTER: @CatamountsSERIES HISTORY: Series tied, 2-2 (L–2) In Macon: .........................Series tied, 1-1; Last Mtg: MER, 38-24 (2016) In Cullowhee: ...................Series tied, 1-1; Last Mtg: MER, 35-33 (2017)

MERCERHead Coach: Bobby LambRecord at MER: 35-28, 6th yrCareer Record: 102-68, 16th yr

WESTERN CAROLINACATAMOUNT FOOTBALL 2018 GAME NOTES

FOOTBALL CONTACT: Daniel Hooker /// OFFICE: 828.227.2339 /// CELL: 828.508.2494 /// EMAIL: [email protected]

2018 CATAMOUNT FOOTBALL WCU at MercerPAGE 2

CATAMOUNTSPORTS.COM /// 2018 MEDIA INFORMATION

THIS WEEK IN CATAMOUNT FOOTBALL /// OCT. 14–20

15Monday

16Tuesday

17Wednesday

18Thursday

19Friday

20Saturday

14Sunday

MEETINGS:4:00 pmPRACTICE:5:30 – 7:30 pmShells

MEETINGS:2:30 pmPRACTICE:4:30 – 5:30 pmHelmets

TRAVEL DAY

No MediaAvailability

OFFNo PracticeAcademicmeetings withposition coaches

GAME DAYWestern Carolinaat Mercer4:00 pm ETFive Star StadiumSpeir & select players available after the game

MEETINGS:4:00 pm – 6:00 pmPRACTICE:6:25 – 7:00 pm

MEETINGS:2:30 pmPRACTICE:4:15 – 6:15 pmFull

WCU INTERVIEW POLICYThe Western Carolina Office of Athletics Media Rela-

tions will assist media personnel with interview requests of Western Carolina student-athletes, coaches and ad-ministrators. To arrange interviews, please contact Daniel Hooker, the Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations at least 24 hours in advance. Head Coach Mark Speir will be available for interviews following each practice and following games. Other interviews with Coach Speir must be set-up in advance and it is requested that the nature of the interview be submitted to WCU Media Relations in writing at least 24 hours prior.

Student-athletes will be available for interviews after practices through Wednesday. Unless special permission is granted well in advance, the cut-off time for student-athletes during game weeks will be Noon on Thursday.

WCU FOOTBALL PRACTICE POLICYWCU football practices are open to the public. Media

members are asked to refrain from contacting student-athletes at their home or dormitory and student-athletes’ phone numbers will not be released by the Media Relations Office. Out-of-town media may set up phone interviews to be conducted in the Department of Athletics. Coach Speir may be reached weekday mornings, however, it is asked that a specific interview time be scheduled through the Media Relations office.

POSTGAME INTERVIEWS The WCU locker room is CLOSED at the end of all games played. However, following a 10-minute “cooling off” pe-riod, Coach Speir and requested players will be brought to the media room on the first floor of the Ramsey Center. The availability of the visiting locker room will be announced in the press box after conferring with the visiting SID. The visiting locker room is located in the back portion of the Jordan-Phillips Field House. A space for interviews will be available outside the locker room or up on the Field House patio, if available.

WORKING CREDENTIALSNewsprint and electronic media representatives plan-

ning to cover football games at Western Carolina University are asked to request in written form working credentials from WCU’s Media Relations Office. Season passes will be issued to those who cover the Catamounts on a permanent basis. Our limited working space in the press box will be assigned by priority to WCU beat writers, beat writers of the opponents, metropolitan media filing for deadline and specialty publications.

If time permits, credentials will be mailed. If not, cre-dentials can be picked up on game day (two hours prior to kickoff) at the media will call on the upper plaza of the Ramsey Center at the south end of the stadium (nearest the press box side of Whitmire Stadium, across the street

from media parking). Credentials will be issued only to those attending the game in a working capacity. Spouses, dates, children and other nonworkers will not be permitted in the press box.

PHOTOGRAPHERSCredentials for sideline photographers will be issued on

a first-come, first-serve basis with agencies covering the participating schools on a regular basis receiving priority. Free-lance photographers may request credentials on a game-by-game basis. All free-lance photographers must submit proofs featuring game or sideline action to the Media Relations Office no later than four days following the game. Each photographer must pick up a photo pass from the press box or media will call prior to the game.

NO PHOTOGRAPHERS OR MEDIA PERSONNEL AREPERMITTED WITHIN THE TEAM AREA AT ANY TIME.

MEDIA PARKINGMedia parking for WCU home football games – BY

PERMIT ONLY – is located in the church parking lot directly across the street and behind the press box of E.J. Whitmire Stadium on Forest Hills Road. The lot is identified and a media parking placard must be displayed to gain admit-tance. The lot will be staffed by a member of the WCU Athletics Media Relations staff who will have a checklist of those authorized to park in the media lot.

PRESS RELEASES/STATISTICSThe WCU Media Relations Department produces a

weekly football release prior to each game during the season. Cumulative statistics will be updated as soon as possible after each contest. Media members may receive the releases and statistics by accessing the Athletics Department web site at www.CatamountSports.com.

E-mail service is available upon request. To be placed on Western Carolina’s E-mail list, media members are asked to contact the Office of Athletic Media Relations.

CATAMOUNTS ON THE WEBThe WCU football home page at CatamountSports.com

provides the latest information regarding the Catamounts, including updated statistics, a roster, game notes and press releases. Also on the department’s main site is information on all of WCU athletics programs, lodging, directions to campus and the latest local weather forecast.

For those unable to attend contests, the Catamount Sports Network will broadcast each game over the Internet utilizing Stretch Internet.

All the current data you need on the Catamounts is as close as your computer at CatamountSports.com.

Southern Conference football games will be streamed for free through ESPN + or ESPN3 and the ESPN app.

Catamount Sports Network2018 Football Affiliates:

WWCU-FM, Power 90dot5 ........ Cullowhee 105.7 FM / 540 AM WRGC ........ Sylva 104.9 FM / 1050 AM WFSC ........ Franklin 97.3 FM WISE ........ Asheville 1310 / 970 AM WISE ........ Asheville / Canton

Online at CatamountSports.com

A combined eight stations across North Carolina are set to carry football broadcasts of the Cata-mount Sports Network (CSN) during the 2018 sea-son ... CSN has also again partnered with Stretch Internet to provide unlimited streaming audio through the athletics web site, CatamountSports.com.

2018 BROADCAST CREW (HOME)Play-by-Play: .......................................... Gary AyersColor Analyst: ................................... Greg McLambHost / Producer: ................................... Jeff Bryson

2018 BROADCAST CREW (ROAD)Play-by-Play: .......................................... Gary AyersColor Analyst: .................................. Daniel HookerHost / Producer: ................................... Jeff BrysonSideline Reporter: ............................. Greg McLamb


CATAMOUNTSPORTS.COM /// WESTERN CAROLINA AT MERCER – GAME NOTES

STORY LINES IN SATURDAY’S MEETING WITH MERCER:• LOOKING TO BOUNCE BACK: After opening the season at 3-0 – its best start since 1976 – Western Carolina looks to bounce back from three-consecutive losses including road defeats at both Furman and Samford and last week’s home loss to Chattanooga that have relegated the Catamounts to a 3-3 overall, 1-3 in the SoCon ... WCU’s current three-game losing skid is its longest since dropping six-straight back in the 2016 season, finishing that year at 2-9 overall ... WCU also looks to halt a pair of two-game slides both in seasonal road games and also in the head-to-head series against Mercer;• HIGH-SCORING FORECAST?: Two of the top scoring offenses in the Southern Conference will square-off on Saturday in Macon – Mercer is second at 32.7 points per game (t-30th in FCS) while WCU, which led the league a week ago, slipped to third at 30.8 ppg (42nd nationally) ... Both defenses have yielded an average of 30+ points per game (WCU, 37.0 ppg; Mercer, 34.0 ppg);• KEY RUNNING BACK MATCH-UPS: Both squads have dynamic players at running back – CONNELL YOUNG for WCU and Tee Mitchell for Mercer ... Young ranks tied for fifth in the SoCon in all-purpose yards (102.3 yds/gm) which includes a fifth-place ranking in rushing yards per game at 73.2 ... Mitchell is 10th in all-purpose yards at 95.5 yds/gm while ranking third in rushing yards at 84.7;• JUMP STARTING THE CATAMOUNT O: Western Carolina is looking for an offensive jump-start after its worst showing of the season last week, held nearly 30 points below its sea-sonal scoring average entering the game (35.8 ppg) ... the Catamounts were held to just six points against Chattanooga coming on just 238 total yards of offense including 156 passing yards and 82 rushing yards – all representing season lows … WCU’s six points were the fewest since being limited to the same in the Homecoming loss to Furman in 2017, scoring just a Corey Holloway touchdown but failing on a two-point conversion … the Catamounts’ high-powered offense was held without a touchdown for just the fifth-time under offensive coordinator Brad Glenn – (shutout at Alabama in 2012; 3 points on a FG at both Virginia Tech and Auburn in 2013; shutout vs. Chattanooga in 2014; 6 points on two FGs vs. Chattanooga in 2018).

WESTERN CAROLINA AT MERCER – SERIES HISTORY:• Western Carolina and Mercer are tied in the all-time series history with both teams put-ting together two-game win streaks over the first four meetings – WCU won the first two games in 2014 and 2015 with the Bears entering Saturday’s game with a two-game win streak over WCU ... the series meetings have been split at either squad’s home venue, both teams at 1-1;• The average margin of victory between these two squads over the first four meetings is just 8.25 including two, 14-point victories – one a side – with the other two being settled with a three-point WCU win in 2015 and last year’s two-point edge by Mercer ... WCU holds a very slim, 116-to-115, edge in total points scored in the series with a razor-thin average of 29-to-28.75 in the points per game.

LAST YEAR’S MEETING – MERCER 35, WESTERN CAROLINA 33:• TYRIE ADAMS threw for a season-high 378 yards and three TDs as No. 25 Western Caro-lina tallied its third-highest total offensive output with 507 yards – however, costly turn-overs and big plays in the special teams by Mercer guided the Bears to the upset victory over the Catamounts, 35-33 ... WCU twice pulled to within two points in the fourth quarter including the final tally, but were never able to overtake the Bears after surrendering the early touchdown advantage ... the game was tied just once at 14-14 in the second quarter;• WCU committed two turnovers – an interception and a fumble – in the loss, and though only one was cashed in for points by the Bears, both managed to stymie the Catamount offense ... Adams was hit by Mercer’s Jalen Lee as he released a first quarter pass that found its way into Lee Bennett’s diving arms setting-up the Bears’ first touchdown on the short field that tied the game at seven ... the other turnover was a third quarter fumble that halted another impressive nine-play WCU drive inside the red zone;• Aside from turnovers, special teams play proved to be the difference-maker ... After stall-ing a Mercer drive late in the second quarter, the Bears converted a fake field goal into a 25-yard shovel screen pass from Tanner Brumby to Chris Ellington to grab a seven-point edge on the way to a 14-point cushion late in the first half ... But the more decisive special teams blow came in the fourth after WCU had closed to within two points following con-secutive field goals of 31 and 38 yards, respectively, by Joshua Gibson ... On the ensuing kickoff after Gibson’s second boot, return man Chandler Curtis exploited a seam and raced up the right sideline 77 yards to set-up the Bears in perfect field position at the WCU 17-yard line ... Mercer’s ground-and-pound approach used seven plays to move the final 17 yards with QB Kaelan Riley plunging in from a yard out on a fourth-and-goal play with the extra point pushing it to a two-possession game;• Mercer ground out 217 yards in a determined rushing attack with Tee Mitchell accounting for 120 yards and a score while Alex Lakes scored twice to accompany his 87 rushing yards ... It was the second-straight year that Lakes had scored two rushing TDs against WCU.

CATAMOUNT FOOTBALL – ADDITIONAL NOTES ENTERING SATURDAY’S GAME:• Western Carolina has scored 42 seasonal points off of opponent turnovers – 21 of which came at Samford on three, second-quarter interceptions;• WCU sophomore TE OWEN COSENKE is tied for fourth in the SoCon with five TD recep-tions ... Cosenke saw his four-game receiving TD streak snapped vs. Chattanooga, held without a reception a week ago – the first-time this season and snapping a six-game catch streak that dates back to the North Carolina game in 2017;• Western Carolina is coming off back-to-back “sluggish” offensive performances – at least by comparison to the “video game numbers” the team put up the first four weeks ... the 362 yards of offense at Samford halted a string of four-straight games with 400+ yards of offense that included back-to-back games of 553 (vs. VMI) and 577 (at Furman) total offensive yards ... WCU was limited to a season-low 238 yards last week against Chattanooga including season lows of 82 yards rushing and 156 yards passing on just nine pass completions;• After putting points on the board on its opening possession in each of the first FOUR games – a field goal in the opener vs. Newberry and TDs against Gardner-Webb, VMI, and Furman – WCU has seen fumbled halt it’s opening drive the past two weeks;• The Catamount defense recorded one sack last Saturday afternoon against UTC giving the squad 19 through six games on the year … the Catamounts finished last season with 21 total sacks in 12 games ... WCU ranks SECOND in the SoCon with 19 team sacks behind only ETSU which has 26 through seven games;• Western Carolina’s defense boasts FOUR of the top 11 tacklers in the Southern Confer-ence – senior MITCHELL CHANCEY leads the team and the league with 69 total tackles, averaging 11.5 tackles per game – a mark that ranks him FIFTH nationally in the NCAA FCS ... Sophomore LB TY HARRIS ranks second in the SoCon with 9.4 tackles per game while redshirt sophomore DB MICHAEL MURPHY is seventh with a 8.3 tackle per game average ... Preseason All-America selection DB MARVIN TILLMAN ranks tied for 11th with a 7.5 average;• Chancey is riding a career-best streak of SIX-STRAIGHT double-digit tackle games, hav-ing reached double-figures in every game this season to date;• Senior DL SOLOMON CLARK ranks FOURTH in the SoCon in sacks from his nose guard position, entering the weekend with five for a 0.83 average – tied for ninth nationally ... Clark ranks THIRD in total tackles for loss (8.5) ... Clark matched a WCU single-game school record with four sacks in the home win over VMI;• Redshirt freshman QB WILL JONES set career highs in most every offensive category at Samford in place of Tyrie Adams … Jones finished 22-of-41 for 210 yards with two touch-down passes and a pair of interceptions – each a career benchmark … He also rushed a career-high eight times for 46 yards and scored his first career rushing TD on a career-long, 26-yard scoring romp … Jones was also credited with a reception on a would-be trick play by the offense, catching a throw-back from JORDAN MATHIS;• Redshirt senior punter IAN BERRYMAN matched a career-high with 10 punts in the road loss at Samford, matching his previous high set at Tennessee back in 2015 … Berryman downed three of the 10 punts inside the Bulldogs’ 20-yard line … Of his 25 punts on the season, the preseason All-America selection Berryman has downed 10 inside the opposi-tion’s 20-yard line;• PK WILL HORTON matched a career-best with two made field goals last Saturday vs. Chattanooga including nailing a career-long 47-yard FG;

<<< QUICK FACT COMPARISON >>>SCHOOLS: WESTERN CAROLINA MERCERLOCATION: Cullowhee, N.C. Macon, Ga.FOUNDED: 1889 1833ENROLLMENT: 11,639 8,600NICKNAME: Catamounts BearsCONFERENCE: Southern (SoCon) Southern (SoCon)COLORS: Purple & Gold Orange & BlackHOME FIELD: E.J. Whitmire Stadium Five Star StadiumCAPACITY: 13,742 10,200HEAD COACH: Mark Speir Bobby LambOVERALL RECORD: 29-46 (7th yr) 102-68 (15th yr)RECORD AT SCHOOL: Same 35-28 (6th yr)WEBSITE: CatamountSports.com MercerBears.com


ABOUT WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY:WCU was founded in 1889 to bring higher education and career opportunities to the western region of North Carolina. A member of the University of North Carolina system, WCU now provides an education to more than 11,600 students – an all-time high for the university – from 48 states and 35 countries. The university’s mission is focused on quality education and preparation for responsible citizenship in a changing world. Since its founding, WCU has grown in size to be-come a major cultural, scientific, and educational force in the region and the state—and we’re still growing. WCU’s academic programs span more than 120 special-ties — including the nation’s highest-ranked entrepre-neurship and project management programs, a national award-winning teacher education program, a criminal justice program used as a model for North Carolina’s accreditation program, and the nation’s first accredited four-year emergency medical care program. WCU’s distinguished faculty includes national award-winning authors, nationally and internationally recog-nized experts, and winners of Emmy, O. Henry, and Na-tional Endowment for the Arts awards — to name a few. • Five years after total student enrollment at Western Carolina University topped 10,000 for the first time in the institution’s history, records continued to tumble at WCU with the 2014 fall enrollment of 10,382 ... Enroll-ment held nearly steady with 10,340 in 2015-16 and set another all-time high in 2016-17 at 10,806 with the school cresting 11,000 in 2017-18 – a number that will fall again in 2018-19;

DID YOU KNOW:• Among WCU’s notable former players are current professional athletes in relief pitcher GREG HOLLAND (Washington Nationals) and infielder TYLER WHITE (Houston Astros) in Major League Baseball ... Two for-mer WCU football players made initial NFL rosters this fall including KEION CROSSEN (7th round draft pick, New England Patriots) and DETREZ NEWSOME, who signed as an undrafted free agent with the Chargers;• Other notable former WCU student-athletes include former Carolina Panthers fullback, BRAD HOOVER; former professional football player, DAVID PATTEN, who played for four NFL teams, most notably winning three Super Bowl rings with the New England Patri-ots; former NBA guard KEVIN MARTIN; United States Olympic silver medalist from the 2012 men’s 4x400-relay, MANTEO MITCHELL; current Georgia Tech head football coach, PAUL JOHNSON; former NFL referee and current ESPN officiating analyst, GERALD AUSTIN; independent country music singer and recording art-ist, MATT STILLWELL; actor – and former Catamount football player – SEGERS, actress BOBBI BAKER, and former reality TV star, RACHEL REILLY.


• WCU rushed for 325 yards under windy conditions in the Friday night road win at Gardner-Webb, a season-high for the Catamounts and the most for WCU since amassing 483 on the ground in last year’s home-opening win over Da-vidson … the 325 rushing yards were the fifth-most by a WCU offense under head coach Mark Speir and offensive coordinator Brad Glenn – and just the seventh, 300+ rush-ing yard output under the same staff since 2012:

WCU 300+ YARD RUSHING GAMES SINCE 2012:2017 ...... 483 yds .........................vs. Davidson2014 ...... 342 yds ......................vs. The Citadel2012 ...... 342 yds ..........................vs. Mars Hill2016 ...... 329 yds ................... vs. Chattanooga2018 .....325 yds ..............at Gardner-Webb2015 ...... 316 yds .....................vs. Presbyterian2014 ...... 301 yds ...................................vs. VMI

• Redshirt freshman back-up QB WILL JONES orchestrated WCU’s go-ahead scoring drive at the end of the first quar-ter into the early part of the second at Gardner-Webb, cap-ping it with his first career passing touchdown on a 15-yard strike to TE OWEN COSENKE … Jones finished 3-for-4 for 42 yards, completing three-straight passes and adding 16 rushing yards in the scoring drive … Jones rushed for a career-best 22 yards in the game ... He nearly had a sec-ond scoring drive in the loss at Furman but a fumble in the red zone thwarted the opportunity;• WCU’s defense limited Gardner-Webb to a season-low 246 yards of total offense including just 97 yards rushing … It was the fourth-time over the past two seasons under defensive coordinator John Wiley that WCU’s defense has held an opponent under the 100-yard rushing mark.

ADAMS NAMED SEPTEMBER SOCON OFFENSIVE POTM:• For the third consecutive year, Western Carolina QB TY-RIE ADAMS collected the Southern Conference’s Offensive Player of the Month honor for September announced by the league office ... Adams helped lead WCU to its best start to a season since 1976 with the squad’s 3-0 open-ing to 2018 before garnering SoCon Offensive Player of the Week accolades for the final week of the month also earning a national top offensive player honorable mention from STATS FCS;• Last fall, Adams became the first Catamount football player to collect multiple monthly awards from the league office in a career, adding his third monthly honor this Sep-tember. It’s just the fourth monthly offensive award for WCU since its inception in 2003 – three tallied by Adams;• Adams accounted for 1,375 yards of total offense and a SoCon-leading 14 combined touchdowns during the month of September including having already rushed for more scores in the opening month of the season than he had in two full seasons prior with four TDs on the ground; • The St. Petersburg, Fla., native paced WCU with 352 rushing yards in the month, averaging 88.0 rushing yards per game ... Completing 64-percent of his passes, Adams was 76-of-119 in September for 1,023 yards and 10 passing touchdowns, fashioning a 160.45 pass efficiency rating in the month;• Adams collected SoCon Offensive Player of the Week honors on Oct. 1 after amassing 472 yards of total offense including 424 yards passing – just three yards shy of his career-high – with five TDs in the road loss at Furman ... The weekly honor is the first for a Catamount this season and the fifth of Adams’ WCU career that includes three coming a season ago ... It is the fourth time that Adams has garnered a weekly honor from the SoCon office in the month of September in his three-year career ... Adams was also named the top offensive player by the staff of SouthernPigskin.com and was an honorable mention for the STATS FCS national player of the week.

QB TYRIE ADAMS IN THE WCU RECORD BOOKS:• With a career-high tying five passing touchdowns in the road loss at Furman, TYRIE ADAMS now has 47 career passing TDs, SECOND in school history … Adams most re-cently by-passed former Catamount QB, Mike Pusey (39, 1966-69) ... Adams is just THREE shy of all-time leader, Troy Mitchell (50, 2012-15);• Adams tallied 424 yards passing against Furman mark-ing the 15th career 200+ yard passing performance of his career ... His 117 yards on the ground against VMI marked his fourth career 100-yard rushing game ... Against VMI it marked just the third time in Adams’ career that he has thrown for over 200 while rushing for over 100 in a single-game (at Hawai’i in 2017 - 270 yds passing, 107 yds rush-ing; vs. Samford in 2017 - 312 passing, 152 rushing);• Adams moved into THIRD-place in WCU’s record books for career passing yards, now with 5,987 yards – by-passing former WCU QB Don Dalton (5,289 from 1966-69) … Adams advanced into second in program history with 491 career pass completions … Adams’ 782 career pass attempts rank him FOURTH in school history (MORE SEE CHART PAGE FIVE).

CATAMOUNT LEGACIES ON 2018 SQUAD:• Western Carolina has a trio of legacies associated with the 2018 Catamount football team:• CURTIS ROACH: the sophomore LB is the son of former WCU Hall of Fame placekicker and three-time first team All-Southern Conference selection, Kirk Roach ... Roach was one of 100 players and 32 coaches listed on the Di-visional Player/Coach ballot for the 2019 College Football Hall of Fame ... Kirk is WCU’s all-time leading scorer with 302 career points (89-90 PATs, 71-of-101 FGs);• DAQUAN PATTEN: the redshirt sophomore WR is the son of former All-SoCon Catamount receiver – and three-time Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots ... Da-vid had a 14-year professional career ... Daquan is coming off his first career, 100+ yard receivin day – his father had five, 100+ yard games including a career-best 185 against Elon back in 1995;• AL DEGRAFFENREID: the offensive quality control coach is the son of the late Al “Mutt” Degraffenreid, following in his father’s footsteps, coaching the Catamounts ... Started as manager for WCU men’s basketball, student assistant with football, moved into quality control role.

NOTING THE 2018 CATAMOUNT FOOTBALL TEAM:• Among Western Carolina’s 44 returning letter winners, NINE earned some sort of postseason honors at the end of the 2017 season including All-America selections IAN BER-RYMAN (AP, 2nd team; Phil Steele, 2nd team) and MARVIN TILLMAN (AFCA, 2nd team) ... TE OWEN COSENKE earned Freshman All-America (2nd team) honors from Phil Steele;• 2018 season marks the first time ever that two Cata-mounts appeared on both of the prestigious watch lists from STATS FCS including the Walter Payton Award (TYRIE ADAMS) and Buck Buchanan Award (MARVIN TILLMAN) Watch Lists in the same season;• WCU returns three defenders who posted 50-or-more tackles a season ago including MARVIN TILLMAN who finished second on the squad a season ago with 96 stops while ranking among the Southern Conference leaders with a 9.6 tackle per game average ... the Catamount de-fense returns 10 of its 13 interceptions from a season ago;• Special teams are highlighted by All-SoCon and All-American punter, IAN BERRYMAN ... After setting a school single-season record with a 44.9 yard per punt average in 2016, Berryman again ranked inside the national top five with a 44.45 yard per punt average in 2017.



CATAMOUNT CAREERSTAT TRACKER

CAREER PASS COMPLETIONS: 1. Troy Mitchell .................2012-15 ............. 655 +164 2. TYRIE ADAMS ..............2016–.............. 491 – – 3. Jeff Gilbert ...................1981-84 ..............463 4. Brian Gaither ...............2000-03 ............ 422 5. Mike Pusey ...................1977-79 ............. 420 6. Ronnie Mixon .............. 1979-82 .............. 415 CAREER PASS ATTEMPTS: 1. Troy Mitchell .................2012-15 ............1,051 +269 2. Mike Pusey ...................1977-79 ............. 855 +73 3. Jeff Gilbert ...................1981-84 ............. 840 +58 4. TYRIE ADAMS ..............2016–..............782 – – 5. Ronnie Mixon .............. 1987-89 .............. 781 6. Brian Gaither ...............2000-03 .............764

CAREER PASSING YARDS: 1. Troy Mitchell .................2012-15 ........... 7,354 +1,367 2. Mike Pusey ...................1977-79 ........... 6,160 +173 3. TYRIE ADAMS ..............2016–...........5,987 – – 4. Lonnie Galloway ......... 1990-93 .......... 5,545 5. Jeff Gilbert ...................1981-84 .......... 5,508 6. Don Dalton .................. 1966-69 .......... 5,289

CAREER PASSING TOUCHDOWNS: 1. Troy Mithell ..................2012-15 ............... 50 +3 2. TYRIE ADAMS ..............2016–................ 47 – – 3. Mike Pusey ...................1977-79 ................43 4. Don Dalton .................. 1966-69 ................39 5. Jeff Gilbert ...................1981-84 ................33

CAREER TOTAL OFFENSE: 1. Troy Mitchell .................2012-15 ...........9,397 +1,981 2. TYRIE ADAMS ..............2016–............7,416 – – 3. Lonnie Galloway ......... 1990-93 .......... 6,932 4. Mike Pusey ...................1977-79 .......... 5,863 5. Jeff Gilbert ...................1981-84 .......... 5,343

CAREER TACKLES: 1. Tom Bodine ..................1991-94 ..............453 2. Ace Clark ......................2011-14 ............. 340 3. Daniel Riddle ................2013-17 ..............333 9. Rock Williams .............. 2009-12.............. 319 +71 10. Everett Spellman ......... 1984-87 .............. 314 +66 –– MARVIN TILLMAN ........2015–..............248

CAREER INTERCEPTIONS: 1. David Rathburn ............ 1971-74 ................23 +16 6. Richard Dukes ............. 1980-83 ................ 14 +7 Steve Marshall ............ 1979-82 ................ 14 +7 Willie Carpenter ...........1976-79 ................ 14 +7 9. Ricky Gardin ................ 1987-89 ................ 12 +5 Toussaint Kennedy ...... 1985-88 ................ 12 +5 – MARVIN TILLMAN ........2015–.................. 7 – SHAMON ELLIOTT ........2016–..................3 – JERMICHAEL WHITE ....2015–..................2 – TY HARRIS ...................2018– ..................2

CAREER PUNTS: 1. Blake Cain ....................2008-11 ............. 262 +69 2. Steve Kornegay ........... 1982-85 ..............244 +51 3. Chuck Milner ................1972-75 ............. 226 +33 4. Anthony Bare .............. 1986-89 ............. 206 +13 5. Kenny Pauley .............. 1990-93 ............. 205 +12 6. Ken Hinsley ................. 1995-98 .............. 199 +6 7. IAN BERRYMAN ......... 2015– ............. 193 –– 8. Stanton Horne .............2000-03 ..............177 9. Tim Mayse ...................2003-06 ............. 150 10. Clark Sechrest ..............2011-13 ...............147

CATAMOUNT FOOTBALL NAMES 2018 TEAM CAPTAINS:• Prior to the Sunday practice of the Newberry game week, WCU head coach Mark Speir unveiled the results of the team vote, announcing WCU’s 2018 team captains ... WCU’s four senior captains include P IAN BERRYMAN, RB COREY HOLLOWAY, DB MARVIN TILLMAN, and OL ZACH WEEKS;• Three of WCU’s team captains received preseason All-SoCon plaudits in addition to All-America honors in Ber-ryman, Tillman, and Weeks. Tillman also appeared on the preseason watch list for the STATS FCS Buck Buchanan Award given to the nation’s top defender at the FCS level.

SIX NAMED PRESEASON ALL-SOUTHERN CONFERENCE:• Including three first teams selections between the of-fense, defense, and special teams, Western Carolina put six players on the 2018 preseason All-SoCon teams;• Redshirt senior OL ZACH WEEKS, senior DB MARVIN TILLMAN, and senior P IAN BERRYMAN were each tabbed first team by the league’s head coaches ... Return-ing redshirt junior QB TYRIE ADAMS and redshirt senior OL NATHAN DALTON and ANDREW MILES each garnered a second-team nod as selected by the conference’s nine head coaches;

Redshirt senior P Ian Berryman 1st teamSenior DB Marvin Tillman 1st teamRedshirt senior OL Zach Weeks 1st teamRedshirt junior QB Tyrie Adams 2nd teamRedshirt senior OL Nathan Dalton 2nd teamRedshirt senior OL Andrew Miles 2nd team

WCU PICKED FOURTH BY COACHES, FIFTH BY MEDIA:• Western Carolina was picked to finish FOURTH in the coaches’ preseason poll, while the media dropped the Catamounts one slot into FIFTH in its tabulation;• Receiving all but two first-place votes in the coaches’ poll and finishing three-shy of a clean-sweep in the media vot-ing, Samford was chosen as the preseason favorite by both voting groups ... Wofford and Furman swapped the runner-up spot with the Terriers – the league’s defending cham-pion and an FCS playoff quarterfinalist – picked second by the coaches and Furman tagged second in the media poll;• The middle third of the two preseason prognostications were split between three teams. WCU took fourth in the coaches’ poll but was fifth in the media vote while Mercer,

MOST POINTS SCORED UNDER HEAD COACH MARK SPEIR: 63 ...... W .....................................vs. Davidson – Sept. 9, 2017 56 ...... W ..................................... vs. Samford – Oct. 24, 2015 52 ..... W ....................................... vs. VMI – Sept. 22, 2018 49 ...... W ............................................vs. ETSU – Oct. 14, 2017 48 ...... W .........................................vs. Furman – Nov. 7, 2015 45 ...... W .............................. at Chattanooga – Sept. 30, 2017 45 ...... W ........................................vs. Brevard –Sept. 6, 2014 44 ...... W .......................... vs. Gardner-Webb – Sept. 10, 2016

MOST POINTS SCORED VS. SOCON OPPONENT: 56 ...... W ..................................... vs. Samford – Oct. 24, 2015 52 ..... W ....................................... vs. VMI – Sept. 22, 2018 53 ...... W .............................. vs. Chattanooga – Oct. 22, 1994 48 ...... W .........................................vs. Furman – Nov. 7, 2015 45 ...... W .............................. at Chattanooga – Sept. 30, 2017 45 ...... W ............................. vs. Chattanooga – Oct. 26, 2002 45 ...... W ............................... vs. The Citadel – Sept. 20, 1997 45 ............ L ........................... vs. #6 Marshall – Nov. 12, 1988 44 ............ L ...........................vs. #11 Wofford – Oct. 25, 2007 44 ...... W ............................................. vs. VMI – Oct. 27, 2001 44 ...... W .................................at Chattanooga – Oct. 17, 1992 44 ...... W ....................................at The Citadel – Nov. 5, 1983 44 ...... W .......................vs. Appalachian State – Nov. 19, 1977 43 ...... W ............................vs. East Tennessee – Oct. 11, 1986

MOST POINTS ALLOWED VS. SOCON OPPONENT: 79 ............ L ..................at Appalachian State – Nov. 10, 2007 70 ............ L ..................... at Georgia Southern – Oct. 9, 1999 66 ........... L ................................at Samford – Oct. 6, 2018 62 ............ L ................................at Samford – Sept. 28, 2013 56 ............ L ...........................at Chattanooga – Oct. 23, 1999 52 ............ L ...................................at Samford – Oct. 29, 2011 52 ............ L .....................at #1 Ga. Southern – Sept. 24, 2011 52 ............ L ..................................vs. Furman – Nov. 17, 2007 52 ............ L .................................. at Marshall – Nov. 11, 1989 52 ............ L ........................... vs. #6 Marshall – Nov. 12, 1988 51 ............ L ............................at Chattanooga – Oct. 15, 2011 51 ............ L .................................Chattanooga – Nov. 1, 2014 50 .......... W ....................................... VMI – Sept. 22, 2018 50............ L .................at Georgia Southern – Sept. 29, 2007 50............ L ................ at #1 Georgia Southern – Oct. 6, 2001

MOST COMBINED POINTS VS. SOCON OPPONENT: 102.... W ...............................................VMI (52-50) – 2018 97 ............ L ..................................vs. Marshall (45-52) – 1989

WCU MISC. SCORING STATISTICS

sixth in the coaches’ poll, was fourth by the media. Chat-tanooga was the tertiary team involved in the round-robin, tabbed fifth behind WCU by coaches, sixth by the media.• The bottom three of the league’s preseason predictions mirrored each other with The Citadel, ETSU, and VMI rounding out the polls.

THREE NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA BY STATS FCS:• Three WCU football players were honored on the STATS FCS 2018 Preseason All-America teams ... Redshirt senior P IAN BERRYMAN and senior DB MARVIN TILLMAN both collected second-team accolades while redshirt senior OL ZACH WEEKS was a third-team preseason honoree;• BERRYMAN ranked among the FCS national leaders in punting for a second-straight season in 2017, averaging 44.45 yards per kick on 58 total punts – the third-best sin-gle-season average in program history, fifth in the NCAA FCS ... Entering his final season, Berryman ranks eighth in program history with 168 career punts including 50 of 50-or-more yards over the last three seasons with a 44.33 yards per punt average, tops in program history;• TILLMAN is coming off a season where he recorded a career-high 96 tackles over 10 games, ranking fourth in the SoCon with a 9.6 tackle per game average ... He paced the league with five interceptions – the most by a Catamount defensive back since 2014 – in earning first-team All-SoCon postseason honors and second-team All-America plaudits from the AFCA;• WEEKS mirrored his first-team postseason All-SoCon plaudits from 2017 with a first-team nod in the 2018 pre-season honors ... the Bryson City, N.C., native has been a part the unit that helped pave the way for three-straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons by tailback Detrez Newsome – a first in program history.

ADDITIONAL PRESEASON HONORS:Tyrie Adams, R-Jr., QB

2018 STATS FCS Walter Payton Award Watch ListCFPA FCS National Performer of the Year Watch List

Ian Berryman, Sr., P2nd team All-America, HERO Sports

College Football America 2018 Yearbook FCS Starting LineupMarvin Tillman, Sr., DB

2018 STATS FCS Buck Buchanan Award Watch List1st team All-America, HERO Sports



NEWBERRY (ESPN+)(White Out / Fireworks)Sat., Sept. 1Cullowhee, N.C.W, 33-26

at Gardner-Webb (ESPN+)Fri., Sept. 14Boiling Springs, N.C.W, 28-10

VMI * (ESPN+)(Family Weekend)Sat., Sept. 22Cullowhee, N.C.W, 52-50

at Furman * (ESPN+)Sat., Sept. 22Greenville, S.C.L, 44-38

at Samford * (ESPN3)Sat., Oct. 6Birmingham, Ala.L, 66-28

CHATTANOOGA * (ESPN+)(Hall of Fame Day)Sat., Oct. 13Cullowhee, N.C.L, 26-6

at Mercer * (ESPN+)Sat., Oct. 13Macon, Ga.4:00 pm

at ETSU * (ESPN+)Sat., Oct. 20Johnson City, Tenn.3:30 pm

THE CITADEL * (ESPN+)(WCU Homecoming)Sat., Nov. 3Cullowhee, N.C.3:30 pm

WOFFORD * (ESPN3)(Senior Day)Sat., Nov. 4Cullowhee, N.C.3:30 pm

at North Carolina (TBA)Saturday, Nov. 17Chapel Hill, N.C.TBA

NCAA FCS PlayoffsFirst RoundTBA

CULLOWHEE – Tyrie Adams rushed for a career-high three touchdowns including two in the fourth quarter as Western Carolina opened the season with a 33-26 home victory over Newberry at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field. Adams amassed 358 yards of total offense including 262 yards on 17-of-26 passing, adding 81 yards on the ground. Jordan Mathis tossed his second career touchdown pass to give WCU a 19-7 lead before the Catamounts rallied late against the upset-minded Wolves.

BOILING SPRINGS – Playing on a Friday evening amidst windy conditions because of Hurricane Florence, Western Carolina took a 21-10 halftime lead before pitching a sec-ond half shutout to win, 28-10. Tyrie Adams threw two TD passes and Connell Young reached the endzone twice to bookend WCU scores – once through the air and once on the ground. JerMichael White intercepted a pair of passes and Jacquez Williams had two of WCU’s five sacks as WCU limited GWU to 73 second half yards on offense.

CULLOWHEE – Tyrie Adams passed for 229 yards and three scores, rushed for 117 more and another touchdown as Western Carolina held on for a 52-50 SoCon-opening vic-tory over VMI, their 16th-straight win over the Keydets. It was a nail-biter as the Keydets scored two TDs in the final four minutes, wrapped around an interception, closing to 52-50 when Reece Udinski threw to Jakob Herres on a fourth-and-10 with 22 seconds left in the game. Udinski’s two-point conversion pass in the back of the end zone failed.

GREENVILLE – Tyrie Adams tossed a career-high tying five touchdown passes including two apiece to Daquan Patten and Owen Cosenke as Western Carolina amassed 577 yards of total offense. However, two costly turnovers in the red-zone hurt the Cata-mounts and Furman scored 10 points off of special teams plays including a 97-yard kick-off return for a TD and a blocked punt it converted into a field goal. WCU was limited to a season-low 131 rushing yards and held out of the end zone on the ground.

CULLOWHEE – Chattanooga’s defense and ball-control offense combined to stymie Western Carolina’s potent offensive attack, not allowing the Catamounts to find any offensive rhythm in winning for the fifth-straight time on the road in the head-to-head series. Nick Tiano tossed two TD passes to Joseph Parker with Tyrell Price adding a 3-yard TD rush. Western Carolina managed just two Will Horton field goals including a career-long 47-yard boot in the first half. WCU had three turnovers, one in the red zone.

BIRMINGHAM – Samford converted three Western Carolina first quarter fumbles into touchdowns in blitzing the Catamounts to the tune of 35-0 after the opening quarter to cruise to the 66-28 victory at Seibert Stadium. Devlin Hodges threw for 562 yards and five TD passes to lead the Bulldogs offense. With starting QB Tyrie Adams still ailing from a chest injury, redshirt freshman QB Will Jones tossed two TD passes and rushed for third in the most extensive action of his career.

The first of consecutive conference road trips in October sees Western Carolina travel to Macon, Ga., to face Mercer. Tyrie Adams threw for a season-high 378 yards and three touchdowns as a part of 507 yards of total offense against the Bears, but costly turnovers and big plays in the special teams led Mercer to the two-point victory, 35-33. With consecutive series wins, Mercer has tied the series at two apiece.

Western Carolina and ETSU meet for the first-time in the Buccaneers’ new stadium while also christening a new competitive rivalry series – the “Blue Ridge Border Battle.” After ETSU won the rivalry-renewing match-up at the Bristol Motor Speedway two years ago with Donnavan Spencer racing the Catamounts past the Bucs, 49-10, in Cullowhee last season, scoring four touchdowns on the ground. WCU broke-open a 7-3 game in the second half by scoring 42 points – 21 apiece in the third and fourth quarters.

For a second consecutive season, the Catamounts conclude their regular season sched-ule at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C., against North Carolina. The Nov. 17 meeting marks just the second meeting on the football gridiron between the two University of North Carolina sister schools. The Tar Heels won last year’s first-ever meeting, 65-10. UNC scored 35 points in a decisive second quarter, breaking open a 7-7 game.

The Citadel and its triple-option attack provide the opposition in the 2018 Homecoming game in Cullowhee. Last season, WCU’s defense forced five turnovers that played a huge part in the 31-19 road victory. Tyrie Adams threw three TD passes while Detrez Newsome rushed for 197 yards including breaking the game’s third tie with an 81-yard romp in WCU’s second victory in the past seven overall series meetings.

In a battle of nationally-ranked opponents, Wofford held off a late charge by Western Carolina, downing the Catamounts in overtime, 35-28, thwarting the upset bid. Don-navan Spencer scored a game-tying TD inside the game’s final three minutes to force the extra session. The Terriers come to Cullowhee in WCU’s final regular season home game of 2018 as the Catamounts will honor their seniors prior to the game.

A third, seven-win season over the past four years felt hollow for the Catamounts in 2017 as Western Carolina was unable to halt the 30-plus year drought of advancing to the post-season. Hopes and expectations are high entering the 2018 campaign as WCU looks to make a return to the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs for the first-time since making a run to the national title game in 1983.

WESTERN CAROLINA 2018 OPENING DRIVES: OPP RESULT DETAILS Newberry ..... FG ......................... Will Horton 29-yd FG; 6 plays–65 yds at G-Webb ..... TD ........... T. Adams 33 yd pass to Young; 5 plays–75 yds VMI * ..... TD ................................ Mullen 15-yd run; 9 plays–62 yds at Furman * ..... TD ........T. Adams 18 yd pass to Cosenke; 4 plays–75 yds at Samford * ..... FUM.......................C. Young, lost fumble; 1 play– (-1) yds Chattanooga * .... FUM......... T. Adams, fumble but regained; 3 plays, 3 yds at Mercer * ................................................................................................ at ETSU * ................................................................................................ The Citadel * ................................................................................................ Wofford * ................................................................................................ at N. Carolina ................................................................................................

WCU 2018 2ND HALF OPENING DRIVES: OPP RESULT DETAILS Newberry ..... PUNT ....................Ferguson, 32-yd punt; 7 plays–25 yds at G-Webb ..... MFG ................ Horton, 44-yard attempt; 8 plays– 36 yds VMI * ..... TD ............T. Adams 11 yd pass to Mullen; 6 plays–75 yds at Furman * ..... TD ...........T. Adams 43 yd pass to Patten; 3 plays–56 yds at Samford * ..... PUNT ...................Berryman, 40-yd punt; 8 plays–23 yds Chattanooga * .... FUM..........D. Spencer, lost on exchange; 7 plays–74 yds at Mercer * ................................................................................................ at ETSU * ................................................................................................ The Citadel * ................................................................................................ Wofford * ................................................................................................ at N. Carolina ................................................................................................

MISC. STATS / NOTES

WESTERN CAROLINA 2018 BALL CONTROL STATS: OPP DRIVES 3&OUT 1ST DWNS TOP Newberry .................12 ...................... 2 .................... 26 ...............26:52 at G-Webb .................12 ...................... 2 .................... 23 ............... 28:52 VMI * .................15 ...................... 3 .................... 32 ............... 29:40 at Furman * .................12 ...................... 0 .................... 29 ................32:14 at Samford * .................19 ...................... 5 ..................... 19 ................30:12 Chattanooga * .................11 ....................... 1 ......................11 ................22:14 at Mercer * ............................................. at ETSU * ............................................. The Citadel * ............................................. Wofford * ............................................. at N. Carolina .............................................

TOTAL DRIVES: 813 & OUT DRIVES: 13

WCU DEFENSE 2018 BALL CONTROL STATS: OPP DRIVES 3&OUT 1ST DWNS TOP Newberry ..................11 ...................... 2 .................... 22 ............... 33:08 at G-Webb ..................11 ...................... 3 ..................... 18 ................31:08 VMI * .................15 ....................... 1 .................... 33 ............... 30:35 at Furman * ................. 13 ...................... 2 .................... 20 ............... 27:46 at Samford * ................20 ....................... 1 .....................37 ............... 29:48 Chattanooga * ................12 ...................... 3 ..................... 19 ................37:46 at Mercer * ............................................. at ETSU * ............................................. The Citadel * ............................................. Wofford * ............................................. at N. Carolina .............................................

TOTAL DRIVES: 823 & OUT DRIVES: 12


RETURNED A PUNT FOR A TD: WCU: .................................................. Angelo Brown at Chattanooga – Oct. 13, 2007 (27 yards) Opp: .........................................................Alvin Kamara, Tennessee – Sept. 19, 2015 (50 yards)

RETURNED A KICKOFF FOR A TD: WCU: .......................................... Detrez Newsome at South Carolina – Nov. 19, 2016 (93 yards) Opp: ................................................................ Dejuan Bell, Furman – Sept. 29, 2018 (97 yards)

RETURNED AN INTERCEPTION FOR A TD: WCU: ........................................................... Michael Murphy vs. VMI – Sept 22, 2018 (46 yards) Opp: .................... Ed Britt (25 yds) and Deonte Davis (32 yards) of Presbyterian – Oct. 4, 2014

SCORED ON A FUMBLE RECOVERY: WCU: ............................................... A.J. Newman & Nate Link at Chattanooga – Sept. 30, 2017 Opp: ......................................................Ugonna Akoh of Presbyterian (73 yards) – Oct. 3, 2015

RECORDED A SAFETY: WCU: ...................................................................................... TEAM vs. Samford – Oct. 24, 2015 Opp: ..............................................Jerrell Lawson of Chattanooga (sack/safety) – Oct. 13, 2018

BLOCKED A PUNT: WCU: .......................................................................... Jacquez Williams vs. ETSU – Oct. 14, 2017 Opp: ..................................................................... Avery Armstrong of Furman – Sept. 29, 2018

BLOCKED A F IELD GOAL ATTEMPT: WCU: ............................................................Ezavian Dunn & Tahjai Watt, vs. VMI – Nov. 5, 2016 Opp: ................................................................................. TM at Gardner-Webb – Sept. 14, 2018

HAD A 100-YARD RUSHER: WCU: .........................................................................Tyrie Adams (117) vs. VMI – Sept. 22, 2018 Opp: .....................................................Tyrell Price of Chattanooga (29-for-135) – Oct. 13, 2018

HAD A 100-YARD RECEIVER: WCU: ..................................................Daquan Patten (6-for-159 yards) at Furman – Sept. 29, 2018 Opp: ....... Kelvin McKnight (8-for-138) & Jai’Rus Creamer (8-for-138) of Samford – Oct. 6, 2018

TEAMMATES RUSHED FOR 100 YARDS IN THE SAME GAME: WCU: ........................................................ Tyrie Adams (12-for-106) & Connell Young (14-for-105) .......................................................................................at Gardner-Webb – Sept. 14, 2018 Opp: ................................... Antonio Wilcox (21-for-202) & Kealand Dirks (15-for-119) of Furman ................................................................................................... of Furman – Oct. 28, 2017

TEAMMATES HAD 100 RECEIVING YARDS IN THE SAME GAME: WCU: ...........................................Daquan Patten (6 for 159 yds) & Jordan Mathis (5 for 100 yds) ................................................................................................ at Furman – Sept. 29, 2018 Opp: .................................. Kelvin McKnight (8 for 138 yds) and Jai’Rus Creamer (9 for 101 yds) ....................................................................................................of Samford – Oct. 6, 2018

TEAMMATES HAD 100 YDS RUSHING AND RECEIVING IN THE SAME GAME: WCU: ..................................................................................Tyrie Adams (20 – 152 rushing yds) & ...........................T. Robinson (8 – 124) & S. Hill (5–104) – #17 SAMFORD – Sept. 23, 2017 Opp: ..............................Diocemy Saint Juste (202 yds rush) & Dylan Collie (100 yds receiving) ...........................................................................................................of VMI – Nov. 5, 2016

THREW AT LEAST FOUR TOUCHDOWN PASSES: WCU: ........................................................................Tyrie Adams (5) at Furman – Sept. 29, 2018 Opp: ...................................................................... Devlin Hodges of Samford (5) – Oct. 6, 2018

PLAYER SCORED AT LEAST FOUR TOUCHDOWNS: WCU: ..............................................Donnavan Spencer vs. ETSU – Oct. 14, 2017 (4 rushing TDs) Opp: ..........................................Derrick Craine of Chattanooga – Oct. 31, 2015 (4 rushing TDs)

PLAYER KICKED AT LEAST FOUR FIELD GOALS: WCU: .............................................................Joshua Gibson at VMI – Oct. 21, 2017 (4-for-4 FGs) Opp: ....................................................................... Ray Early of Furman – Nov. 16, 2013 (6 FGs)

TEAM SCORED AT LEAST 50 POINTS: WCU: .................................................................................................52 vs. VMI – Sept. 22, 2018 Opp: ..............................................................................................66 by Samford – Oct. 6, 2018

TEAM SCORED AT LEAST 30 POINTS IN A HALF: WCU: ........................................................................................ 31 vs. VMI (2nd) – Sept. 22, 2018 Opp: .......................................................................................42 by Samford (1st) – Oct. 6, 2018

TEAM SCORED AT LEAST 25 POINTS IN A QUARTER: WCU: ................................................................................... 28 vs. Davidson (1st) – Sept. 9, 2017 Opp: .......................................................................................35 by Samford (1st) – Oct. 6, 2018

TEAM WAS SHUTOUT: WCU: .................................................................................. by Chattanooga (51-0) – Nov. 1, 2014 Opp: ........................................................................................... Shorter (35-0) – Aug. 28, 2008 SoCon Opp: .............................................................................................Wofford (24-0) – Nov. 5, 2005

WESTERN CAROLINA – THE LAST TIME IT HAPPENEDWHO TO WATCH FOR – CATAMOUNT OFFENSE

WHO TO WATCH FOR – CATAMOUNT DEFENSE

#12 // TYRIE ADAMS // 6-2 // R-JR. // QB // ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. // DIXIE HOLLINS HS

#25 // JACQUEZ WILLIAMS // 6-3 // R-SR. // LB // CATAULA, GA. // GEORGIA MILITARY

#48 // MITCHELL CHANCEY // 6-0 // SR. // LB // ASHEVILLE, N.C. // ERWIN HS

#29 // MARVIN TILLMAN // 6-1 // SR. // DB // DURHAM, N.C. // SOUTHERN DURHAM HS

#5 // CONNELL YOUNG // 6-0 // JR. // RB // GREENSBORO, N.C. // DUDLEY HS

#11 // JORDAN MATHIS // 5-10 // R-SR. // WR // MARIETTA, GA. // MARIETTA HS

• Recorded a career-high 11 tackles with six solo stops in the season-opener against Newberry ... Has FIVE career sacks, four this year – two coming in the win over Newberry, two at Gardner-Webb ... Has 7.5 tackles for loss (8th in SoCon) and 4.0 sacks (6th-t in SoCon);

• Has been a vocal leader for the football team during the off-season and thru the 2018 preseason;

• Coming off a 21-tackle season, recording 10 solo stops as a transfer junior ... 37 career tackles, 7.0 tackles for loss.

• Has been a special teams player and defensive substitution over his first three seasons, working his way into the starting lineup at linebacker for the Catamount defense this season;

• Recorded a career-high 15 tackles (7 solo stops, 8 assists) at Samford ... Surpassed his single-season career-best after recording 13 tackles in 2017;

• LEADS the SoCon with a 11.6 tackle per game average ... Is riding a streak of SIX-straight double-digit tackle games – has reached double-figures in each seasonal game in 2018.

• AWARDS: Named to the 2015 Southern Conference All-Freshman team ... 2017 First Team All-Southern Conference & Second Team All-America by the AFCA ... 2018 Buck Buchanan Award Watch List & Preseason All-America from STATS FCS and HERO Sports;

• Named SoCon Defensive Player of the Month in September, 2017;

• Has 248 career tackles with 138 solo stops and 4.5 tackles for loss over the past four seasons ... Has SEVEN career interceptions, FIVE coming in 2017 alone and ONE this year (at Samford).

• Converted to wide receiver a year ago from running back in an effort to get the talented athlete on the field – but converted back to running back prior to the 2018 season;• Rushed for a career-high 105 yards in the road victory over Gardner-Webb, first-career 100-yard rushing performance ... Scored rushing & receiving TD ... Ranks 5th in SoCon in rushing (73.2 yds/gm);• Has 41 career receptions ... Has FIVE receiving touchdowns including a scores at Gardner-Webb and Furman in 2018;• Named to the Southern Conference All-Freshman team as a return spe-cialist following the 2016 season.

• Senior leader in an otherwise youthful but talented wide receiver room;• Came to Cullowhee as a two-sport athlete, also playing baseball ... Has parlayed that diamond experience into a pair of touchdown passes from his wide receiver position, tossing his second score in the season-opening victory over Newberry;• Has 62 career receptions for 761 yards, averaging 12.3 yards per recep-tion ... Has three receiving scores, two coming in 2017 and both were in road games ... Two 100-yard career receiving games – most recently at Furman in 2018.


• AWARDS: 2016 SoCon Freshman of the Year ... 2017 Second Team All-Southern Conference ... 2018 Walter Payton Award Watch List ... FIVE-time SoCon Offensive Player of the Week (once in 2018) & three-time SoCon Offensive Player of the Month in September (2016, 2017, & 2018);• Has 5,987 career passing yards (3rd in WCU history) & 7,416 yards of total offense (2nd in WCU history) ... 491 career completions (2nd in WCU history) ... 47 career passing TDs (2nd in WCU history);• Set a school-record with 510 yards of total offense including a career-high 427 passing yards in a home win over Gardner-Webb in 2016 – the fifth-best single-game performance in SoCon history.


WESTERN CAROLINAat MERCER BEARS

WCU Offense MER 185 ..............................Scoring ............................196 30.8 .................... Points Per Game ....................32.7 144 .......................... First Downs ......................... 119 2,777 ..................Total Yards Gained ................2,361 462.8 ...................Yards Per Game ..................393.5 1,282 ...................Rushing Yardage ....................862 213.7 ...........Rushing Average per Game ......... 143.7 1,495 ................... Passing Yardage ..................1,499 249.2 ..........Passing Average per Game .........249.8 WCU Team Stats MER 39–366 (61.0) ......Penalties–Yards ....36–300 (50.0) 38/84, 45% ...... 3rd Down Conversion ......28/70, 40% 4/6, 67% ......... 4th Down Conversion .......4/4, 100% WCU Defense MER 222 .......................Points Allowed .....................204 37.0 .............. Points Allowed Per Game ............ 34.0 2,820 ................Total Yards Allowed ................2,916 470.0 ............Yards Allowed Per Game ...........486.0 1,033 .............. Rushing Yards Allowed .............. 1,191 172.7 ............Rushing Average Allowed ...........198.5 1,787 ...............Passing Yards Allowed ............. 1,725 297.8 ........... Passing Average Allowed .......... 287.5

HEAD–TO–HEAD TEAM COMPARISONS:2018 WESTERN CAROLINA DEFENSIVE LEADERS: 2018 MERCER DEFENSIVE LEADERS:Tackles Leaders: GP–GS UA–AA = Total Avg. Mitchell Chancey ......6–6 ............40–29 = 69......... 11.5 Michael Murphy........6–6 ............23–27 = 50..........8.3 Ty Harris ...................5–5 .............26–21 = 47..........9.4 Marvin Tillman ..........6–6 .............28–17 = 45.......... 7.5 Jacquez Williams ......6–6 ............ 22–16 = 38..........6.3 Ronald Kent Jr. .........6–4 ..............23–6 = 29..........4.8 Solomon Clark ..........6–6 ............. 12–10 = 22.......... 3.7 Shamon Elliott ..........4–3 ............... 16–5 = 21..........5.3 JerMichael White .....3–2 .................9–6 = 15..........5.0

TFL Leaders: Total Yds Solomon Clark .............................. 8.5 .......................54 Jacquez Williams .......................... 7.5 .......................34 Ty Harris ....................................... 4.5 ........................14

Sacks Leaders: Total Yds Solomon Clark .............................. 5.0 .......................49 Jacquez Williams .......................... 4.0 .......................30Interceptions Leaders: Total – Return Yds J. White / T. Harris .......................................................2Fumbles Forced Leader: Total Four tied with ...............................................................1Fumbles Recovered Leader: Total Four tied with ...............................................................1

Tackles Leaders: GP UA–AA = Total Avg. Will Coneway..............6 ..............26–26 = 52.......... 8.7 Malique Fleming ........6 ...............25–18 = 43.......... 7.2 Harrison Poole ...........6 ................ 27–7 = 34.......... 5.7 LeMarkus Bailey .........6 ................ 19–12 = 31..........5.2 Michael Freeman .......6 ................ 14–17 = 31..........5.2 B.J. Bohler ..................6 .................18–6 = 24..........4.0 Travonte Easley ..........6 ................. 11–9 = 20..........3.3 Eric Jackson ............... 4 ................. 6–13 = 19..........4.8 Luke Ward ..................6 ..................12–5 = 17..........2.8TFL Leaders: Total Yds LeMarkus Bailey ........................... 4.0 ....................... 19 Dorian Kithcart ............................. 3.5 ....................... 12 Sacks Leaders: Total Yds Six players tied ............................. 1.0 ...........................Interceptions Leaders: Total – Return Yds B.J. Bohler ....................................................2 – 34 yds Harrison Poole ................................................1 – 0 ydsFumbles Forced Leader: Total LeMarkus Bailey ..........................................................2 Four players tied ..........................................................1Fumbles Recovered Leader: Total – Return Yds Four players tied ..........................................................1

RUSHING GP Att Gain Loss Net Avg TD Long Avg/GTee Mitchell 6 97 526 18 508 5.2 5 54 84.7Tyray Devezin 6 57 377 13 364 6.4 3 45 60.7Robert Riddle 4 20 86 34 52 2.6 3 20 13.0 PASSING GP Effic Cmp-Att-Int Pct Yds TD Lng Avg/GRobert Riddle 4 149.79 66-101-3 65.3 851 6 73 212.8Kaelan Riley 5 152.48 40-73-1 54.8 637 6 75 127.4

RECEIVING GP No. Yds Avg TD Long Avg/GMarquise Irvin 6 33 579 17.5 3 42 96.5Stephen Houzah 6 17 316 18.6 4 73 52.7David Durden 6 11 221 20.1 3 75 36.8Tee Mitchell 6 11 65 5.9 0 20 10.8Tucker Cannon 6 10 131 13.1 1 36 21.8

PUNT RETURNS No. Yds Avg TD LongMarquise Irvin 4 35 8.8 0 33Tucker Cannon 3 73 24.3 0 51

PUNTING No. Yds Avg Long TB FC I20 50+ BlkdMatt Shiel 26 1,165 44.8 58 0 10 7 7 0

KICK RETURNS No. Yds Avg TD LongStephen Houzah 4 74 18.5 0 25

|------------- PATs -------------|SCORING TD FGs Kick Rush Rcv Pass DXP Saf PointsCole Fisher 0 7-10 24-24 0 0 0-0 0 0 45Tee Mitchell 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0-0 0 0 30Stephen Houzah 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0-0 0 0 24

TOTAL OFFENSE G Plays Rush Pass Total Avg/GRobert Riddle 4 121 52 851 903 225.8Kaelan Riley 5 89 -45 637 592 118.4Tee Mitchell 6 97 508 0 508 84.7

ALL PURPOSE G Rush Rec PR KOR IR Tot Avg/GMarquise Irvin 6 0 579 35 0 0 614 102.3Tee Mitchell 6 508 65 0 0 0 573 95.5Stephen Houzah 6 0 316 0 74 0 390 65.0Tyray Devezin 6 364 0 0 0 0 364 60.7

RUSHING GP Att Gain Loss Net Avg TD Long Avg/GConnell Young 6 87 453 14 439 5.0 1 31 73.2Tyrie Adams 6 76 410 85 325 4.3 4 32 54.2Donnavan Spencer 6 39 304 3 301 7.7 1 49 50.2Will Jones 5 23 120 17 103 4.5 1 26 20.6

PASSING GP Effic Cmp-Att-Int Pct Yds TD Lng Avg/GTyrie Adams 6 152.96 85-135-3 63.0 1,125 10 58 187.5Will Jones 5 123.57 30-54-2 55.6 367 3 29 73.4

RECEIVING GP No. Yds Avg TD Long Avg/GNate Mullen 6 31 350 11.3 1 37 58.3Daquan Patten 6 22 352 16.0 4 51 58.7Connell Young 6 20 175 8.8 2 33 29.2Jordan Mathis 6 16 288 18.0 0 58 48.0

PUNT RETURNS No. Yds Avg TD LongDaquan Patten 9 98 10.9 0 37

PUNTING No. Yds Avg Long TB FC I20 50+ BlkdIan Berryman 25 1,015 40.6 58 3 9 10 3 1Caleb Ferguson 5 181 36.2 43 1 2 1 0 0

KICK RETURNS No. Yds Avg TD LongNate Mullen 7 121 17.3 0 28

|------------- PATs -------------|SCORING TD FGs Kick Rush Rcv Pass DXP Saf PointsWill Horton 0 6-7 21-22 0 0 0-0 0 0 39Owen Cosenke 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0-0 0 0 30D. Patten / T. Adams 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0-0 0 0 24

TOTAL OFFENSE G Plays Rush Pass Total Avg/GTyrie Adams 6 211 325 1,125 1,450 241.7Will Jones 5 77 103 367 470 94.0Connell Young 6 87 439 0 439 73.2

ALL PURPOSE G Rush Rec PR KOR IR Tot Avg/GConnell Young 6 439 175 0 0 0 614 102.3Nate Mullen 6 36 350 0 121 0 507 84.5Daquan Patten 6 0 352 98 0 0 450 75.0Tyrie Adams 6 325 0 0 0 0 325 54.2

2018 WESTERN CAROLINA INDIVIDUAL STATISTICAL LEADERS 2018 MERCER INDIVIDUAL STATISTICAL LEADERS



CATAMOUNTSPORTS.COM /// CATAMOUNT HEAD COACH MARK SPEIR /// 7TH SEASON

MARK SPEIR AT A GLANCEHometown: Kannapolis, N.C.

Wife: Paige (Holt) of Pickens, S.C.Sons: Zeb and Jackson

Alma Mater: Clemson, 1990 Master’s – Western Carolina, 1994

COACHING EXPERIENCE1986-89: Clemson (Student Assistant)

1991-93: Western Carolina (Running Backs)1994: Western Carolina (Outside Linebackers)

1995-96: Western Carolina(Defensive Line/Recruiting Coordinator)

1997-99: Presbyterian(Defensive Line/Strength & Conditioning)

2000-01: Elon(Running Backs/Sp.Tms/Recruiting Coord.)

2002: Elon (Defensive/Recruiting Coordinator)2003-04: Appalachian State (Running Backs)2005-09: Appalachian State (Defensive Line)

2004-11: Appalachian State(Recruiting Coordinator)

2009-10: Appalachian State (Defensive Ends)2011: Appalachian State (Inside Linebackers)2012-pres.: Western Carolina (Head Coach)

l PERSONAL DATA: Originally from Kannapolis, N.C. ... His wife, Paige; the couple has two sons, Zeb and Jackson ... Zeb is enrolled at Appalachian State and is a walk-on quarterback for the Mountaineer football team.l EDUCATION: Graduated from Clemson University with a bachelor’s degree in sec-ondary education in ‘90; earned his Masters degree at WCU in 1994.l COACHING EXPERIENCE: Speir returned to Cullowhee in 2012 after spending nine seasons at Appalachian State where he was a part of three-consecutive FCS National Championships from 2005-07 ... He served as ASU’s recruiting coordinator from 2004 until 2011, while also coaching the inside linebackers prior to his departure. Speir also coached the Mountaineers’ running backs (2003-04), defensive line (2005-08) and defensive ends (2009-10) ... In 2009, Speir was tabbed as the NCAA Division I FCS Assistant Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) ... Prior to Appala-chian State, Speir also made coaching stops at both at Presbyterian (1997-99) while the Blue Hose were a NCAA Division II member institution, and at Elon (2000-02) the year after the program made the transition to a NCAA Division I school.

A native of Kannapolis, N.C., Speir broke into coaching while an undergraduate at Clemson University, working as a student assistant from 1986 through 1989, and helped the Tigers to three Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championships during his four years. Following his graduation, Speir landed on Steve Hodgin’s staff in Cullowhee, first working with the Catamount running backs from 1991-93, then the linebackers in 1994 before coaching the defensive line and serving as the program’s recruiting coordinator from 1995-96 ... All told, Speir has held the title of recruiting coordinator at three NCAA FCS institutions (WCU, Elon and ASU).SPEIR, WCU COACHING STAFF – FINALIST FOR 2014 EDDIE ROBINSON AWARD:Mark Speir and his coaching staff were among 20 national finalists for the 2014 Eddie Robinson Award given to honor the national Coach of the Year at the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level.

SPEIR TAKES #CATAMOUNTSTRONG TO 2015 BOSTON MARATHON:• Just days after his football team broke their annual spring drills in late April, WCU head football coach Mark Speir had one last item to check off before entering the summer months with his sights set on the team’s offi-cial report date in early August. Speir and his older brother, Ken, tackled the grueling 2015 Boston Marathon, the world’s oldest annual marathon, which ranks as one of the world’s most prestigious road racing events.• The Speir duo ran the 26.2 mile course – or 431.12 football fields ... Mark and his brother had almost identi-cal split times through the halfway point and both finished the marathon right at four and a half hours. Speir wore a WCU Football shirt through the streets of Boston with one addition – the hastag, #ByrnesStrong, in honor and memory of friend, Steve Byrnes, a former NASCAR reporter who had passed away from cancer.

MARK SPEIR GRANTED CONTRACT EXTENSION:On the heels of guiding the Catamounts to their first winning regular season since 2005 – and just the sec-ond finish above .500 for hte program since 2001 – the executive committee of Western Carolina University’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved the request for a four-year contract extension for Catamount head football coach Mark Speir. WCU scored seven victories in 2014, matching the most for the team since winning that same number in the 2001 season ... Speir was originally signed to a four and a half year contract. With the extension – which begins on July 1, 2016 – Speir is under contract in Cullowhee through June of 2020.

MARK SPEIR ERA – A RETURN “HOME” TO CULLOWHEE:The 2012 season-opening Thursday night game against Mars Hill marked the “official” beginning of the WCU head coaching career for Mark Speir ... Hired on Dec. 22, 2011, Speir was introduced to the Catamount Nation before a standing-room-only audience in the Ramsey Center Hospitality Room ... Speir is the 13th dif-ferent head coach in Western Carolina’s football history ... It is his second stint in Cullowhee as Speir got his professional start in collegiate coaching in 1991 on staff with former head coach, Steve Hodgin ... Speir was on staff at WCU from 1991 until 1996 ... His first son, Zeb, was born in Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva and his youngest son, Jackson, is named after the county in which Cullowhee resides.

WCU’S ALL-TIME HEAD COACHING RECORDS

RECORD BY UNIFORM UNDER MARK SPEIR

HEAD COACH YRS SEASONS OVERALL SOCON

C.C. Poindexter 4 yrs 1931-34 10-26-2 –

Ralph James 4 yrs 1935-38 4-30-3 –

James Whatley 3 yrs 1939-41 6-15-1 –

Marion McDonald 1 yr 1945 1-3-0 –

Tom Young 10 yrs 1946-55 39-55-4 –

Dan Robinson 13 yrs 1956-68 51-67-6 –

Bob Waters 20 yrs 1969-88 116-94-6 39-36-2

Dale Strahm 1 yr 1989 3-7-1 1-4-1

Steve Hodgin 7 yrs 1990-96 31-45-0 22-31

Bill Bleil 5 yrs 1997-2001 23-32-0 18-22

Kent Briggs 6 yrs 2002-2007 22-43-0 12-32

Dennis Wagner 4 yrs 2008-2011 8-36-0 3-21

Mark Speir 7 yrs 2012–pres. 29-46-0 18-32

TOTALS 85 YRS 343-499-23 113-178-3

MR DATE OPPONENT JERSEY PANT RECORD

11/17/12 at Alabama WHITE GOLD 0-3 (L–3)

11/16/13 Furman PURPLE GOLD 1–3 (L–1)

9/2/17 at Hawai’i White * PURPLE 0-1 (L–1)

9/9/17 Davidson BLACK BLACK 1-0 (W–1)

10/28/17 FURMAN PURPLE BLACK 0-1 (L–1)

11/11/17 MERCER BLACK PURPLE 0-1 (L–1)

9/22/18 VMI PURPLE WHITE 8-4 (W–2)

9/29/18 at Furman WHITE WHITE 5-7 (L–1)

10/6/18 at Samford WHITE PURPLE 6-18 (L–1)

10/13/18 CHATTANOOGA PURPLE PURPLE 8-8 (L–1)


NO. NAME POS. HT. WT. YR. HOMETOWN (PREVIOUS COLLEGE/HIGH SCHOOL)

2 Nate Mullen WR 5-9 185 R-Jr. Harrisburg, N.C. (Charlotte / Hickory Ridge HS)

3 D.J. Thorpe WR 6-3 185 R-Fr. Nashville, Tenn. (Cane Ridge HS)

4 Kenny Benton WR 5-9 180 So. Columbia, S.C. (Blythewood HS)

4 A.J. Rogers DB 6-0 175 Fr. Duncan, S.C. (Byrnes HS)

5 Connell Young RB 6-0 205 Jr. Greensboro, N.C. (Dudley HS)

6 Daquan Patten WR 5-6 185 R-So. Columbia, S.C. (Blythewood HS)

7 Corey Holloway RB 5-10 210 R-Sr. Atlanta, Ga. (Eagle’s Landing HS)

7 Charles Gadie DB 5-9 170 Fr. Douglasville, Ga. (Douglas County HS)

8 A.J. Curry QB 6-5 210 Fr. Mt. Airy, Ga. (Habersham Central HS)

8 Devlin Olawumi Jr. LB 6-0 195 Fr. Atlanta, Ga. (Westlake HS)

9 John Brannon III DB 6-2 190 Jr. Charlotte, N.C. (South Mecklenburg HS)

9 Keshaun Abel WR 6-4 185 R-Fr. Charlotte, N.C. (Mallard Creek HS)

10 Nolan Beasley QB 6-1 195 R-Jr. Charlotte, N.C. (North Mecklenburg HS)

10 Angel Rivera LB 6-2 220 Fr. Charlotte, N.C. (Mallard Creek HS)

11 Jordan Mathis WR 5-10 195 R-Sr. Marietta, Ga. (Marietta HS)

12 Tyrie Adams QB 6-2 185 R-Jr. St. Petersburg, Fla. (Dixie M. Hollins HS)

13 D.J. Atkins RB 5-9 160 Fr. Hogansville, Ga. (Callaway HS)

13 Ronald Kent Jr. DB 5-10 160 Fr. Harrisburg, Pa. (Harrisburg HS)

14 Quintin Thames DB 5-11 170 So. Grayson, Ga. (Grayson HS)

14 Mahari Stribling WR 6-3 180 Fr. Loganville, Ga. (Grayson HS)

15 Will Jones QB 6-4 220 R-Fr. Greensboro, N.C. (Page HS)

16 Bubba Williamson QB 6-2 185 Fr. Kershaw, S.C. (North Central HS)

17 Reggie Jones DB 5-11 175 R-Fr. Sharpsburg, Ga. (East Coweta HS)

17 Tucker Woolum WR 5-10 160 R-Fr. Pineville, Ky. (Pineville HS)

18 Bryce Wilson DB 5-10 175 R-Jr. Atlanta, Ga. (Carver HS)

19 Devarius Cortner DB 6-1 190 Jr. Nashville, Tenn. (East Nashville Magnet HS)

20 Donnavan Spencer RB 5-10 190 R-So. Charlotte, N.C. (Vance HS)

21 Haki Bradley * RB 5-10 210 R-So. Raleigh, N.C. (Catawba / Heritage HS)

22 JerMichael White DB 6-1 185 Sr. Johnson City, Tenn. (Science Hill HS)

24 Shamon Elliott DB 6-0 190 Jr. Fayetteville, N.C. (Terry Sanford HS)

25 Jacquez Williams LB 6-3 220 Sr. Cataula, Ga. (Georgia Military / Harris County HS)

26 Brandon Bawn S 6-1 195 Jr. Macon, Ga. (Georgia Military / Rutland HS)

27 Trevor Childers LB 6-1 215 So. Lincolnton, N.C. (East Lincoln HS)

28 Terrance Wilson DB 5-9 180 R-Sr. Suwanee, Ga. (Buffalo / Buford HS)

29 Marvin Tillman DB 6-1 195 Sr. Durham, N.C. (Southern Durham HS)

30 Michael Murphy DB 6-2 200 R-So. Spartanburg, S.C. (Spartanburg HS)

31 Caleb Ferguson RB 5-11 195 R-Fr. Waynesville, N.C. (Tuscola HS)

32 Chris Campbell LB 6-1 235 Fr. Vanceboro, N.C. (West Craven HS)

33 Curtis Roach LB 6-1 200 R-So. Cumming, Ga. (South Forsyth HS)

34 Bruce Squires LB 6-0 200 R-Fr. Forest City, N.C. (Chase HS)

35 Kalen Allen LB 6-0 250 Fr. Charlotte, N.C. (Mallard Creek HS)

36 Christian Yarborough LB 6-0 200 R-So. Indian Trail, N.C. (Metrolina Christian Academy)

37 Ty Harris LB 6-1 245 R-Fr. Dacula, Ga. (Dacula HS)

38 Jarquavius Wortham LB 6-1 225 Jr. LaGrange, Ga. (Georgia Military / Callaway HS)

39 Julian Pletz K 5-10 180 Fr. Liberty Township, Ohio (Edgewood HS)

40 Will Horton K 5-10 165 So. Acworth, Ga. (North Cobb HS)

41 Cinsere Allison DB 6-0 185 Fr. Kannapolis, N.C. (A.L. Brown HS)

42 Jontavious Shotwell DB 5-11 175 Fr. Hoschton, Ga. (Mill Creek HS)

43 Luke Hoggard LB 6-0 225 R-Fr. Edenton, N.C. (North Carolina / Holmes HS)

44 Charles McDonough LS 6-0 220 R-So. Kernersville, N.C. (East Forsyth HS)

45 Clayton Bardall TE 6-3 225 Fr. Cumming, Ga. (North Forsyth HS)

46 Austin Phillips TE 6-1 235 Jr. Newland, N.C. (Avery County HS)

47 Joel Poinsette K 6-0 165 So. Greenville, S.C. (St. Josephs Catholic HS)

NO. NAME POS. HT. WT. YR. HOMETOWN (PREVIOUS COLLEGE/HIGH SCHOOL)

48 Mitchell Chancey LB 6-0 225 Sr. Asheville, N.C. (Erwin HS)

49 Nate Link DL 6-2 255 R-Jr. Crowley, La. (ULM / Notre Dame HS)

50 Alex McConnell OL 6-4 265 Fr. Boone, N.C. (Watagua HS)

51 Matthew Bair OL 6-3 285 R-So. Anderson, S.C. (T.L. Hanna HS)

52 Grady Thomas OL 6-5 285 So. Spartanburg, S.C. (Spartanburg HS)

55 Andrew Birkmire LB 6-2 220 R-So. Oveido, Fla. (Oveido HS)

57 Alan Harris LB 6-2 225 R-Fr. Atlanta, Ga. (Mt. Vernon Presbyterian HS)

58 Darrius Smith LB 5-11 210 Fr. Roberson, N.C. (South Creek HS)

59 John Esposito * LB 5-10 200 R-So. Staten Island, N.Y. (Buffalo State / St. Joseph by the Sea)

61 Dawson Johnson OL 6-2 265 R-Fr. Taylorsville, N.C. (Alexander Central HS)

62 Michael Harper OL 6-4 285 R-Fr. Wilkesboro, N.C. (Fork Union Military)

63 Zach Weeks OL 6-3 290 R-Sr. Bryson City, N.C. (Swain County HS)

64 Kanaan Brock OL 6-0 295 R-Fr. Rutherfordton, N.C. (R-S Central HS)

65 Kaleb Spry OL 6-3 305 R-Sr. Kannapolis, N.C. (A.L. Brown HS)

67 Jibril Dandy DL 6-2 325 Gr. Wilmington, N.C. (Tuskegee / John T. Hoggard HS)

68 Torrion Stevenson OL 6-1 315 Fr. Branchville, S.C. (Branchville HS)

69 Chase Stehling OL 6-4 330 R-Sr. Lincolnton, N.C. (North Lincoln HS)

70 Devon Stephens OL 6-3 285 R-Fr. Sylva, N.C. (Smoky Mountain HS)

71 Todd Self OL 6-3 310 R-Fr. Bakersville, N.C. (Mitchell HS)

72 Andrew Miles OL 6-4 310 R-Sr. Flowery Branch, Ga. (Flowery Branch HS)

73 Nick Campbell OL 6-1 265 R-Fr. Braselton, Ga. (Mill Creek HS)

74 Tyler Smith OL 6-8 320 Fr. Laurinburg, N.C. (Scotland County HS)

75 Nathan Dalton OL 6-6 340 R-Sr. East Flat Rock, N.C. (East Henderson HS)

77 Clark Willhoite OL 6-6 320 R-Fr. Cincinnati, Ohio (Roger Bacon HS)

78 Garrett Bowman OL 6-4 265 Fr. Arab, Ala. (Arab HS)

79 Bailey Byrum OL 6-7 330 R-So. Sweetwater, Tenn. (Sweetwater HS)

80 Charles Johnson WR 5-8 175 R-Jr. Wake Forest, N.C. (Heritage HS)

81 Connor Moore TE 6-2 200 R-Fr. Sylva, N.C. (Smoky Mountain HS)

82 Caleb Woodard TE 6-0 230 R-So. Bryson City, N.C. (Swain County HS)

83 Ian Berryman P/K 6-0 200 R-Sr. Marietta, Ga. (Fellowship Christian School)

84 Owen Cosenke TE 6-3 240 So. Aldie, Va. (Fork Union Military / John Champe HS)

85 Luke Britt TE 6-6 215 Fr. Calypso, N.C. (North Duplin HS)

86 Tyran Reynolds WR 6-1 200 R-Sr. Crystal River, Fla. (Crystal River HS)

87 Angel Perez-Hunt WR 5-8 165 R-Fr. Mocksville, N.C. (Davie HS)

88 Brad Swan Jr. WR 6-1 190 R-Jr. Dallas, Ga. (North Paulding HS)

89 Richard McCollum K 5-9 160 Fr. Sanford, N.C. (Southern Lee HS)

90 Solomon Clark DL 6-0 270 Sr. Richmond, Calif. (Laney College / Hercules HS)

91 Trevon Poole DL 6-2 270 Fr. Cincinnati, Ohio (Winton Woods HS)

92 Ali Davis DL 6-2 240 Fr. Mint Hill, N.C. (Rocky River HS)

94 Ezekiel Jennette DL 5-11 235 R-Fr. Durham, N.C. (NC State / Southern Durham HS)

95 Elijah Hall DL 6-0 255 R-Fr. Kannapolis, N.C. (A.L. Brown HS)

96 K.J. Milner DL 6-4 260 Fr. Hinesville, Ga. (Bradwell Institute)

97 Adam Henderson DL 6-4 295 Fr. Greenville, S.C. (Berea HS)

98 Holden Edwards DL 6-2 295 R-So. Mount Ulla, N.C. (South Iredell HS)

99 Ricky Palao DL 6-2 270 So. Hoover, Ala. (Hoover HS)

Cameron Brown LB 6-2 210 So. Tallahassee, Fla. (Florida State Univ. School)

Dawson Brown WR 5-8 160 Fr. Kennesaw, Ga. (Harrison HS)

Joey Curry QB 6-0 205 Fr. Murphy, N.C. (Murphy HS)

Brandon Hendricks WR 5-10 160 R-Fr. Mocksville, N.C. (Davie HS)

Jess Smith WR 5-9 175 R-Fr. Seneca, S.C. (Seneca HS)

Dray Starr WR 5-10 170 Fr. McDonough, Ga. (Henry County HS)

Micah Randall P/K 6-1 160 Fr. Kings Mountain, N.C. (Kings Mountain HS)

CATAMOUNTSPORTS.COM /// WESTERN CAROLINA 2018 ROSTER


QB 12 TYRIE ADAMS 6-2 185 R-JR. 15 Will Jones 6-4 220 R-Fr.

RB 5 CONNELL YOUNG 6-0 205 JR. 7 Corey Holloway 5-10 210 R-Sr. - or - 20 Donnavan Spencer 5-10 190 R-So.

WR 11 JORDAN MATHIS 5-10 195 SR. 4 Kenny Benton 5-9 180 So.

WR 2 NATE MULLEN 5-9 185 R-JR. 80 Charles Johnson 5-8 175 R-Jr.

WR 6 DAQUAN PATTEN 5-6 175 R-SO. 86 Tyran Reynolds 6-1 200 R-Sr.

TE 84 OWEN COSENKE 6-3 240 SO. 46 Austin Phillips 6-1 235 JR.

LT 52 GRADY THOMAS 6-5 285 SO. 74 Tyler Smith 6-8 320 Fr.

LG 72 ANDREW MILES 6-4 310 R-SR. 51 Matthew Bair 6-3 285 R-So.

C 63 ZACH WEEKS 6-3 290 R-SR. 65 Kaleb Spry 6-3 305 R-Sr.

RG 69 CHASE STEHLING 6-4 335 R-SR. 77 Clark Willhoite 6-6 330 R-Fr.

RT 75 NATHAN DALTON 6-6 340 R-SR. 62 Michael Harper 6-4 285 R-Fr.

PK 40 WILL HORTON 5-10 165 SO. 39 Julian Pletz 5-10 180 Fr.

KO 40 WILL HORTON 5-10 165 SO. 39 Julian Pletz 5-10 180 Fr.

H 83 IAN BERRYMAN 6-0 200 R-SR. 33 Curtis Roach 6-1 200 R-So.

P 83 IAN BERRYMAN 6-0 200 R-SR. 21 Caleb Ferguson 5-11 195 R-Fr

LS 44 CHARLES MCDONOUGH 6-0 220 R-SO. 43 Luke Hoggard 6-0 225 R-Fr.

KR 4 KENNY BENTON 5-9 180 SO. 20 Donnavan Spencer 5-10 190 R-So. 5 Connell Young 6-0 205 Jr.

PR 6 DAQUAN PATTEN 5-6 175 R-SO. 2 Nate Mullen 5-9 185 R-Jr.

OFFENSE DEFENSE SPECIALISTS

DE 49 NATE LINK 6-2 250 R-JR. 94 Ezekiel Jennette 5-11 235 R-Fr.

NOSE 90 SOLOMON CLARK 6-0 270 SR. 97 Adam Henderson 6-4 295 Fr.

DE 96 K.J. MILNER 6-4 260 FR. 99 Ricky Palao 6-2 270 So.

WILL 25 JACQUEZ WILLIAMS 6-3 220S SR. 57 Alan Harris 6-2 225 R-Fr

SAM 30 MICHAEL MURPHY 6-2 200 R-SO. 34 Bruce Squires 6-0 200 R-Fr.

MIKE 37 TY HARRIS 6-1 245 R-FR. 35 Kalen Allen 6-0 250 Fr.

BUCK 48 MITCHELL CHANCEY 6-0 220 SR. 58 Darrius Smith 5-11 210 Fr.

CB 13 RONALD KENT JR. 5-10 160 FR. 7 Charles Gadie 5-9 170 Fr.

S 29 MARVIN TILLMAN 6-1 195 SR. 9 John Brannon III 6-2 190 Jr.

S 4 A.J. ROGERS 6-0 175 FR. 19 Devarius Cortner 6-1 190 Jr.

CB 17 REGGIE JONES 5-11 175 R-FR. 24 Shamon Elliott 6-0 190 Jr.

CATAMOUNTSPORTS.COM /// WESTERN CAROLINA AT MERCER – DEPTH CHART

COACHES BOOTH IN PRESS BOX: Brad Glenn .....................................Offensive Coordinator Rueben Wright ............................... Running Backs Coach Tripp Weaver ................................... Defensive Secondary Deane Cheathem ..........................................Cornerbacks COACHES ON THE FIELD: Mark Speir ..................................................... Head Coach John Holt .................................................... Offensive Line Tyler Carlton ............................................. Wide Receivers Pat Mills ..................................TEs / Special Teams Coord. Al Degraffenreid ........................Offensive Quality Control John Wiley ........................... Defensive Coordinator / ILBs Mark Rhea ................................................. Defensive Line Justin Hood ...................................... Outside Linebackers

WHO’S UP, WHO’S DOWN


CATAMOUNT OFFENSE QB 12 TYRIE ADAMS 6-2 185 R-JR. 2016 SoCon FR of YR ... Walter Payton Award Watch List ... 7,416 yds total offense (2nd @WCU); 5,987 yds passing (3rd) 15 Will Jones 6-4 220 R-Fr. Threw 1st TD pass @GAWB ... 2 TD passes, TD rush @SAM ... 3-yr starter @Page HS, 2x NCHSAA 4-A champ

RB 5 CONNELL YOUNG 6-0 205 JR. Converted back to RB ... 657 rush yds, 5 TDs – 1st 100-yd (105 @GAWB); 44 recs, 413 yds, 5TD ... SoCon ALL-FR (returner) 20 Donnavan Spencer 5-10 190 R-So. 6 rushing TDs in 2017, 7 career ... 1st start vs.ETSU (2017), 139 rushing yds & 4 TDs ... 400 yds in gm as prep - or - 7 Corey Holloway 5-10 210 R-Sr. Returning from injury (chest) ... 857 career rush yds, 13 TDs (9 shy of WCU top 20) ... Three, 100-yd rushing games

WR 11 JORDAN MATHIS 5-10 195 R-SR. 34 gms, 62 rec. 761 yds, 3 TDs ... 2, 100-yd gms (@FUR in 2018 ...) Came to WCU as 2-sport (FB, BASE) ... Father, Mark, played in NFL 4 Kenny Benton 5-9 180 So. 14 gms ... 1st carer catch @FUR, adding FF & FR on SpTms ... 1st career TD rec @SAM ... Missed preseason with injury

WR 2 NATE MULLEN 5-9 185 R-JR. Transfer from Charlotte, son of a coach (Jeff) ... 24 GP over 2 yrs @UNCC ... Rush, Rec TD vs. VMI ... Tm-best 31 rec, 350 yds, TD 80 Charles Johnson 5-8 175 R-Jr. 1 career GP, no official stats ... SoCon Academic Honor Roll (2015-16) ... 4-time SoCon Academic Honor Roll

WR 6 DAQUAN PATTEN 5-6 175 R-SO. 9 career GP, 6 starts ... 1st TD rec @GAWB, 4 TD n ‘18 ... Legacy at WCU; father, David Patten – Super Bowl champ. (NE) 86 Tyran Reynolds 6-1 200 R-Sr. 1 catch, 10 yds in 2015 ... Scoop-and-score on a punt block vs. ETSU in 2017 ... 4 catches, 75 yds in 2018

TE 84 OWEN COSENKE 6-3 240 SO. Rec in 6 of last 7 games ... Career: 20 rec, 226 yds, 6 TDs (5 this yr) ... Named 2nd tm Phil Steele FR All-America in 2017 46 Austin Phillips 6-1 235 Jr. Used mostly on SpTm until injuries 2017, good blocker ... 23 gms, 6 catches, 55 yds, 2 career TDs (vs.Mercer, vs. Newberry)

LT 52 GRADY THOMAS 6-5 285 SO. 15 GP, 7 starts ... 1st-team All-USA SC FB tm ... Selected to 80th Shrine Bowl ... No. 5 wrestler in SC, County Champion 74 Tyler Smith 6-8 320 Fr. Two-time all-conference ... Shrine Bowl ... Named to 2017 American Family Insurance All-USA NC FB team

LG 72 ANDREW MILES 6-4 310 R-SR. Returned from injury in 2015 ... 40 career GP, 19 starts ... 2nd team All-SoCon in 2017; PRE 2nd tm All-SoCon 51 Matthew Bair 6-3 285 R-So. Appeared in 15 gms as reserve on OL & SPTM ... All-State as prep senior after grading out at 90% with 78 pancake blks

C 63 ZACH WEEKS 6-3 285 R-SR. 4-yr starter, 39 GP ... PRE All-SoCon, All-America ... 2015 SoCon All-FR TM, redshirt in 2014 ... 3-year starter @Swain HS 73 Nick Campbell 6-1 265 R-Fr. Yet to make collegiate debut ... 3-yr varsity on 3-time region championship tm ... Father, Mike, played at Auburn, CFL

RG 69 CHASE STEHLING 6-4 335 R-SR. 29 career GP, 8 GS ... Redshirt in 2014, DNP in 2015 ... OL, DL, & TE as a prep; hoops and track & field; Trk & Fld @WCU 77 Clark Willhoite 6-6 330 R-Fr. Redshirted ... 6 GP, mostly on SPTMs ... All-conference, team MVP along offensive line ... Academic All-Ohio

RT 75 NATHAN DALTON 6-6 340 R-SR. 38 GP, 34 starts ... SoCon All-Freshman Tm in ‘15 ... 2nd team PRE All-SoCon in 2016, 2017, 2018 62 Michael Harper 6-4 285 R-Fr. 1st start @FUR ... Played OL & DL as prep ... All-Prep, All-State at Fork Union ... Distinguished Cadet Award at FUMA

CATAMOUNT DEFENSE DE 49 NATE LINK 6-2 250 R-JR. Transfer from UL-Monroe ... 68 tckls, 8.5 TFL, 4.5 sacks, 6 hurries ... Career-high 10 tckls, at CIT /// 9 GP at ULM, 5 tckls 94 Ezekiel Jennette 5-11 235 R-Fr. Transfer ... LB / DL hybrid for rush DE ... good athleticism ... Made WCU debut vs. Newberry (2018), 6 GP @WCU, 1 tckl

NOSE 90 SOLOMON CLARK 6-0 250 JR. 31 tckls with 9.5 TFL ... 5.5 TFL, 4.0 sacks vs. VMI ... Transfer from Laney College; 17 gms @ Laney, 37 tckls & 4 blks 97 Adam Henderson 6-4 295 Fr. 5 tckls in debut vs. NEW ... 14 tckls, 3.0 TFLs ... 4-yr varsity letter winner ... 2017 Shrine Bowl, 1st from Berea HS since 1995

DE 96 K.J. MILNER 6-4 260 FR. 6 GP, 13 tckls, 1 TFL ... 1st-team defense as senior ... Selected to “Blitz Border Bowl ... Earned the Captain’s Award 99 Ricky Palao 6-2 270 So. 10 GP ... 9 tckls, 2.5 TFL ... 1st sack vs.UTC ... On Alabama 7-A champ tm at Hoover High, sack in title gm

WILL 25 JACQUEZ WILLIAMS 6-3 220 JR. 16 gms ... 56 tckls, 30 solo, 8.5 career TFLs, 5.0 career sacks ... 7.5 TFLs, 4.0 sacks this year 57 Alan Harris 6-2 225 R-Fr. Redshirted in 2017 ... 3 GP, 1 tckl ... 458 career tckls as prep, 200 solo stops & 29 sacks at Mt. Vernon Presbyterian HS

SAM 30 MICHAEL MURPHY 6-2 200 R-SO. 18 GP, 72 tackles, 4.0 TFL, 4 PBUs ... 1st career INT, pick-6 vs. VMI ... HS: All-Region II-4A as SR ... All-Area 2nd tm 34 Bruce Squires 6-0 200 R-Fr. DNP in 2017 ... 2017-18 SoCon Academic Honor Roll ... 6 GP, 7 tckls ... 2-time all-conf as prep ... 2-star out of HS by 247Sports

MIKE 37 TY HARRIS 6-1 245 SO. Injured for opener vs. Newberry ... 17 GP, 65 career tckls, 38 solo, 5.0 TFL ... 1st career sack @GAWB ... 2 INTS 35 Kalen Allen 6-0 250 Fr. Started vs. NEW, blkd PAT ... 8 tackles, TFL ... 4-year varsity, 3-time all-conference ... Over 480 career tckls ... All-State

BUCK 48 MITCHELL CHANCEY 6-0 225 SR. 35 GP, 90 career tackles, 50 solo stops, 4.0 TFLs, Sack ... Dbl-digit tckls, 6-STRT-GMS ... 2014 MAC DEF PotY, All-WNC 58 Darrius Smith 5-11 210 Fr. Four-year varsity letter winner ... 244 tackles as prep, 211 solo stops and 7 TFL ... INT, two FF as prep ... 4 GP for WCU, 1 tckl

CB 13 RONALD KENT, JR. 5-10 170 FR. Two-way player as prep ... Named All-State ... Listed as No. 9 CB in Pennsylvania ... 29 tackles, 8 PBUs in 1st 6 gms 7 Charles Gadie 5-9 170 Fr. 3 GP, 2 tackles in 2018 ... 2-time All-Region, first-team as senior ... Listed as 2-star recruit by Rivals & 247Sports

S 29 MARVIN TILLMAN 6-1 190 SR. 37 gms, 248 tckls – 7 INTs, 5 in 2017, 17 PBUs ... 2015 SoCon All-FR ... Career-high 13 tckls at #5 WOF ... Buck Buchanan Watch List 9 John Brannon III 6-2 190 Jr. 16 GP, 15 tackles, TFL ... 3 PBUs ... 2 INTs vs. ETSU with pick six ... 97 INT Ret Yds ... SoCon DEF POTW (Oct. 16, 2017)

S 4 A.J. ROGERS 6-0 175 FR. 6 GP, 2 GS; 14 tckls, 10 solo ... All-state, All-area, All-region as SR ... North-South game, also played in Blue-Grey Bowl in 2015 19 Devarius Cortner 6-1 190 Jr. 21 games played, 31 tackles, 14 solo ... QB & DB as prep ... Two-star athlete by Rivals.com & 247Sports

CB 17 REGGIE JONES 5-11 175 R-FR. 6 GP, 12 tackles, 8 solo, 2 PBUs ... All-Region as a prep ... DNP in 2017 ... 2 tackles vs. Newberry in debut ... 24 Shamon Elliott 6-0 190 Jr. 23 GP ... 77 career tckls, 57 solo ... Career-high 12 tckls vs. VMI ... Career-best TWO INTs vs. DAV – 3 INTs in 2017 ... 12 PBUs

CATAMOUNT SPECIAL TEAMS PK 40 WILL HORTON 5-10 165 SO. 1st tm All-State ... 4.5 star at Chris Sailer ... 8-of-11 (72.7) FG @WCU ... 52-for-53 to date – 20-straight PATs active streak 39 Julian Pletz 5-10 180 Fr. Joined the football team for fall camp ... 1st FGA at GAWB, blocked ... 2-for-2 on PATs, 0-for-1 on FGs (@GAWB)

P 83 IAN BERRYMAN 6-0 205 R-SR. Long 65-yd punt vs. SAM ... 193 career punts ... 53 kicks of 50+ yds and 76 downed inside opp. 20 ... PRE All-SoCon, All-America 31 Caleb Ferguson 5-11 195 R-Fr. RB by trade, also used in SPTMs as back-up punter (4 punts, 37.2 avg) ... 3-time All-WNC ... Two-way player as prep

LS 44 CHARLES MCDONOUGH 6-0 220 R-SO. 2nd-year LS ... Snaps on placekicks, punts ... 2 career tackles ... 4.5 star rating from Rubio Long Snapping Camp

CATAMOUNTSPORTS.COM /// NOTING WESTERN CAROLINA’S TWO-DEEP AT MERCER


#12 TYRIE ADAMS ........................................QB2018 Att Comp Int Pct Yards TD Long Sack - YdsNewberry ...............................................26 17 0 69.2 262 0 51 1 - 4at Gardner-Webb ................................... 24 13 0 54.2 108 2 33 1 - 6VMI ........................................................ 33 21 2 63.6 229 3 32 1 - 5at Furman ..............................................36 25 0 69.4 424 5 58 4 - 12at Samford ............................................... 3 3 0 100.0 14 0 8 0 - 0Chattanooga ...........................................13 6 1 46.1 88 0 37 3 - 15 SEASON .......................................... 135 85 3 63.0 1,125 10 58 10 - 42

2017 Att Comp Int Pct Yards TD Long Sack - Ydsat Hawai’i ..............................................40 23 1 57.5 270 1 26 4 - 19Davidson ................................................13 10 0 76.9 274 5 67 0 0at Gardner-Webb ...................................23 14 1 60.9 224 3 41 2 - 20#17 Samford............................................31 19 1 61.3 312 1 59 3 - 10at Chattanooga.......................................15 8 0 53.3 125 1 38 3 - 16at #5 Wofford ........................................26 17 3 65.4 195 2 38 1 - 8ETSU ...................................................... 27 14 0 51.9 83 1 20 3 - 18at VMI .................................................... 33 20 1 60.6 195 1 29 3 - 25Furman ................................................... 11 7 0 63.6 36 0 10 1 - 5at The Citadel .........................................21 14 0 66.7 133 3 32 0 0Mercer ................................................... 47 35 1 74.5 378 3 48 1 - 11at North Carolina ....................................18 8 0 44.4 69 1 29 0 0SEASON ..........................................305 189 8 62.0 2,294 22 67 21 - 132

2016 Att Comp Int Pct Yards TD Long Sack - Ydsat East Carolina ..................................... 24 12 1 50.0 167 0 48 0 0Gardner-Webb ....................................... 43 36 2 83.7 427 5 45 0 0at ETSU ..................................................39 26 0 66.7 343 2 45 4 - 11The Citadel .............................................19 10 1 52.6 90 0 24 7 - 57Wofford .................................................. 48 31 1 64.5 285 2 38 3 - 20at Mercer ...............................................39 25 2 64.1 384 2 43 1 - 9at Samford ..............................................31 17 1 54.8 122 1 14 4 - 23Chattanooga ..........................................23 13 0 56.5 117 1 21 4 - 22VMI .........................................................31 21 1 67.7 207 1 53 2 - 21at Furman .............................................. 27 19 0 70.4 295 1 61 3 - 15at South Carolina ....................................18 7 0 38.9 131 0 57 1 - 6SEASON ..........................................342 217 8 63.5 2,568 15 61 29 - 184

2015 Att Comp Int Pct Yards TD Long Sack - YdsREDSHIRTED

CAREER ..........................................782 491 19 62.8 5,987 47 67 60 - 358

#11 JORDAN MATHIS ................................... WR2018 Att Comp Int Pct Yards TD Long Sack - YdsNewberry ..................................................1 1 0 100.0 9 1 0 0 - 0at Samford ................................................1 1 0 100.0 -6 0 0 0 - 0Chattanooga .............................................1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 - 0SEASON ..............................................3 2 0 66.7 3 1 0 0 - 0

2017 Att Comp Int Pct Yards TD Long Sack - Ydsat #5 Wofford ...........................................1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 - 0Furman .....................................................1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 - 0SEASON ..............................................2 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 - 0

2015 Att Comp Int Pct Yards TD Long Sack - YdsSamford ....................................................1 1 0 100.0 39 1 39 0 - 0SEASON .............................................. 1 1 0 100.0 39 1 39 0 - 0

CAREER ..............................................6 3 0 50.0 48 2 39 0 - 0

#15 WILL JONES...........................................QB2018 Att Comp Int Pct Yards TD Long Sack - YdsNewberry .................................................0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 - 0at Gardner-Webb ..................................... 4 3 0 75.0 42 1 18 0 - 0at Furman ................................................ 4 2 0 50.0 22 0 20 0 - 0at Samford ..............................................41 22 2 53.7 210 2 26 1 - 6Chattanooga ............................................ 5 3 0 60.0 68 0 29 1 - 9 SEASON ............................................54 30 2 55.6 342 3 29 2 - 15

WCU INDIVIDUAL CAREER PASSING STATS

CATAMOUNTSPORTS.COM /// WCU CAREER INDIVIDUAL GAME-BY-GAME STATISTICS



#2 NATE MULLEN .............. WR2018Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avgat Gardner-Webb ....................1 8 0 8 0 8 8.0VMI .........................................1 15 0 15 1 15 15.0at Furman ...............................1 6 0 6 0 6 6.0at Samford ..............................1 4 0 4 0 4 4.0Chattanooga ...........................1 3 0 3 0 3 3.0SEASON ............................. 5 36 0 36 1 15 8.3

#4 KENNY BENTON ........... WR2018Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg AvgVMI .........................................1 9 0 9 0 9 9.0SEASON ..............................1 9 0 9 0 9 9.0

#5 CONNELL YOUNG ......... RB2018Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg AvgNewberry ............................. 18 102 5 97 0 16 5.4at Gardner-Webb ................. 14 108 3 105 1 31 7.5VMI ...................................... 19 93 4 89 0 31 4.7at Furman ............................ 14 52 0 52 0 12 3.7at Samford ............................. 7 25 1 24 0 9 3.4Chattanooga ........................ 15 73 1 72 0 20 4.8SEASON ........................... 87 453 14 439 1 31 5.0

2017Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg AvgDavidson ...............................2 17 0 17 0 12 8.5at Gardner-Webb ...................2 18 0 18 0 13 9.0#17 Samford...........................5 24 1 23 0 9 4.6Furman ...................................1 5 0 5 0 5 5.0SEASON ............................10 64 1 63 0 13 6.3

2016Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avgat East Carolina .....................2 1 2 -1 0 1 -0.5Gardner-Webb .......................3 12 0 12 0 8 4.0at Mercer ...............................3 11 0 11 1 8 3.7at Samford .............................5 23 0 23 0 12 4.6Chattanooga ..........................8 28 2 26 0 9 3.2VMI ........................................6 14 0 14 1 10 2.3at Furman ..............................8 42 0 42 0 12 5.2at South Carolina ...................9 31 3 28 2 16 3.1SEASON ........................... 44 162 7 155 4 16 3.5CAREER .......................... 141 679 22 657 5 31 4.7

#7 COREY HOLLOWAY........ RB2018Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avgat Gardner-Webb ...................6 15 0 15 0 4 2.5VMI .........................................1 1 0 1 0 1 1.0at Furman ...............................1 6 0 6 0 6 6.0at Samford ............................. 7 15 1 14 1 6 2.0Chattanooga ...........................1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0SEASON ............................16 37 1 36 1 6 2.4

2017Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avgat Hawai’i ..............................8 76 0 76 1 49 9.5Davidson ............................. 16 121 2 119 0 45 7.4at Gardner-Webb ...................5 18 4 14 1 13 2.8#17 Samford...........................6 13 0 13 1 5 2.2at Chattanooga.................... 14 105 0 105 2 58 7.5at #5 Wofford ........................2 9 0 9 0 8 4.5ETSU .......................................1 3 0 3 0 3 3.0at VMI ...................................17 57 8 49 1 8 2.9Furman ................................ 10 42 0 42 1 11 4.2at The Citadel .........................1 12 0 12 0 12 12.0Mercer ...................................2 14 0 14 0 10 7.0SEASON ........................... 82 470 14 456 7 58 5.6

2016Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avgat East Carolina ..................... 7 25 0 25 0 10 3.6Gardner-Webb .......................6 20 0 20 0 8 3.3at ETSU ..................................3 19 0 19 0 10 6.3Wofford ...................................1 1 0 1 0 1 1.0at Mercer ...............................5 4 5 -1 0 3 -0.2at Samford .............................8 41 0 41 0 19 5.1Chattanooga ..........................3 5 0 5 0 3 1.7VMI ........................................5 9 0 9 1 4 1.8SEASON ........................... 38 124 5 119 1 19 3.3

2015Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg AvgMars Hill ................................9 58 0 58 1 18 6.4at Tennessee .........................8 29 2 27 0 9 3.4Presbyterian ........................ 15 59 1 58 0 11 3.9Mercer ...................................4 24 0 24 0 7 6.0at Wofford ..............................5 22 0 22 1 9 4.4Samford ................................ 11 50 0 50 2 14 4.5at #4 Chattanooga .................1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0SEASON ........................... 53 242 3 239 4 18 4.5

CAREER ..........................189 873 23 850 13 58 4.5

#8 A.J. CURRY ...................QB2018Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avgat Samford ..............................1 0 2 -2 0 0 -2.0SEASON ..............................1 0 2 -2 0 0 -2.0

#10 NOLAN BEASLEY .........QB2017Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg AvgDavidson ................................1 5 0 5 0 5 5.0SEASON ..............................1 5 0 5 0 5 5.0

#11 JORDAN MATHIS ......... WR2017Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avgat Chattanooga......................2 26 0 26 0 20 13.0at #5 Wofford ........................2 3 4 -1 0 3 -0.5ETSU ......................................3 15 3 12 0 11 4.0Furman ...................................1 7 0 7 0 7 7.0SEASON ............................. 8 51 7 44 0 20 5.5

2015Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avgat #4 Chattanooga .................1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0SEASON ..................................1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

CAREER ............................. 9 51 7 44 0 20 4.9

#12 TYRIE ADAMS ..............QB2018Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg AvgNewberry ..............................17 91 10 81 3 17 4.8at Gardner-Webb ................. 12 112 6 106 0 32 8.8VMI .......................................17 122 5 117 1 21 6.9at Furman ............................ 19 66 18 48 0 12 2.5at Samford .............................3 10 19 -9 0 9 -3.0Chattanooga ..........................8 9 27 -18 0 4 -2.2SEASON ........................... 76 410 85 325 4 32 4.3

2017Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avgat Hawai’i ............................23 147 40 107 0 28 4.7Davidson ...............................3 9 10 -1 0 9 -0.3at Gardner-Webb ................. 10 57 20 37 0 19 3.7#17 Samford.........................20 165 13 152 1 48 7.6at Chattanooga.................... 10 62 18 44 0 19 4.4at #5 Wofford ...................... 16 88 12 76 1 13 4.8ETSU .................................... 14 102 12 90 0 40 6.4at VMI ..................................23 103 33 70 0 18 3.0Furman ..................................6 22 5 17 0 6 2.8at The Citadel ........................ 7 68 18 50 0 34 7.1Mercer ................................. 15 75 20 55 0 11 3.7at North Carolina ...................8 52 3 49 0 15 6.1SEASON ..........................155 950 204 746 2 48 4.7

2016Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avgat East Carolina .................... 11 57 6 51 0 13 4.6Gardner-Webb ..................... 13 83 0 83 0 12 6.4at ETSU ................................. 11 49 12 37 0 21 3.4The Citadel .......................... 10 19 66 -47 0 12 -4.7Wofford ..................................8 24 21 3 0 9 0.4at Mercer ...............................4 13 9 4 0 8 1.0at Samford ........................... 15 71 23 48 0 13 3.2Chattanooga ........................ 15 55 32 23 0 16 1.5VMI ...................................... 10 38 25 13 0 10 1.3at Furman ............................ 13 68 18 50 0 25 3.8at South Carolina ................. 13 103 10 93 0 24 7.2SEASON ..........................123 580 222 358 0 25 2.9

CAREER .............................. 346 1,931 484 1,447 6 48 4.2

#15 WILL JONES.................QB2018Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg AvgNewberry ...............................2 13 0 13 0 11 6.5at Gardner-Webb ...................4 22 0 22 0 14 5.5at Furman ..............................3 10 0 10 0 4 3.3at Samford .............................8 52 6 46 1 26 5.8Chattanooga ..........................6 23 11 12 0 12 2.0SEASON ........................... 23 120 18 102 1 26 4.4

#20 DONNAVAN SPENCER .... RB2018Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg AvgNewberry ...............................6 24 2 22 0 15 3.7at Gardner-Webb ...................9 69 0 69 0 46 7.7VMI ...................................... 10 96 1 95 1 31 9.5at Furman ..............................5 15 0 15 0 7 3.0at Samford .............................5 62 0 62 0 49 12.4Chattanooga ..........................4 13 0 13 0 7 3.2SEASON ........................... 39 279 3 276 1 49 7.1

2017Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avgat Hawai’i ...............................1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0Davidson ...............................8 23 2 21 1 10 2.6at Chattanooga.................... 10 38 2 36 0 10 3.6at #5 Wofford .........................1 1 0 1 1 1 1.0ETSU .................................... 21 139 0 139 4 41 6.6at VMI .................................. 14 78 2 76 0 28 5.4Furman ..................................5 28 1 27 0 11 5.4SEASON ........................... 60 367 67 300 6 41 5.0

CAREER ........................... 99 646 70 576 7 49 5.8

#31 CALEB FERGUSON ....... RB2018Game No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avgat Samford .............................2 5 0 5 0 5 2.5SEASON ............................. 2 5 0 5 0 5 2.5

WCU INDIVIDUAL CAREER RUSHING STATS



#2 NATE MULLEN ...............WR2018Game No Yds TD LongNewberry ......................................4 80 0 37at Gardner-Webb ..........................2 22 0 15VMI ...............................................8 74 1 14at Furman .....................................8 61 0 18at Samford ....................................5 48 0 21Chattanooga .................................4 65 0 37SEASON ................................. 35 350 1 37

#3 D.J. THORPE ..................WR2018Game No Yds TD Longat Samford ....................................2 12 0 10SEASON ....................................2 12 0 10

#4 KENNY BENTON ............WR2018Game No Yds TD Longat Furman ......................................1 28 0 28at Samford ....................................5 40 1 17SEASON ................................... 6 68 1 28

2017Game No Yds TD LongNo Receptions ................................

#5 CONNELL YOUNG ............RB2018Game No Yds TD LongNewberry ......................................3 12 0 6at Gardner-Webb ..........................6 66 1 33VMI ...............................................3 19 0 7at Furman .....................................4 36 1 20at Samford .....................................1 4 0 4Chattanooga .................................3 38 0 24SEASON ................................. 20 155 2 33

2017Game No Yds TD Longat Hawai’i .....................................4 43 0 14Davidson .......................................1 6 0 6at Gardner-Webb ..........................4 30 1 17#17 Samford..................................2 28 0 15at The Citadel ...............................3 30 1 12Mercer ..........................................8 76 0 38at North Carolina ...........................1 1 1 1SEASON ................................. 23 214 3 38

2016Game No Yds TD Longat Furman ......................................1 24 0 24SEASON .................................... 1 24 0 24

CAREER ................................. 44 413 5 38

#6 DAQUAN PATTEN ............ WR2018Game No Yds TD LongNewberry ......................................4 92 0 51at Gardner-Webb ..........................3 9 1 3VMI ............................................... 7 81 1 32at Furman .....................................6 159 2 50at Samford ....................................2 11 0 7SEASON ................................. 22 362 4 51

#7 COREY HOLLOWAY........ RB2018Game No Yds TD Longat Samford ....................................2 32 0 26SEASON ....................................2 32 0 26

2017Game No Yds TD LongDavidson ......................................2 22 1 19#17 Samford..................................2 11 0 13SEASON ....................................4 33 1 19

2016Game No Yds TD LongNone ...............................................SEASON ..........................................

2015Game No Yds TD Longat Tennessee ................................2 5 0 5Mercer ..........................................2 6 0 4at Wofford ......................................1 3 0 3Samford .........................................1 0 0 0at #4 Chattanooga .......................3 6 0 4SEASON ................................... 9 20 0 5

CAREER .................................. 15 85 1 26

#11 JORDAN MATHIS ......... WR2018Game No Yds TD LongNewberry ......................................3 47 0 18at Gardner-Webb ..........................2 33 0 18at Furman .....................................5 100 0 58at Samford ....................................4 30 0 14Chattanooga .................................2 53 0 29SEASON .................................. 16 263 0 29

2017Game No Yds TD Longat Chattanooga.............................5 56 1 26at #5 Wofford ...............................3 23 1 17ETSU ..............................................1 10 0 10at VMI ...........................................6 61 0 19Furman .........................................3 17 0 7at The Citadel ...............................3 20 0 12Mercer ..........................................5 40 0 14at North Carolina ..........................3 48 0 25SEASON ................................. 29 275 2 26

2016Game No Yds TD LongGardner-Webb ..............................6 117 0 40at ETSU .........................................6 58 0 17Wofford ..........................................1 5 0 5SEASON .................................. 13 180 0 40

2015Game No Yds TD LongPresbyterian ..................................1 6 0 6at Wofford ......................................1 5 0 5Samford .........................................1 9 1 9at VMI ............................................1 -2 0 -2SEASON ....................................4 18 1 9

CAREER ................................. 62 736 3 58

#20 DONNAVAN SPENCER .... RB2018Game No Yds TD Longat Gardner-Webb ...........................1 -4 0 0SEASON .................................... 1 -4 0 0

2017Game No Yds TD Longat Hawai’i ......................................1 24 0 24Davidson ......................................2 21 0 11ETSU .............................................2 2 0 5at VMI ............................................1 7 0 7SEASON ................................... 6 54 0 24

CAREER ....................................7 51 0 24

#46 AUSTIN PHILLIPS .........TE2018Game No Yds TD LongNewberry .......................................1 9 1 9SEASON .................................... 1 9 1 9

2017Game No Yds TD Longat #5 Wofford ...............................2 11 0 6Furman .........................................2 27 0 21Mercer ...........................................1 8 1 8SEASON ................................... 5 46 1 21

CAREER ................................... 6 55 2 21

#84 OWEN COSENKE ............TE2018Game No Yds TD LongNewberry .......................................1 7 0 7at Gardner-Webb ..........................2 24 1 15VMI ...............................................3 55 1 23at Furman .....................................2 22 2 13at Samford ....................................3 36 1 21SEASON ...................................11 144 5 23

2017Game No Yds TD Longat Hawai’i .....................................3 28 0 14#17 Samford..................................2 24 0 21at #5 Wofford ................................1 16 0 16ETSU ..............................................1 3 1 3at VMI ............................................1 5 0 5at North Carolina ...........................1 6 0 6SEASON ................................... 9 82 1 21

CAREER ................................. 20 226 6 23

#86 TY REYNOLDS ............ WR2018Game No Yds TD LongNewberry ......................................2 24 0 17at Furman ......................................1 40 0 40at Samford .....................................1 11 0 11SEASON ....................................4 75 0 40



2015Game No Yds TD LongMars Hill ........................................1 10 0 10SEASON .................................... 1 10 0 10

CAREER ................................... 5 85 0 40

#88 BRAD SWAN, JR. ........ WR2017Game No Yds TD Longat The Citadel ...............................2 12 0 8SEASON ....................................2 12 0 8

2016Game No Yds TD LongWofford .........................................4 43 0 20at Mercer .......................................1 40 0 40at Samford ....................................2 7 0 4SEASON ....................................7 90 0 40

CAREER ................................... 9 102 0 40

WCU INDIVIDUAL CAREER RECEIVING STATS


TYRIE ADAMSRushes ......................... 23, twice: MR - at VMI, 2017Rushing Yds ...................... 152, #17 SAMFORD, 2017Rushing TDs .............................. 3, NEWBERRY, 2018Pass Attempts .............................. 47, MERCER, 2017Pass Completions .......... 36, GARDNER-WEBB, 2016Passing Yds ...................427, GARDNER-WEBB, 2016TD Passes ...... 5, three times: MR - at Furman, 2018

KENNY BENTONReceptions .................................5, at Samford, 2018Receiving Yards .......................40, at Samford, 2018Receiving TDs ............................ 1, at Samford, 2018Punt Returns .......................3, at Chattanooga, 2017Long Punt Return ................8, at Chattanooga, 2017Kickoff Returns ..........................4, at Samford, 2018Kickoff Return Yds ...................84, at SAMFORD< @)

OWEN COSENKEReceptions ........3, three times: MR – at Samford, 2018Receiving Yards ..................................55, VMI, 2018Long Reception ............................23 yds, VMI, 2018Receiving TDs .............................2, at Furman, 2018

COREY HOLLOWAYRushes ..............................................17, at VMI, 2017Rushing Yards ........................... 119, DAVDISON, 2017Rushing Touchdowns .................2, SAMFORD, 2015100+ Yard Rushing Games ...................................... 2Receptions .................... 3, at #4 Chattanooga, 2015

WILL JONESRushes .......................................8, at Samford, 2018Rushing Yards ..........................46, at Samford, 2018Rushing TDs ............................... 1, at Samford, 2018Long Rush .........................26 yds, at Samford, 2018Pass Attempts .......................... 41, at Samford, 2018Pass Completions ................... 22, at Samford, 2018Passing Yards ........................ 210, at Samford, 2018Passing TDs ...............................2, at Samford, 2018

JORDAN MATHISRushes ................................................ 3, ETSU, 2017Rushing Yards ....................................12, ETSU, 2017Receptions ...........6, three times: MR – at VMI, 2017Receiving Yards ............. 117, GARDNER-WEBB, 2016100-yard Receiving Games ..................................... 2Receiving TDs ..............................1, SAMFORD, 2015Punt Returns ...... 1, three times: MR - G-WEBB, 2016

NATE MULLENReceptions ..............8, twice: MR – at Furman, 2018Receiving Yards ......................80, NEWBERRY, 2018Receiving TDs ........................................1, VMI, 2018Kick Returns................................. 28 yds, VMI, 2018

DAQUAN PATTENReceptions ..............6, twice: MR – at Furman, 2018Receiving Yards ...................... 159, at Furman, 2018100-yard Receiving Games ......................................1Long Reception ................ 51 yds, NEWBERRY, 2018Receiving TDs .............................2, at Furman, 2018Punt Returns ......................................... 3, VMI, 2018Punt Return Yds .........37 yds, CHATTANOOGA, 2018

IAN BERRYMANPunts .................... 10, twice: MR – at Samford, 2018Long Punt .......................... 65 yds, SAMFORD, 2015Field Goal Att. ..............................3, at Hawai’i, 2017Field Goal Made .......................... 1, at Hawai’i, 2017Long FGM ...........................30 yds, at Hawai’i, 2017PATs Made ................................... 1, at Hawai’i, 2017

CALEB FERGUSONPunts ......................................... 4, NEWBERRY, 2018Long Punt .........................43 yds, NEWBERRY, 2018

WILL HORTONField Goal Att. .......... 2-for-2, twice: MR – UTC, 2018Field Goal Made ...............2, twice: MR – UTC, 2018Long Field Goal .........47 yds, CHATTANOOGA, 2018PATs Made ................................. 9, DAVIDSON, 2017Consecutive PATs ..................................32 (2017-18)ACTIVE Consecutive PATs .....................................20

JULIAN PLETZField Goal Att. ...................1, at Gardner-Webb, 2018Field Goal Made .......................................................PATs Made ...............1, twice: MR – at Furman, 2018ACTIVE Consecutive PATs ....................................... 2

JOEL POINSETTEField Goal Att. ............................. 2, at Hawai’i, 2017Field Goal Made .......................................................PATs Made ................................................................

RICHARD MCCOLLUMKickoffs ................................................. 9, VMI, 2018

– WCU SPECIALISTS –

CATAMOUNTSPORTS.COM /// CATAMOUNT CAREER, SINGLE-GAME HIGHS – OFFENSE & SPECIAL TEAMS

AUSTIN PHILLIPSReceptions ................ 2, twice: MR – FURMAN, 2017Receiving Yds ..............................27, FURMAN, 2017Receiving TDs .......... 1, twice: MR: NEWBERRY, 2018Long Reception ...........................21, FURMAN, 2017

TY REYNOLDSReceptions ................................ 2, NEWBERRY, 2018Receiving Yards ........................40, at Furman, 2018Long Reception ........................40, at Furman, 2018

DONNAVAN SPENCERRushes ...............................................21, ETSU, 2017Rushing Yards ..................................139, ETSU, 2017Rushing TDs ........................................ 4, ETSU, 2017Receptions ....................... 2, twice: MR - ETSU, 2017Receiving Yds ........................... 24, at Hawai’i, 2017

BRAD SWAN, JR.Receptions ..................................4, WOFFORD, 2016Receiving Yards ....................... 43, WOFFORD, 2016Receiving TDs ...........................................................Long Reception ..........................41, at Mercer, 2016

D.J. THORPEReceptions .................................2, at Samford, 2018Receiving Yards ....................... 43, WOFFORD, 2016Receiving TDs ...........................................................Long Reception ..........................41, at Mercer, 2016

CONNELL YOUNGRushes .................................................19, VMI, 2018Rushing Yards .............. 105, at Gardner-Webb, 2018Rushing Touchdowns ..... 2, at South Carolina, 2016Receptions .....................................8, MERCER, 2017Receiving Yards .................... 76 yds, MERCER, 2017Receiving TDs ........... 1, four times, at G-Webb, 2018All-Purpose Yds ............. 171, at Gardner-Webb, 2018


CATAMOUNTSPORTS.COM /// CATAMOUNT CAREER, SINGLE-GAME HIGHS – DEFENSE

KALEN ALLENTackles ...................................... 5, NEWBERRY, 2018TFL .............................................1, NEWBERRY, 2018Blocked Kicks ............................1, NEWBERRY, 2018

BRANDON BAWNTackles ...................................... 2, NEWBERRY, 2018

JOHN BRANNON IIITackles .......................................3, at Samford, 2018TFL ..................................................... 1, at VMI, 2017Intercpetions ...................................... 2, ETSU, 2017Touchdowns ........................................ 1, ETSU, 2017

MITCHELL CHANCEYTackles ..................................... 15, at Samford, 2018TFL ............. 1.0, three times: MR - NEWBERRY, 2018Sacks ......................................1.0, NEWBERRY, 2018Double-Digit Tackle Gms ........................................ 6

TREVOR CHILDERSTackles ...............1, twice: MR - #17 SAMFORD, 2017

SOLOMON CLARKTackles ....................................................7, VMI 2018Tackles for Loss .................................5.5, VMI, 2018Sacks ................................................. 4.0, VMI, 2018

DEVARIUS CORTNERTackles ..................................... 11, NEWBERRY, 2018Double-Digit Tackle Gms .........................................1

HOLDEN EDWARDSTackles ................................................ 4, ETSU, 2017TFL .................................1.0, at Gardner-Webb, 2017

SHAMON ELLIOTTTackles .................................................12, VMI, 2018Tackle for Loss ...................1, twice: MR – VMI, 2018PBU ........................................... 3, NEWBERRY, 2018Interceptions ............................. 2, DAVIDSON, 2017Double-Digit Tackle Games .................................... 2

CHARLES GADIETackles .......................................1, NEWBERRY, 2018

ALAN HARRISTackles .......................................1, NEWBERRY, 2018

TY HARRISTackles ..................................... 14, at Samford, 2018Tackle for Loss ...................................2.5, VMI, 2018Sacks ..............................1.0, twice: MR – VMI, 2018Interceptions ......... 1, twice: MR – at Samford, 2018Double-Digit Tackle Gms ........................................ 2

ADAM HENDERSONTackles .........5, twice: MR – at Gardner-Webb, 2018TFLs .......................................2.0, NEWBERRY, 2018Sacks ........ 1.0, twice: MR – at Gardner-Webb, 2018Pass Break-Up ........................... 1, at Samford, 2018

REGGIE JONESTackles .......................................3, at Samford, 2018Tackles for Loss ...................... 1.0, at Samford, 2018

RONALD KENT JR.Tackles ................................7, CHATTANOOGA, 2018Tackle for Loss .................1.0, CHATTANOOGA, 2018Pass Breakups .................4, at Gardner-Webb, 2018

NATE LINKTackles .................................10, at The Citadel, 2017Tackles for Loss .........................2.5, FURMAN, 2017Sacks ............ 1.0, three times: MR – at GAWB, 2018Fumbles Forced ..... 1, twice: MR – at Samford, 2018Fumbles Recovered ...1, twice: MR – FURMAN, 2017Double-Digit Tackle Gms .........................................1

K.J. MILNERTackles .................................................. 6, VMI, 2018Pass Break-Up .....................1,CHATTANOOGA, 2018

MICHAEL MURPHYTackles ..................................... 12, at Samford, 2018Tackle For Loss ...... 1, twice: MR – at G-Webb, 2018Sacks ...........1, twice: MR – at Gardner-Webb, 2018Pass Break-ups .......................... 2, DAVIDSON, 2017Fumbles Forced ................................. 1, at VMI, 2017Fumbles Recovered ........................... 1, at VMI, 2017Interceptions .........................................1, VMI, 2018Double-Digit Tackle Gms .........................................1

RICKY PALAOTackles ............................. 4, at North Carolina, 2017Tackles for Loss ...............1.5, CHATTANOOGA, 2018Sacks ..............................1.0, CHATTANOOGA, 2018

TREVON POOLETackles ....................................... 1, at Samford, 2018

CURTIS ROACHTackles ....................................... 2, DAVIDSON, 2017Tackles for Loss .......................1.0, DAVIDSON, 2017Fumble Recovery ................ 1, at Chattanooga, 2017

A.J. ROGERSTackles ............................... 8, CHATTANOOGA, 2018Interceptions ............................. 1, at Samford, 2018

BRUCE SQUIRESTackles .......................................4, at Samford, 2018

QUINTIN THAMESTackles ................................2, at Chattanooga, 2017

MARVIN TILLMANTackles ................................14, #17 SAMFORD, 2017Interceptions .......................... 2, at The Citadel, 2017Pass Break-Ups ............... 2, GARDNER-WEBB, 2016Fumble Forced ...................... 1, at #5 Wofford, 2017Fumble Recovery .. 1, twice: MR - 1, at #5 WOF, 2017Double-Digit Tackle Gms ........................................ 7

JERMICHAEL WHITETackles .........12, twice - MR: at Gardner-Webb, 2017TFL ..............................................1.0, FURMAN, 2017Interceptions ...................2, at Gardner-Webb, 2018PBU ..................................................... 2, ETSU, 2017Fumbles Forced .............................1, FURMAN, 2015Double-Digit Tackles ...............................................1

JACQUEZ WILLIAMSTackles ..................................... 11, NEWBERRY, 2018TFLs ..........3.0, twice: MR – at Gardner-Webb, 2018Sacks ........2.0, twice: MR – at Gardner-Webb, 2018Fumbles Forced .................. 1, at Chattanooga, 2017Blocked Punt ....................................... 1, ETSU, 2017Blocked FG / PAT .........................1, at Furman, 2018Double-Digit Tackle Gms .........................................1

BRYCE WILSONTackles .................1, five times: MR - DAVISON, 2017

TERRANCE WILSONTackles ................................7, at East Carolina, 2016

JARQUAVIUS WORTHAMTackles .......................................3, at Samford, 2018Tackles for Loss ...................... 1.5, at Samford, 2018Sack ........................................ 1.0, at Samford, 2018Forced Fumble .......................... 1, at Samford, 2018


OFFENSE LT LG C RG RT TE WR WR WR TB QB

NEWBERRY Thomas Miles Weeks Stehling Dalton Cosenke Mathis Mullen Patten Young Adams

at Gardner-Webb Thomas Miles Weeks Stehling Dalton Cosenke Mathis Mullen Patten Young Adams

VMI * Thomas Miles Weeks Stehling Dalton Cosenke Mathis Mullen Patten Young Adams

at Furman * Harper Miles Weeks Stehling Dalton Cosenke Mathis Mullen Patten Young Adams

at Samford * Weeks Miles Spry Stehling Dalton Cosenke Mathis Mullen Patten Young Adams

CHATTANOOGA * Thomas Miles Weeks Stehling Dalton Cosenke Mathis Mullen Patten Young Adams

at Mercer *

at ETSU *

THE CITADEL *

WOFFORD *

at North Carolina

NOTES:

DEFENSE DE NT DE WILL SAM MIKE BUCK CB S S CB

NEWBERRY Link Clark Henderson J. Williams Murphy K. Allen Chancey Jones Tillman Cortner Elliott

at Gardner-Webb Link Clark Henderson J. Williams Murphy T. Harris Chancey Kent Tillman J. White Elliott

VMI * Link Clark Henderson J. Williams Murphy T. Harris Chancey Kent Tillman J. White Elliott

at Furman * Link Clark Milner J. Williams Murphy T. Harris Chancey Kent Tillman J. White R.Jones

at Samford * Link Clark Henderson J. Williams Murphy T. Harris Chancey Kent Tillman Rogers R.Jones

CHATTANOOGA * Link Clark Henderson J. Williams Murphy T. Harris Chancey Kent Tillman Rogers R.Jones

at Mercer *

at ETSU *

THE CITADEL *

WOFFORD *

at North Carolina

NOTES:

WESTERN CAROLINA 2018 STARTING LINEUPS

WCU FOOTBALL – 2018 RESULTS / LEADERSOVERALL RECORD: 3-3 | HOME: 2-1 | AWAY: 1-2 | SOCON: 1-3

CATAMOUNTSPORTS.COM /// 2018 RESULTS / LEADERS & STARTERS

DATE OPPONENT SCORE OVERALL SOCON TIME ATTEND TOP RUSHER TOP PASSER TOP RECEIVER TOP TACKLER

SEPT. 1 NEWBERRY W 33-26 1-0 0-0 3:12 12,111 Young: 18–97 Adams: 17-26-0, 262 Patten: 4–92 Chancey: 12

Sept. 15 at Gardner-Webb W 28-10 2-0 0-0 3:02 2,257 Adams: 12–106 Adams: 13-24-0, 108 Young: 6–66 Chancey: 10

SEPT. 22 VMI * W 52-50 3-0 1-0 3:52 12,729 Adams: 17–117 Adams: 21-33-2, 229 Mullen: 8–74 Elliott / Chancey: 12

Sept. 29 at Furman * 38-44 L 3-1 1-1 3:27 7,201 Young: 14–52 Adams: 25-36-0, 424 Patten: 6–159 Chancey: 10

Oct. 6 at Samford * 28-66 L 3-2 1-2 3:30 3,178 Spencer: 5–62 W. Jones: 22-41-2, 210 Mullen: 5–48 Chancey: 15

OCT. 13 CHATTANOOGA * 6-26 L 3-3 1-3 2:55 7,362 Young: 15–72 Adams: 6-13-1, 88 Mullen: 4–65 T. Harris: 11

Oct. 20 at Mercer *

Oct. 27 at ETSU *

NOV. 3 THE CITADEL *

NOV. 10 WOFFORD *

Nov. 17 at North Carolina


CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Tyrie Adams rushed for a career-high three touchdowns including a pair of fourth quarter scores as Western Carolina rallied past upset-minded Newberry, 33-26, in the season-opener for both squads. Adams amassed 358 yards of total offense including 277 yards on 19-of-30 passing and was sacked just once. He rushed 17 times for a combined 81 yards with the trio of touchdowns with scores of two, one, and three yards, respectively, matching his career total of the first two seasons in one evening.

Redshirt senior WR Jordan Mathis tossed WCU’s lone touchdown pass – the second of his WCU career on a nine-yard strike to tight end Austin Phillips for his second career receiving TD. Sophomore kicker Will Horton added a pair of field goals including boots of 29 and a career-long of 42 yards for the Catamounts.

Junior tailback Connell Young finished with 81 rushing yards on 18 touches, while redshirt sophomore wide receiver Daquan Patten led the Catamount receivers with four receptions, posting a career-best 92 receiving yards. Junior transfer Nate Mullen also caught four passes for 80 yards.

Driving the opening kickoff 77 yards in seven plays, Newberry (0-1) grabbed the early lead, 7-0, which stood until the first play of the second quarter. After Horton split the uprights from 29 yards out to put the Catamounts on the board midway through the opening frame, Adams capped a 12-play, 90-yard march with a two-yard plunge to push the Catamounts in front, 10-7.

Horton’s career-long 3-pointer and Mathis’ end-around halfback pass to Phillips put WCU comfortably ahead, 19-7, and concluded a run of 19-straight points scored by the Catamounts. However, Newberry responded with 10-consecutive points including a Kevin Weber 32-yard field goal and a 44-yard strike from QB Greg Ruff to Keinan Lewis that provided the halftime score, a two-point margin at 19-17.

Controlling the football for nine and a half minutes of the third quarter, Newberry reclaimed the lead on an 18-yard Weber field goal to represent the only points scored in the third stanza. But the Wolves had seized momentum and cashed it in early-on in the fourth quarter. Even losing its starting QB, Ruff, for a couple possessions would not slow the Wolves as redshirt freshman Dre Harris found leading-receiver Markell Castle for a 30-yard pitch-and-catch and seven-point lead. The PAT was blocked by freshman LB Kalen Allen, a key point as the lead remained at one possession – a touchdown and PAT.

Castle led all receivers with a career-high 10 catches for 118 yards and a score – his 18th career TD.On the ensuing possession, Adams moved the team into scoring position using a big pass play to

Mathis and Connell Young breaking-off a double-digit run. He then called his own number, plunging his way to the end zone to tie the game at 26. WCU (1-0) capped its comeback with a second, methodical 11-play, that covered 86 yards with Adams finding a crease behind his veteran offensive line for the go-ahead score. Newberry had one last-gasp effort, spurred by the return of starting QB Ruff, who kick started the two-minute drill with a 33-yard run. But the Catamount defense stiffened and three-plays later took over on downs to effectively end the game.

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Tyrie Adams accounted for 214 yards of total offense, tossing two touchdown passes including one to Connell Young who tallied a pair of scores as Western Carolina improved to 2-0 for the first-time since 2006 with a 28-10 road victory over Gardner-Webb Friday night in nonconference action at Spangler Stadium.

Young accounted for 171 all-purpose yards including a career-best 105 yards on the ground, bookend-ing the Catamount scoring with touchdowns – a 33-yard receiving score and a 31-yard scoring romp in the fourth quarter. Adams also eclipsed the century mark with 106 on the ground as the Catamounts chewed up 325 rushing yards under windy conditions caused by the outer edges of Hurricane Florence.

Entering the game with a 75.7 career completion percentage against Gardner-Webb, Adams finished Friday’s breezy rescheduled affair 13-for-24 (54%) for 108 yards, but delivered two passing strikes in-cluding one to Young and a three-yard strike to Daquan Patten just before halftime. Patten’s first career receiving TD made it 21-10 at the break.

Redshirt freshman QB Will Jones also saw action, rushing for 22 yards and completing 3-of-4 passes for 42 yards in orchestrating a second quarter scoring drive, finding TE Owen Cosenke on a 15-yard TD strike.

Senior DB JerMichael White intercepted a pair of passes while classmate Jacquez Williams sacked Gardner-Webb QB Jordan Smith twice as the WCU defense got to the redshirt freshman signal-caller five times in the win, spearheading the defensive effort that blanked the Runnin’ Bulldogs (1-2) in the second half. The Catamounts smothered the GWU offense after the break, limiting the home squad to 73 yards of total offense after the break and to just 97 rushing yards on the night thanks to 31 yards in sack losses.

Senior Mitchell Chancey was credited with a team-high 10 tackles as the Catamounts finished the night with 11 tackles for 49 yards in losses as a unit. Making his season debut, sophomore linebacker Ty Harris had a career-best eight tackles including a sack while Michael Murphy finished with seven stops including five solo and a sack.

For Gardner-Webb, RB Jayln Cagel rushed for 83 yards and a touchdown while Smith threw for 149 yards on 13-of-30 passes with the two picks. Tre’ Jackson nailed a 41 yard field goal to complete GWU’s scoring.

GAME ONE • SEPT. 1, 2018 • CULLOWHEE, N.C.

NEWBERRY ............................................... 26WESTERN CAROLINA .................................33

E.J. WHITMIRE STADIUM / BOB WATERS FIELD (12,111)

GAME TWO • SEPT. 14, 2018 • BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.

WESTERN CAROLINA ................................ 28GARDNER-WEBB........................................10

ERNEST W. SPANGLER STADIUM (2,257)

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreNewberry 7 10 3 6 26 Record: (0-1)Western Carolina 3 16 0 14 33 Record: (1-0)

Scoring Summary:1st 11:39 NEW Bobby Irby 22 yd pass from Greg Ruff (Kevin Weber kick), 7-77 3:21 NEW 7 - WCU 0 09:31 WCU Will Horton 29 yd field goal, 6-65 2:02 NEW 7 - WCU 32nd 14:57 WCU Tyrie Adams 2 yd run (Will Horton kick), 12-90 4:12 NEW 7 - WCU 10 08:49 WCU Will Horton 42 yd field goal, 11-67 4:16 NEW 7 - WCU 13 05:30 WCU Austin Phillips 9 yd pass from Jordan Mathis (Horton kick failed), 5-44 1:40 NEW 7 - WCU 19 03:18 NEW Kevin Weber 32 yd field goal, 8-66 2:05 NEW 10 - WCU 19 00:37 NEW Keinan Lewis 44 yd pass from Greg Ruff (Kevin Weber kick), 7-80 1:37 NEW 17 - WCU 193rd 01:10 NEW Kevin Weber 18 yd field goal, 10-39 5:13 NEW 20 - WCU 194th 11:43 NEW Markell Castle 30 yd pass from Dre Harris (Weber kick blockd), 8-65 3:59 NEW 26 - WCU 19 08:20 WCU Tyrie Adams 1 yd run (Will Horton kick), 8-75 3:23 NEW 26 - WCU 26 01:10 WCU Tyrie Adams 3 yd run (Will Horton kick), 11-86 3:52 NEW 26 - WCU 33

NEW WCUFIRST DOWNS ....................................................... 22 26RUSHES-YARDS (NET) ............................................ 41-209 44-211PASSING YDS (NET) ............................................... 242 271Passes Att-Comp-Int.............................................. 29-19-0 27-18-0TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS ............................. 70-451 71-482Fumble Returns-Yards ........................................... 0-0 0-0Punt Returns-Yards ................................................ 1-20 2-34Kickoff Returns-Yards ............................................ 6-129 1-17Interception Returns-Yards .................................... 0-0 0-0Punts (Number-Avg) .............................................. 5-41.6 4-37.2Fumbles-Lost ......................................................... 0-0 0-0Penalties-Yards ...................................................... 7-55 5-30Possession Time ................................................... 33:08 26:52Third-Down Conversions ...................................... 6 of 14 5 of 12Fourth-Down Conversions .................................... 0 of 1 1 of 1Red-Zone Scores-Chances .................................... 2-2 5-5Sacks By: Number-Yards ....................................... 1-4 5-24

RUSHING: Newberry – Austin Barnes 20-128; Greg Ruff 14-82; Darius Clark 1-3; Markell Castle 1-2; Catriez Cook 2-1; Chance Walker 1-minus 3; Dre Harris 2-minus 4. Western Carolina – Connell Young 18-97; Tyrie Adams 17-81; Donnavan Spencer 6-22; Will Jones 2-13; TEAM 1-minus 2. PASSING: Newberry – Greg Ruff 13-20-0-160; Dre Harris 6-8-0-82; TEAM 0-1-0-0. Western Carolina – Tyrie Adams 17-26-0-262; Jordan Mathis 1-1-0-9. RECEIVING: Newberry-Markell Castle 10-118; Bobby Irby 6-66; Keinan Lewis 2-51; Darius Clark 1-7. Western Carolina – Daquan Patten 4-92; Nate Mullen 4-80; Jordan Mathis 3-47; Connell Young 3-12; Tyran Reynolds 2-24; Austin Phillips 1-9; Owen Cosenke 1-7. INTERCEPTIONS: Newberry – None. Western Carolina – None. FUMBLES: Newberry – None. Western Carolina – None. SACKS (UA-A): Newberry – J. Henderson 1-0. Western Carolina-Jacquez Williams 2-0; Michael Murphy 0-1; Mitchell Chancey 1-0; Nate Link 0-1; Adam Henderson 1-0. TACKLES (UA-A): Newberry – Joe Blue 7-13; Darryl Foster 3-5; J. Henderson 4-3; David Vereen 4-3; Anthony Blue 3-2; K. Jackson 2-3; Trey Woods 1-3; Kardeem Hines 1-3; Nick Yearwood 0-4; Jawanza Adams 0-4; Keiron Murphy 1-2; Keito Jordon 2-0; Alex Smith 1-1; Javhanee Neal 1-1; A. Moffett 0-2; Ty’Ran Dixon 0-2; Troy Cunningham 0-2; Catriez Cook 1-0; Josh Edwards 0-1; Terrell Owens 0-1; Jarod Fountain 0-1. Western Carolina – Mitchell Chancey 4-8; Devarius Cortner 8-3; Jacquez Williams 6-5; Michael Murphy 4-5; Marvin Tillman 3-4; Adam Henderson 4-1; Kalen Allen 1-4; Ronald Kent, Jr. 4-0; Shamon Elliott 1-3; Nate Link 1-2; Solomon Clark 0-3; Reggie Jones 1-1; Brandon Bawn 0-2; Charles Gadie 1-0; Charles McDonough 1-0; Jarquavius Wortham 1-0; Tyran Reynolds 1-0; Terrance Wilson 0-1; Bruce Squires 0-1; Alan Harris 0-1; Elijah Hall 0-1; A.J. Rogers 0-1.

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreWestern Carolina 7 14 0 7 28 Record: (2-0)Gardner-Webb 7 3 0 0 10 Record: (1-2)

Scoring Summary:1st 13:32 WCU Connell Young 33 yd pass from Tyrie Adams (Will Horton kick), 5-75 1:28 WCU 7 - GAWB 0 03:31 GAWB CAGLE, J. 11 yd run (JACKSON, T. kick), 10-89 4:39 WCU 7 - GAWB 72nd 14:36 WCU Owen Cosenke 15 yd pass from Will Jones (Will Horton kick), 12-88 3:55 WCU 14 - GAWB 7 08:08 GAWB JACKSON, T. 41 yd field goal, 16-60 6:20 WCU 14 - GAWB 10 00:00 WCU Daquan Patten 3 yd pass from Tyrie Adams (Will Horton kick), 9-70 1:20 WCU 21 - GAWB 104th 10:13 WCU Connell Young 31 yd run (Julian Pletz kick), 5-44 2:21 WCU 28 - GAWB 10

WCU GAWBFIRST DOWNS ........................................................... 23 18RUSHES-YARDS (NET) ............................................... 46-325 40-97PASSING YDS (NET) ................................................... 150 149Passes Att-Comp-Int ................................................. 28-16-0 30-13-2TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS ................................ 74-475 70-246Fumble Returns-Yards ............................................... 0-0 0-0Punt Returns-Yards.................................................... 1-1 0-0Kickoff Returns-Yards ................................................ 1-11 3-53Interception Returns-Yards ....................................... 2-23 0-0Punts (Number-Avg) .................................................. 5-36.4 6-42.2Fumbles-Lost ............................................................ 0-0 0-0Penalties-Yards ......................................................... 5-58 5-30Possession Time ....................................................... 28:52 31:08Third-Down Conversions .......................................... 11 of 18 9 of 18Fourth-Down Conversions ........................................ 0 of 0 1 of 2Red-Zone Scores-Chances ....................................... 2-3 2-3Sacks By: Number-Yards ........................................... 5-31 1-6

RUSHING: Western Carolina – Tyrie Adams 12-106; Connell Young 14-105; Donnavan Spencer 9-69; Will Jones 4-22; Corey Holloway 6-15; Nate Mullen 1-8. Gardner-Webb – CAGLE, J. 25-83; MOSES, A.J. 4-24; PERRY, E. 2-9; SMITH, J. 9-minus 19. PASSING: Western Carolina – Tyrie Adams 13-24-0-108; Will Jones 3-4-0-42. Gardner-Webb – SMITH, J. 13-30-2-149. RECEIVING: Western Carolina – Connell Young 6-66; Daquan Patten 3-9; Jordan Mathis 2-33; Owen Cosenke 2-24; Nate Mullen 2-22; Donnavan Spencer 1-minus 4. Gardner-Webb – BLACKMON, J. 5-26; HORTON, K. 3-61; COLLINS, B. 2-39; CHAPMAN, C. 1-11; LEE, A. 1-7; ELLIS II, J. 1-5. INTERCEPTIONS: Western Carolina – JerMichael White 2-23. Gardner-Webb – None. FUMBLES: Western Carolina – None. Gardner-Webb – None. SACKS (UA-A): Western Carolina – Jacquez Williams 2-0; Nate Link 1-0; Ty Harris 1-0; Michael Murphy 1-0. Gardner-Webb – HORNE, C. 1-0. TACKLES (UA-A): Western Carolina – Mitchell Chancey 8-2; Ty Harris 5-3; Michael Murphy 5-2; Shamon Elliott 5-0; Jacquez Williams 4-1; Adam Henderson 3-2; Ronald Kent, Jr. 4-0; Marvin Tillman 3-1; Nate Link 1-3; JerMichael White 3-0; Solomon Clark 0-2; Kalen Allen 1-0; K.J. Milner 1-0; Reggie Jones 1-0; Austin Phillips 1-0; Darrius Harris 1-0. Gardner-Webb – HORNE, C. 11-5; THOMAS, S. 5-7; REYNOLDS, D. 4-3; WELCH, G. 3-3; DOZIER, T. 2-4; TURNER, J. 1-4; MINES, D. 2-2; BAILEY, K. 0-4; KEENE, A.J. 3-0; McKOY, R. 2-1; JONES, Q. 2-1; RODGERS, K. 2-0; LIVESY, M. 1-1; BOOKER, T. 0-2; MURPHY, S. 1-0; GRIER, D. 1-0; BLACKMON, J. 1-0; COLLINS, B. 0-1; SINGLETON, J. 0-1; CAGLE, J. 0-1; EDWARDS, A. 0-1; IKOKU, A. 0-1.

CATAMOUNTSPORTS.COM /// 2018 GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS / STATS


CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Tyrie Adams rushed for a season-high 117 yards and his scored his fourth touchdown on the ground this season, adding three TD passes to help lead Western Carolina to a wild 52-50 victory over VMI in the squad’s Southern Conference season opener Saturday afternoon in front of 12,759 fans at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field.

Leading by 15 with just over six minutes remaining in regulation after a Michael Murphy 46-yard interception return for a touchdown, the Catamounts had to hold-off a feverish Keydet rally as VMI scored two touchdowns over the final four minutes to pull to within two points. Javeon Lara hauled in a 10-yard strike from quarterback Reece Udinski at the 4:01 mark before Jakob Herres corralled a 12-yard strike to cap a 15-play scoring drive to make it 52-50.

On the ensuing two-point conversion try, Udinski’s pass attempt to Devone Humphrey dragging across the back of the end zone bounced just off the receiver’s hands, maintaining the two-point margin. But it wasn’t until Owen Cosenke high-pointed a second on-sides kick attempt by the Keydets that the Catamounts were able to celebrate the victory that moved the squad to 3-0 on the season, a first for the program since 1976.

All told, the two teams combined for 102 total points including 13 offensive touchdowns – six rushing and seven through the air – with one TD on defense and two field goals, one aside. The two squads combined to rack-up 1,100 yards of total offense including 553 by the Catamounts and 547 for the Keydets. With an astounding 67 yards in losses including 59 in sacks, VMI was held to just 56 team rushing yards.

In addition to Adams’ 117 rushing yards, two other Catamounts approached the century mark as redshirt sophomore Donnavan Spencer rushed for 95 yards and a 17-yard third quarter touchdown while Connell Young finished with 89 yards on the ground, adding three receptions out of the backfield for 19 yards.

Adams finished 21-of-33 for 229 yards and two touchdowns while being intercepted twice – the first two turnovers of the season for the Catamounts. His favorite target was redshirt junior transfer WR Nate Mullen who hauled in a career-best eight passes for 74 yards and a score, also taking a pitch from Adams on an option play for a first quarter rushing TD.

Trailing at intermission for the first time this season, 24-21, Western Carolina (3-0, 1-0 SoCon) scored touchdowns on consecutive possessions out of the halftime locker room that proved to be a big turning point in Saturday’s game. Adams capped a quick six-play drive with an 11-yard strike to Mullen before converting a short field into a 16-yard TD pass to Cosenke to grab an 11-point lead, 35-24, midway through the third quarter.

WCU continued its strong play up front, collecting six sacks to give the squad 16 through the first three games this season. Senior Solomon Clark set a school-record with 5.5 tackles for loss including a record-tying four sacks as the Catamounts dropped Udinski six times and finished with a dozen TFLs.

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Tyrie Adams tossed a career-high tying five touchdown passes including two apiece to Daquan Patten and Owen Cosenke while accounting for 472 yards of total offense on Saturday, but Western Carolina was unable to overcome a 21-point halftime deficit, falling to Furman, 44-38, at Paladin Stadium.

Two fumbles inside the red zone thwarted would-be scoring drives for the Catamounts while the Paladins cashed in a 97-yard kickoff return for a TD and a blocked punt that led to a field goal in special teams in picking up their first victory of the season.

Adams just missed his career-high with 424 passing yards on 25-of-36 passing, adding 48 rushing yards despite missing the closing drive of the first half due to injury. He returned to the field without incident in the second half. Patten led two Catamount receivers with 100+ yard games, catching six passes for a career-high 159 yards with two scores while Jordan Mathis hauled in five passes for 100 yards. Nate Mullen matched his career-best with eight receptions for 61 yards while tight end Cosenke had two receptions including a one-handed grab to cap the opening drive as both of his catches went for scores.

WCU was limited to a season-low 131 rushing yards as Connell Young accounted for 52 yards on the ground while Adams ran for 48 despite being sacked four times. Young added four catches for 36 yards and a score through the air as the Catamounts were held out of the end zone on the ground for the first time this season after entering the game with seven rushing TDs.

After an opening-drive touchdown by the Catamounts that gave WCU what proved to be its only lead of the game, Furman (1-3, 1-1 SoCon) score 21-straight points including Dejuan Bell returning the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown as a part of closing the first half with a 31-10 advantage.

The two teams traded third quarter scores over the opening eight minutes of the second half as Adams found Patten on a 43-yard TD strike to make it 31-17, cashing in a Ty Harris interception after Fur-man received the second half kickoff. Kenny Benton, a wide receiver playing on special teams, helped continue the second half moment swing as he forced and recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff. However, three plays later and again in the red zone, WCU coughed up the football at the 11-yard line on a second fumble and Furman drove 89 yards to reclaim the 21-point cushion, 38-17.

Consecutive scores including the second TD passes to both Patten (49-yards) and Cosenke (9-yards) trimmed the deficit back to seven, 38-31, with just under nine minutes to play. Furman, though, managed a seven-play, 75-yard drive highlighted by a 50-yard scoring rush to keep the game at arm’s length, 44-31.

Inside the game’s final two minutes, WCU managed to light the scoreboard one more time as Young caught a seven-yard TD pass from Adams that provided the final tally.

WCU’s onside kick attempt was smothered by two-sport athlete, Deon Sanders, and the Paladin offense managed to run-out the clock despite the Catamounts’ using their complement of timeouts, gaining a first down on a third-and-four near midfield.

GAME THREE • SEPT. 22, 2018 • CULLOWHEE, N.C.

VMI ........................................................... 50WESTERN CAROLINA ................................ 52


GAME FOUR • SEPT. 29, 2018 • GREENVILLE, S.C.

WESTERN CAROLINA ................................ 38FURMAN ................................................... 44

PALADIN STADIUM (7,201)

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreVMI 14 10 13 13 50 Record: (0-4,0-3)Western Carolina 14 7 21 10 52 Record: (3-0,1-0)

Scoring Summary:1st 09:57 WCU Nate Mullen 15 yd run (Will Horton kick), 9-62 3:28 VMI 0 - WCU 7 06:22 VMI Quan Myers 3 yd run (Reed King kick), 13-75 3:35 VMI 7 - WCU 7 03:49 WCU Tyrie Adams 13 yd run (Will Horton kick), 8-75 2:33 VMI 7 - WCU 14 02:26 VMI Quan Myers 1 yd run (Reed King kick), 5-63 1:17 VMI 14 - WCU 142nd 12:54 VMI Quan Myers 2 yd run (Reed King kick), 11-59 3:01 VMI 21 - WCU 14 03:31 WCU Daquan Patten 32 yd pass from Tyrie Adams (Will Horton kick), 7-86 3:18 VMI 21 - WCU 21 00:04 VMI Grant Clemons 36 yd field goal, 6-29 1:16 VMI 24 - WCU 213rd 13:09 WCU Nate Mullen 11 yd pass from Tyrie Adams (Will Horton kick), 6-75 1:51 VMI 24 - WCU 28 10:11 WCU Owen Cosenke 16 yd pass from Tyrie Adams (Will Horton kick), 5-48 1:44 VMI 24 - WCU 35 08:44 VMI Javeon Lara 41 yd pass from Reece Udinski (Reed King kick), 4-69 1:21 VMI 31 - WCU 35 05:57 WCU Donnavan Spencer 17 yd run (Will Horton kick), 10-75 2:47 VMI 31 - WCU 42 04:04 VMI Devone Humphrey 26 yd pass from Reece Udinski (Udinski pass failed), 6-66 1:47 VMI 37 - WCU 424th 07:45 WCU Will Horton 37 yd field goal, 11-70 5:12 VMI 37 - WCU 45 06:19 WCU Michael Murphy 46 yd interception return (Will Horton kick) VMI 37 - WCU 52 04:01 VMI Javeon Lara 10 yd pass from Reece Udinski (Reed King kick), 9-63 2:13 VMI 44 - WCU 52 00:22 VMI Jakob Herres 12 yd pass from Reece Udinski (Udinski pass failed), 15-62 3:30 VMI 50 - WCU 52

VMI WCUFIRST DOWNS ....................................................... 33 32RUSHES-YARDS (NET) ............................................ 36-56 49-324PASSING YDS (NET) ............................................... 491 229Passes Att-Comp-Int.............................................. 73-43-1 33-21-2TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS ............................. 109-547 82-553Fumble Returns-Yards ........................................... 0-0 0-0Punt Returns-Yards ................................................ 1-27 3-15Kickoff Returns-Yards ............................................ 5-113 1-28Interception Returns-Yards .................................... 2-22 1-46Punts (Number-Avg) .............................................. 3-48.7 4-40.5Fumbles-Lost ......................................................... 0-0 0-0Penalties-Yards ...................................................... 8-60 12-119Possession Time ................................................... 30:35 29:25Third-Down Conversions ...................................... 6 of 21 6 of 12Fourth-Down Conversions .................................... 6 of 10 0 of 0Red-Zone Scores-Chances .................................... 6-8 6-6Sacks By: Number-Yards ....................................... 1-5 6-59

RUSHING: VMI – Quan Myers 23-76; Alex Ramsey 5-28; Reece Udinski 8-minus 48. Western Carolina – Tyrie Adams 17-117; Donnavan Spencer 10-95; Connell Young 19-89; Kenny Benton 1-9; Corey Holloway 1-1; TEAM 1-minus 2; Nate Mullen 0-15.PASSING: VMI – Reece Udinski 43-72-1-491; Jake Paladino 0-1-0-0. Western Carolina – Tyrie Adams 21-33-2-229. RECEIVING: VMI – Javeon Lara 9-143; Kris Thornton 8-82; Quan Myers 7-44; Devone Humphrey 6-50; Jakob Herres 4-65; Rohan Martin 4-45; Kaleb Tucker 2-28; Kendrick Jackson 2-27; Alex Ramsey 1-7. Western Carolina – Nate Mullen 8-74; Daquan Patten 7-81; Owen Cosenke 3-55; Connell Young 3-19. INTERCEPTIONS: VMI – Collin Loftis 2-22. Western Carolina – Michael Murphy 1-46.FUMBLES: VMI – None. Western Carolina – None. SACKS (UA-A): VMI – Brett Howell 1-0. Western Carolina – Solomon Clark 4-0; Nate Link 1-0; Ty Harris 1-0. TACKLES (UA-A): VMI-Uzoma Kpaduwa 7-5; A.J. Smith 5-5; Zach Baker 4-4; Elliott Brewster 7-0; Devin Carper 0-6; Tyren Cloyd 4-1; Ethan Caselberry 3-2; Brett Howell 1-4; Michael Tomaso 2-2; Chuck Weatherman 2-1; Kaleb Tucker 1-2; Jarrod Richmond 0-3; Jaelen Adkins 2-0; Chris Ferrill 1-1; Warren Dabney 0-2; Will Bunton 1-0; Bryant Walker 1-0; Riuq Trotman 1-0; Collin Loftis 1-0; Jordan Ward 0-1; Austin Barrette 0-1. Western Carolina-Shamon Elliott 10-2; Mitchell Chancey 9-3; JerMichael White 5-4; Solomon Clark 6-1; Marvin Tillman 6-1; Ty Harris 4-3; Michael Murphy 3-4; Ronald Kent, Jr. 5-1; Jacquez Williams 3-3; Nate Link 2-2; A.J. Rogers 2-0; Tyran Reynolds 1-1; K.J. Milner 1-1; John Brannon III 0-2; Kalen Allen 1-0; Trevor Childers 1-0; Reggie Jones 1-0; Caleb Ferguson 1-0; Nate Mullen 1-0; Adam Henderson 0-1; Darrius Smith 0-1.

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreWestern Carolina 7 3 14 14 38 Record: (3-1,1-1)Furman 14 17 7 6 44 Record: (1-3,1-1)

Scoring Summary:1st 13:37 WCU Owen Cosenke 13 yd pass from Tyrie Adams (Will Horton kick), 4-75 1:23 WCU 7 - FUR 0 13:23 FUR Dejuan Bell 97 yd kickoff return (Grayson Atkins kick), WCU 7 - FUR 7 04:52 FUR Kealand Dirks 1 yd run (Grayson Atkins kick), 10-91 4:32 WCU 7 - FUR 142nd 13:41 FUR Darius Morehead 46 yd run (Grayson Atkins kick), 6-90 2:18 WCU 7 - FUR 21 11:27 WCU Will Horton 29 yd field goal, 8-63 2:14 WCU 10 - FUR 21 09:39 FUR Dejuan Bell 45 yd pass from Harris Roberts (Grayson Atkins kick), 4-65 1:48 WCU 10 - FUR 28 05:48 FUR Grayson Atkins 23 yd field goal, 4-8 1:56 WCU 10 - FUR 313rd 11:06 WCU Daquan Patten 43 yd pass from Tyrie Adams (Will Horton kick), 3-56 1:00 WCU 17 - FUR 31 06:48 FUR Ridge Gibson 1 yd run (Grayson Atkins kick), 8-89 3:38 WCU 17 - FUR 38 04:49 WCU Daquan Patten 49 yd pass from Tyrie Adams (Will Horton kick), 4-76 1:51 WCU 24 - FUR 384th 08:47 WCU Owen Cosenke 9 yd pass from Tyrie Adams (Julian Pletz kick), 9-72 4:13 WCU 31 - FUR 38 05:27 FUR Devin Wynn 50 yd run (Team kick blockd), 7-95 3:20 WCU 31 - FUR 44 01:41 WCU Connell Young 7 yd pass from Tyrie Adams (Will Horton kick), 10-75 3:46 WCU 38 - FUR 44

WCU FURFIRST DOWNS ....................................................... 29 20RUSHES-YARDS (NET) ............................................ 43-131 47-359PASSING YDS (NET) ............................................... 446 133Passes Att-Comp-Int.............................................. 40-27-0 11-9-1TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS ............................. 83-577 58-492Fumble Returns-Yards ........................................... 0-0 0-0Punt Returns-Yards ................................................ 1-7 2-33Kickoff Returns-Yards ............................................ 3-52 4-160Interception Returns-Yards .................................... 1-9 0-0Punts (Number-Avg) .............................................. 4-27.5 2-44.0Fumbles-Lost ......................................................... 4-2 1-1Penalties-Yards ...................................................... 6-60 6-69Possession Time ................................................... 32:14 27:46Third-Down Conversions ...................................... 7 of 16 4 of 9Fourth-Down Conversions .................................... 3 of 4 2 of 2Red-Zone Scores-Chances .................................... 4-6 3-3Sacks By: Number-Yards ....................................... 0-0 4-12

RUSHING: Western Carolina – Connell Young 14-52; Tyrie Adams 19-48; Donnavan Spencer 5-15; Will Jones 3-10; Nate Mullen 1-6; Corey Holloway 1-0. Furman – Harris Roberts 11-102; Devin Wynn 7-98; Darius Morehead 5-74; Kealand Dirks 12-40; Corey Watkins 5-22; Dejuan Bell 2-17; Avery Armstrong 1-7; Ridge Gibson 2-1; Team 2-minus 2. PASSING: Western Carolina – Tyrie Adams 25-36-0-424; Will Jones 2-4-0-22. Furman – Harris Roberts 9-11-1-133. RECEIVING: Western Carolina – Nate Mullen 8-61; Daquan Patten 6-159; Jordan Mathis 5-100; Connell Young 4-36; Owen Cosenke 2-22; Tyran Reynolds 1-40; Kenny Benton 1-28. Furman – Cam Burnette 3-18; Thomas Gordon 2-11; Ryan Miller 1-47; Dejuan Bell 1-45; Kealand Dirks 1-9; Darius Morehead 1-3. INTERCEPTIONS: Western Carolina – Ty Harris 1-9. Furman – None. FUMBLES: Western Carolina – Tyrie Adams 2-1; Connell Young 1-1; Daquan Patten 1-0. Furman – Dejuan Bell 1-1. SACKS (UA-A): Western Carolina – None. Furman – Adrian Hope 3-0; Jaylan Reid 0-1; C. Washington 0-1. TACKLES (UA-A): Western Carolina – Mitchell Chancey 6-4; Jacquez Williams 5-4; Marvin Tillman 6-2; Ty Harris 3-4; Michael Murphy 2-4; K.J. Milner 4-1; Devarius Cortner 1-3; Ronald Kent, Jr. 2-1; Solomon Clark 2-1; JerMichael White 1-2; Bruce Squires 2-0; Reggie Jones 2-0; John Brannon III 1-0; Kenny Benton 1-0; Nate Link 1-0; Donnavan Spencer 0-1; Adam Henderson 0-1. Furman – C. Washington 7-5; D. Perryman 5-6; Elijah McKoy 5-4; Jordan Willis 2-7; Aaquil Annoor 2-4; Jaylan Reid 1-4; Bryan Okeh 1-4; Chinedu Okonya 0-5; Darius Kearse 2-2; Dru Seabrook 1-3; Adrian Hope 3-0; Amir Trapp 1-2; Jonah Tibbs 1-2; Parker Stokes 2-0; Jack Owen 0-2; Bo Layton 1-0; J. Evangelister 1-0; Evan Vaughn 1-0; Dillon Vann 1-0; B. Lemmons 1-0; L. Lawrence 0-1; Taylor Hodge 0-1.



BIRMINGHAM, ALA. – Three lost fumbles in the first quarter by Western Carolina aided a strong offensive output by Samford on Saturday afternoon as the Bulldogs claimed a 66-28 victory over the Catamounts at Seibert Stadium. Samford cashed in the early takeaways that came on three of WCU’s first four pos-sessions for a decisive 35-0 first quarter lead in halting a four-game slide with the victory.

Samford’s Devlin Hodges set or tied six school records and a pair of SoCon benchmarks in the win. Hodges set or tied school records for passing yards (562), total yards (586), touchdown passes (6), touchdowns responsible for (7), completions (44) and consecutive games with a touchdown pass. He set SoCon records for passing yards (562) and total yards in a single-game (586). Hodges spread the football around to 11 different receivers with two – Kelvin McKnight (8-for-138) and Jai’rus Creamer (9-for-101, TD) eclipsing the century mark. Hodges added 24 yards rushing despite a pair sacks and a rushing TD.

Ailing from the lingering effects of a chest injury suffered last week at Furman, WCU starting quarter-back Tyrie Adams attempted to play on Saturday, guiding the offense on its first four possessions before being lifted in place of redshirt freshman backup Will Jones. The Greensboro, N.C., native threw for a career-high 210 yards and two touchdowns while adding 46 yards rushing and a score on the ground in the loss. Adams finished 3-for-3 for a career-low 14 yards passing and rushed three times for a negative-9 yards on the ground before being lifted.

Samford (2-4, 1-2 SoCon) enjoyed short fields for three of its first-quarter scores thanks to the turnovers, posting drives of 24, 35, and 33 yards as a part of its opening barrage. Trailing by five scores after the opening 15 minutes, the Catamount offense got on track in the second quarter, outscoring Samford, 21-to-7, in the second stanza to close to within 21 points. WCU capitalized on three Hodges’ interceptions with the takeaways coming from Ty Harris, A.J. Rogers, and Marvin Tillman.

Western Carolina was unable to capitalize on the defensive stop out of the halftime locker room, keeping the margin at 21 until the second time the Bulldogs touched the football. Hodges connected on three-straight passes including a 68-yard pitch-and-run to Yassar El-Amin to push the margin to 49-21 and the Catamounts would get no closer.

Freshman Kenny Benton tallied the final TD for WCU with his first career score on the first play of the fourth quarter. Coming in motion across the formation, Benton took a forward under-hand pitch from Jones for the pass completion, scooting around the right edge for the three-yard touchdown reception. Samford closed scoring with a 40-yad Mitchell Fineran field goal and a 19-yard scoring run by DeMarcus Ware.

Senior Mitchell Chancey led three WCU defenders with double-digit tackles with 15 stops while Ty Harris (14) and Michael Murphy (12) also reaching double figures. It was the fifth-straight game that Chancey has reached double-digit tackles. For the Bulldogs, Aaron Harris recorded a team-best 10 tackles including one for loss while Tre’Shun Floyd finished with a pair of interceptions for Samford.

CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Western Carolina’s potent offensive attack was held in check by Chattanooga’s stingy defense on Saturday as the Catamounts were never able to find a rhythm in dropping their first home game of the year at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field, 26-6, to the Mocs in Southern Conference action.

Chattanooga QB Nick Tiano completed 22 of 28 passes for 204 yards and two first-half touchdowns – both to WR Joseph Parker – as UTC snapped its two-game seasonal slide while relegating WCU to its third-straight defeat on the year. The Mocs amassed 348 yards of total offense including 204 passing and 144 through the air while chewing-up nearly 38 minutes of game clock in scoring their fifth-straight road victory in the head-to-head series.

Western Carolina was held to a season-low 238 yards of total offense – roughly half of its seasonal average entering the game – by a stout Chattanooga defense.

Will Horton provided WCU’s only points on the day, connecting on a pair of field goals including a career-long 47-yarder just before halftime, adding a 39-yard boot in the fourth quarter to cap scoring.

Redshirt junior QB Tyrie Adams was limited to 88 yards passing on just 6-of-13 passing with an interception while backup redshirt freshman Will Jones was 3-of-5 for 68 yards. Adams was sacked three times, finishing with negative rushing yards, while Jones ran for 12 total yards with one sack.

WCU’s season-low nine receptions were thrown to just three different players. Junior Nate Mullen led the way with four catches for 65 yards, just missing a touchdown on a 15-yard gain on the opening possession of the third quarter but was ruled out-of-bounds inside the one-yard line. Running back Connell Young caught three passes for 38 yards to accompany his team-best 72 rushing yards for 110 all-purpose yards, while redshirt senior WR Jordan Mathis caught a pair of tosses for 53 total yards.

Turnovers proved costly again for Western Carolina as a lost fumble ultimately led to the opening points for the Mocs as Adams couldn’t escape the pressure from LB Jerrell Lawson who dragged the elusive QB down in the end zone for a safety and a 2-0 lead for the Mocs.

Midway through the first quarter, UTC drove 75 yards in eight plays with Tiano finding Parker from 28-yards out for the first of his two scores and the 9-0 advantage. Placekicker Victor Ulmo hit a 39-yard field goal ahead of a second Parker TD reception to stake the visitors to a 19-0 lead before intermission.

Set up with positive field position after a career-long 37-yard punt return by Daquan Patten, the Catamounts were poised for their first TD in the closing moments of the first half. However, consecutive negative yardage plays including a nine-yard loss on a sack pushed WCU back and the Catamounts had to settle for Horton’s 47-yard field goal, trailing at intermission, 19-3.

UTC’s Tyrell Price, who rushed 29 times for a season-high 135 yards, pushed the game out of reach with a three-yard TD rush at the end of the third and WCU was only able to muster a second Horton 3-pointer to provide the final tally.

GAME FIVE • OCT. 6, 2018 • BIRMINGHAM, ALA.

WESTERN CAROLINA ................................ 28SAMFORD ................................................. 66

SEIBERT STADIUM (3,178)

GAME SIX • OCT. 13, 2018 • CULLOWHEE, N.C.

CHATTANOOGA ........................................ 26WESTERN CAROLINA .................................. 6


Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreWestern Carolina 0 21 0 7 28 Record: (3-2,1-2)Samford 35 7 14 10 66 Record: (2-4,1-2)

Scoring Summary:1st 14:25 SAM Jai’Rus Creamer 26 yd pass from Devlin Hodges (M. Fineran kick), 2-24 0:27 WCU 0 - SAM 7 12:00 SAM Andrew Harris 23 yd pass from Devlin Hodges (M. Fineran kick), 3-35 0:33 WCU 0 - SAM 14 09:02 SAM Robert Adams 16 yd pass from Devlin Hodges (M. Fineran kick), 7-75 1:29 WCU 0 - SAM 21 07:29 SAM Devlin Hodges 19 yd run (M. Fineran kick), 5-33 1:14 WCU 0 - SAM 28 04:59 SAM T. Pollard 32 yd pass from Devlin Hodges (M. Fineran kick), 4-63 1:01 WCU 0 - SAM 352nd 11:03 WCU Will Jones 26 yd run (Will Horton kick), 1-26 0:08 WCU 7 - SAM 35 08:42 SAM Roland Adams 3 yd run (M. Fineran kick), 10-66 2:15 WCU 7 - SAM 42 02:29 WCU Corey Holloway 1 yd run (Will Horton kick), 6-43 1:55 WCU 14 - SAM 42 00:38 WCU Owen Cosenke 21 yd pass from Will Jones (Will Horton kick), 4-34 1:08 WCU 21 - SAM 423rd 08:07 SAM Yassar El-Amin 68 yd pass from Devlin Hodges (M. Fineran kick), 3-83 0:44 WCU 21 - SAM 49 01:28 SAM Roland Adams 3 yd pass from Devlin Hodges (M. Fineran kick), 9-46 2:56 WCU 21 - SAM 564th 14:54 WCU Kenny Benton 3 yd pass from Will Jones (Will Horton kick), 5-75 1:34 WCU 28 - SAM 56 13:03 SAM M. Fineran 40 yd field goal, 8-48 1:46 WCU 28 - SAM 59 02:43 SAM DeMarcus Ware 19 yd run (M. Fineran kick), 5-89 2:54 WCU 28 - SAM 66

WCU SAMFIRST DOWNS ....................................................... 19 37RUSHES-YARDS (NET) ............................................ 34-144 37-174PASSING YDS (NET) ............................................... 218 562Passes Att-Comp-Int.............................................. 45-26-2 60-44-3TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS ............................. 79-362 97-736Fumble Returns-Yards ........................................... 0-0 0-0Punt Returns-Yards ................................................ 1-4 5-22Kickoff Returns-Yards ............................................ 4-84 3-53Interception Returns-Yards .................................... 3-21 2-0Punts (Number-Avg) .............................................. 10-43.3 3-38.7Fumbles-Lost ......................................................... 4-3 2-2Penalties-Yards ...................................................... 6-48 5-63Possession Time ................................................... 30:12 29:48Third-Down Conversions ...................................... 6 of 16 7 of 13Fourth-Down Conversions .................................... 0 of 0 0 of 0Red-Zone Scores-Chances .................................... 2-2 5-6Sacks By: Number-Yards ....................................... 2-25 1-6

RUSHING: Western Carolina – Donnavan Spencer 5-62; Will Jones 8-46; Connell Young 7-24; Corey Holloway 7-14; Caleb Ferguson 2-5; Nate Mullen 1-4; A.J. Curry 1-minus 2; Tyrie Adams 3-minus 9. Samford – Roland Adams 8-82; DeMarcus Ware 15-62; Devlin Hodges 8-24; M. Washington 3-7; Antwione Sims 1-3; TEAM 2-minus 4.PASSING: Western Carolina – Will Jones 22-41-2-210; Tyrie Adams 3-3-0-14; Jordan Mathis 1-1-0-minus 6. Samford – Devlin Hodges 44-60-3-562. RECEIVING: Western Carolina – Nate Mullen 5-48; Kenny Benton 5-40; Jordan Mathis 4-30; Owen Cosenke 3-36; Charles Gadie 2-32; D.J. Thorpe 2-12; Daquan Patten 2-11; Tyran Reynolds 1-11; Connell Young 1-4; Will Jones 1-minus 6. Samford – Jai’Rus Creamer 9-101; Kelvin McKnight 8-138; Robert Adams 4-47; Chris Shelling 4-44; Andrew Harris 4-38; Roland Adams 4-29; T. Pollard 3-54; Yassar El-Amin 2-73; Clarke Miller 2-21; DeMarcus Ware 2-14; M. Washington 2-3. INTERCEPTIONS: Western Carolina – Marvin Tillman 1-12; Ty Harris 1-9; A.J. Rogers 1-0. Samford – Tre’Shun Floyd 1-0; Coutrell Plair 1-0. FUMBLES: Western Carolina – Tyrie Adams 2-2; Connell Young 1-1; Daquan Patten 1-0. Samford – Devlin Hodges 1-1; Roland Adams 1-1. SACKS (UA-A): Western Carolina – Jarquavius Wortham 1-0; Solomon Clark 1-0. Samford – Tre’Shun Floyd 1-0. TACKLES (UA-A): Western Carolina – Mitchell Chancey 7-8; Ty Harris 7-7; Michael Murphy 5-7; Marvin Tillman 6-3; K.J. Milner 3-2; Ronald Kent, Jr. 3-2; Jacquez Williams 2-2; Bruce Squires 2-2; John Brannon III 3-0; A.J. Rogers 2-1; Reggie Jones 2-1; Jarquavius Wortham 1-2; Torrion Stevenson 2-0; Austin Phillips 2-0; Solomon Clark 2-0; Tyran Reynolds 1-1; Trevon Poole 1-0; Trevor Childers 1-0; Adam Henderson 1-0; Terrance Wilson 1-0; Ricky Palao 1-0; Kenny Benton 1-0; Nate Link 1-0; Will Horton 0-1; Charles Gadie 0-1. Samford – Aaron Harris 5-5; John Staton 4-3; Tre’Shun Floyd 3-2; Nathan East 2-3; Jaleel Laguins 2-2; Joshua Carter 2-1; Darius Harvey 2-1; J. Montgomery 2-1; Ahmad Gooden 2-1; Jamond Glass 1-2; LaVar Gardner 1-2; William Bryant 2-0; Tay Berry 1-1; Nelson Jordan 1-1; Jai’Rus Creamer 1-1; Tyler Crowder 1-1; Christian Stark 1-1; Jalen Nash 1-1; Horace Roberts 0-2; Robert Adams 0-2; Ty Herring 1-0; Justin Foster 1-0; Chris Shelling 1-0; Coutrell Plair 1-0; C. Matthew 1-0; Garrett Brasher 1-0; Nick Barton 0-1.

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreChattanooga 9 10 7 0 26 Record: (5-2,3-2)Western Carolina 0 3 0 3 6 Record: (3-3,1-3)

Scoring Summary:1st 10:59 UTC Jerrell Lawson safety UTC 2 - WCU 0 06:31 UTC Joseph Parker 28 yd pass from Nick Tiano (Victor Ulmo kick), 8-75 4:28 UTC 9 - WCU 02nd 11:29 UTC Victor Ulmo 39 yd field goal, 8-77 4:03 UTC 12 - WCU 0 09:27 UTC Joseph Parker 3 yd pass from Nick Tiano (Victor Ulmo kick), 3-4 1:20 UTC 19 - WCU 0 00:43 WCU Will Horton 47 yd field goal, 6-5 2:47 UTC 19 - WCU 33rd 00:15 UTC Tyrell Price 3 yd run (Victor Ulmo kick), 12-59 7:05 UTC 26 - WCU 34th 11:50 WCU Will Horton 39 yd field goal, 8-50 3:25 UTC 26 - WCU 6

UTC WCUFIRST DOWNS ....................................................... 19 11RUSHES-YARDS (NET) ............................................ 37-138 35-82PASSING YDS (NET) ............................................... 210 156Passes Att-Comp-Int.............................................. 29-23-0 19-9-1TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS ............................. 66-348 54-238Fumble Returns-Yards ........................................... 1-28 0-0Punt Returns-Yards ................................................ 0-0 1-37Kickoff Returns-Yards ............................................ 1-8 1-13Interception Returns-Yards .................................... 1-28 0-0Punts (Number-Avg) .............................................. 5-39.8 4-40.0Fumbles-Lost ......................................................... 1-1 2-2Penalties-Yards ...................................................... 3-39 5-51Possession Time ................................................... 37:46 22:14Third-Down Conversions ...................................... 4 of 11 3 of 13Fourth-Down Conversions .................................... 1 of 1 0 of 1Red-Zone Scores-Chances .................................... 2-2 2-4Sacks By: Number-Yards ....................................... 4-24 1-2

RUSHING: Chattanooga – Tyrell Price 29-135; Nick Tiano 5-10; Lameric Tucker 1-minus 2; TEAM 2-minus 5. Western Carolina – Connell Young 15-72; Donnavan Spencer 4-13; Will Jones 6-12; Nate Mullen 1-3; Corey Holloway 1-0; Tyrie Adams 8-minus 18.

PASSING: Chattanooga – Nick Tiano 23-29-0-210. Western Carolina – Tyrie Adams 6-13-1-88; Will Jones 3-5-0-68; Jordan Mathis 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING: Chattanooga – Bryce Nunnelly 7-55; Tyrell Price 6-38; Wil Young 5-45; Joseph Parker 3-48; Jacob Webster 2-24. Western Carolina – Nate Mullen 4-65; Connell Young 3-38; Jordan Mathis 2-53.

INTERCEPTIONS: Chattanooga – Kareem Orr 1-28. Western Carolina – None.

FUMBLES: Chattanooga – Isaiah Mack 1-1. Western Carolina – Donnavan Spencer 1-1; Tyrie Adams 1-1.

SACKS (UA-A): Chattanooga – Isaiah Mack 2-1; Jerrell Lawson 1-0; Khayyan Edwards 0-1. Western Carolina – Ricky Palao 1-0.

TACKLES (UA-A): Chattanooga – Marshall Cooper 4-5; Khayyan Edwards 1-6; Jerrell Lawson 5-1; Isaiah Mack 3-3; Ras-hun Freeeman 2-4; Derek Mahaffey 1-3; Kareem Orr 3-0; Brandon Dowdell 2-1; Hawk Schrider 2-1; D.J. Jackson 1-1; C.J. Winston 0-2; Ty Boeck 1-0; Colin Brewer 0-1; Ian Hayes 0-1; Tristan Mann 0-1; CaMiron Smith 0-1; Tyler Cross 0-1. Western Carolina – Ty Harris 7-4; Mitchell Chancey 6-4; Marvin Tillman 4-6; Michael Murphy 4-5; A.J. Rogers 6-2; Ronald Kent, Jr. 5-2; Solomon Clark 2-3; Jacquez Williams 2-1; Reggie Jones 1-2; Ricky Palao 1-1; Tyrie Adams 1-0; Zach Weeks 1-0; Adam Henderson 0-1; Trevor Childers 0-1; Ezekiel Jennette 0-1; Alan Harris 0-1.


2018 Western Carolina Football

Western Carolina Overall Team Statistics (as of Oct 16, 2018)

All games

Team Statistics WCU OPP

SCORING 185 222

Points Per Game 30.8 37.0

Points Off Turnovers 42 55

FIRST DOWNS 144 149

R u s h i n g 67 60

P a s s i n g 65 77

P e n a l t y 12 12

RUSHING YARDAGE 1282 1033

Yards gained rushing 1407 1231

Yards lost rushing 125 198

Rushing Attempts 251 238

Average Per Rush 5.1 4.3

Average Per Game 213.7 172.2

TDs Rushing 9 12

PASSING YARDAGE 1495 1787

C o m p - A t t - I n t 117-192-5 151-232-7

Average Per Pass 7.8 7.7

Average Per Catch 12.8 11.8


TDs Passing 14 16

TOTAL OFFENSE 2777 2820

Total Plays 443 470

Average Per Play 6.3 6.0


KICK RETURNS: #-Yards 11-205 22-516

PUNT RETURNS: #-Yards 9-98 9-102

INT RETURNS: #-Yards 7-99 5-50

KICK RETURN AVERAGE 18.6 23.5

PUNT RETURN AVERAGE 10.9 11.3

INT RETURN AVERAGE 14.1 10.0

FUMBLES-LOST 10-7 4-4

PENALTIES-Yards 39-366 34-316


PUNTS-Yards 31-1196 24-1010

Average Per Punt 38.6 42.1

Net punt average 32.7 36.3

KICKOFFS-Yards 35-2034 41-2514

Average Per Kick 58.1 61.3

Net kick average 40.5 44.1

TIME OF POSSESSION/Game 2 8 : 1 8 3 1 : 4 2

3RD-DOWN Conversions 38/84 36/86

3rd-Down Pct 45% 42%

4TH-DOWN Conversions 4/6 10/16

4th-Down Pct 67% 62%

SACKS BY-Yards 19-141 12-57

MISC YARDS 0 17

TOUCHDOWNS SCORED 24 29

FIELD GOALS-ATTEMPTS 6-8 7-7

ON-SIDE KICKS 0-1 0-1

RED-ZONE SCORES (21-26) 81% (20-24) 83%

RED-ZONE TOUCHDOWNS (16-26) 62% (15-24) 63%

PAT-ATTEMPTS (23-24) 96% (25-27) 93%

ATTENDANCE 32232 12636

Games/Avg Per Game 3/10744 3/4212

Neutral Site Games 0/0

Score by Quarters 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT Total

Western Carolina 31 64 35 55 0 185

Opponents 86 57 44 35 0 222


Western Carolina Overall Individual Statistics (as of Oct 16, 2018)

All games

Rushing gp-gs att gain loss net avg td lg avg/g

Connell Young 6 - 6 87 453 14 439 5.0 1 31 73.2

Tyrie Adams 6 - 6 76 410 85 325 4.3 4 32 54.2

Donnavan Spencer 6 - 0 39 304 3 301 7.7 1 49 50.2

Will Jones 5 - 0 23 120 17 103 4.5 1 26 20.6

Corey Holloway 5 - 0 16 55 0 55 3.4 1 24 11.0

Nate Mullen 6 - 6 4 36 0 36 9.0 1 8 6.0

Caleb Ferguson 6 - 0 2 20 0 20 10.0 0 20 3.3

Kenny Benton 5 - 0 1 9 0 9 9.0 0 9 1.8

A.J. Curry 1 - 0 1 0 2 -2 -2.0 0 0 -2.0

TEAM 3 - 0 2 0 4 -4 -2.0 0 0 -1.3

Total 6 251 1407 125 1282 5.1 9 49 213.7

Opponents 6 238 1231 198 1033 4.3 12 51 172.2

Passing gp-gs effic comp-att-int pct yds td lg avg/g

Tyrie Adams 6 - 6 152.96 85-135-3 63.0 1125 10 58 187.5

Will Jones 5 - 0 123.57 30-54-2 55.6 367 3 29 73.4

Jordan Mathis 6 - 6 185.07 2-3-0 66.7 3 1 9 0.5

Total 6 145.20 117-192-5 60.9 1495 14 58 249.2

Opponents 6 146.51 151-232-7 65.1 1787 16 68 297.8

Receiving gp-gs no. yds avg td lg avg/g

Nate Mullen 6 - 6 31 350 11.3 1 37 58.3

Daquan Patten 6 - 6 22 352 16.0 4 51 58.7

Connell Young 6 - 6 20 175 8.8 2 33 29.2

Jordan Mathis 6 - 6 16 288 18.0 0 58 48.0

Owen Cosenke 6 - 6 11 144 13.1 5 23 24.0

Kenny Benton 5 - 0 6 68 11.3 1 28 13.6

Tyran Reynolds 6 - 0 4 75 18.8 0 40 12.5

Corey Holloway 5 - 0 2 32 16.0 0 26 6.4

D.J. Thorpe 4 - 0 2 12 6.0 0 10 3.0

Austin Phillips 6 - 0 1 9 9.0 1 9 1.5

Donnavan Spencer 6 - 0 1 -4 -4.0 0 0 -0.7

Will Jones 5 - 0 1 -6 -6.0 0 0 -1.2

Total 6 117 1495 12.8 14 58 249.2

Opponents 6 151 1787 11.8 16 68 297.8

Punt Returns no. yds avg td lg

Daquan Patten 9 98 10.9 0 37

Total 9 98 10.9 0 37

Opponents 9 102 11.3 0 27

Interceptions no. yds avg td lg

Ty Harris 2 18 9.0 0 9

JerMichael White 2 23 11.5 0 18

Marvin Tillman 1 12 12.0 0 12

A.J. Rogers 1 0 0.0 0 0

Michael Murphy 1 46 46.0 1 46

Total 7 99 14.1 1 46

Opponents 5 50 10.0 0 28

Kick Returns no. yds avg td lg

Nate Mullen 7 121 17.3 0 28

Kenny Benton 4 84 21.0 0 27

Total 11 205 18.6 0 28

Opponents 22 516 23.5 1 97

Fumble Returns no. yds avg td lg

Total 0 0 0.0 0 0

Opponents 1 28 28.0 0 21



All games

PAT

Scoring td fg kick rush rcv pass dxp saf pts

Will Horton - 6-7 21-22 - - - - - 39

Owen Cosenke 5 - - - - - - - 30

Daquan Patten 4 - - - - - - - 24

Tyrie Adams 4 - - - - - - - 24

Connell Young 3 - - - - - - - 18

Nate Mullen 2 - - - - - - - 12

Corey Holloway 1 - - - - - - - 6

Michael Murphy 1 - - - - - - - 6

Austin Phillips 1 - - - - - - - 6

Donnavan Spencer 1 - - - - - - - 6

Kenny Benton 1 - - - - - - - 6

Will Jones 1 - - - - - - - 6

Julian Pletz - 0-1 2-2 - - - - - 2

Solomon Clark - - - - - - - - 0

Total 24 6-8 23-24 - - - - - 185

Opponents 29 7-7 25-27 - - 0-2 - 1 222

Total Offense g plays rush pass total avg/g

Tyrie Adams 6 211 325 1125 1450 241.7

Will Jones 5 77 103 367 470 94.0

Connell Young 6 87 439 0 439 73.2

Donnavan Spencer 6 39 301 0 301 50.2

Corey Holloway 5 16 55 0 55 11.0

Nate Mullen 6 4 36 0 36 6.0

Caleb Ferguson 6 2 20 0 20 3.3

Kenny Benton 5 1 9 0 9 1.8

Jordan Mathis 6 3 0 3 3 0.5

A.J. Curry 1 1 -2 0 -2 -2.0

TEAM 3 2 -4 0 -4 -1.3

Total 6 443 1282 1495 2777 462.8

Opponents 6 470 1033 1787 2820 470.0

Field Goals fg pct. 01-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-99 lg blk

Will Horton 6-7 85.7 0-0 2-2 2-2 2-3 0-0 47 0

Julian Pletz 0-1 0.0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1

FG Sequence Western Carolina Opponents

Newberry (29),(42) (32),(18)

Gardner-Webb 44,21 (41)

VMI (37) (36)

Furman (29) (23)

Samford - (40)

Chattanooga (47),(39) (39)

Numbers in (parentheses) indicate field goal was made.

Punting no. yds avg lg tb fc i20 50+ blk

Ian Berryman 25 1015 40.6 58 3 9 10 3 0

Caleb Ferguson 5 181 36.2 43 1 2 1 0 0

TEAM 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Total 31 1196 38.6 58 4 11 11 3 1

Opponents 24 1010 42.1 53 2 12 7 5 0

Kickoffs no. yds avg tb ob retn net ydln

Richard McCollum 20 1121 56.0 2 1

Will Horton 14 852 60.9 2 1

Ian Berryman 1 61 61.0 0 0

Total 35 2034 58.1 4 2 23.5 40.5 24

Opponents 41 2514 61.3 20 1 18.6 44.1 20



All games

All Purpose g rush rcv pr kr ir total avg/g

Connell Young 6 439 175 0 0 0 614 102.3

Nate Mullen 6 36 350 0 121 0 507 84.5

Daquan Patten 6 0 352 98 0 0 450 75.0

Tyrie Adams 6 325 0 0 0 0 325 54.2

Donnavan Spen 6 301 -4 0 0 0 297 49.5

Jordan Mathis 6 0 288 0 0 0 288 48.0

Kenny Benton 5 9 68 0 84 0 161 32.2

Owen Cosenke 6 0 144 0 0 0 144 24.0

Will Jones 5 103 -6 0 0 0 97 19.4

Corey Holloway 5 55 32 0 0 0 87 17.4

Tyran Reynolds 6 0 75 0 0 0 75 12.5

Michael Murphy 6 0 0 0 0 46 46 7.7

JerMichael Whit 3 0 0 0 0 23 23 7.7

Caleb Ferguson 6 20 0 0 0 0 20 3.3

Ty Harris 5 0 0 0 0 18 18 3.6

Marvin Tillman 6 0 0 0 0 12 12 2.0

D.J. Thorpe 4 0 12 0 0 0 12 3.0

Austin Phillips 6 0 9 0 0 0 9 1.5

A.J. Curry 1 -2 0 0 0 0 -2 -2.0

TEAM 3 -4 0 0 0 0 -4 -1.3

Total 6 1282 1495 98 205 99 3179 529.8

Opponents 6 1033 1787 102 516 50 3488 581.3


Western Carolina Overall Defensive Statistics (as of Oct 16, 2018)

All games

Tackles Sacks Pass defense Fumbles blkd

## Defensive Leaders gp-gs ua a tot tfl/yds no-yds int-yds brup qbh rcv-yds ff kick saf

48 Mitchell Chancey 6-6 40 29 69 2.0-4 1.0-2 . 1 . . . . .

30 Michael Murphy 6-6 23 27 50 2.0-9 1.5-8 1-46 1 3 1-0 . . .

37 Ty Harris 5-5 26 21 47 4.5-14 2.0-10 2-18 . 2 . . . .

29 Marvin Tillman 6-6 28 17 45 1.5-2 . 1-12 3 . . . . .

25 Jacquez Williams 6-6 22 16 38 7.5-34 4.0-30 . . 10 . . 1 .

13 Ronald Kent, Jr. 6-4 23 6 29 3.5-13 . . 8 . . . . .

90 Solomon Clark 6-6 12 10 22 8.5-54 5.0-49 . . 1 . . . .

24 Shamon Elliott 4-3 16 5 21 2.0-6 . . 5 . . . . .

19 Devarius Cortner 6-2 9 6 15 . . . . . . . . .

22 JerMichael White 3-2 9 6 15 . . 2-23 3 . . . . .

97 Adam Henderson 6-5 8 6 14 3.0-12 1.0-6 . 1 1 1-0 . . .

4 A.J. Rogers 6-2 10 4 14 . . 1-0 . . . . . .

96 K.J. Milner 6-1 9 4 13 1.0-1 . . 1 1 . . . .

49 Nate Link 6-6 6 7 13 3.0-19 2.5-18 . . 3 . 1 . .

17 Reggie Jones 6-5 8 4 12 1.0-1 . . 2 . . . . .

35 Kalen Allen 6-1 3 5 8 1.0-3 . . . . . . 1 .

34 Bruce Squires 6-0 4 3 7 . . . . . . . . .

9 John Brannon III 5-0 4 2 6 . . . 1 . . . . .

86 Tyran Reynolds 6-0 3 2 5 . . . . . . . . .

38 Jarquavius Wortham 4-0 2 2 4 1.5-17 1.0-16 . . . . 1 . .

99 Ricky Palao 2-0 2 1 3 1.5-2 1.0-2 . . . . . . .

46 Austin Phillips 6-0 3 . 3 . . . . . . . . .

27 Trevor Childers 5-0 2 1 3 . . . . . . . . .

28 Terrance Wilson 4-0 1 1 2 . . . . . . . . .

57 Alan Harris 6-0 . 2 2 0.5-1 . . . . . . . .

26 Brandon Bawn 6-0 . 2 2 . . . . . . . . .

68 Torrion Stevenson 1-0 2 . 2 . . . . . . . . .

7 Charles Gadie 3-0 1 1 2 . . . . . . . . .

4B Kenny Benton 5-0 2 . 2 . . . . . 1-0 1 . .

2 Nate Mullen 6-6 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . .

91 Trevon Poole 1-0 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . .

31 Caleb Ferguson 6-0 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . .

63 Zach Weeks 6-6 1 . 1 . . . . . . 1 . .

58 Darrius Smith 6-0 . 1 1 . . . . . . . . .

94 Ezekiel Jennette 6-0 . 1 1 . . . . . . . . .

44 Charles McDonough 6-0 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . .

20 Donnavan Spencer 6-0 . 1 1 . . . . . . . . .

53 Darrius Harris 2-0 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . .

40 Will Horton 6-0 . 1 1 . . . . . . . . .

12 Tyrie Adams 6-6 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . .

5 Connell Young 6-6 . . . . . . . . 1-0 . . .

Total 6 285 194 479 44-192 19-141 7-99 26 21 4-0 4 2 .

Opponents 6 218 256 474 32-115 12-57 5-50 23 18 7-28 7 2 1


Western Carolina Team Game-by-Game (as of Oct 16, 2018)

All games

TEAM STATISTICS

Rushing Receiving Passing Kick Returns Punt Returns tot

Date Opponent no. yds td lg no. yds td lg cmp-att-int yds td lg no. yds td lg no. yds td lg off

Sep 01 NEWBERRY 44 211 3 17 18 271 1 51 18-27-0 271 1 51 1 17 0 17 2 34 0 32 482

Sep 14 at Gardner-Webb 46 325 1 46 16 150 3 33 16-28-0 150 3 33 1 11 0 11 1 1 0 1 475

Sep 22 VMI 49 324 3 31 21 229 3 32 21-33-2 229 3 32 1 28 0 28 3 15 0 9 553

Sep 29 at Furman 43 131 0 12 27 446 5 58 27-40-0 446 5 58 3 52 0 21 1 7 0 7 577

Oct 06 at Samford 34 209 2 49 26 243 2 28 26-45-2 243 2 28 4 84 0 27 1 4 0 0 452

Oct 13 CHATTANOOGA 35 82 0 20 9 156 0 37 9-19-1 156 0 37 1 13 0 13 1 37 0 37 238

Western Carolina 251 1282 9 49 117 1495 14 58 117-192-5 1495 14 58 11 205 0 28 9 98 0 37 2777

Opponents 238 1033 12 51 151 1787 16 68 151-232-7 1787 16 68 22 516 1 97 9 102 0 27 2820

Games: 6 • Avg/rush: 5.1 • Avg/catch: 12.8 • Pass effic: 145.20 • KR avg: 18.6 • PR avg: 10.9 • All purpose avg/game: 529.8 • Total offense avg/gm: 462.8

Tackles Sacks Fumble Pass Defense blkd PAT Attempts off

Date Opponent ua a total tfl-yds no-yds ff fr-yds int-yds qbh brup kick kick rush rcv saf t/o pts

Sep 01 NEWBERRY 41 46 87 8.0-29 5.0-24 0 0-0 0-0 1 4 1 3-4 0 0 0 0 33

Sep 14 at Gardner-Webb 46 16 62 11.0-49 5.0-31 0 0-0 2-23 5 5 0 4-4 0 0 0 7 28

Sep 22 VMI 62 30 92 12.0-67 6.0-59 0 0-0 1-46 7 9 0 7-7 0 0 0 7 52

Sep 29 at Furman 39 28 67 3.0-3 0.0-0 1 1-0 1-9 2 1 1 5-5 0 0 0 7 38

Oct 06 at Samford 57 40 97 5.0-30 2.0-25 2 2-0 3-21 5 4 0 4-4 0 0 0 21 28

Oct 13 CHATTANOOGA 40 34 74 5.0-14 1.0-2 1 1-0 0-0 1 3 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 6

Western Carolina 285 194 479 44.0-192 19.0-141 4 4-0 7-99 21 26 2 23-24 0 0 0 42 185

Opponents 218 256 474 32.0-115 12.0-57 7 7-28 5-50 18 23 2 25-27 0 0 1 55 222

Punting Field Goals Kickoffs

Date Opponent no. yds avg long blkd tb fc 50+ i20 md-att long blkd no. yds avg tb ob

Sep 01 NEWBERRY 4 149 37.2 43 0 1 2 0 1 2-2 42 0 7 418 59.7 0 0

Sep 14 at Gardner-Webb 5 182 36.4 46 0 2 0 0 1 0-2 0 1 4 240 60.0 1 0

Sep 22 VMI 4 162 40.5 58 0 0 2 2 1 1-1 37 0 9 513 57.0 0 1

Sep 29 at Furman 4 110 27.5 40 1 0 2 0 3 1-1 29 0 6 354 59.0 0 1

Oct 06 at Samford 10 433 43.3 49 0 1 4 0 3 0-0 0 0 5 253 50.6 1 0

Oct 13 CHATTANOOGA 4 160 40.0 50 0 0 1 1 2 2-2 47 0 4 256 64.0 2 0

Western Carolina 31 1196 38.6 58 1 4 11 3 11 6-8 47 1 35 2034 58.1 4 2

Opponents 24 1010 42.1 53 0 2 12 5 7 7-7 41 0 41 2514 61.3 20 1


Western Carolina Opponent Game-by-Game (as of Oct 16, 2018)

All games

OPPONENT STATISTICS

Rushing Receiving Passing Kick Returns Punt Returns tot

Date Opponent no. yds td lg no. yds td lg cmp-att-int yds td lg no. yds td lg no. yds td lg off

Sep 01 NEWBERRY 41 209 0 51 19 242 3 44 19-29-0 242 3 44 6 129 0 35 1 20 0 20 451

Sep 14 at Gardner-Webb 40 97 1 20 13 149 0 30 13-30-2 149 0 30 3 53 0 32 0 0 0 0 246

Sep 22 VMI 36 56 3 22 43 491 4 41 43-73-1 491 4 41 5 113 0 31 1 27 0 27 547

Sep 29 at Furman 47 359 4 50 9 133 1 47 9-11-1 133 1 47 4 160 1 97 2 33 0 0 492

Oct 06 at Samford 37 174 3 35 44 562 6 68 44-60-3 562 6 68 3 53 0 36 5 22 0 9 736

Oct 13 CHATTANOOGA 37 138 1 29 23 210 2 28 23-29-0 210 2 28 1 8 0 8 0 0 0 0 348

Opponents 238 1033 12 51 151 1787 16 68 151-232-7 1787 16 68 22 516 1 97 9 102 0 27 2820

Western Carolina 251 1282 9 49 117 1495 14 58 117-192-5 1495 14 58 11 205 0 28 9 98 0 37 2777

Games: 6 • Avg/rush: 4.3 • Avg/catch: 11.8 • Pass effic: 146.51 • KR avg: 23.5 • PR avg: 11.3 • All purpose avg/game: 581.3 • Total offense avg/gm: 470.0

Tackles Sacks Fumble Pass Defense blkd PAT Attempts off

Date Opponent ua a total tfl-yds no-yds ff fr-yds int-yds qbh brup kick kick rush rcv saf t/o pts

Sep 01 NEWBERRY 31 56 87 7.0-17 1.0-4 0 0-0 0-0 1 5 0 2-3 0 0 0 0 26

Sep 14 at Gardner-Webb 41 42 83 3.0-13 1.0-6 0 0-0 0-0 1 6 1 1-1 0 0 0 0 10

Sep 22 VMI 43 40 83 4.0-10 1.0-5 0 0-0 2-22 2 1 0 5-5 0 0 0 6 50

Sep 29 at Furman 38 52 90 5.0-17 4.0-12 4 2-0 0-0 4 3 1 5-6 0 0 0 7 44

Oct 06 at Samford 40 34 74 4.0-15 1.0-6 2 3-0 2-0 8 4 0 9-9 0 0 0 35 66

Oct 13 CHATTANOOGA 25 32 57 9.0-43 4.0-24 1 2-28 1-28 2 4 0 3-3 0 0 1 7 26

Opponents 218 256 474 32.0-115 12.0-57 7 7-28 5-50 18 23 2 25-27 0 0 1 55 222

Western Carolina 285 194 479 44.0-192 19.0-141 4 4-0 7-99 21 26 2 23-24 0 0 0 42 185

Punting Field Goals Kickoffs

Date Opponent no. yds avg long blkd tb fc 50+ i20 md-att long blkd no. yds avg tb ob

Sep 01 NEWBERRY 5 208 41.6 47 0 0 3 0 4 2-2 32 0 6 384 64.0 5 0

Sep 14 at Gardner-Webb 6 253 42.2 50 0 1 3 1 1 1-1 41 0 3 184 61.3 2 0

Sep 22 VMI 3 146 48.7 51 0 0 0 2 1 1-1 36 0 8 451 56.4 5 1

Sep 29 at Furman 2 88 44.0 53 0 0 1 1 0 1-1 23 0 8 502 62.8 5 0

Oct 06 at Samford 3 116 38.7 43 0 1 1 0 0 1-1 40 0 11 697 63.4 3 0

Oct 13 CHATTANOOGA 5 199 39.8 52 0 0 4 1 1 1-1 39 0 5 296 59.2 0 0

Opponents 24 1010 42.1 53 0 2 12 5 7 7-7 41 0 41 2514 61.3 20 1

Western Carolina 31 1196 38.6 58 1 4 11 3 11 6-8 47 1 35 2034 58.1 4 2


Western Carolina Game Superlatives (as of Oct 16, 2018)

All games

INDIVIDUAL GAME HIGHS

Rushes 19 Connell Young vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

19 Tyrie Adams at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Yards Rushing 117 Tyrie Adams vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

TD Rushes 3 Tyrie Adams vs Newberry (Sep 01, 2018)

Long Rush 49 Donnavan Spencer at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Pass attempts 41 Will Jones at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Pass completions 25 Tyrie Adams at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Yards Passing 424 Tyrie Adams at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

TD Passes 5 Tyrie Adams at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Long Pass 58 Tyrie Adams at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Receptions 8 Nate Mullen vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

8 Nate Mullen at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Yards Receiving 159 Daquan Patten at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

TD Receptions 2 Daquan Patten at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

2 Owen Cosenke at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Long Reception 58 Jordan Mathis at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Field Goals 2 Will Horton vs Newberry (Sep 01, 2018)

2 Will Horton vs Chattanooga (Oct 13, 2018)

Long Field Goal 47 Will Horton vs Chattanooga (Oct 13, 2018)

Punts 10 Ian Berryman at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Punting Avg 43.3 Ian Berryman at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Long Punt 58 Ian Berryman vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Punts inside 20 3 Ian Berryman at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

3 Ian Berryman at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Long Punt Return 37 Daquan Patten vs Chattanooga (Oct 13, 2018)

Long Kickoff Return 28 Nate Mullen vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Tackles 15 Mitchell Chancey at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Sacks 4.0 Solomon Clark vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Tackles For Loss 5.5 Solomon Clark vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Interceptions 2 JerMichael White at Gardner-Webb (Sep 14, 2018)



All games

TEAM GAME HIGHS

Rushes 49 vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Yards Rushing 325 at Gardner-Webb (Sep 14, 2018)

Yards Per Rush 7.1 at Gardner-Webb (Sep 14, 2018)

TD Rushes 3 vs Newberry (Sep 01, 2018)

3 vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Pass attempts 45 at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Pass completions 27 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Yards Passing 446 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Yards Per Pass 11.1 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

TD Passes 5 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Total Plays 83 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Total Offense 577 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Yards Per Play 7.0 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Points 52 vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Sacks By 6 vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

First Downs 32 vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Penalties 12 vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Penalty Yards 119 vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Turnovers 5 at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Interceptions By 3 at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Punts 10 at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Punting Avg 43.3 at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Long Punt 58 vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Punts inside 20 3 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

3 at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Long Punt Return 37 vs Chattanooga (Oct 13, 2018)



All games

OPPONENT INDIVIDUAL GAME HIGHS

Rushes 29 Tyrell Price, vs Chattanooga (Oct 13, 2018)

Yards Rushing 135 Tyrell Price, vs Chattanooga (Oct 13, 2018)

TD Rushes 3 Quan Myers, vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Long Rush 51 Austin Barnes, vs Newberry (Sep 01, 2018)

Pass attempts 72 Reece Udinski, vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Pass completions 44 Devlin Hodges, at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Yards Passing 562 Devlin Hodges, at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

TD Passes 6 Devlin Hodges, at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Long Pass 68 Devlin Hodges, at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Receptions 10 Markell Castle, vs Newberry (Sep 01, 2018)

10 Kris Thornton, vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Yards Receiving 143 Javeon Lara, vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

TD Receptions 2 Javeon Lara, vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

2 Joseph Parker, vs Chattanooga (Oct 13, 2018)

Long Reception 68 Yassar El-Amin, at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Field Goals 2 Kevin Weber, vs Newberry (Sep 01, 2018)

Long Field Goal 41 JACKSON, T., at Gardner-Webb (Sep 14, 2018)

Punts 6 HANKINSON, C., at Gardner-Webb (Sep 14, 2018)

Punting Avg 48.7 Reed King, vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Long Punt 53 Grayson Atkins, at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Punts inside 20 4 Shea Rodgers, vs Newberry (Sep 01, 2018)

Long Punt Return 27 Rohan Martin, vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Long Kickoff Return 97 Dejuan Bell, at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Tackles 20 Joe Blue, vs Newberry (Sep 01, 2018)

Sacks 3.0 Adrian Hope, at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Tackles For Loss 3.0 Adrian Hope, at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Interceptions 2 Collin Loftis, vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)



All games

OPPONENT TEAM GAME HIGHS

Rushes 47 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Yards Rushing 359 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Yards Per Rush 7.6 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

TD Rushes 4 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Pass attempts 73 vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Pass completions 44 at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Yards Passing 562 at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Yards Per Pass 12.1 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

TD Passes 6 at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Total Plays 109 vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Total Offense 736 at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Yards Per Play 8.5 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Points 66 at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Sacks By 4 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

4 vs Chattanooga (Oct 13, 2018)

First Downs 37 at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Penalties 8 vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Penalty Yards 69 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Turnovers 5 at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Interceptions By 2 vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

2 at Samford (Oct 06, 2018)

Punts 6 at Gardner-Webb (Sep 14, 2018)

Punting Avg 48.7 vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)

Long Punt 53 at Furman (Sep 29, 2018)

Punts inside 20 4 vs Newberry (Sep 01, 2018)

Long Punt Return 27 vs VMI (Sep 22, 2018)


Western Carolina Red-Zone Results (as of Oct 16, 2018)

All games

Western Carolina Inside Opponent Red-Zone

Times Times Total Rush Pass FGs Failed to score inside RZ

Date Opponent Score In RZ Scored Pts TDs TDs TDs Made FGA Down Int Fumb Half Game

Sep 01, 2018 NEWBERRY W 33-26 5 5 30 4 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Sep 14, 2018 at Gardner-Webb W 28-10 3 2 14 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

Sep 22, 2018 VMI W 52-50 6 6 38 5 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Sep 29, 2018 at Furman L 38-44 6 4 24 3 0 3 1 0 0 0 2 0 0

Oct 06, 2018 at Samford L 28-66 2 2 14 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Oct 13, 2018 CHATTANOOGA L 6-26 4 2 6 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 0

Totals 26 21 126 16 7 9 5 1 1 0 3 0 0

21 of 26 (80.8%)

Opponents Inside Western Carolina Red-Zone

Times Times Total Rush Pass FGs Failed to score inside RZ

Date Opponent Score In RZ Scored Pts TDs TDs TDs Made FGA Down Int Fumb Half Game

Sep 01, 2018 NEWBERRY W 33-26 2 2 6 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0

Sep 14, 2018 at Gardner-Webb W 28-10 3 2 10 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0

Sep 22, 2018 VMI W 52-50 8 6 37 5 3 2 1 0 2 0 0 0 0

Sep 29, 2018 at Furman L 38-44 3 3 17 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Oct 06, 2018 at Samford L 28-66 6 5 35 5 3 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0

Oct 13, 2018 CHATTANOOGA L 6-26 2 2 14 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 24 20 119 15 10 5 5 0 3 0 1 0 0

20 of 24 (83.3%)


Western Carolina By-Quarter Statistics (as of Oct 16, 2018)

All games

3rd-Down Conversions

Date Opponent Score Overall 1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr Overtime

Sep 01, 2018 NEWBERRY W 33-26 5-12 41.7 1-3 33.3 1-3 33.3 1-4 25.0 2-2 100.0

Sep 14, 2018 at Gardner-Webb W 28-10 11-18 61.1 4-5 80.0 2-4 50.0 3-5 60.0 2-4 50.0

Sep 22, 2018 VMI W 52-50 6-12 50.0 3-4 75.0 2-5 40.0 1-2 50.0 0-1 0.0

Sep 29, 2018 at Furman L 38-44 7-16 43.8 0-3 0.0 2-6 33.3 1-2 50.0 4-5 80.0

Oct 06, 2018 at Samford L 28-66 6-13 46.2 1-4 25.0 2-4 50.0 1-2 50.0 2-3 66.7

Oct 13, 2018 CHATTANOOGA L 6-26 3-13 23.1 0-4 0.0 0-3 0.0 1-2 50.0 2-4 50.0

Western Carolina 38-84 45.2 9-23 39.1 9-25 36.0 8-17 47.1 12-19 63.2 0-0 0.0

Opponents 36-86 41.9 11-17 64.7 8-26 30.8 8-19 42.1 9-24 37.5 0-0 0.0

4th-Down Conversions


Sep 01, 2018 NEWBERRY W 33-26 1-1 100.0 0-0 0.0 1-1 100.0 0-0 0.0 0-0 0.0

Sep 14, 2018 at Gardner-Webb W 28-10 0-0 0.0 0-0 0.0 0-0 0.0 0-0 0.0 0-0 0.0

Sep 22, 2018 VMI W 52-50 0-0 0.0 0-0 0.0 0-0 0.0 0-0 0.0 0-0 0.0

Sep 29, 2018 at Furman L 38-44 3-4 75.0 1-1 100.0 1-2 50.0 1-1 100.0 0-0 0.0

Oct 06, 2018 at Samford L 28-66 0-0 0.0 0-0 0.0 0-0 0.0 0-0 0.0 0-0 0.0

Oct 13, 2018 CHATTANOOGA L 6-26 0-1 0.0 0-0 0.0 0-0 0.0 0-0 0.0 0-1 0.0

Western Carolina 4-6 66.7 1-1 100.0 2-3 66.7 1-1 100.0 0-1 0.0 0-0 0.0

Opponents 10-16 62.5 2-2 100.0 3-4 75.0 1-2 50.0 4-8 50.0 0-0 0.0

Time of Possession


Sep 01, 2018 NEWBERRY W 33-26 26:52 6:17 7:40 5:30 7:25

Sep 14, 2018 at Gardner-Webb W 28-10 28:52 7:37 5:18 7:54 8:03

Sep 22, 2018 VMI W 52-50 29:25 7:32 6:41 9:29 5:43

Sep 29, 2018 at Furman L 38-44 32:14 9:15 8:43 6:05 8:11

Oct 06, 2018 at Samford L 28-66 30:12 9:26 7:48 5:20 7:38

Oct 13, 2018 CHATTANOOGA L 6-26 22:14 7:11 5:13 4:21 5:29

Western Carolina Total 169:49 47:18 41:23 38:39 42:29 0:00

Avg. 28:18 7:53 6:53 6:26 7:04 0:00

Opponents Total 190:11 42:42 48:37 51:21 47:31 0:00

Avg. 31:41 7:07 8:06 8:33 7:55 0:00


Western Carolina - Long Plays

20-YARD PLUS PLAYS

Yds Type Player(s) Opponent

58 Pass Jordan Mathis from Tyrie Adams Furman

51 Pass Daquan Patten from Tyrie Adams Newberry

50 Pass Daquan Patten from Tyrie Adams Furman

49* Pass Daquan Patten from Tyrie Adams Furman

49 Rush Donnavan Spencer Samford

46 Rush Donnavan Spencer Gardner-Webb

46* INT Michael Murphy VMI

43* Pass Daquan Patten from Tyrie Adams Furman

40 Pass Tyran Reynolds from Tyrie Adams Furman

37 Pass Nate Mullen from Tyrie Adams Newberry

37 PR Daquan Patten Chattanooga

37 Pass Nate Mullen from Tyrie Adams Chattanooga

33* Pass Connell Young from Tyrie Adams Gardner-Webb

32 Rush Tyrie Adams Gardner-Webb

32 PR Daquan Patten Newberry

32* Pass Daquan Patten from Tyrie Adams VMI

31* Rush Connell Young Gardner-Webb

31 Rush Connell Young VMI

31 Rush Donnavan Spencer VMI

29 Rush Connell Young Gardner-Webb

29 Pass Jordan Mathis from Will Jones Chattanooga

28 Rush Donnavan Spencer Samford

28 Pass Kenny Benton from Tyrie Adams Furman

28 Pass Jordan Mathis from Will Jones Samford

28 KR Nate Mullen VMI

27 KR Kenny Benton Samford

26 Pass Corey Holloway from Will Jones Samford

26* Rush Will Jones Samford

24 Pass Connell Young from Tyrie Adams Chattanooga

24 Rush Corey Holloway Samford

24 Pass Jordan Mathis from Will Jones Chattanooga

23 Pass Owen Cosenke from Tyrie Adams VMI

21* Pass Owen Cosenke from Will Jones Samford

21 Rush Tyrie Adams VMI

21 Pass Nate Mullen from Will Jones Samford

21 KR Kenny Benton Samford

21 KR Nate Mullen Furman

20 Pass Connell Young from Will Jones Furman

20 Rush Connell Young Chattanooga

20 Rush Caleb Ferguson Samford

* touchdown scored on play

LONG PLAYS BY THE NUMBERS

Long Plays By Yards No. TD

100+ 0 0

90-99 0 0

80-89 0 0

70-79 0 0

60-69 0 0

50-59 3 0

40-49 6 3

30-39 10 3

20-29 21 2

Long Plays By Type No. TD

Rushing 13 2

Passing 20 5

Punt returns 2 0

Kick returns 4 0

Interceptions 1 1

Fumble returns 0 0

Other 0 0

TOTAL 40 8

20-YARD PLUS BY PLAYER

Player No. TD R P KR PR IR FR

Daquan Patten 7 3 0 5 0 2 0 0

Connell Young 7 2 4 3 0 0 0 0

Nate Mullen 5 0 0 3 2 0 0 0

Donnavan Spencer 4 0 4 0 0 0 0 0

Jordan Mathis 4 0 0 4 0 0 0 0

Kenny Benton 3 0 0 1 2 0 0 0

Owen Cosenke 2 1 0 2 0 0 0 0

Corey Holloway 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0

Tyrie Adams 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0

Will Jones 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0

Michael Murphy 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0

Caleb Ferguson 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

Tyran Reynolds 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

TOTAL 40 8 13 20 4 2 1 0

LONGEST PLAYS OF THE YEAR

Rushing

49 Donnavan Spencer vs Samford (10/6/2018)

Rushing Touchdown

31 Connell Young vs Gardner-Webb (9/14/2018)

Passing

58 Jordan Mathis from Tyrie Adams

vs Furman (9/29/2018)

Passing Touchdown

49 Daquan Patten from Tyrie Adams

vs Furman (9/29/2018)

Punt Return

37 Daquan Patten vs Chattanooga (10/13/2018)

Kick Return

28 Nate Mullen vs VMI (9/22/2018)

Interception Return

46 Michael Murphy vs VMI (9/22/2018)

Fumble Return

None

Punt

58 Ian Berryman vs VMI (9/22/2018)

Field Goal

47 Will Horton vs Chattanooga (10/13/2018)


Western Carolina Combined Team Statistics (as of Oct 16, 2018)

All games

Date Opponent Score Att.

Sep 01, 2018 NEWBERRY W 33-26 12111

Sep 14, 2018 at Gardner-Webb W 28-10 2257

* Sep 22, 2018 VMI W 52-50 12759

* Sep 29, 2018 at Furman L 38-44 7201

* Oct 06, 2018 at Samford L 28-66 3178

* Oct 13, 2018 CHATTANOOGA L 6-26 7362

Rushing gp-gs att gain loss net avg td lg avg/g

Connell Young 6 - 6 87 453 14 439 5.0 1 31 73.2

Tyrie Adams 6 - 6 76 410 85 325 4.3 4 32 54.2

Donnavan Spencer 6 - 0 39 304 3 301 7.7 1 49 50.2

Will Jones 5 - 0 23 120 17 103 4.5 1 26 20.6

Corey Holloway 5 - 0 16 55 0 55 3.4 1 24 11.0

Nate Mullen 6 - 6 4 36 0 36 9.0 1 8 6.0

Caleb Ferguson 6 - 0 2 20 0 20 10.0 0 20 3.3

Kenny Benton 5 - 0 1 9 0 9 9.0 0 9 1.8

Total 6 251 1407 125 1282 5.1 9 49 213.7

Opponents 6 238 1231 198 1033 4.3 12 51 172.2

Passing gp-gs effic comp-att-int pct yds td lg avg/g

Tyrie Adams 6 - 6 152.96 85-135-3 63.0 1125 10 58 187.5

Will Jones 5 - 0 123.57 30-54-2 55.6 367 3 29 73.4

Jordan Mathis 6 - 6 185.07 2-3-0 66.7 3 1 9 0.5

Total 6 145.20 117-192-5 60.9 1495 14 58 249.2

Opponents 6 146.51 151-232-7 65.1 1787 16 68 297.8

Receiving gp-gs no. yds avg td lg avg/g

Nate Mullen 6 - 6 31 350 11.3 1 37 58.3

Daquan Patten 6 - 6 22 352 16.0 4 51 58.7

Connell Young 6 - 6 20 175 8.8 2 33 29.2

Jordan Mathis 6 - 6 16 288 18.0 0 58 48.0

Owen Cosenke 6 - 6 11 144 13.1 5 23 24.0

Kenny Benton 5 - 0 6 68 11.3 1 28 13.6

Tyran Reynolds 6 - 0 4 75 18.8 0 40 12.5

Corey Holloway 5 - 0 2 32 16.0 0 26 6.4

D.J. Thorpe 4 - 0 2 12 6.0 0 10 3.0

Austin Phillips 6 - 0 1 9 9.0 1 9 1.5

Donnavan Spencer 6 - 0 1 -4 -4.0 0 0 -0.7

Will Jones 5 - 0 1 -6 -6.0 0 0 -1.2

Total 6 117 1495 12.8 14 58 249.2

Opponents 6 151 1787 11.8 16 68 297.8

Field Goals fg pct. 01-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-99 lg blk

Will Horton 6-7 85.7 0-0 2-2 2-2 2-3 0-0 47 0

Julian Pletz 0-1 0.0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1

PAT

Scoring td fg kick rush rcv pass dxp saf pts

Will Horton - 6-7 21-22 - - - - - 39

Owen Cosenke 5 - - - - - - - 30

Tyrie Adams 4 - - - - - - - 24

Daquan Patten 4 - - - - - - - 24

Connell Young 3 - - - - - - - 18

Nate Mullen 2 - - - - - - - 12

Kenny Benton 1 - - - - - - - 6

Michael Murphy 1 - - - - - - - 6

Corey Holloway 1 - - - - - - - 6

Will Jones 1 - - - - - - - 6

Donnavan Spencer 1 - - - - - - - 6

Austin Phillips 1 - - - - - - - 6

Julian Pletz - 0-1 2-2 - - - - - 2

Total 24 6-8 23-24 - - - - - 185

Opponents 29 7-7 25-27 - - 0-2 - 1 222

Score by Quarters 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT Total

Western Carolina 31 64 35 55 0 185

Opponents 86 57 44 35 0 222

Record: Overall Home Away Neutral

All games 3-3 2-1 1-2 0-0

Conference 1-3 1-1 0-2 0-0

Non-Conference 2-0 1-0 1-0 0-0

Team Statistics WCU OPP

FIRST DOWNS 144 149

R u s h i n g 67 60

P a s s i n g 65 77

P e n a l t y 12 12

RUSHING YARDAGE 1282 1033

Rushing Attempts 251 238

Average Per Rush 5.1 4.3


TDs Rushing 9 12

PASSING YARDAGE 1495 1787

C o m p - A t t - I n t 117-192-5 151-232-7

Average Per Pass 7.8 7.7

Average Per Catch 12.8 11.8


TDs Passing 14 16

TOTAL OFFENSE 2777 2820

Average Per Play 6.3 6.0


KICK RETURNS: #-Yards 11-205 22-516

PUNT RETURNS: #-Yards 9-98 9-102

INT RETURNS: #-Yards 7-99 5-50

FUMBLES-LOST 10-7 4-4

PENALTIES-Yards 39-366 34-316

PUNTS-AVG 31-38.6 24-42.1

TIME OF POSSESSION/Game 2 8 : 1 8 3 1 : 4 2

3RD-DOWN Conversions 38/84 36/86

4TH-DOWN Conversions 4/6 10/16

Interceptions no. yds avg td lg

JerMichael White 2 23 11.5 0 18

Ty Harris 2 18 9.0 0 9

Marvin Tillman 1 12 12.0 0 12

A.J. Rogers 1 0 0.0 0 0

Michael Murphy 1 46 46.0 1 46

Punting no. yds avg lg tb fc i20 50+ blk

Ian Berryman 25 1015 40.6 58 3 9 10 3 0

Caleb Ferguson 5 181 36.2 43 1 2 1 0 0

TEAM 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Punt Returns no. yds avg td lg

Daquan Patten 9 98 10.9 0 37

Total 9 98 10.9 0 37

Opponents 9 102 11.3 0 27

Kick Returns no. yds avg td lg

Nate Mullen 7 121 17.3 0 28

Kenny Benton 4 84 21.0 0 27

Total 11 205 18.6 0 28

Opponents 22 516 23.5 1 97

All Purpose g rush rcv pr kr ir total avg/g

Connell Young 6 439 175 0 0 0 614 102.3

Nate Mullen 6 36 350 0 121 0 507 84.5

Daquan Patten 6 0 352 98 0 0 450 75.0

Tyrie Adams 6 325 0 0 0 0 325 54.2

Donnavan Spenc 6 301 -4 0 0 0 297 49.5

Total 6 1282 1495 98 205 99 3179 529.8

Opponents 6 1033 1787 102 516 50 3488 581.3

Total Offense g plays rush pass total avg/g

Tyrie Adams 6 211 325 1125 1450 241.7

Will Jones 5 77 103 367 470 94.0

Connell Young 6 87 439 0 439 73.2

Donnavan Spencer 6 39 301 0 301 50.2

Corey Holloway 5 16 55 0 55 11.0

Total 6 443 1282 1495 2777 462.8

Opponents 6 470 1033 1787 2820 470.0

Tackles Sacks Pass defense Fumbles blkd

## Defensive Leaders gp-gs ua a tot tfl/yds no-yds int-yds brup qbh rcv-yds ff kick saf

48 Mitchell Chancey 6-6 40 29 69 2.0-4 1.0-2 . 1 . . . . .

30 Michael Murphy 6-6 23 27 50 2.0-9 1.5-8 1-46 1 3 1-0 . . .

37 Ty Harris 5-5 26 21 47 4.5-14 2.0-10 2-18 . 2 . . . .

29 Marvin Tillman 6-6 28 17 45 1.5-2 . 1-12 3 . . . . .

25 Jacquez Williams 6-6 22 16 38 7.5-34 4.0-30 . . 10 . . 1 .

Total 6 285 194 479 44-192 19-141 7-99 26 21 4-0 4 2 .

Opponents 6 218 256 474 32-115 12-57 5-50 23 18 7-28 7 2 1

WESTERN CAROLINA · 10/17/2018 · page 1 2018 cata a western carolina athletics media relations...

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