By MONTE DUTTON

On the very week that Rob Acunto’s departure was announced (by Fresno State), I find myself suddenly upbeat about Presbyterian College’s football program.

I wandered around at Friday morning’s opening practice, and the Blue Hose look better, bigger, faster, quicker, deeper and more motivated.

I like the crack of a blocking sled. It’s a cross between the crack of a wooden bat and the plink of an aluminum or composite.

The Fighting Blue Hose weren’t in full pads, thus limiting the fighting. I have little to go on but intuition. They were 1-10 last year, after Steve Englehart took over a team that was coming off a 2-9 season and drastically depleted in the aftermath of The Year of Kevin Kelley Living Dangerously.

I dig the vibe. Englehart is nothing if not forthright. He is hopeful the Hose will be competitive in the Pioneer Football League. Silly me. I believe him.

“Our mix of familiarity and newer players is going to carry over well as we go through the preseason,” Englehart stated. “I was impressed with how businesslike this opening practice was handled. Immediately we get a sense of how hungry our guys are to succeed, and they’re [champing] at the bit to keep up the pace they’re at right now”.

It’s not exactly going out on a limb to expect PC to be better, but I liked what I saw.

Dee Nichols, long a member of PC’s athletics department and the spouse of former head football coach Harold, is Rob Acunto’s successor as AD.

Dee, a bachelors and masters graduate of Georgia Southern University in Statesboro and former head volleyball coach there, has been at Presbyterian since 2009 in a variety of posts, most recently associate AD for operations and senior women’s administrator.

Elsewhere …

Pro football exhibition games are useless. I remember when NFL flacks got hot and bothered if anyone referred to an exhibition game. They were “preseason” games. It was one of those implied “if you don’t call it preseason, I might forget to return your calls” ploys.

They are exactly exhibition games. I tuned into the Browns-Jets, and the two reasons I wanted to watch were wearing street clothes. Once upon a time, the starter might play a quarter.

On the bright side, I did surmise that several players are not going to make their teams. How’s that for a bright side?

Plus, at this stage of my career, I don’t make any calls that they don’t return.

Many placekickers, like golfers, naturally draw the ball, and many fade it. The reliable ones usually “instep” it straight.

History has proved that soccer-style kickers are superior in every respect except one. Straight-on kickers generally got the ball up in the air higher. They were harder to block.

Interviewers often ask for superlatives to adjectives that do not require it. “How ecstatic were you?” There are no degrees of ecstasy. Ask me sometime for a story about Tony Stewart that decorum prevents inserting here.

The best in football at recovering fumbles are offensive linemen. They don’t mess around. They just pounce on it.

When I read, watch and listen to what is going on in major-college football, it reminds me of NASCAR’s skip down the primrose path. Everything is about what TV wants and will pay for. The fans who actually go to the games are overlooked.

Supernova, TV-concocted conferences are too big to provide enough satisfaction for the fans. It’s difficult enough for South Carolina to swim the shark-infested waters of the Southeastern Conference now. What happens when every power and its brothers join?

Here’s what happens. The championship playoffs grow to, oh, 24 teams or so (as in FCS). Early-round matchups will be, oh, Alabama-BYU, LSU-Rutgers, Duke-Oregon … and traveling to all those games will be too much for mere millionaires to afford.

Closer to home …

Clinton High School has declared this the 100^th anniversary of Red Devil football.

Though a handful of recorded games occurred earlier, 1923 was the first full season in which Clinton High fielded a team.

The occasion is to be celebrated throughout the coming season, with various checkpoints of the past commemorated with ceremonies and inserts in the game programs.

The centerpiece of the celebration is the home game on Sept. 15 versus Chapman at Wilder Stadium.

In a remarkable coincidence, the Laurens County Touchdown Club’s first meeting is the day before the Clinton-at-Laurens game. The county’s high-school coaches – Corey Fountain of Clinton, Daryl Smith of Laurens, Jolly Doolittle of Laurens Academy and Charlie Washington of Thornwell – are the guests.

The meetings take place every other Thursday at noon, at The Ridge in Laurens, beginning on Aug. 24. In a development particularly significant to media members, the food line opens at 11:45.

On Sept. 7, the guest is Presbyterian College head coach Steve Englehart, followed on Sep. 21 by Newberry College’s Todd Knight, on Oct. 5 by ex-Wofford head coach Mike Ayers, on Oct. 19 by the new executive director of the S.C. Athletic Coaches Association, Scott Earley, on Nov. 2 by Clemson great Levon Kirkland (representing the S.C. Football Hall of Fame), and on Nov. 16 by Clemson’s Danny Pearman and South Carolina’s Patrick DiMarco.

The annual banquet is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m., with WSPA-TV’s Todd Summers offering the remarks.

For more information on memberships and sponsorship, contact TD Club president Gene Simmons at (864) 200-5007 or gsimmons@clintonymca.org.

Meet the Raiders Night is set for 6-9 p.m. on Saturday at K.C. Hanna Stadium, and much more than Smith’s football team is to be on display. Food, team gear, and introductions of all the fall teams are on the agenda.

Both Laurens and Clinton are again participating in the Bill Pate White Rose Football Classic next Friday, Aug. 11, at York Comprehensive High School. The matchups are, in order beginning at p.m., Laurens (4-7 last year) vs. Fort Mill (0-10), Westwood (3-8) vs. Providence (5-6), Clover (6-5) vs. Providence Day (12-1), and Clinton (13-1) vs. York (5-5).

Tickets are available here.

If you’re interested in advertising on this site – it’s close to sold out, but I can squeeze in a couple more – contact me at hutdut@outlook.com.

Contributions (you may mail a check of any amount to DHK Sports, P.O. Box 768, Clinton, S.C. 29325 or make a monthly donation via Patreon) are listed on the Donors page of this site.

Buy my books at montedutton.net. They’re quite affordable, particularly if you’d like to read them on your phone or other device.

Support local music by participating in the Open Mic I’m hosting at Fiesta Grande (see the ad) on Wednesday, Aug. 9, at 7 p.m. Bring your instrument and friends to cheer you on. Sign up by 6:45.