By MONTE DUTTON

When Steve Englehart arrived at Presbyterian College, in the spring of 2022, amid the ruins of the Year of Living Dangerously with Kevin Kelley, about 30 football-playing warm bodies greeted him.

On Wednesday morning, Englehart greeted his third team of Blue Hose, now numbered 117.

None of these young men received scholarships, mind you. That was the problem Kelley was first supposed to fix.

In Englehart’s first season, PC was 1-10. Last year’s mark was 4-7. In the far-flung Pioneer Football League, the Blue Hose improved from 0-8 to 2-6. If any game was a portent of possibilities to come, it was a 23-20 upset of Wofford on Sept. 16. The Terriers went 2-9, but the Terriers have scholarships.

Five of the losses were by a total of 34 points: 10, 4, 9, 2 and 10. Three of the four wins were by a total of 10: 3, 3 and 4. Games, win or lose, were exciting.

Every indication suggests that PC is better. All 11 defensive starters return. Three members of the All-PFL first team – wide receiver Dominic Kibby, tight end Worth Warner and linebacker Alex Herriott – are back, as is freshman All-America kicker Mack Mikko.

The former quarterback, Tyler Wesley, marched off to Anderson University, where a scholarship was available, but junior Ty Englehart, the head coach’s son, saw considerable action. He hit 33/50 passes for 329 yards and rushed for 292.

In their first workout, the Blue Hose seemed surprisingly crisp and understandably enthusiastic.

Englehart is a wanderer. He doesn’t mount the rusted tower, which might be an easy climb for a trapeze artist. He doesn’t go group to group, getting in there amidst his charges. He lets his assistants do their work.

Kelley was a wanderer, too, but he was seldom alone. He was accompanied by an aide-de-camp bearing a tablet, and a videographer was nearby, even during practices, back far enough to keep his or her shadow out of the frame.

That was then. This is now.

Englehart stopped by to say hello. Irby Hipp, my friend and a PC fan, was there, as was athletics director Dee Nichols.

We chatted a bit about changing times, about the big schools increasing scholarships. I remarked that if the semi-professionals start signing 30 athletes to prevent them from going elsewhere, even more will go elsewhere.

In the long run, Englehart said, it may benefit schools at PC’s level. He is an optimistic man.

Things are getting better at PC. Englehart and his team are setting the tone. Baseball had a winning season. Women’s basketball won a play-in game in the NCAA Tournament.

The slogan of Englehart’s football program is “Pull the ladder.” When Dustin Kerns was men’s basketball coach, it was “Take the stairs.”

What PC needs is an escalator to climb faster and an elevator to raise the level.

“It’s essential for us to not mistake activity for achievement,” said Englehart to the team afterward. “Today is the day that this team is born, and we’re only going upwards from this point. But always remember that, if you suit up and just go through the motions, there’s no progress.

“More than anything, this is about staying completely focused on the details. That’s how you stay conditioned for the fourth quarter, by staying locked in from start to finish.”

Football is alone among the unscholarshipped at PC.

If that is ever going to change, PC must keep rising in the PFL standings.

If so, perhaps the good times won’t be over for good.

South Carolina has two state mottos: Animis opibusque parati (“prepared in mind and resources”) and Dum spiro spero (“while I breathe, I hope”).

It’s Latin, which once was a language.

As football season approaches, I expect to streamline the site name. Since the coverage – Furman and Laurens County – is difficult to convey in a word, I may stick with Wellpilgrim (com, net, et al.). Or, if anyone thinks of anything snazzy, I’ll take it under advisement.

A shorter name makes it more likely that readers go directly to the site without linking through social media (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

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