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(04/19/18 1:39am)
Some athletes find motivation from popular quotes. Some find it from coaches or peers. Others find it from within themselves.
Amanda Thompson finds it in the Bible verse, Colossians 3:23: ““Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”
The junior basketball player took a step forward this season amidst the team’s 30-3 historic season. As a sophomore, Thompson averaged 4.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.
This year, averaging nearly 29 minutes a game, she averaged 7.2 points and 6.7 rebounds. She ranked fourth on the team in points and first in rebounds.
“I think this year, the biggest place I improved was my shot and scoring and just being confident and not afraid to score,” Thompson said. “I knew coming into this year that was going to be important.”
Thompson said that it was easy for teams to slip off her or Rachel Selph to guard Kahlia Lawrence or KeKe Calloway. But if she and Selph could knock down shots, opponents would have to respect them.
Thompson said last year, her shot had gotten really bad by the end of the season because of a wrist injury, along with other reasons. So she met with head coach Susie Gardner after the season.
“She said, ‘We’re going to fix your shot this offseason,’” Thompson said. “And I was like, ‘Great.’ So we got in the gym. I didn’t shoot for two weeks.. I just did form shooting against the wall and totally rebuilt my shot from the ground up.”
It worked. Thompson said she regained some confidence. The statistics this season back that upc as she nearly doubled her scoring average from her sophomore year.
But while her scoring helped the team this season, it was her rebounding that proved vital. Thompson said that has always been her calling card.
“Rebounding is such an important part of the game. It’s always been. In high school, I was kind of a rebounder. That’s what I did,” she said. “I think it maybe has to do with basketball IQ. And just playing hard. Just playing hard in general.”
Thompson stands at only 5-foot-9, yet she led the team in rebounds and grabbed nine offensive rebounds in the team’s NCAA Tournament game against Georgia. She said that hustle is a result of Colossians 3:23 and her faith.
“When I’m on the court, I’m playing for God,” Thompson said. “I’m not playing for myself or for the people around me. I’m playing for Him. So I think that drives me to get the rebound or dive on the floor. I think that’s the force behind it all.”
She said her faith is the most important part of her life, a life full of basketball and academic excellence.. Thompson won the Pinnacle Award at the Southern Conference Tournament this year, which goes to the player with the highest GPA on the championship-winning team.
Her faith also helps her through some of the more frustrating times on the court.
“We were playing against a team, and one of their post players was being really dirty. I was getting really upset,” Thompson said. “We pray before every game, and my prayer is always like, ‘Help me represent you in everything I do. Help me be a light for you on the court.’”
This particular game, however, Thompson said she had to take more drastic measures.
“I ended up having to pray in the middle of the game, like the whole game,” Thompson said. “I was literally praying like, ‘Please, help me control my anger.’ I don’t think I’ve ever had to pray during a game.”
Others noticed she was heated during the game.
“After the game, somebody was giving me a hard time, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I had to start praying,’” Thompson said. “And they were like, ‘You were really praying?’”
Thompson will take on a bigger role next year as Lawrence and Sydni Means graduate, but she said she’s excited about it. She is excited about the large freshman class and the energy they will bring to the program.
She’ll still approach the game as she has the last three seasons at Mercer.
“At the end of the day, basketball is just a game, but what you’re doing for God is the most important thing,” Thompson said. “Being able to focus on and having that behind me has really kept me focused a lot. I have that verse all over the place."
(03/17/18 10:17am)
It’s the top of the eighth. The game is tied 7-7. One out. Runners on first and second. Full count. The conference championship is on the line.
As Trey Truitt laid the bat on his shoulder, he stared at the pitcher thinking, “If the ball was coming to hit me, I had to turn and take it.”
It did.
“I ended up turning, and the ball just kept rising,” Truitt said. “I thought it was going to hit me in the upper part of my back.”
It didn’t.
“It ended up hitting me right up in my helmet, straight off my head, knocking my helmet off,” Truitt said.
The outfielder fell to the dirt. Truitt said he remembers turning to go down first base, but he didn’t. Trainers and coaches ran to his aid.
“It was like someone just sucked the life out of me,” Truitt said.
That was 22 months ago. Truitt may not remember much about the incident now, but he sure remembers the ramifications of it.
The blow gave Truitt a concussion, a severe one according to Head Coach Craig Gibson. That one pitch—where Truitt was putting his body out there for the team—would affect him for an entire year.
But, Truitt had no idea why.
[pullquote speaker="Trey Truitt" photo="" align="right" background="off" border="none" shadow="off"]It was like someone just sucked the life out of me.[/pullquote]
As a sophomore, Truitt was second on the team with a .335 average and 17 home runs, behind only Kyle Lewis, the 11th overall selection in the MLB draft.
Last year, Truitt was ninth on the team with a .263 average and hit only six home runs.
“In 25 years of coaching, I’ve never had a guy go from having a great two years to falling off the map like he did,” Gibson said. “(Truitt) was one of the best players in the country. He could have easily been Player of the Year when (Lewis) was here, but we just happened to have (Lewis).”
After suffering the concussion, Truitt played summer ball in the Cape Cod League. He spent three or four days in Macon for rehab after returning home from the team’s conference tournament. Truitt told the doctors what they wanted to hear, and they let him go up to Massachusetts to play.
But looking back, Gibson and Truitt both said it wasn’t enough time. Gibson said the team was kind of out of the process once the season ended.
“He sort of did it on his own. Once the season was over, we did a postseason physical, and he just took it upon himself to get to summer ball,” Gibson said. “He really didn’t consult me or our people.”
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Truitt said he was just being an athlete. He wanted to play. He was excited. The Cape Cod was the same league Lewis played in before being drafted. It’s one of the most respected summer baseball leagues.
“I wanted to get up there as early as possible,” Truitt said. “My headaches were gone. I wasn’t sensitive to light anymore, so I felt I was OK to go. (I) just told them what I thought they needed to hear and got up there, which was the wrong thing to do, but at the same time, I felt great.”
His play in Cape Cod wasn’t great. Gibson said Truitt led the league in strikeouts, even saying Truitt probably had the worst performance of anyone in the league that summer.
That poor play transitioned to the fall.
“He goes off last fall and probably had the worst fall on our team,” Gibson said. “It just sort of snowballed … I just noticed he wasn’t the same guy. When he was catching fly balls, he would sort of miss a few. And he was really a plus defender. Even when we had Kyle Lewis, he defended as well or better than (Lewis) a lot of times.”
The tides didn’t turn in the spring. Truitt continued to struggle, swinging at pitches he never swung at in the past. The coaches worked with him and said nothing was wrong, fundamentally, with his swing.
Something simply wasn’t right.
And that was a tough pill to swallow for a highly-successful player who had hopes of being drafted high in the MLB draft.
“It was extremely difficult because of the amount of success I had the past two years before that. I was on track to do good things,” Truitt said. “Everyone has a craft they’ve perfected in life. Everyone has something they’re really good at. That’s just their thing. Baseball’s always been that for me. I felt like there was nothing I could do about it, because everything I had always resorted to for hitting always worked … that wasn’t working. It was like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders.”
During the season, the mother of Trey’s roommate, Carter Varga, told him that his vision might be the issue.
Truitt said that Renee Varga has a family friend that deals with athletes who have suffered concussions or brain injuries and their effect on the eyes. But since it was during the season, Truitt didn’t think much of it.
Ultimately, Renee went to Coach Gibson. He approached Truitt after the season.
“I told him, moving forward I hope you get what you want in the draft, but if it doesn’t, or even if it does, I think we need to pursue this vision, because I think something’s not right,” Gibson said.
“I was like, ‘OK, we’ll give it a try,’” Truitt said.
Gibson and Truitt settled on Dr. David L. Cook in Marietta, where Truitt would spend two months in vision therapy. Gibson said Cook has worked with NFL players who have suffered concussions.
Truitt’s concussion was not the most severe Cook had seen, but it was pretty traumatic.
[pullquote speaker="Craig Gibson" photo="" align="right" background="off" border="none" shadow="off"]He’s a guy who puts fear in the other team, and we need him to lead us to another championship."[/pullquote]
“(The doctor) was surprised he played,” Gibson said.
Truitt was diagnosed with a depth perception issue. To fix it, Truitt would do depth-in, depth-out vision training that revolved around baseball techniques during the sessions.
He said his favorite activity was one where he would look at a white dot in the middle of a board while he was surrounded by lights. Randomly, a light would flash, and he would have to stay focused on the white dot and touch the light that flashed without looking.
“As he got into the therapy, the play got better,” Gibson said. “(He) had a great fall for us—probably one of the best falls we had. He looked like the guy prior to the concussion.”
Truitt said he feels 110 percent different this season, and the numbers are backing that up.
Through 15 games, Truitt is third on the team with a .379 average. He also leads the team with 20 runs scored and ranks third with 22 hits.
Gibson called him a totally “different guy,” so much so that “according to Trey, he can read the writing on the ball.”
“So when he strikes out, we say, ‘Man, you didn’t see the writing on that one,’” Gibson said.
But striking out is something Truitt hasn’t done as often this season. The renewed Truitt hits as the leadoff man for the Bears, a role Gibson said suits him well.
“He’s a guy who puts fear in the other team, and we need him to lead us to another championship,” Gibson said.
(03/02/18 3:33pm)
The formula is pretty simple now for the Bears: Win, and you get to keep playing.
The regular season doesn’t mean anything now. Mercer’s 18-13 record. The trials and tribulations. The ups. The downs. The injuries. The game winners.
None of it matters.
Win, and you’re in. The Bears will need to do that three times in Asheville this weekend if they want to relive some of the magic from their 2014 run in the NCAA Tournament.
Win, and you’re in. It’s something the Bears have done pretty darn well recently -- eight straight times to be exact.
Win, and you’re in. Sure, it sounds simple enough, but nine other teams are shooting for the same glory the Bears are clawing for in the U.S. Cellular Center.
So what’s important as Mercer embarks on that journey?
(1) It’s getting hot in here
Not even Nelly could express the heat in the Bears’ kitchen. Mercer enters the SoCon tournament winners of eight straight outings by an average of 10 points per game.
It’s the longest winning streak the Bears have ever had in SoCon play. Suffice to say, Mercer has never before ridden this kind of momentum into a SoCon tournament. That momentum creates quite the storyline for the tournament.
While the Bears are winners of eight straight, the conference’s top seed for much of the year (East Tennessee) dropped three straight home outings to end the regular season. The tournament’s current one seed, UNCG, has won eight of its last nine.
But who was that one loss? The Mercer Bears.
Furman, the three seed, enters the tournament on a six-game win streak. However, the Bears have made this interesting. Once seemingly down and out, especially when leading scorer Ria’n Holland went out with injury, Mercer has clawed back to being a legitimate contender.
(2) Not one, not two, but three?
The Bears open the tournament against No. 5 seed Wofford, a team they have beaten twice in close games over the last three weeks. Mercer should enter the game with confidence, certainly. But it’s not easy to beat a team three times in one season.
“It’s difficult to beat a team one time in a season. It’s difficult to beat them a second time if you’re fortunate enough to do that,” said head coach Bob Hoffman. “They’ll be ready for us. It would be harder no matter who we’re playing, but it’ll probably be even harder against a team like Wofford.”
Hoffman said the team will have to focus on the details of that opening game. And, while it is difficult to beat a team that many times, Hoffman said the players don’t think about that once they’re on the court playing.
(3) The Bears’ Achilles’ heel
Mercer is 1-9 against East Tennessee since joining the SoCon. Call the Bucs what you will, the Bears’ Achilles’ heel. Their kryptonite. Their Goliath.
They’ve simply been a tough matchup for Mercer the last four seasons. The Bucs have eliminated Mercer from the SoCon tournament the last two seasons; so, can Mercer avoid that fate again this year?
The Bears may have gotten a major break with ETSU losing the last three games of the season. If Mercer were to beat Wofford, it would then face No. 1 seed UNCG in the semifinals instead of ETSU.
Mercer would not face the Bucs until the championship.
“That would be a great thing if we play them,” Hoffman said. “That means we’re playing to get to go [to the NCAA Tournament].”
(4) Holland won’t make an appearance in the tournament
The senior didn’t travel with the team to the tournament. According to the program, he could potentially be available for postseason play after the tournament, but that is still very much up in the air.
One thing is certain: the Bears have figured out how to play without him. It took the team a couple games to find their rhythm, but it has been riding it strongly on the backs of Jordan Strawberry, the emergence of Ross Cummings and the steady play of Demetre Rivers, Stephon Jelks and Desmond Ringer.
(02/22/18 7:04pm)
I remember getting off the telephone thinking, “Ouch.”
I had just spoken with head coach Bob Hoffman and sources inside the program who relayed the news that leading-scorer Ria’n Holland’s x-rays didn’t look good.
Holland would ultimately be ruled out for 2-3 weeks with a right wrist injury before he would be re-evaluated. That was nearly a month ago. His prospects for returning this season are looking slimmer by the day.
No need to fret. A 6-foot-3 slithering assassin has stepped up his game in a big way since Holland’s absence. His name is Ross Cummings but you may have also heard him referred to as “White Mamba.”
Behind Cummings and Jordan Strawberry’s elevated play over the last five games, the Bears have gained momentum in conference play and now sit above .500 at 15-13 (8-7 SoCon) for the season.
The current five-game streak comes off the heels of a four-game skid, a low-point in the season where many started to doubt the Bears without their leading scorer. As the Bears have become more comfortable without Holland in the lineup, they are starting to play some of their best basketball in conference play.
After wins against Wofford, Chattanooga, Samford and VMI, Mercer had arguably its best win of the season Saturday in a 77-74 win over UNCG. The Spartans were 12-2 in conference play before the lost.
So what can be expected from the Bears with only a few games remaining in regular season?
Here’s what you need to know:
(1) Where did Cummings come from?
In the first 19 games of the season, Cummings was averaging 1.7 points per game. Since Holland’s injury Jan. 18 against VMI, the guard has averaged 15.7 points.
He has scored in double digits in each of his last six starts. The “White Mamba” is doing most of his damage from the 3-point line, where he has made at least four in each of the last seven games. He had a season-high six against Wofford.
And they aren’t just wide-open, practice rhythm jump shots. Cummings has been catching-and-shooting in traffic.
His nickname has sparked all sorts of fun on social media. Mercer men’s basketball’s Twitter page has fully taken advantage of the title, as seen by one of its recent tweets:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">According to recent studies, 56% of adults have a fear of snakes...<br><br>100% of the <a href="https://twitter.com/SoConSports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SoConSports</a> is afraid of the Mamba. ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MambaMondays?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MambaMondays</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RoarTogether?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RoarTogether</a> <a href="https://t.co/cKKBRbdjhO">pic.twitter.com/cKKBRbdjhO</a></p>— Mercer Basketball (@MercerMBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/MercerMBB/status/965661790691581952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Cummings’s scoring has been vitally important to the success of the team over the five-game winning streak. Losing its leading scorer and 20 points a game, the team needed someone to help the scoring load.
And the “White Mamba” has done just that and more.
(2) They can’t miss
It sounds simple, but basketball is a little easier when you’re making shots. And the Bears have flat-out down just that over the last five games. Check this: during the streak, the Bears have shot 46 percent, 46, 52, 56 and 65 percent from the field -- good for an average of 53 percent.
For the season, Mercer is shooting less than 48 percent from the field. The team’s offensive numbers have been slightly up because of the improved shooting, but the question remains: Can they stay hot going into the SoCon tournament?
(3) Playing well at the right time
After Saturday’s win, Hoffman said Strawberry’s performance -- 27 points, five assists, three rebounds -- was “the best game of his Mercer career.”
Pretty good timing for a senior like Strawberry. More of the load was thrown onto Strawberry when Holland left with an injury, and he has adjusted nicely with the pressure on his shoulders. He is now the man of the backcourt.
Behind Strawberry and Cummings, the Bears have played some of their best basketball of the season over the last two weeks.
“We’re peeking at the right time,” Strawberry said. “This is when everybody wants to be peeking in February and March. I think we’re doing a really good job right now.”
Once 3-7 in conference, the Bears are now above .500 and rest at the fifth spot in the conference, two games behind Wofford and one game above Western Carolina. Three games remain during the regular season -- Western Carolina, The Citadel and Wofford.
Expect the Bears to hold onto that fifth spot heading into the conference tournament, where ANYTHING can happen. And it bodes well for the Bears to finally be picking up some steam and figuring out their identity without Holland on the floor.
But can the Bears really, ultimately, threaten for another NCAA tournament bid without Holland?
I guess you’ll just have to check back in a few weeks when I release my predictions for the SoCon tournament.
(01/23/18 3:28pm)
Mercer leading scorer Ria’n Holland will miss at least 2-3 weeks with a right wrist injury, according to the program. He will then be evaluated once again after that timespan. Holland suffered the injury Jan. 18 in the second half of a 62-56 win over Virginia Military Institute.
Holland, a member of the Preseason All Southern Conference Team, is averaging 19.0 points per game on the season -- more than eight points higher than anyone else on the roster.
It won’t be the first time the Bears are without their star scorer this season. Holland has now missed four games in 2017-18, the first three during a stretch of games against Hiwassee, Tennessee and Memphis when the guard dealt with an ankle injury.
Holland missed Saturday’s contest against UNCG, a 70-66 loss in overtime, after suffering the wrist injury two days before that game. The Bears are 1-3 in games without Holland this season.
Before the injury to his shooting-hand wrist, Holland ranked second in the conference in scoring and fourth in 3-point field goal percentage at 48 percent. Ethan Stair will slide into the starting lineup; he has started all four games Holland has missed.
In those starts, Stair has stepped up in Holland’s absence, averaging 12.3 points and 3.5 rebounds. Junior forward Cory Kilby has also seen a spike in production in games without Holland on the floor: eight points per game without Holland and only 2.5 points with him.
The Bears have 11 games remaining in SoCon play before the conference tournament. Holland likely won’t return until Feb. 10 at Chattanooga or Feb. 12 at Samford -- if his next evaluation goes well.
(01/18/18 5:21pm)
Sickness and the winter break got the best of me, but The Ruling is back in session as Mercer basketball ramps up Southern Conference play -- the most vital portion of the season.
It hasn’t exactly gone as planned so far. After a 7-6 non-conference season, Mercer lost its first three conference games to East Tennessee State, Furman and Western Carolina.
The ETSU loss was unlike the others: the Bears fell 74-55 to the SoCon-leading Bucs. A pair of close losses -- 74-71 to Furman and 58-56 to Western Carolina -- rounded out the stretch.
Since, the Bears won both games of a home stretch against Samford and Chattanooga. Mercer played by far its best conference game of the season thus far in an 81-50 dismantling of Samford; the Bulldogs were 3-1 in conference before the loss.
Mercer then survived its next game in overtime, 75-71, against an undermanned Chattanooga team who has not yet won a conference game. The Bears were impressive against Samford; head coach Bob Hoffman seemed more relieved than he has been all year to earn that first conference victory in such a fashion.
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Mercer did not come out with the same energy in the first half against Chattanooga, but a win is a win, and that makes the Bears 9-9 on the season and 2-3 in conference play.
So, what do you need to know about SoCon play so far?
(1) Ria’n Holland has been cold from the floor
Through his first 10 games of the season, Ria’n Holland shot 59 percent from the 3-point line. The NCAA Division-I leader for 3-point percentage currently is Wichita State’s Landry Shamet at 52 percent.
And then conference season hit. Over the three-game losing streak, Holland shot 1-of-16 from the 3-point line and now ranks 20th in the country at 46 percent from the arc. He had made at least one 3-pointer in the first 11 games. Since, he has gone without a 3-pointer in three of the last four games.
“He’s a really talented shooter, and he wants us to win,” Hoffman said. . “Everybody tries to do their part, and sometimes you do more than you need to -- and not just him, our whole team including me… Sometimes you just have to relax.”
Averaging 21.9 points per game through those first 10 outings, Holland was the de facto go-to guy for the offense. With his shot rolling, so too was the offense. But when your leading scorer goes cold from the arc, it makes scoring tough.
That’s, in part, why the Bears scored 55 points against ETSU and 56 against Western Carolina. It seemed he had gotten his shot back after his performance against Samford -- 23 points on 5-of-9 shooting from 3.
He even said so himself: “I got my groove back kind of thanks to Coach [Dale] Layer. Me and him had a tough shooting competition the other day.”
But then he struggled once again in the Chattanooga victory -- 13 points on 6-of-18 shooting and 0-of-5 from 3. Mercer was able to survive in that contest, but in order to challenge for a SoCon title and win games the rest of the season, it will need Holland to be his usual self from downtown.
I expect him to return to form soon; it’s just a slump.
“When [Holland] hits 3s then we’re even a more deadly team,” said forward Stephon Jelks. “I like how [Holland] keeps his composure and finds other ways to score and get other people involved. He’s not just in his own little world when it comes to shooting 3s. That’s what we need him on the team for -- scoring -- but even when he’s not scoring, he’s still a factor for us on the floor.”
(2) Stephon Jelks is the hype man of the team
Picture this: a 6-foot-6, 225-pound man scoring an and-one down low, then turning around and stomping his way all the way to halfcourt with a mean smirk on his face. Intimidating, eh?
That’s Stephon Jelks for ya. Mercer charged out to a 12-0 lead over Samford and eventual 44-16 lead at halftime; I’m not sure I’ve seen that kind of energy from a Mercer team the last three years.
And who was leading the hype train? Jelks.
“He’s always the energy guy,” said fellow forward Desmond Ringer. “He has a high motor. You can’t box him out. He’s going to the glass every time.”
Jelks knows he’s the energy guy. He has been for a couple years now, but it was never more evident than in the Samford victory. His energy is paying off on the stat sheet, too.
He has recorded back-to-back double-doubles against Samford and Chattanooga: 13 points and 11 rebounds, and 10 points and 12 rebounds. He had seven rebounds in the first nine minutes of the Chattanooga game.
Jelks himself said bringing energy to the team is what he does best.
“I’m just doing what I have to do to help the team win, whether that’s scoring zero points and grabbing 10 or 15 rebounds or vice versa,” Jelks said. “I’m just out there doing what I have to do to get the team win.”
(3) FEED Desmond Ringer
Let the big man eat! And he’s been eating really well lately -- like, filet mignon with a side of lobster well.
In five SoCon games, the senior is averaging 12.2 points and 10.2 rebounds. Jelks said Ringer is a pivotal part of the team.
“He’s the core man on our team,” Jelks said. “He’s like a big brother to everybody on the team. He looks like he’s 50 years old.”
He’s not completely wrong. I mean, look at this beard… Ferocious.
The duo of Jelks and Ringer has been fantastic as of late. In the Chattanooga game alone, the Bears outscored the Mocs 46-14 in the paint. I don’t expect that kind of advantage to continue, but it’s positive nonetheless.
Ringer said Hoffman has been trying to find different ways for him to score.
“Not necessarily on the block or post ups, but he just tries to use the defense that we’re playing against to our advantage,” Ringer said.
Shoutout to fellow Cluster writer Christian Hartley: He asked me mid-game against Chattanooga, “Why don’t they give the ball more to Desmond Ringer?”
Seconds later, Ringer scored in the post. Maybe we’ll see more of that.
I noted earlier in the year that Ringer and Jelks would be keys to this team because of the lack of depth in the frontcourt. They have been able to stay out of foul trouble recently and are producing at high levels.
“We’re always looking for each other,” Ringer said. “[Jelks] is like my brother. He’s also picking me up and vice versa. We hold each other accountable to hold it down on the glass together and rebound at a high level.”
(5) ETSU is good. Real good.
The Bucs sit atop the conference at 14-4 overall and 5-0 in SoCon play. More importantly, the Bears tend to struggle against ETSU -- a lot.
Since joining the SoCon, Mercer is 1-7 against the Bucs. The Bears lost six straight outings to ETSU, with their lone win a 69-64 victory on February 28, 2015.
Hoffman said Mercer has struggled with ETSU forever.
“Before I got here we had never beaten them. We went on a run and won some, and now they’re on a little run. We just need to start our own run. They’re a good team. They’re really, really talented. They’re well coached … You just keep battling. It’s a long season.”
If Mercer wants a taste of March Madness, the Bears will need to find an answer against ETSU. Or just hope someone else beats them in the conference tournament.
(11/28/17 2:41pm)
Mercer football has been the team receiving recognition for playing high-level opponents recently, but now it’s men’s basketball’s turn to jump into the action.
The Bears (5-2, 0-0) will continue non-conference play this week as they swing into Tennessee to face the Tennessee Volunteers and Memphis Tigers.
The two-game stretch will be Mercer’s toughest stretch of the season: the Volunteers nearly took down No. 3 Villanova this past week, and Memphis has a National Championship under its belt.
Even though these two beauties may be a 10, the Bears should feel confident in their presence. Mercer is coming off an impressive performance in the Paradise Jam, beating Liberty -- who was at home -- 63-48 and downing Drexel 78-59 before losing to Colorado 79-70 in the final.
Liberty is no slouch; it has beaten VCU and Wake Forest this season. The Bears’ performance in the Paradise Jam caught the attention of many, including NCAA.com’s Andy Katz, who said this:
“Mercer will be one of the teams no one will want to face in the first round of the NCAA tournament if the Bears can get through the Southern Conference. No one.”
After Thanksgiving break, Mercer returned in form and defeated Hiwassee 90-53 at home. Here’s what you need to know going into this week:
(1) We’ll learn just how good Mercer is over the next two weeks
Mercer has the following teams on the schedule through Dec. 19: at Tennessee, at Memphis, Florida A&M, at La Salle and at Alabama.
Tennessee and Memphis are obviously tough challenges on the road. La Salle, historically, also has a good program, and Alabama was ranked No. 25 and undefeated before losing to Minnesota because it only had three players on the court in the last 10-plus minutes.
Three. Players. You can’t make this stuff up.
Mercer, with an experienced core, has proven to be impressive thus far at 5-2 with close losses to UCF and Colorado. But it needs to win those types of games, and we’ll see if the Bears can do that.
They will have three chances over the next two weeks. If Mercer can go 3-2 over that span, chalk it up as a victory. More importantly, though, I want to see how the Bears compete against Tennessee, Alabama and Memphis -- three possible NCAA Tournament teams this season.
Head coach Bob Hoffman said the team knows what Tennessee is about.
“They’ve got great athletes,” Hoffman said. “That’s exactly what I told [the team]. Those guys are going to be coming at us really fast, and that was part of the issue we had against Colorado. We’re going to have to get back and talk. We have to point and holler and be in the right places.”
(2) Ria’n Holland’s status is up in the air
The Bears’ leading scorer did not suit up for Sunday’s game against Hiwassee. Hoffman said the guard injured his ankle against Colorado.
Holland is currently day-to-day, and the Bears are unsure if he will play Tennessee. The standout senior is averaging 20.2 points per game, nearly double that of anyone else on the team.
Ethan Stair started in Holland’s place against Hiwassee and performed well: a season-high 15 points, six assists and five rebounds. Hoffman said he was determined.
“You could see it on his face a little bit,” Hoffman said. “That’s the kind of competitor [he is] … He has the mentality that he wants to rebound and push, which I’m good with because he’s fast. He usually makes great decisions, and he gives us a completely different dynamic when he’s in because of his athleticism.”
Stair’s ability to jump into the starting lineup and perform at that level was huge. But I’d prefer to have him coming off the bench and doing that while Holland is starting. The Bears will need Holland on the court in order to win against Tennessee and Memphis.
It’s hard to replace 20 points a game. Mid-major teams need a player who can score prolifically in order to take down Power 5 opponents, and Holland is that guy for Mercer.
(3) Desmond Ringer and Stephon Jelks are the ex-factors of the team
Holland may be the leading scorer on the team, but Ringer and Jelks are incredibly important down low for the Bears. Mercer’s frontcourt is lacking in height and depth, so without Ringer and Jelks playing a lot of minutes, the Bears are in trouble on the boards.
See the two games Mercer has lost this year: It was out-rebounded 39-28 by UCF and 32-29 by Colorado. In both games, Ringer was in foul trouble. Jelks was in foul trouble against UCF but picked up the slack for Ringer’s absence against Colorado, snatching 12 rebounds.
Jelks is leading the team with 7.4 rebounds a game; Ringer has only grabbed 2.4 rebounds, but that’s because he’s been in foul trouble in three games and has played little in the blowout games.
Ringer also does more work as a big body down low who creates room for players like Jelks or others to crash the boards. He doesn’t stuff the stat sheet, but his presence is certainly felt.
Behind Ringer and Jelks are freshman Mason Green and redshirt freshman Mac Brydon. Green hasn’t played many minutes and is inexperienced, and Brydon has only appeared in three games so far.
Ringer and Jelks will need to stay on the court for Mercer to compete with tougher opponents.
(11/28/17 11:42am)
During its seven-game undefeated fall season, Mercer softball allowed only two runs per game. The success on the mound is simply a continuation of the strength the pitching staff displayed last season.
The Bears played over the span of three weeks, beating Georgia Highlands 9-0, Wallace 12-4, East Georgia State College 16-2, Georgia College and State 11-2, Georgia Military College 19-3 and 4-3 and South Georgia State College 10-0.
“Our pitchers did a great job, especially throwing a perfect game the last game,” said head coach Stephanie Defeo. “I don’t think I’ve seen that in over a decade, so it was awesome.”
Senior pitcher Jill McElderry, junior Megan Bilgri and sophomore Stella Preston combined for the perfect game against South Georgia State College. McElderry appeared in four of the seven fall outings and did not allow a run.
Hayes Rule
Last season, Bilgri led the Bears on the mound with a 2.25 ERA and 13-7 record. Preston boasted a 2.58 ERA and 5-10 record while McElderry had a 4.4 ERA and 3-4 record.
“For us, last year our pitching was really, really strong. So to see that continue is exciting,” Defeo said. “To see the development of our pitchers, even the ones who have been here for four years, has been amazing.”
Defeo said the purpose of the fall season is to give players extra experience, especially new ones in the program. She said this season, the team worked on improving offensively as well as finishing innings.
“We work on actually the little things and making sure we’re fundamentally sound,” Defeo said. “So when we get to the spring, the routine plays we make every time.”
Senior Megan Rud said that once the team returns from summer, it is mentally ready and excited to return to the field together. Rud was steady from the plate during the fall season, recording 10 hits and two doubles.
“I know over the summer -- not just me, but all our teammates -- we work really hard over the summer so we can stay in shape from what we had in the spring when the season ended,” Rud said. “We just continue that throughout the summer so that we can be mentally prepared for all the conditioning and practices we have in the fall.”
And all of that conditioning and practicing prepares the team for the spring, its conference season. Defeo said despite losing a couple key players, this year’s team is a snapshot of last year’s but maybe even better with the new additions.
“Seeing that we can all have fun as a team on the field and win is a really good sign for the spring,” Rud said as her teammates played duck-duck-goose behind her.
(11/17/17 2:21am)
Alabama is about to be the sweet home of the Mercer Bears.
Picture this: Mercer trails No. 1 Alabama 27-24 with six seconds remaining. The Bears have the ball on Alabama’s 42 yard line.
Mercer has one shot. One opportunity. To seize everything they ever wanted. Will they capture it, or will they let it slip?
Quarterback Kaelan Riley’s palms are sweaty, knees are weak and arms are heavy after being battered around most of the game.
But there’s still one shot. Riley takes the shotgun snap, alludes a rusher and chucks the ball down the field, into the endzone and into the hands of Marquise Irvin.
Touchdown. Bears win. Say goodbye to ‘Bama’s perfect season and national championship hopes. Everyone loses themselves to the biggest upset in college football history.
A man can dream, right?
Mercer will square off against Alabama Saturday at noon EST in what will be the biggest challenge the Bears have ever faced.
This week’s “The Ruling” will be a recap of Mercer’s 35-33 win over Western Carolina as well as a quick look at the Bears’ game against Alabama.
While everyone is talking about the matchup with the Crimson Tide, don’t overlook how good of a win Mercer had over Western Carolina. The Catamounts entered the game ranked No. 25 in the FCS, boasting a 7-3 record and with hopes of making the playoffs.
Mercer traveled to Cullowhee with nothing on the line but pride and pulled out a victory. The Bears played a great first 21 minutes of the game, leading 28-14 behind scores from Tee Mitchell, Alex Lakes (x2) and Chris Ellington.
The Catamounts added a touchdown but missed an extra point before halftime to trail 28-20. Mercer wouldn’t score again until five minutes remaining in the game, but the defense held Western Carolina’s offense to only two field goals during that span.
A Riley rushing touchdown increased Mercer’s lead to 35-26 and essentially sealed the game.
Here’s what you need to know from the victory:
(1) The offense recovered after a bad performance against Samford
After scoring only three points against Samford, the offense bounced back in a big way Saturday. The Bears tallied 35 points, the third-most they’ve scored this season and the most in a conference game.
“I think we stuck to the game plan this week,” head coach Bobby Lamb said. “Even when it got tight, we stuck to the plan and we knew what we had to do. We didn’t get the ball thrown down the field as much as we would have liked, but the inside zone game was really working.”
Against Samford, every facet of the offense was quite, quite bad. Against Western Carolina, every facet of the offense was quite, quite good.
Riley did not throw it much, but he was efficient: 9-of-15 for 102 yards. The rushing game was specifically quite, quite good.
(2) Run, Bears, Run!
The Bears ran for 217 yards on 54 carries. Yes, that’s only four yards per carry, but Mercer still moved the chains.
“You can’t get upset when you run the ball and get three yards instead of the six that you wanted, but we were very patient on offense,” Lamb said. “That was rewarding.”
It was especially rewarding because the Bears ran for a season-low 33 yards against Samford. Mitchell led the charge with 26 carries for 120 yards and a score. Lakes toted it 20 times for 87 yards and two scores. Riley also added a score on the ground.
Mitchell said it was very important to get the running game going at this point in the season.
“I feel like in 2014 and 2015, we focused on the run and then would hit a big play down the field with our receivers. This year, I think we lost our identity,” Mitchell said. “You heard [Coach Lamb] mention the game plan. They made a concerted effort to get us [running backs] the ball and gave us a chance to prove we can run the ball and head into next year with a lot of promise.”
(3) TRICK PLAYS!
It looked to be a field goal attempt.
But it wasn’t. Mercer faked a field goal in the second quarter and reaped the benefits: It turned into a 25-yard pass from Tanner Brumby to Ellington.
“Each one of our assistant coaches has a ‘team’ or ‘system,’” Lamb said. “Will Patterson [tight ends coach] is also in charge of what we call our ‘Score Team.’ Will and I got together and we usually come up with some kind of fake each week. I can’t tell you how many times you have a fake on, but you have to end up calling it off because you don’t get the right look. So we had the right look, and it was great execution by Tanner Brumby.”
Maybe we’ll see another trick play against Alabama? The Bears attempted a fake field goal against Auburn that should have gone for a first down...
(4) Enjoy your Saturday
If you’re traveling to Tuscaloosa, simply enjoy the environment. Enjoy being there.
It’s a fantastic opportunity for Mercer to play on two big stages this season for several reasons. First, it brought in over $1 million to the athletics department, as reported by a Cluster article last year.
Second, playing large FBS schools gets Mercer’s name out on a larger scale, both for the athletics department and the university as a whole.
The victory over Duke in the NCAA Tournament was incredibly useful in expanding Mercer’s image nationwide. I’m not saying playing Alabama will have that same impact, but it helps.
Third, it helps with recruiting. Telling high school players that you get to play FBS opponents like Alabama and Auburn? Sign me up.
Lamb said he would have laughed at you five years ago if you told him Mercer would be playing Alabama.
“Five years ago we were in the Pioneer Football League; we were a non-scholarship football program and we really weren’t looking past year one. We didn’t know which direction we were going to go in,” Lamb said. “Bill Underwood, our university president, wanted to take this to the next level, and you never know when those opportunities are going to come along. At the time I took this job, I had no idea we would be in the Southern Conference and that we would be playing the number one team in the nation. It’s been a quick ride but a fun ride as well.”
(11/15/17 9:47pm)
IT’S BASKETBALL SZN! I’m going to continue writing my column on a weekly basis during basketball season — that means my columns will cover several games instead of just one like I have been doing with football.
But the format will still be the same. You’ll still see terrible, punny headlines. You’ll still read my ranting about the intricacies of the game. And you’ll still receive great Mercer sports coverage. (Although, that’s debatable.)
The Bears have opened their season 2-1 in the first week — an 88-79 loss to Central Florida, 101-43 win over Toccoa Falls and 86-58 victory over Jackson State.
Mercer won the two games it should have easily won and lost a toss-up game against a very solid Central Florida team that has made NCAA Tournament appearances.
Ria’n Holland has continued to be a lethal scoring threat, averaging 22 points through the first three games and even winning Southern Conference Player of the Week after his first two outings.
The Bears led Central Florida at the half but went Antarctic-cold from the floor in the second -- less than 30 percent shooting — to fall to the Knights. The contest against Toccoa Falls was never in question, because, well, we’ll get to that later.
Jackson State trailed 43-38 at halftime, but Mercer ran away during behind a dominant second half.
Here are the takeaways from this week’s games:
(1) Let’s take a minute to recognize Toccoa Falls
I have a friend who goes to Toccoa Falls. The school has about 1,000 students and, well, does not have a very good basketball team.
I know this for several reasons. Reason No. 1: My buddy who goes to Toccoa Falls told me the basketball coach asked him to walk onto the team. They needed bodies.
My buddy isn’t exactly Michael Jordan, if you know what I’m saying. He’s that guy in the gym who talks trash to everyone but can’t ever actually back it up.
For what it’s worth, I beat him essentially every time we play, and. And I’m a golfer, so it’s not like I’m some basketball prodigy.
Reason No. 2: Toccoa Falls lost a game this year by 101 points. It was so bad, media outlets like ESPN and CBS Sports tweeted out the final game score against Appalachian State, 135-34, as a joke.
So why did Mercer have the Eagles on its schedule? Each year, each team has several games where it pays the opponent to come play for an easy win. So the Bears got a W, and the Eagles got some cash. Win-win.
(2) Marcus Cohen could be the real deal off the bench
Head coach Bob Hoffman raved to me before the season about freshman Marcus Cohen. He said that, in one preseason scrimmage, Cohen had 13 assists and one turnover.
“By the time we get to conference play, there’s no telling how good that guy can be,” Hoffman said.
We might not have to wait that long to see Cohen’s potential. He’s already living up to the hype. Against Central Florida, he was efficient in 15 minutes of playing time: seven points and four assists.
In the Toccoa Falls blowout, he stuffed the stat sheet: eight points, seven assists and six steals in only 18 minutes.
It will be interesting to see how Cohen is mixed into the rotation with Ria’n Holland and Jordan Strawberry firmly placed in the starting lineup. There were times when Hoffman played all three guards at one time.
Regardless, we do know he’ll be making a major contribution as a freshman this season.
“If he’s able to continue to figure those things out and understand the nuances of what we’re trying to accomplish, he’s going to make our team better,” Hoffman said. “He can guard at a high level, and he can really distribute the ball.
(3) Ethan Stair’s return cannot be undermined
The redshirt sophomore missed all of last season because of a hernia injury. Hoffman is not hiding the importance of his return this season.
He said having Stair back is “a huge element of this team.”
“[He] just gives us another big-time scorer, big-time athlete. [He’s a] tough-minded guy,” Hoffman said. “That makes our depth even greater. You put him, [Holland] and Demetre [Rivers] as a three-pronged attack at the two and three, that’s really good.”
Added depth is the key. Stair provides another athletic wing off the bench who can defend. Through three games off the bench, Stair has chipped in 12, 12 and 9 nine points.
(4) Rebounding *may* be a problem
The Bears are DEEP on the wing this season but don’t have much size down low. Mercer graduated Andrew Fishler and J.J. N’Ganga, who were 7-foot-1 and 6-foot-11, respectively.
Desmond Ringer stands at 6-foot-9 and Stephon Jelks plays the four at 6-foot-6. Mercer has two 6-foot-10 players in Mason Green and Mac Brydon, but neither played many minutes against Central Florida or Jackson State.
The Bears struggled on the boards against Central Florida -- they were outrebounded 39-28 with Ringer and Jelks in foul trouble -- and didn’t exactly dominate against Toccoa Falls, a team whose tallest player was… 6-foot-2. Mercer only out-rebounded the Eagles 36-28.
The rebounding looked much, much better in a dominant second half against Jackson State, so hopefully that will be a sign of progress to come in future outings. The Bears out-rebounded Jackson State by 13 in the second half and 35-25 overall.
“I think we’re going to be fine,” Hoffman said.
NEXT WEEK’S GAMES
The Bears travel to the 2017 U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam in Lynchburg, Va., on Friday. They will play Liberty at noon Friday, then their opponents for Saturday and Sunday will be determined after that game.
(11/14/17 12:24pm)
When it mattered most, they found a way to win. Mercer men’s soccer has experienced more than its fair share of close games this season, boasting a whopping 13 overtime appearances since August.
In the first 11 overtime games, the Bears won only two of them; they finished with a 1-6-4 record in extra-time outings.
But they won the final two. Mercer bested No. 1-seed ETSU in the Southern Conference semifinals after winning penalty kicks 4-3. The Bears then defeated No. 2-seed UNCG in the final after winning penalty kicks 3-2.
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Head coach Brad Ruzzo said the team has played really well the last three weeks, despite three overtime losses right before the conference tournament.
“There were three results late in the season that didn't go our way and we were able to use that for the SoCon Tournament,” Ruzzo said via mercerbears.com. “We were able to use the drive to prove we were the best team in the conference, because we thought we were. I do believe we are playing really well right now and I am looking forward to us continuing that."
The Bears will have a chance to maintain that momentum Thursday. They will face Coastal Carolina in Conway, SC, at 7 p.m. in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Bears are led by Will Bagrou’s 12 goals on the season along with goalkeeper Jeremy Booth, who was named the 2017 SoCon Tournament Most Outstanding Player for the second consecutive year.
It is Mercer’s second straight NCAA tournament bid after winning the Southern Conference last season. The Bears lost to South Carolina 1-0 last year in the first round.
Ruzzo said they still remember that feeling and are excited for another opportunity this year.
“We have done some scouting on [Coastal Carolina] already and we have an idea about the team,” Ruzzo said. “We are looking forward to going up there, finding out a bit more about them and looking to advance."
Editor’s note — Initially, we wrote that the record was 2-6-4. It’s been corrected to read 1-6-4
(11/10/17 11:40pm)
Three.
It’s the amount of points you score for making a basket behind the arc. It’s the amount of terms FDR served. And it’s the amount of points Mercer’s offense scored Saturday.
Three.
It’s the least amount of points the Bears have scored in a game since the program was re-established in 2013. (Its previous low was six against Wofford Nov. 22, 2014.) They’ve scored more points against teams like Georgia Tech and Auburn.
Mercer lost 20-3 to Samford on Homecoming because of the poor offensive outing. The Bears led the game at one point, connecting on a 36-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead. But there weren’t many positives after that.
Samford tied the score with a field goal and then scored a touchdown with 33 seconds remaining before halftime to take a 10-3 lead at the break.
The second half was worse. Quarterback Kaelan Riley threw an interception and fumbled, the special teams had a punt blocked, and the offensive line allowed two safeties. Two. Safeties. In one half.
Samford scored its lone touchdown of the second half midway through the third quarter to lead 16-3, then used the two safeties in the final 15 minutes to put away the Bears.
Here are the three takeaways from the loss:
(1) The offense was stifled
Mercer entered the game averaging 29 points per game, so it’s not like this has been an issue throughout the season. They were just stifled in every aspect of the game.
They struggled to run the ball; the Bears carried it 26 times for 33 yards. The passing game was ineffective most of the game, largely due to pressure on Riley. He was hurried a season-high nine times.
Before the game, Mercer’s offensive line ranked 25th in the country allowing 1.25 sacks per game.
“At the end of the day, it comes down to, you have a man in front of you, [and] you have to win the battle,” head coach Bobby Lamb said. “We didn’t win enough battles [Saturday].”
Riley finished 18-of-38 for 158 yards, an interception and a fumble. On top of not running it or throwing it well, the offense lost three turnovers and allowed two safeties. Lamb was pretty straightforward with his reasoning for the poor offensive effort.
“We didn’t do a good enough job of protecting, we didn’t do a good enough job of throwing, catching or coaching,” he said. “We could not get anything going. When we did, I look out there and there’s a yellow hankie … We shot ourselves in the foot, especially in the first half.”
And there were several penalties that hurt the offense, but still: It was a pretty bad performance. It was not the Mercer offense we’ve come to know this season.
Running back Tee Mitchell was truly one of the lone bright spots in the game. He had six carries for 33 yards and six catches for 32 yards. But even he was having trouble determining why the offense struggled so much.
“Honestly, I can’t even tell you,” Mitchell said. “I can’t tell you.”
(2) Kickoff chaos
The opening kickoff was a pretty good foreshadowing of how the game would go for the Bears. Well, I should say opening kickoffs.
There were three. On the first attempt, Mercer was called for an offsides. On the second attempt, the ball was kicked out of bounds. Samford declined and made Mercer kick it again.
Savage.
Then the Bears kicked it out of bounds again. Finally, Samford was like, “MAKE IT STOP!” so it took the penalty and the game continued.
http://i.qkme.me/3stqet.jpg
After Mercer scored its field goal, it kicked off again. And there was another penalty. The Bears had four straight penalties on kickoffs to start the game.
There have been a couple kicks sent out of bounds this season, but Saturday was certainly another level. Lamb said the team simply needs to execute better.
“We’ve had a really good year in special teams, but [Saturday] it kind of came crashing down,” Lamb said.
(3) Defense continues to shine
I know I’ve mentioned this in nearly every column this year, but it deserves to be said again: This defense ain’t messing around.
The Bears’ defense held Samford to only 16 points, an offense that was averaging 28.9 points per game. The defense also forced four turnovers, one of which was at the goal line right after a Mercer turnover.
The defense did everything in its power to win this football game.
“I want to commend our defense for holding a very powerful offense to 16 points,” Lamb said. “I thought our defense played exceptionally well, flew around to the ball and made a bunch of big plays … It’s just a shame we didn’t give them anything on the offensive side to help them out.”
Six of the 16 points came off a play that easily could have been an interception. Samford’s Chris Shelling bobbled it, then caught it, then bobbled it again, then caught it, then bobbled it again, then finally caught it.
All in all, it resulted in a touchdown that helped seal the game for Samford.
Senior linebacker Lee Bennett, who leads the team with 86 tackles, said his defense never gave up.
“What we tell each other on the sideline is, ‘We can’t control what the offense does,’” Bennett said. “We can only control what we do. We went out and gave our all like we showed. That brotherhood that we have, it just shows out there.”
(4) Bears can only play for pride
After the loss, Mercer’s record fell to 4-5 overall and 3-4 in conference play. The playoffs are out of the question now, but two games remain.
“I told the team this: ‘At the end of the day, it’s all on my shoulders,’” Lamb said. “We have to come back to work. We obviously don’t have anything to play for, but we have to play for pride, and we have to play for the love of the game.”
The Bears will travel to Cullowhee, NC, Saturday to play Western Carolina in their final conference game of the year.
And then, the big kahuna. Say it with me: “We want Bama.”
(10/27/17 12:20pm)
One play.
One play stands out among the rest from Mercer’s 28-21 loss to Furman Saturday. With the game tied and five minutes remaining, Furman’s Antonio Wilcox took a handoff from Mercer’s 4 yard line.
He burst forward and leapt toward the goal line. Touchdown.
Or was it?
As Wilcox jumped for the goal line, a Mercer defender punched the ball loose. It was a bang-bang play, and Mercer players jumped on the ball while Furman players threw their arms up to indicate a touchdown.
The referee agreed with the Paladins. Strangely, though, the official with the worse view made the call. From the referee’s perspective, Wilcox’s body covered the ball, making it nearly impossible for him to determine whether the ball crossed the goal line before coming out.
But, hey… the officials could simply take the play to instant replay to determine whether Wilcox had crossed the goal line.
In theory, yes. But Furman doesn’t have instant replay. The Southern Conference doesn’t mandate that all teams have and utilize instant replay. So, the play on the field stood: touchdown.
“If you’re wearing orange, [the ball] came out early. If you’re wearing purple, it was a touchdown,” head coach Bobby Lamb said. “It’s just one of those plays – and take it for what it’s worth – but they benefitted from not having replay.”
That touchdown would ultimately be the difference in the game. You can watch it here.
(10/21/17 12:15am)
Oh, how the tides have turned.
Two years ago, Cinderella went to the ball. Now, going to the ball ain’t a big deal.
Mercer was that Cinderella. The Bears earned the biggest win of the program’s re-establishment in 2015 when it upset then-No. 3 Chattanooga 17-14 at Five Star Stadium.
I still vividly remember that game - Mercer donning camo uniforms - and watching from the press box as they rushed the field afterwards.
At the time, Head coach Bobby Lamb said that game “puts [Mercer] on the map.”
I also vividly remember Saturday. The Bears faced that same opponent, Chattanooga, and defeated the Mocs 30-10. It really should have been worse.
But there was no rushing the field this time.
No one was saying the win “puts Mercer on the map.” It was business as usual. Cinderella is used to winning these games now.
“It tells me we’re getting better,” Lamb said Saturday. “This Chattanooga program has obviously been on the top the last three or four years … They beat the ever-living crap out of us last year. We couldn’t do anything.”
Granted, this Chattanooga team is a little different. There’s a new head coach. Their star running back graduated. And they were down their two top quarterbacks.
But still.
A 30-10 win over a team Mercer lost 52-31 to last season and stunned the year before means something. And it means even more because no one’s talking about it. No one is shocked anymore.
Mercer didn’t play a great first quarter. Neither offense did much, and the Bears only had two drives. Chattanooga jumped on the board first, adding a field goal on the first play of the second quarter.
But it was all Mercer in the second and third quarters. The Bears started throwing it down the field, and it worked: 33-yard and 22-yard passes to Marquise Irvin and Chandler Curtis gave Mercer a 13-3 lead at halftime.
The Bears added 10 more points in the third - a C.J. Leggett run and a Cole Fisher field goal - to take control of the game. Chattanooga scored its lone touchdown with 6:24 remaining but couldn’t legitimately threaten once Tee Mitchell ran up the score to 30-10 with a 1-yard touchdown.
Here are the takeaways from the victory:
(1) Riley efficient despite no help from running game
Mercer had its worst rushing performance of the year, but that didn’t hamper quarterback Kaelen Riley.
The redshirt freshman was precise and efficient Saturday, completing 20-of-27 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns. He looked cool, calm and collected.
“Kaelan [Riley] is getting a lot better,” Lamb said. “When we protect Kaelan and he can protect his feet, he’s 6-foot-4. He can see the field. He can see the coverages … “My coaches about had a heartache when I called a pass on our own 1-yard line. And I said, ‘I know he’s going to complete it.’”
The Bears ran for only 84 yards on 35 carries, a meager 2.2 yards per tote. Mercer’s previous rushing low was 100 yards against Auburn. The poor performance on the ground is surprising, really, given how Mercer had ran for 257 and 200 yards the previous two outings.
“We didn’t have a whole lot of effective runs, but Kaelan [Riley] did a marvelous job of reading coverage and we got a lot of one-on-one matchups,” Lamb said. “Our philosophy is throw it up. We’re going to catch it, or it’s going to be a pass interference. A lot of that happened today.”
But despite Riley’s efficiency, the Bears still didn’t throw it downfield as often as I would have liked to see. We’ll see if Lamb gives Riley more freedom as the year progresses, but it’s a good sign that he was willing to let him throw pinned in his own end zone.
Riley said he didn’t exactly plan for that type of game against Chattanooga, but that it goes back to “camp rules.
“Like we say, it’s always going to be about us and how we execute,” Riley said. “I was able to read the defenses pretty well, so that was how I was able to execute.”
(2) Special teams -- some good, some bad
Kicker Cole Fisher hasn’t been as dominant this year as last season, and he struggled Saturday, missing an extra point and a 32-yard field goal.
He was able to connect on the other three extra points and a 23-yard attempt later in the game, bringing his tally to 6-of-9 on the season.
But while there was a special teams blunder Saturday, punt returns remain a huge advantage for the Bears. Mercer entered the contest leading the Southern Conference in punt return average at 9.4.
Curtis simply added to that average with a 24-yard return against the Mocs.
“[Curtis] is a dangerous weapon on punt return and kickoff return,” Lamb said. “We know that. We saw him as a freshman do it. He’s been healthy all year, knock on wood.”
Lamb said the return team prides itself on getting its man down the field and blocking him.
“They know if he catches it, he has a chance to go,” Lamb said. “It’s a really, really big play for us to get our offense started.”
(3) Chattanooga simply looked BAD
The score was 30-10, and Mercer truly didn’t play its best game offensively. The defense continues to shine, and 10 points is the least Mercer has allowed in a Southern Conference game.
But seven of Mercer’s points came on a drive where it started on Chattanooga’s 1 yard line. The Mocs, down to a true freshman quarterback and almost no running game, simply didn’t compete very well.
Chattanooga managed 250 yards of offense, much of which came in the fourth quarter, including only 44 rushing yards.
(4) Only if...
Mercer is now 4-3 on the season, including 3-2 in the Southern Conference. Their losses are to Auburn by 14, Wofford by one and ETSU by three in overtime.
But consider the losses: the Bears led by 14 against Wofford - who was No. 10 in the FCS - in the fourth quarter; and they led by 10 against ETSU in the fourth quarter. Their two losses to FCS opponents were both games in which they held double-digit leads in the final quarter.
Then, they lost to Auburn on the road by only 14, a game where they trailed by one score midway through the final quarter.
You hate to look back and say “what if,” but Mercer could very well be a top 10 team in the FCS today if it weren’t for two blown fourth quarter leads. They’ve looked dominate at times, and their defense has proven to be elite.
Only if...
(5) A dream is fulfilled
Anything is possible.
Don’t let your dreams… be dreams.
Isaiah Buehler didn’t. Buehler was one of the players we interviewed at the post-game press conference. He was an All-Conference player last year and was voted as a Preseason All-Conference player this year.
But I guess he’s never been interviewed during a postgame press conference. There’s a first for everything.
“This is my dream, to get interviewed after a game,” Buehler said. “This is what I think about during the games.”
It was all in good fun, and you have to love that. That’s what we’re all here for at the end of the day.
(10/14/17 2:47pm)
Last Saturday, Mercer accomplished something it hasn’t done since 1931: a win over The Citadel.
And it’s not like the Bulldogs are a pushover. The Citadel entered the game ranked No. 17 in the FCS and as the reigning Southern Conference champion.
The Bears not only defeated the Bulldogs 24-14, but they did so on the road in impressive fashion. Mercer led 21-0 entering the fourth quarter before The Citadel mounted a minor comeback that came up short.
This wasn’t your typical air-it-out contest. Mercer relied on its defense and running game, scoring all three of its scores on the ground — one from C.J. Leggett in the first quarter, then two from Tee Mitchell in the second and third quarters.
But they would only add a field goal in the fourth and allowed the Bulldogs to score 14 points, once again being outscored in the fourth quarter. The Bears have only won the fourth quarter once this year — in a win against VMI.
The fourth quarter continues to be a big story for the team, but here are the main takeaways from a big SoCon victory:
(1) Defense has made huge strides from last season, proving to be elite
Last season, the defense ranked eighth in the conference in points allowed in the SoCon.
This season, it leads the SoCon in that category; the Bears are allowing only 18.8 points per game. But it’s not just points per game.
Mercer’s defense made play after play Saturday against The Citadel, including two forced turnovers in the fourth quarter that essentially saved the game — a turnover on downs on its own 13-yard line and an interception with more than three minutes remaining.
The resurgence started this summer, when LeMarkus Bailey, Lee Bennett and Eric Jackson nicknamed the unit the “Legion of Chaos.”
“[A]nd they’re chaotic, man,” head coach Bobby Lamb said. “They fly to the ball and they really enjoy playing with each other. It is a really close-knit bunch. There’s a sense of excitement on the sidelines when they’re on the field.”
Because they’re balling. The defense is also forcing turnovers — 15 total — ranking first in the conference and fifth in the country in turnover margin. And it’s not a matter of the team getting “lucky”; using the Auburn game as a prime example, the Bears truly are forcing many of the turnovers.
“In our team meeting at 3:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon, the first thing I talk about is turnover ratio,” Lamb said. “There’s a chart that says 80 percent of teams win when they win the turnover ratio. That’s a big stat we always talk about.”
The Citadel entered the game averaging more than 333 rushing yards per game. Mercer limited the Bulldogs to only 201 rushing yards. Performances like that not only impresses fans — it gives the players confidence, and it certainly seems like the defense is overflowing with it right now.
“It just makes us want to keep working harder because we want people to know that when they play us they’re going to have to deal with our defense,” Eric Jackson said.
(2) Lee Bennett named STATS National Defensive Player of the Week:
A defense is a unit, but it helps if it has some standout players. Many players have made big impacts throughout the season so far, but Lee Bennett probably had the best individual defensive performance of the year Oct. 7Saturday: 16 tackles, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and a tackle for loss.
That stat line resulted in not only a SoCon Defensive Player of the Week award but the STATS National Defensive Player of the Week.
Lamb noted him as a highlight of the game, pointing out that “he played 72 of the 78 plays in very tough conditions” on top of his impressive stats. Bennett, a senior, leads the team with 54 tackles and is one of three linebackers on the team who has performed at a high level this season.
(3) Offense relies on ball control
The Citadel runs an extremely run-heavy offense, and because of that, loves to control the tempo of the game. The Bears decided to try to beat the Bulldogs at their own game.
They did. The Citadel leads the conference in time of possession, more than 35 minutes a game, by a large margin. Mercer managed to beat the Bulldogs in the time of possession department — 33.5 minutes to 26.5.
Lamb said winning the time of possession battle was “huge.”
Mercer ran the ball 50 times and passed it only 23 times. Quarterback Kaelan Riley passed for a season-low 111 yards while Mitchell rushed for 100 yards on 23 carries and Alex Lakes toted it 16 times for 86 yards.
The rushing attack has proven to be effective the last two weeks, going over the 200-yard mark both games. While Lamb and the offense may start to rely more on the running game and defense over the next few games, I wouldn’t expect the game plan to be this conservative.
The Bears simply did what they had to win this game. And they did that, marking only the second time Mercer has beaten a ranked opponent in the modern era.
(10/09/17 2:18pm)
T.J. Long and Nate Hahn started a club golf team at Mercer last semester to prolong their dream of playing competitive golf.
Now, after the club’s second ever tournament, the team is showing signs of improvement. The Bears traveled to Alabama to play at the Robert Trent Jones trail course at Silver Lakes. Their opponents included Alabama, Georgia, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Kennesaw State and Western Carolina.
The team placed seventh out of nine squads, an improvement from their last-place finish in their tournament last semester.
Long said the team’s depth made them more competitive.
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“We didn’t have to do a qualifier last spring. We only had five people, and five people went to the tournament,” Long said. The team now has 12 members. “More people going through a qualifier kind of just made it a little more popular, I think. We even added people after we had the qualifier.”
One of those additions was freshman Angelo Malacapay, who led the team with the lowest two-day total. He shot 74 in the first round and 84 in the second round.
Malacapay played golf in high school, appearing in the State tournament as an individual as a freshman and with his team as a junior.
“It was nice to get back in competition, because I hadn’t played an actual tournament round probably since early summer,” Malacapay said. “I thought it was going to be a little bit like high school golf, which it kind of is.”
Long said the majority of the traveling team played in high school. Long finished second on the team with scores of 80 and 84. Hahn shot 89 and 80 while Stephen Galloway shot 86 and 84. Their fifth counting scores came from Alex Granzow, who finished with 99 and 89.
Long said the team’s experience from last semester helped this semester.
“We kind of knew what we were getting into -- what we needed to do, what we were going to go through,” Long said.
During Bear Fair, Intramurals had a table that was promoting all of the different clubs people could join. That’s how Malacapay found out about the golf team, and Long thinks that’s a big reason the team has been able to double its membership this year.
Right now, the team doesn’t charge dues, but Long said he is considering changing that to a small figure so the team can strike a deal with a local course “so we don’t have to go out and pay $15 every time we wanted to go play a round.”
The team plans to play in three or four tournaments this year, with the next being scheduled for October 21. For Malacapay, the experience — even after one tournament — has been a great one.
“I’m a freshman, and I’m out of state,” Malacapay said. “Meeting T.J., Nate, Alex, Tim… that was real nice. I could go to people if I ever needed them.”
(10/06/17 6:44pm)
They say it’s not about how you start but how you finish.
Or, I guess in Mercer’s case, how you play in the second quarter. The Bears ended their three-game losing streak Saturday with a 49-14 win over Virginia Military Institute, accumulating a season-high 575 yards on offense and allowing only 225 yards defensively.
Mercer fell behind early after Kaelen Riley threw a pick-six interception on the team’s first offensive play. The Bears didn’t move the ball effectively for the rest of the quarter.
And then the second quarter struck. In the blink of an eye, Mercer scored 21 unanswered points to take full control of the game.
Technically, it was only over the span of four and a half minutes, but Bears strung together three big scoring plays — a 61-yard pass to Chandler Curtis, 79-yard pass to Tee Mitchell and a pick-six by Travonte Easley.
The Keydets never threatened a comeback after that. Mercer would tack on four more offensive scores — three rushing from Mitchell, C.J. Leggett and Alex Lakes and one pass to Curtis again — while VMI’s lone offensive touchdown was a 79-yard pass in the third quarter.
Here are three takeaways from Mercer’s blowout victory:
(1) GO DEEP
In the past few games, the offense has been a little more conservative than usual. But in the first half against VMI, the Bears aired it out.
And it reaped touchdowns.
The first two scores were passes of over 60 yards, each of which traveled at least 40+ yards in the air. In the first four games, Mercer completed only one pass of over 50 yards.
“You want to do it, but it’s like playing golf,” said head coach Bobby Lamb. “It’s like a risk/reward par 5. Do you want to go for it, or do you want to lay-up sometimes? I like to keep the pedal to the medal and throw the ball deep, but I also like to protect our quarterback.”
Two things: First, shoutout to Coach Lamb for making a golf reference. He knows me too well. Second, I agree that there should be a nice balance between conservative and aggressive play. I’m not suggesting Mercer play backyard football and toss it downfield for fun.
But I do believe the Bears could utilize their deep threats a little more. We saw a glimpse of what that could look like against the Keydets. Granted, VMI’s defense isn’t exactly… good. But still.
Mercer could balance the running game and screens we see out of the offense by throwing a couple shots down the field throughout the game. Let receivers like Chandler Curtis, Marquise Irvin and Avery Ward use their speed down the field.
Curtis, specifically, thrives on the deep ball.
“I think I watch too much NFL and Madden, so I throw deep balls all the time,” Curtis said. “I like the more explosive plays.”
Against VMI, Riley completed 13 passes for a season-high 318 yards, an average of 24.5 yards per completion. That’s an unbelievable yards per completion number. Most of those yards came through the air. Riley has shown he can complete the deep ball; he has been on the money with his touch down the field.
Before the VMI game, I had one Twitter follower mention the offensive conservativeness on offense. I told them we’ll see if that changes against VMI. And we did, at least in the first half.
Lamb seemed more comfortable and content with the play calling in the second half, where the team relied more on short chunk plays. But I think airing it out several times a game, on top of some conservative play-calling, wouldn’t hurt.
(2) Defense continues to limit points allowed
The defense allowed only seven points to VMI’s offense, a 79-yard pass. It was the first play of a drive in the third quarter and accounted for a huge chunk of the Keydets’ offense for the day; without it, VMI would have only had 146 yards.
“The defense is playing really good football right now,” Lamb said. “I really felt like, coming in, that we would have a good defense this year, and they’re really gelling together and playing together. I saw guys flying around to the ball.”
It’s not just a fluke. The defense has truly held its own in the first five games, especially in the first three quarters. Entering Saturday, the Bears allowed only 10.2 points per game to opponents in the first three quarters.
In the fourth quarter alone, they allowed 9.5 points.
If the Bears can clean up some of the issues in the fourth, this defense can be really, really good. Not only are they limiting points, but they are causing turnovers. They added to that tally by snatching three interceptions Saturday — two by Stephon Houzah, one being a pick-six.
Lamb even told Houzah after that game, jokingly, that maybe he should switch to wide receiver.
“It’s exciting when you see them get a turnover because they’re all excited and jumping around on the sidelines. It gives you energy, and the more energy you get in a 60-minute game, the better you’re going to be.”
(3) Running attack goes for season-high in yards
Everyone touched the ball Saturday as the Bears registered 257 yards over 51 carries on the ground. This running attack is extremely refreshing to see after last year, when the team had to move linebackers to running back just to have someone carry the ball.
The offensive line struggled to get a push in the first quarter, but Lamb said the team made adjustments.
“I was proud of our offensive line for taking control of the game in the second half, and that’s what kind of got us over the hump offensively,” Lamb said. “We knew we had to come out and establish the run [in the second half] … We’ve got some talent back there, and it’s nice to have a lot of running backs because you can run the ball and not worry about what the next play call is going to be.”
Leggett led the team in rushing for the second straight game, carrying the ball 16 times for 89 yards. Mitchell carried 12 times for 56 yards while Lakes toted it 10 times for 46 yards. Even freshman Tyray Devezin chipped in five carries for 27 yards.
Before Saturday, the season high for rushing was 177 against Jacksonville in the opener. The highlight of the running back crew was Lakes, who — with his score — tied John Russ with his 30th rushing score, tying the program record. He also surpassed Russ as the leading rusher.
“In the headsets, they tell me [Lakes] needs one touchdown to tie the all-time rushing touchdown record … It was great to see [Lakes] do that. Obviously not getting the carries he got last year, but for him to come in there at the end and do that, that was special.”
(09/30/17 3:33pm)
Mercer entered Saturday off arguably its best performance since re-establishment. Sure, it was a loss.
But it was a pretty dang good loss.
It was expected that performance would kickstart a run through Southern Conference play that could, potentially, result in a conference championship. In last week’s “The Ruling,” I even noted that this Mercer squad is the best team since the program’s re-establishment.
It was fair, right? Mercer had taken care of business against Jacksonville, truly should have defeated No. 10 Wofford, then took Auburn deep into the fourth quarter.
But that bandwagon lost a wheel Saturday.
The Bears (1-3, 0-2) could not capitalize on their momentum from the Auburn performance on the road against East Tennessee State University, falling 26-23 in overtime. It’s the third straight loss for the Bears.
Mercer fell behind early 10-0 after ETSU scored a touchdown off a first-drive Tee Mitchell fumble; the Buccaneers then tacked on a field goal early in the second quarter.
Then the Bears woke up. Mercer scored 20 unanswered points in the second and third quarters — three touchdowns from Chandler Curtis, C.J. Leggett and Tee Mitchell along with a missed extra point.
Mercer led 20-10 early in the fourth quarter before ETSU controlled the rest of regulation. It added a field goal with more than 11 minutes remaining; Mercer then missed a 35-yard field goal on its ensuing drive and watched as the Bucs drove down the field to tack on a touchdown with more than four minutes remaining.
The Bears held possession first in overtime and settled for a field goal before ETSU scored a touchdown on its first offensive play.
Here are the four takeaways from Mercer’s overtime loss:
(1) Fourth quarter woes
Mercer was outscored 10-0 in the fourth quarter, adding to the deficit it holds in fourth-quarter scoring this season. The Bears have been outscored 38-13 in the final quarter, including a 14-point lead against Wofford and 10-point lead against ETSU.
“We’ve talked a lot about this as a staff, we talked about it as a football team, and we’ve got to keep putting our guys in situations to do it in practice and maybe we can get over the hump in the game,” head coach Bobby Lamb said. “It came down to simple fundamentals … So it’s back to the basics, fundamental-wise, and then it’s getting these guys to feel good about themselves going into a fourth quarter.”
Losing conference games is tough enough. Losing conference games when you hold a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter? Devastating.
After I posted my column to Facebook last week, one person commented: “Mercer just has to start winning games like the Wofford one. There's no way around it.”
And he’s right. The goal for Mercer each year is to win a conference championship and make the FCS playoffs. We can talk about beating non-conference opponents like Jacksonville or playing well against Auburn, but ultimately, the games that matter are in conference.
So far this season, Mercer had two conference victories in the palms of its hands but couldn’t secure them. That boils down to --as Coach Lamb mentioned:, playing fundamentally sound and making the plays that should be made; and playing as aggressively as the first three quarters.
Mercer has come back and won games in the fourth quarter — see: Furman, ETSU and VMI last year — but on too many occasions it has been the Bears on the losing side of the fourth quarter.
“We’ve been around the block with this deal, where if you talk about it too much then you go overboard and who knows what’s going to happen,” Lamb said. “I just think we have to keep working as a team, keep coaching them, we’ve got to keep being fundamentally sound.”
(2) C.J. Leggett is carving out a role
The running back stable is noticeably deeper this season. Coming into the year, I was curious how exactly the carries would be allocated with Alex Lakes, Mitchell and Leggett all healthy.
Thus far, it seems that Lakes has been the odd man out. He has received only 18 carries, with none against ETSU.
Leggett, on the other hand, now leads the team in carries this year — 47 — after a season-high 19 against the Bucs. He finished the game with 109 rushing yards, becoming the first Mercer player to rush for over the century mark in the last five games dating back to last year.
“I really think [Leggett] came into his own [at ETSU],” Lamb said. “He’s done some really good things in practice. He was injured during preseason camp so we didn’t get to see a whole lot of him, but back in spring practice he had a really good spring. He’s a load now, he goes in there and he may turn it into a five- or six-yard gain, but he’s moving the pile.”
The running back situation is worth watching the rest of the year, but it looks like Lamb is settling on a duo of Leggett and Mitchell.
(3) Laundry was flying
The teams combined for 21 penalties for 214 yards. That’s not a typo.
Mercer “won” that battle — if you can even call it a win — by committing 10 penalties for 95 yards. In the first three games, Mercer combined 10 penalties for 86 yards, with only two penalties against Auburn.
“That’s a very disturbing number for me,” Lamb said. “It is a crazy game when you commit only two penalties in front of a crowd of 90,000 [people at Auburn last week] and then commit 10 today in front of 8,000 [people].”
Retweet. Although, I expect this 10-penalty outing to be more of a fluke than anything. Now if the Bears commit 10 penalties against VMI at home, there may be a genuine issue.
(4) Bears have work ahead in order to compete for SoCon title
Starting 1-3 isn’t ideal, but what makes it even less ideal is that the Bears are 0-2 in conference. Mercer is currently last in the conference and four games back of Wofford, who is 2-0 in the SoCon.
The Bears face six straight conference opponents before finishing the season with Alabama; they will return home against VMI Saturday at 4 p.m., who is 0-1 in conference but also winless on the year.
“We’ve got a long way to go in this league,” Lamb said. “It’s a long process, and you never know what’s going to happen during the course of the year. That’s why you have to take them one at a time ... We haven’t even talked about conference [title discussions] this week. We know at the end of the day that you have to play them all and add them up, so we got a tall order ahead of us to play VMI and getting ourselves better.”
(09/29/17 1:21pm)
Before the season, Head Coach Bobby Lamb announced the team’s four captains: Thomas Marchman, Lee Bennett, LeMarkus Bailey and Isaiah Buehler.
The captains were selected by their teammates, and they’re expected to be leaders both on and off the field. All of them are first-time captains.
"Being selected as a captain is one of the highest honors you can receive as a student-athlete because your peers make the decision," Lamb said via a press release. "Thomas, Lee, LeMarkus and Isaiah are four hard-working young men who represent our program the right way, on and off the field. I'm proud of them for stepping up as leaders among their teammates."
Through four games this season, the captains have lived up to the task of performing on the field.
Thomas Marchman, OL, Senior
Jaclyn Ramkissoon
Marchman is the lone offensive captain. Slotted at left tackle as one of three returning starters on the offensive line, Marchman was voted to the Preseason All-Southern Conference First Team.
The senior was also nominated for the 2017 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, an award that recognizes college football players who excel off the field in community service and enriching the lives of others. He was one of 146 players nominated at the FBS and FCS level.
On the field, Marchman leads an offensive line that has protected redshirt quarterback Kaelan RIley. Through four games, the Bears have allowed only four sacks. The offense is averaging 27 points per game with 133 rushing yards and 197 passing yards per game.
Lee Bennett, LB, Senior
Jaclyn Ramkissoon
The senior is one of two captains in the linebacker corps. Bennett entered the season as the leading returning tackler on the team after registering 63 stops last season—second on the team only to Tyler Ward.
Now a third-year starter, Bennett ranks second on the team in total tackles, 32, including back-to-back outings against Auburn and East Tennessee State University with nine each. Bennett also has a fumble recovery, sack and two tackles for loss.
LeMarkus Bailey, LB, Redshirt Junior
Jaclyn Ramkissoon
The other captain at linebacker, Bailey has taken a leap forward in his fourth year. The redshirt junior played safety his first season at Mercer, appearing in 10 games.
And then he changed positions. Moving to outside linebacker his sophomore season, Bailey recorded 11 tackles in three games before suffering a season-ending injury—allowing him to redshirt.
After his sophomore campaign was cut short by injury, Bailey played all 11 games last season en route to 56 total tackles, good for third on the team. He currently ranks third on the team in tackles this season with 32.
But 29 of those came in the first three games, including an 11-tackle—10 solo—outing against Auburn. He also added a forced fumble and fumble recovery in that game.
For the season, he leads the team with 20 solo tackles and also has an interception and four and a half tackles for loss.
Isaiah Buehler, DL, Redshirt Junior
Jaclyn Ramkissoon
Buehler was one of three players selected to the Preseason All-SoCon First Team for the Bears. It wasn’t his first accolade.
The redshirt junior was tabbed to the 2016 All-SoCon Second Team after recording 31 tackles, seven for loss and three sacks last season. He was also named to the 2015 SoCon All-Freshman Team after registering 38 tackles, seven and a half tackles for loss and three sacks.
This season, Buehler has 15 tackles, one a half for loss and two quarterbacks hits. Starting at defensive end, Buehler anchors a defense that is allowing 21.3 points per game to opponents this year.
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(09/19/17 10:00am)
Six years ago, Mercer didn’t have a football program.
Saturday, it trailed the No. 15-ranked FBS team in the country by only seven points midway through the fourth quarter.
Mercer fell to Auburn 24-10 at Jordan-Hare Stadium, an eye-opening performance for many that was highlighted by five forced turnovers. It was the 11th time the teams met; the last outing was in 1922.
Auburn won all 11 of those contests, allowing Mercer to score a total of 11 points combined.
The Bears nearly matched that total Saturday and had a legitimate shot at WINNING with approximately eight minutes remaining. After Auburn’s kicker Daniel Carlson -- who is the program’s all-time leading scorer — missed a 26-yard field goal, Mercer took control trailing 17-10.
But it went three-and-out.
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Auburn took advantage of a short punt and a targeting penalty to tack on a late score to essentially put the game away. But that’s not the point. The story isn’t that Mercer lost.
It’s what we saw in the loss. No, you’re never “excited” when you lose, but Mercer’s program took a major step forward Saturday, the biggest step forward it has taken since its re-establishment.
“People found out a little bit about Mercer football [Saturday] on the national stage,” head coach Bobby Lamb said. “It was a big step for us. A game like this can propel you.”
Don’t undermine the performance; Mercer was on the verge of what would have been, arguably, the biggest upset in college football history. Try to find one that would’ve been better. I’ll wait.
After the game, I spoke with a reporter who writes for “Sports Illustrated.” He’s working on a piece looking at FCS programs playing FBS programs. He latched onto Mercer because of its unique schedule: It’s an FCS program who is playing two SEC schools this season.
The reporter was extremely impressed with the Bears. Considering Mercer’s program was re-established only five years ago — and I’m paraphrasing here — he said, “There’s no way that team should have even been in that game. No way.”
But they were. Mercer played Georgia Tech well in the first quarter last season but could not keep up. The Bears were head-to-head with Auburn up until the very end.
“It just showed the world what we’re about this year,” said wide receiver Marquise Irvin, who caught the team’s lone touchdown. “Last week we had a heartbreaker, but just for the games on now, we’re going to be rolling and get a win streak going because we feel like we’re the best team in the FCS.”
Here are the takeaways from Saturday’s outing:
(1) This is the best team since re-establishment
Pre-season, running back Tee Mitchell said there was something different about this team. He, along with several others, have noted just how close the team is this year.
Granted, we hear that often. But the performance is living up to the talk so far. The Bears took care of business against Jacksonville and really, truly should have beaten Wofford, the No. 10 team in the FCS.
They didn’t, but still: This team is talented.
Lamb said only time will tell if this is the best Mercer team in the modern era, but he absolutely believes it’s the most talented team he has had.
“We’re there now. We have four scholarship classes in place. We’re there, and this is our time to shine,” Lamb said. “It takes a lot of hard work. We lost a heartbreaker last week, and to come back and have this kind of performance after a heartbreaker shows a lot about our program and our players.”
And that’s one of the most impressive aspects worth mentioning. The Bears played their best game in the last five years after losing in unfortunate fashion last week. After the Wofford loss, Lamb mentioned that his team could either be resilient or pout for the rest of the season and keep losing.
I didn’t see any pouting Saturday.
The talent and speed on the roster is noticeable. I fully expect them to be competing for the Southern Conference championship this season — if they can bring that kind of energy to every game the rest of the season.
I expected to have to wait at least one more week to see just how well Mercer would respond to the Wofford loss, but I saw everything I needed to see on Saturday. They’re Gucci.
“At the end of the day, the resiliency factor that I think our team has really came through,” Lamb said. “And I was proud of that. We got something to work with as we move forward in the Southern Conference.”
(2) LeMarkus Bailey is the real deal
Bailey stands at 5-foot-11, 201 pounds. Auburn’s offensive line weighed an average of more than 311 pounds.
Bailey didn’t care. He finished the game with a team-leading 11 tackles (10 solo), including a tackle for loss, forced fumble and fumble recovery. The senior linebacker was all over the field.
“He needs to make Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Week,” Lamb said. “[Bailey] has the heart of a lion, and he has a never-quit attitude. He’s all over the field. His motor never stops. He’s really grown up; he’s really matured.”
Lamb mentioned that Auburn puts a lot of pressure on a defense’s SAM linebacker, and Bailey was up for the task. He looked comfortable in front of nearly 90,000 fans.
“It was a blessing and opportunity,” Bailey said. “That’s just how I look at everything I’m faced with: It’s an opportunity to showcase my abilities and God-given talents.”
This wasn’t a fluke. Bailey racked up 10 tackles and an interception against Jacksonville and recorded eight tackles against Wofford. Last season, he recorded the third most tackles on the team — 56.
He, along with the rest of the front seven, has been impressive thus far. The Bears limited Auburn to 146 rushing yards on 43 carries, a meager 3.4 yards per carry.
Bailey was a major part of that effort. He very well may be a First Team All Conference player this year at this pace.
(3) The Bears survived the injury bug
Entering the game, two things were of utmost importance: that Mercer brings home the $450,000 check for playing and to avoid as many injuries as possible.
The Bears accomplished that and then some. Linebacker Kyle Trammell hobbled off the field but returned later to the game. He was the only player who seemed to struggle with an injury during the game.
Returning back to Macon was a major goal for the coaching staff as — in the grand scheme of things — this game was not that important. The string of conference games on the schedule are of utmost importance, so the Bears needed to enter them healthy.
(4) Mercer could have been more aggressive on offense
The offense was extremely conservative in the first half. Quick passes are a staple of Bobby Lamb’s offense, but this was like Bobby Lamb’s offense on steroids, adderall and coffee.
Lamb said that was the offensive strategy heading into the game.
“We played within the chains. We didn’t try a whole lot,” Lamb said. “When you play a team like that and they have two 315-pounders on the inside that are really good players, we have to double team them. So we ran our inside zone package.”
The conservative strategy wasn’t a bad one, per se. It’s important to allow Kaelan Riley, a redshirt freshman, time to settle into the game. The Bears finally became more aggressive in the second half.
“We knew in the second half we were going to open it up a little bit, which would put us in a situation maybe to lose yards sometimes, but I think we still stayed within the chains,” Lamb said. “We wanted to push the ball down the field a little bit.”
In the first 10 offensive drives, Riley averaged only 4.4 yards per completion — 10 completions for 44 yards. In the team’s lone touchdown drive, Riley completed six passes for 54 yards and a touchdown.
But they could have been more aggressive throughout the game — not only pushing the ball down the field a little more, but also on fourth down. The Bears attempted one fake field goal that would have worked, but the runner tripped just short of the first down.
Earlier, Mercer settled for a field goal on 4th and 2 from the 4 yard line. I understand the thinking, but I certainly thought, “C’mon, Bobby, go for this one. We didn’t come here to kick field goals.”
But it’s difficult to question the conservativeness too much, because at the end of the day, it gave them a chance to win in the fourth quarter.
(5) Turnovers on the menu
Mercer forced five turnovers in the outing, four of which were fumbles — a program record for most fumbles forced in a single game. Some blame may rest on Auburn for the turnovers, but honestly, the Bears did an outstanding job of just stripping the ball.
“We have plastered all over our building, ‘The ball is the issue,’” Lamb said. “We strive on takeaways. And those balls were ripped out … That’s what we try to practice.”
By the time we reached three, four, five turnovers… I couldn’t help but just laugh. It was like in the movie “The Longest Yard” when one inmate couldn’t hold onto the ball to save his life because “he just ate popcorn.”
Maybe Mercer sent over a “Thank you” gift pre-game to the Tigers: buckets and buckets of buttery, movie theater popcorn. Gracious, right? But Mercer knew what it was doing. Savvy move, Bobby. Savvy. Move.
Problem is, the Bears couldn’t take advantage of those turnovers. They scored only three points off the five turnovers.
Mercer’s defense has now forced eight turnovers through three games.