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The 2014 season has been a season of firsts for the Elon University football team. Elon is in its first year of competition in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Phoenix is led by first-year head coach and lost its first game of the season, 52-13, to Duke University Aug. 30.
The beginning of the fall season is a special time for sports fanatics, it marks the beginning of the football season. Whether it be the NCAA or the NFL football, Elon students are eager for the football season.
DURHAM — The struggles of the Elon University football team were obvious Aug. 30, as Duke University shredded the Phoenix defense to the tune of 567 yards of total offense, the third-highest total in Duke head coach David Cutcliffe’s tenure. Massive holes were eroded at times, giving Duke rushers space to run, and pass coverage was subpar. It was a balanced offensive attack — 292 passing yards, 275 rushing — that led the Blue Devils to a 52-13 rout of the Phoenix. “There’s going be a lot of good things we’re going to be able to take from it,” said Elon head coach Rich Skrosky. “But we’re in a result-oriented deal now. Our execution level needs to get amped up very high to make sure the result doesn’t end up like it did tonight.” Elon’s struggles in the secondary were obvious during Duke’s first two scores of the game. On the Blue Devils’ opening possession, senior quarterback Anthony Boone found senior wide receiver Issac Blakeney in the far corner of the end zone. Boone lofted the pass high in the air, and it appeared as though Elon junior cornerback Jeremy Gloston, a converted safety who was in coverage on the play, could have made a play on the ball but misjudged the coverage. Blakeney, listed at 6-foot-6, had a considerable size advantage over the 6-foot-1 Gloston, the tallest defensive back on the Elon roster, which presented problems for the Elon defensive backs. “I think [my height] is something different that I can bring to the team,” Blakeney said. “Boone likes it a lot, just throwing the ball up. Getting up to the goal line, instead of having the lineman trying to push and shove, we just make it easy. Throw the ball up in the air, and I can go up and get it over a smaller cornerback.” Gloston was exploited once again early in the second quarter when Boone connected with senior wide receiver Jamison Crowder for a 46-yard touchdown, one of his two touchdown receptions of the night. Gloston was in good position on the play but took a misstep that ultimately left him out of position. “I stopped my feet which is bad on my part fundamentally, but he’s a great receiver,” Gloston said. “He did [well] on that play to get it deep. I just stopped my feet.” While the secondary gave up a total of four touchdowns, Gloston said he believes there are positives that can be drawn from the game. “[The experience] is going to help us out a lot because the [Colonial Athletic Conference] has predominantly passing teams, and it’s great to get our secondary a lot of work against bigger receivers, faster receivers, receivers who have played in the big games,” Gloston said. “The more experience we have with the best, the better we’ll be.” Elon was already at a disadvantage going into the game, as Akeem Langham missed the game because of a stomach virus. Langham, a senior from High Point, is one of the most experienced defensive players on the roster, having appeared in 30 games over the past three years. As for when Langham will be back on the field, Skrosky said he hopes to have him back “soon.” It was a revolving door of sorts in the secondary, with many players getting a chance to showcase their skills. Gloston and sophomore defensive back Adrian McClendon got the start at cornerback, while juniors Miles Williams and Julius Moore started at safety. A host of other defensive backs made appearances in the game, including true freshman Malcolm Galloway, redshirt freshmen Chris Blair and Anthony Hambright, sophomores Asunji Maddox and Adrian Williams and junior Bo Hartman. As for the immediate future, Skrosky said many players will see time, but Blair (six tackles) and Moore (team-high 10 tackles) will get the majority of the playing time at safety. “We’re going to find the best rotation,” Skrosky said. “All those guys are good players. Moore and [Miles Williams] are going to get the bulk of the work, but Blair is one of our better guys and Maddox just needs more reps, but he’s going to be a good player for us.” Skrosky was especially impressed with Adrian Williams, who, according to Skrosky, didn’t have a great week of practice leading up to the game. On a play in the second half, Williams was matched up against Blakeney, who scored two touchdowns in the first half. Boone lofted the ball high in air for Blakeney, but Williams timed his jump well and knocked the ball away to prevent a touchdown. “That’s a big play for that kid,” Skrosky said. “A big, big play.” All in all, Skrosky had mixed feelings after the game, noting that while he saw some good things, the final score was a bit unsettling. “52-13 is 52-13, and that needs to get corrected,” Skrosky said. “But there was good that came of it. We’ll watch the tape, we’ll meet as a team and we’ll point out the highlights of the game that we had from an effort standpoint and an execution standpoint, and we’ll continue to move forward with the bye week.”
As football teams gear up for the start of the regular season and players jockey for spots, position battles are inevitable. This is no different for the Elon University football team, which has seen many position battles over the weeks of preseason camp. At the running back position, it was a three-way battle for the top spot between senior Karl Bostick, junior Tracey Coppedge and sophomore B.J. Bennett. But what was once thought to be a platoon position for the Phoenix has now turned into a need for bodies on the field. “You always need three,” said Elon coach Rich Skrosky. “It’s not a matter of, ‘do you want to have three?’ You always need three during the season.” Heading into preseason camp, running back was a position of strength for Elon after the trio of running backs combined for a solid 2013 campaign. In fact, the similarities between the three players’ 2013 stat lines are eerie. Bennett led the team with 477 yards rushing on 123 carries as a redshirt freshman, plus four touchdowns. Bostick, who transferred from the University of Akron, rushed for 443 yards in his second year with the Phoenix, also scoring four times on the season. Coppedge finished 2013 second on the team with 447 rushing yards on just 90 carries, good for a 4.8-yard average, which was the best on the team. “I don’t think one guy right now stands himself out,” Skrosky said. “Competition is good and we want competition.” After the first scrimmage of camp Aug. 11, Skrosky still viewed the running back position as one that is up for grabs. But they now may need more than three in the competition. Coppedge got the majority of the carries in the first scrimmage, but has dealt with an injury more recently that has kept him off the field. Bennett was also sidelined with a hand injury, which left the door open for Bostick. “Karl is running more powerfully than he did in the spring,” Skrosky told elonphoenix.com. “That’s probably because he’s more confident in the scheme and what we’re asking him to do.” But Bostick’s solid camp was derailed as well when the senior suffered a leg injury in the team’s third scrimmage Aug. 20 and was carted off of the field. Skrosky later said that Bostick is expected to be out until at least late October with a broken leg. The serious injury to Bostick, as well as the minor ones to Coppedge and Bennett, is a big blow to an Elon offense that relied heavily on the run game last season. In talking to some of Elon’s defensive players that line up against the running backs every day in practice, it’s obvious how highly they think of them. On Coppedge, senior linebacker Jonathan Spain said, “He’s got the moves. I like how he plays because he’s elusive and makes people miss. He’s the hardest person that I’ve had to tackle in a couple years.” Senior linebacker Odell Benton said, “Bostick is a veteran and he knows what he’s doing, so he’s in the room coaching up [Coppedge] and coaching up [Bennett]. I think we have a good mix too between speed, power and having veteran experience.” Sophomore linebacker John Silas said Bennett “is like a wildcard. He has a nose for the end zone.” No matter who is on the field at the running back position, something different will be brought to the table. If it’s Coppedge, elusiveness will be on display. If it’s Bostick or Bennett, it will be more of a smash-mouth style of football. But with all three off of the field, the offense is losing some firepower. All three backs are all friends off of the field, and they know what’s at stake on the field: playing time. “Since the first day of college, it’s always been a competition,” said Coppedge, who described his relationship with Bostick and Bennett as a “brotherhood.” “Your spot is never guaranteed so you always have to work harder than you worked the day before.” Bostick agreed, saying, “You always have to compete and push the other guy to be better and in turn, you’re pushing yourself to be the best that you can be. If there’s ever a point where you’re not competing, then you’re not helping the person in front of you or the person behind you to get better.” The chemistry within the group is palpable, each willing to push the other to be his best. Now, it will be up to each one of them to push each other to get back on the field.
The Rich Skrosky era opened in disappointment for Elon as Duke dominated the Phoenix in a 52-13 blowout.
DURHAM — For the third year in a row, the Elon University football team played an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent in its opening game of the season and for the third straight year, the Phoenix was blown out.
As Sept. 1 approaches every year, sports fans around the world are reminded of what took place on that fateful day in 2007, when Appalachian State University rolled into the Big House and stunned the fifth-ranked Wolverines of the University of Michigan, 24-22.
They hail from different countries, different backgrounds and different sports. Each coach began his tenure at Elon University under a friend, a partner in coaching and saw unprecedented levels of success. Then, they took their careers elsewhere for fresh starts and new challenges.
When the Elon University football team takes the field at Duke University’s Wallace Wade Stadium on Aug. 30, it will mark a new era in the history of Elon athletics.
When the Elon University football team last traveled to Durham in 2010 to take on Duke University, the Phoenix faced a struggling program that was coming off a 5-7 season, which at the time was its highest win total since 1994.
With less than a week until the first game of the season, the Elon University football team wrapped up its final scrimmage of preseason camp Aug. 23.
Coming off a productive summer during which nearly the entire team participated in voluntary workouts and conditioning, the Elon University football team began its preseason camp Monday, Aug. 4.
Head football coach Rich Skrosky, along with defensive back Miles Williams and offensive lineman Austin Sowell, attended Elon's first ever Colonial Athletic Association media day Wednesday July 23 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
The Elon University football team has received five verbal commitments from the class of 2015.
Follow me to Cullowhee.
Three Elon University football players were injured in a fight which occurred just hours after Elon’s spring game last weekend. Early in the morning of Sunday, April 27, senior quarterback Mike Quinn, senior linebacker Jonathan Spain and junior defensive back Hatchel Linens sustained injuries from an altercation at 203 W. College Ave. in Elon.
Country singer Kenny Chesney was not the first to refer to football players as “the boys of fall.”
The scoreboard might have said “White 16, Maroon 7,” but for the Elon University football team, the annual spring game April 26 in Rhodes Stadium was a mile marker on the road to the 2014 season. Members of Elon’s defense forced four turnovers in the game, one in which the offense failed to score a touchdown.
Three Elon football players suffered injuries after fighting with non-Elon students at a party on West College Avenue early Sunday morning, according to police.
In a game that lacked an offensive touchdown, team White defeated team Maroon in the Elon University spring football game 16-7, Saturday April 26. Three field goals by sophomore kicker John Gallagher, from 29, 27 and 48 yards proved to be the difference in the game.