Amidst an otherwise dreary Furman fall, it’s comforting to see Tyler Huff swashbuckling his way through Jacksonville State games on weeknights.

Huff is doing for the Gamecocks what he did for the Paladins in a pair of 10-3 seasons at quarterback.

The 6-1, 215 “mega senior” from Orange Park, Fla., graduated from Presbyterian College, earned a masters at Furman and is completing his collegiate career at Jax State (4-3, 3-0 Conference USA).

Huff is a first lieutenant in the Army Reserves.

In Thursday night’s 42-20 victory over Middle Tennessee State (2-6, 1-3), Huff rushed for 151 yards in 18 carries, scoring two touchdowns, and completed 10/18 passes for 137 yards and another score.

The Gamecocks scored their first touchdown on Huff’s 49-yard sprint.

The Furman volleyball team swept the UNC Greensboro Spartans 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-15) Thursday evening in Southern Conference action at Alley Gymnasium.

Furman, which snapped a four-match losing skid on Thursday, improves to 8-9 on the season and 2-4 in SoCon play. UNC Greensboro drops to 7-14 and 2-7. The Paladins completed a season sweep of the Spartans with their seventh consecutive victory in the series.

Ashley Stein fell just one kill shy of a double-double after leading Furman with nine kills and a career-high 15 digs.

The Paladins limited UNCG’s Allie Sweet, who entered the contest first in the SoCon in kills, to just eight on .048 hitting.
The Paladins remain at home Friday evening versus East Tennessee State at 6 p.m.

(Furman photo)

Sisters Isabella and Alexis DeMarco each netted second-half goals to lift Western Carolina to a 2-0 victory over Furman in Southern Conference women’s soccer at Stone Stadium.

With the victory, the Catamounts (12-2-3, 7-0-1 SoCon) secured the SoCon regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in next week’s tournament. Furman, 8-6-3 overall and 4-2-2 in league play, remained in a fourth-place tie with Mercer entering Sunday’s regular-season finale.

Western Carolina outshot the Paladins 17-5 and managed an 8-1 edge in shots on goal.

Furman concludes the regular season on Sunday afternoon when it travels to The Citadel for a 2 p.m. start.

Furman quarterback Trey Hedden has been added to the 2024 Stats Perform Jerry Rice Award Watch List.

The award, which honors the FCS freshman player of the year, now in its 14th season, is named after Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice.

Hedden, a 6- 3, 231, freshman from Tampa, Fla. and product of Tampa Catholic High School, has made starts in Furman’s last five games and passed for 1,269 yards (100/164) and nine touchdowns while rushing for another score.

The 2024 Jerry Rice Award recipient will be announced on Dec. 4 and honored at the Stats Perform National Awards Banquet on Jan. 4 in Frisco, Texas. Thirty are on the list.

Furman’s next game is Nov. 2 at VMI.

Carly Wilkes and Carson Williams are Southern Conference women’s and men’s cross country runners of the week.    

Both Furman athletes competed at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals, in Madison, on Oct. 19.

Wilkes, a junior from Salem, Va., ran with a six-kilometer time of 19:56, finishing 22nd and leading the 20th-ranked Furman women to a 14th-place finish in the field. This is Wilkes’ second recognition of the season.  

Williams, a senior from Raleigh, North Carolina, finished with an 8k time of 23:07, placing 13th overall, to earn his third recognition of the season. The Furman men finished 13th at the meet to earn a national ranking of 23rd after taking down eight ranked teams in Wisconsin.

The Paladins will defend their Southern Conference titles at the SoCon championship on Nov. 2 in Greenville, S.C.

Juniors Clark Akers and Harris Barth are Southern Conference Men’s Golfers of the Week.

The Paladin duo tied for fifth out of 87 competitors at the 54th Furman Intercollegiate in Greenville. Furman (-21) finished as runner-up by two strokes to No. 27 Texas A&M (-23) in the 15-team field.

Akers, a native of Nashville, Tenn., fired a 66 to lead Furman in round one.

Barth, who hails from Atlanta, Ga., led the field with a final-round 65 on Sunday.

The Paladins will play their next tournament next semester in Gainesville, Florida, at the Gator Invitational on Feb. 15-16.

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