By MONTE DUTTON

Furman football has been ranked as high as fifth in various preseason forecasts of the Football Championship Subdivision, which is why people just say FCS whether or not they know what it is. I’ve never seen the need to suppress I-AA.

The Paladins finished 10^th last season, and this year there is every reason for optimism that does not include the words Ryan Miller. At a time when many other schools figuratively run Grand Central Station, Clay Hendrix and staff rely on their greatest strength: they sell the school. Most of the young men who play football for the Paladins want to be there.

A few transfer out. A few transfer in. Furman is a bubbling brook surrounded by roaring rapids.

It makes me get all metaphorical.

A high preseason ranking doesn’t make it easier. On balance, it makes it a tad harder. Imagine a tug of war between the confident and the vulnerable. One is motivated by destiny, the other by fear.

“Nobody expects any more than we do of ourselves,” Hendrix said. “That’s where we wanted to be when we came back here. We wanted to be a team that would, every year, be one of the better teams in the country.”

Hendrix is not quite a lifer, but Furman never left his heart during two years as a North Carolina State assistant and most of a decade at the Air Force Academy. This is his seventh year back. He’s 41-26 with a bullet. That’s old-time music lingo for rising up the charts.

There’s an old song. Let me think. Luckily, I retain some of my Jeopardy skills.

I’ll try Sixties in Country Music for 1,000, Art or Alex or Mike or Mayim or Ken.

Country quartet sang they were getting closer to where they always wanted to be.

Who were the Statler Brothers? Ding, ding, ding!

There I go digressing again.

These are full-grown men in purple and white. They’re not perfect. They’ve experienced their rites of passage.

Hell, football is a rite of passage.

Gram Parsons wrote, “Twenty thousand roads I went down, down, down, and they all led me straight back home to you.’

If you guessed I’m playing songs tonight at a local Mexican joint, you were right.

I watched four high-school teams scrimmaging last night. Friday week will be a long night, but I’m planning to get up to FanFest. I may not write a word. I just want to mingle. Whom am I kidding? I’ll bump into a story.

Furman football is a tasty stew from a secret recipe. It’s not easy to make.

A trip to Paladin stadium is both a retrospective and a live event. Each home Saturday, I see heroes of the past. Some I see at every game. Some I haven’t seen in 40 years. Some look damn near the same. Some I have to squint to recognize.

Every team has fans who believe in its exceptionalism. Every team tries. Every player puts on his pants one leg at a time.

To quote a song I wrote: The names and numbers change, but it’s like a rolling stone / Go out there and win one on your own.

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.

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.

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

And … take a look at my books at MonteDutton.net.