For Ferrum, this was a totally disappointing season. The 1-9 finish was difficult for parents, fans, players and coaches alike. It however did give me hope at several different levels. In this article, I will give my personal opinion on what I think are some positive takeaways, and some things that will hopefully improve next year. Let's begin with the offense.
Ferrum had a large stable of quarterbacks and was able to get production out of several of them. The player that had the best passing numbers was Brayden Hawkins. Hawkins ended the season with 192 passing attempts and completed 91. That was a 47.40 completion percentage. Hawkins threw for 1049 yards, and 4 touchdowns. Unfortunately, he also threw for 10 interceptions. Hawkins averaged 131 passing yards per game. Hawkins, without going back and counting every play during the season, likely took the majority of the snaps.
Another quarterback that showed promise was Jesper Korkalainen. Although not getting as many snaps under center, Jesper threw for 398 yards averaging 66.3 yards passing per game. All totaled, he threw 64 pass attempts, completing 40 of them with one interception, and two passing touchdowns.
Josh Luckett was able to get some quality reps under center, but the totals were not as strong. Luckett threw 35 pass attempts, completing 18 of them with three interceptions, and one passing touchdown. He averaged 17.10 yards per game. On the other hand, Luckett was the top running quarterback of the trio averaging 18.5 yards per game.
The running game had some bright spots this year, as the backfield was led by three strong running backs. Zac Smiley, Monzelle Campbell, and Joshua Ellerbe. The trio accounted for 1126 yards, and 10 touchdowns.
Receiving was led by Deven Gray who had 437 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns. also adding to the receiving efforts was Ryan Downer who totaled 336 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns, and Na Shawn Greene who collected 117 receiving yards and one touchdown.
The Offensive Line according to the roster is only losing one player to graduation, and they will also lose 2 listed Tight Ends. All of the players listed in this post to this point will be back next season. That should bode well for the Panthers.
Defensively, Ferrum will take a hard hit as there are several players being lost to graduation. Drew Hill, Sincere Adams, Jamal Ash, Elijah Crenshaw, Zion Wade, and Rah 'Quan Payne just to name a few. All totaled, Ferrum loses 13 defensive players to graduation. Fortunately, there are a lot of players ready to step up. As for the Special Teams, Ferrum should be solid next year as Josh Luckett and Seth Deaton will both be back.
I am confident in the ability of Coach Adams and his staff to evaluate each position and determine needed adjustments. I believe that Ferrum should be solid offensively, but the defense worries me with so many losses to graduation. Hopefully, things will get much better. If there was one thing I could change that affects no ones position it would be the schedule. I would, if possible, take UVA-Wise off of the schedule. I am anticipating that they will travel to Ferrum next year and will likely again be the first game. Ferrum needs to be able to start the season with a win, and that will not happen against that team.
Go Panthers!
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