SoCon Football 2015: Why Reese Hannon Might Just Lead Furman Back To The Top of the SoCon

BY: JOHN HOOPER

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Three quarters and a season was decided. Furman had barely made it through half a football season in 2014, however, it had ended before it began Greer, S.C. native Reese Hannon.

It would be a long, grueling 11 games ahead for Hannon, who had to watch from the sidelines, as the reigning Southern Conference champions struggled through injury-after-injury, as the Paladins limped to a 3–9 final record, and sixth-place finish in the SoCon — a long way from being a projected SoCon title contender.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0rOOZFT4HQ

It was a familiar theme for the Paladins, and the 2013 season saw Hannon on the other side of the coin, entering an early-season matchup for an injured Dakota Derrick to assume the starting job for the Paladins as a true freshman, and after that game in a driving rain, which resulted in a 47–45 overtime loss to eventual Big South champion Coastal Carolina, Hannon would put a firm grip on the starting responsibilities for the Paladins.

Hannon would end up posting the best game by a Paladin freshman quarterback in the history of the program. Despite the sloppy conditions, Hannon connected on 22-of-35 passes for 255 yards and four TDs in the loss.

It certainly didn’t appear the Paladins and Chanticleers would be headed for a wild finish with Coastal Carolina holding a 22–12 lead with 4:12 remaining at a rain-soaked Paladin Stadium. But the fireworks were just about to begin for the Paladin offense, providing what would be one of the more memorable finishes in stadium history.

First, Hannon would hook up with true freshman wideout Jordan Snellings on a 21-yard TD strike with 1:59 to play, bringing the Paladins to within 21–18. The Paladins would then proceed to recover the on-sides kick, as the ball would be recovered by senior wideout Will King with 1:59 to play in the contest, as the Paladins took the football at midfield.

Hannon would proceed to lead an impressive nine-play, 50-yard drive, helping the Paladins take their first lead of the game, when he hooked up with Ryan Culbreath for a 22-yard scoring strike with 40 seconds remaining, and Furman had a 25–22 lead. The fans remaining in the saturated Paladin Stadium were in a frenzy.

The Reese Hannon officially wrote his opening chapter of his book as the Paladins’ signal-caller on that early Sept evening in the deluge and slop Paladin Stadium, and he is now in the middle of that book that has seemingly gotten better each time he has stepped on the field as the Furman starter.

Time-and-time again, Hannon continued to show an uncanny resilience that far exceeded his experience as a Division I college quarterback in that one game. After Hannon came in the game, he led the Paladins to scores to TDs on its final six possessions, but a failed two-point conversion proved to be the only thing that could stop the Paladin offense.

The next week in his first start against 10th-ranked Clemson, Hannon got his first start as a true freshman signal-caller, becoming the first Paladin quarterback to start as a true freshman since Brent Rickman in 1997.

Hannon would finish the day connecting on 19-of-29 passes for 235 yards, with a TD and INT in the 40–7 setback. It marked the second of what would be four-straight 200-yard passing performances for the young signal-caller. He finished the season with five, also crossing the 200-yard plateau with 203 passing yards in a loss at Appalachian State.

On Furman’s first drive facing a sellout, boisterous Clemson crowd, the nephew of former Furman standout signal-caller Justin Hill (1996–2000) was unflappable, leading the Paladins into the red zone on Furman’s first possession of the game.

Hannon would go on to see action in 10 games, with nine starts in his first season under center for the Paladins, and though Furman finished with just three wins, the true freshman trial-by-fire saw him pass with flying colors.

He finished that freshman campaign, garnering SoCon All-Freshman honors after connecting on 160-of-260 passes for 1,896 yards, with seven TDs and eight INTs. His 1,896 passing yards in his freshman season of 2012 saw Hannon post the ninth-best season for passing yards in program history.

As a sophomore, things got off to a tough start, as muscle strain in the week leading up to the season opener against at Gardner-Webb, forcing true freshman Dillon Woodruff into the starting fold.

Hannon would return against Coastal Carolina, and after having his second pass of the season picked off, he would finish the contest connecting 17-of-31 passes for 193 yards with a couple of TDs and an INT in the 35–28 loss to the 23rd-ranked team in the FCS.

Hannon would lead the Paladins to a narrow 21–20 win over Presbyterian, and in the Southern Conference opener at The Citadel, would be dealt his second injury blow of the season, going down with a significant ankle injury in the 24–17 win.

Third-string quarterback Duncan Fletcher, who is now one of the top tight ends in the SoCon, stepped in and did enough to help Furman to a huge league opening win, as the Paladins downed the Bulldogs, 24–17, in the league opener on the road in hostile surroundings against Furman’s arch-rival.

Hannon was sidelined the next two games — both which saw the Paladins suffer conference setbacks at home to Elon (25–28) and on the road at Chattanooga (9–31), and by the time Hannon was fully healthy again, the Paladins were in a do-or-die situation for the remainder of the season. It was a situation that, ironically, seemed best suited to Hannon’s talents.

He would end up leading the Paladins to one of its most impressive stretch runs in the recent history of the program, with the only setback the remainder of the regular-season being a 48–16 setback at No. 13 LSU.

Hannon came up big in the final meetings against Southern Conference members Appalachian State and Georgia Southern, who would be moving on to the Sun Belt Conference and the FBS ranks following the 2013 season.

In his first game back against App State, Hannon didn’t miss a beat, completing 13-of-19 passes for 164 yards and a score to lead the Paladins to an impressive 27–10 win over the reigning SoCon co-Champs.

Following the loss to LSU, Furman was able to exact revenge on another of its bitter rivals — Georgia Southern — a program that had always been a thorn in the side of Furman, and one that handed the Paladins an eyebrow-raising 38–17 loss a year earlier in Greenville.

The Eagles would tack on a somewhat controversial score late in the football game. With just 20 seconds remaining in the game, and instead of taking a knee, the Eagles’ Swope found the end zone from a yard out, giving the Eagles a 36–17 lead.

While the Eagles could have been forgiven for scoring the touchdown, the Eagles rubbed salt in Furman’s wounds, as Georgia Southern’s Swope converted on a two-point play, rather than opting for the PAT, setting the final scoreline.

It would fuel the Paladins in a 16–14 win over the Eagles, and it would be Hannon that would play the role of mature veteran, taking care of the football and help Furman manage to escape Paulson Stadium with the two-point win. He went 12-of-18 passing for 150, which included a 54-yard scoring strike to senior Ryan Culbreath.

Though Hannon didn’t throw the 75-yard pass for a score to open the game against the Eagles, he did a perfect job of selling the trick play on the toss sweep to the left side and the Georgia Southern defense committed all out to Tanner Skogen and the run, allowing the Andrej Suttles to run free in behind the Georgia Southern secondary for the score.

Following the win over Georgia Southern, Hannon and the Paladins returned to Paladin Stadium to face SoCon leading 20th-ranked Samford on homecoming 2013.

It would be another signature performance from the heady Hannon, who was nearly flawless, connecting on 10-of-14 passes for 159 yards, including a career-long 85-yard scoring pass to Suttles for his only passing score of the game, as the Paladins pulled off yet another upset — this time by a 35–17 score.

The Paladins needed wins against Western Carolina and Wofford, and a little help from Samford, to close out the season as tri-champs in the SoCon, and it would bring the best out of Hannon under center. He would put in a yeoman’s effort against the Catamounts, passing for a 144 yards on 17-of-31 passing, as the Paladins squeaked out a 30–22 win in Cullowhee.

Hannon would save his best performance for last, as he would post one of the of best passing days in school history in the most crucial game of the regular-season.

When Wofford stacked the box to stop the Paladin ground game, Hannon had a field day picking apart the Terrier secondary, finishing with a career-best 326 passing yards with a TD and an INT on 23-of-37 passing. He would help the Paladins lift their 13th Southern Conference trophy, with a 27–14 win.

As a result of Samford’s narrow win over Elon, Furman garnered the automatic bid to the FCS playoffs, going from 3–5 at the start of November to 7–5 at the end of the regular season, thanks in large part to Hannon’s poise, accuracy and resilience.

The opening round of the playoffs saw the Paladins on the road, renewing an old rivalry with a trip to Orangeburg to meet South Carolina State — the first meeting between the two Palmetto State programs since 1998. Hannon and the Paladins got a tough test against the Bulldogs, but emerged 30–20 victors and it was Hannon’s timely passing and poise that once again proved to be the driving force behind a near mistake-free performance from the Furman offense.

He finished with not great numbers, posting just a 3-for-10 passing effort, with a TD and a pick for 67 yards. But it was the clutch scoring pass in the link above just before the half that turned the tide of the game.

Hannon and the Paladins would see their run end at the FargoDome a week later against two-time defending national champion North Dakota State, who posted a 38–7 win over the Paladins.

With the running game not working against the big, athletic front seven for the Bison, Hannon was asked to do most of the work, connecting on 19-of-25 throws for 225 yards with an INT in the setback.

Hannon was all set to lead the Paladins to a second-straight SoCon crown in 2014, and for a large portion of the opening three quarters against a stout Gardner-Webb defense, settled the Paladin offense, picking it apart with precision passing.

Then, with Furman driving early in the fourth quarter, Hannon rolled out to pass to the right, rolling his ankle as he was being flushed from the pocket by a couple of Gardner-Webb defensive linemen.

No Gardner-Webb player made contact with Hannon, but he lay on the Paladin Stadium turf whencing in pain, and at that moment, though no one would have admitted it at the time, Furman’s title hopes, and in essence it’s 2014 season, ended before it started.

Hannon would post a solid performance, completing 21-of-30 passes for 221 yards, with a TD and did a lion’s share of the work in the 13–3 season-opening win. The Paladins would win just two out of their next 11 games, making it even more agonizing for the Greer, S.C. native, who grew up watching his uncle suit up and lead the Paladins to a Southern Conference title in 1999.

Though Hannon is not Ingle Martin, Billy Napier, or Frankie DeBusk, he is unique than any quarterback the Paladins have ever had in that he makes plays when plays have to be made maybe better than any quarterback in the history of the program. Gradually, Hannon is ascending the program’s career passing record, too.

For his career to date, Hannon has completed 334-of-544 passes for 3,865 yards, with 15 TDs and 13 INT. With two years of eligibility remaining, the Greer, S.C. native already ranks eighth on Furman’s career passing yards ledger, while he has already surpassed Furman’s only national title winning quarterback — Frankie DeBusk (1987–90) — in completions for fourth on the all-time list, with 30 more completions than the former Paladin All-American quarterback, who finished his career with 304 pass connections.

His 61.4% completion percentage would rank him fourth in school history if he had already concluded his career, trailing only Billy Napier, Chris Forcier and Jordan Sorrells. With 1,500 yards passing in his final two seasons as the Paladin signal-caller, Hannon will easily surpass the school’s all-time career passing yardage leader Jordan Sorrells (2006–09), who finished his career with 6,278 yards.

Though not a threat to run the ball with regularity, Hannon has shown the ability to pick his moments in games well, and he has been effective at times running the football. He has three career rushing scores to his credit. Hannon was a SoCon All-Freshman selection in 2012, and in 2013, he garnered Second Team All-SoCon honors.

Hannon is 12–9 in 21 starts as a Paladin quarterback, and 13–9 overall in the 22 games he has seen action in during his two seasons and one game as the Paladins’ quarterback.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYCkxTSOY98

The best news is the return of maybe the best backup quarterback in FCS football, in sophomore P.J. Blazejowski (110-of-185 passing, 1,376 yds, 9 TDs, 7 INTs), who comes off one of the best freshman seasons in the history of Paladin football by a quarterback. Blazejowski is another potential record-setting quarterback for the Paladins, as the freshman from Saint Augustine, FL, proved to be too talented to keep a redshirt on last season.

Like Hannon, however, Blazejowski would suffer an off-season ankle injury, which would require surgery, forcing him to miss the spring. He will be 100-percent when the Paladins report for fall camp in early August.

If there is a silver lining that came out of 2014 — it gave Furman a chance to get Blazejowski ready, and now, the Paladins might just have the scariest tandem of quarterbacks in FCS football.

The Paladins might not have a Jacob Huesman or Troy Mitchell to call on, but what they do have is two quarterbacks that bring different skills to the table, and that could be trouble for the next couple of years in the SoCon.

The pressure is off now, and knowing Blazejowski has the experience as a capable understudy, Hannon won’t have to worry about “what if” this fall, but rather can concentrate on getting the 13-time league champs back where they ended the 2013 season — atop the SoCon.