By Bradley Melchor, Staff
As the calendar flips to September and the Cru settles into the semester, we turn our attention towards the opening kickoff of the UMHB 2024 Fall Football season.
Coming off the back of a six win season that saw the Crusaders finish second in their conference and miss out on the National Tournament, the Cru are looking to bounce back and are going into this season full of optimism.
When asked about the team's mentality coming out of fall camp, Head Coach Larry Harmon said, "It’s been an energetic and fun three weeks. We have a lot of excitement and energy going around.”
Harmon also spoke on the excitement surrounding some of the Crusaders’ offseason additions and transfers. "We have a lot of new guys on the roster that have helped our talent level, and the guys that were here last year are excited too.”
Among these additions are junior defensive linemen BJ Ferrell and Ron Tatum, who Harmon believes can be major contributors right away. “I’m excited to see guys like Ron and BJ play in a real game and see what they can do in that environment”, said Harmon.
Harmon also spotlighted transfer junior running backs Kam Ferguson and Asa Osbourn, who are expected to receive and split a majority of the snaps in the Cru backfield.
Some key returning players to watch over the course of the season will be junior quarterback Isaac Phe and senior linebacker Durand Hill. Hill, a two time First Team All-ASC selection, was recognized in pre-season polls and named the ASC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year while also being named to the D3Football.com Preseason All-American Second Team. Phe, who will be entering his second season as the starting quarterback for the Cru, threw for over 1,700 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2023. The Cru will certainly be hoping that Phe can build on this impressive season, and potentially lead this program to another ASC and National Championship.
Another thing to note for the upcoming season is the drastic change that has occurred with the American Southwest Conference and its drastic impact on the Crusaders’ schedule. After the departure of McMurry University, Austin College, and Texas Lutheran University, UMHB will now be forced to play a double round-robin in conference play. This new format will see the Cru play the likes of Hardin-Simmons University, Howard Payne University, and East Texas Baptist University twice this season. When asked how the conference realignment could impact his team, Harmon stated, “It’s hard to beat a good team twice, and the teams that are left in our conference are teams that have competed well in the past. I think all of us are concerned with how our kids will take playing that second game, especially when you’re successful the first time around, it can be really easy to have a let down and we have to avoid those.”
The Cru will kick off their season at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept.7 when they travel to McKenzie, TN to take on Bethel University.
