Victory comes shortly after coaching staff turnover
Wofford spring football played its first game in over 400 days in front of over 1000 fans at Gibbs Stadium on a crisp February afternoon,routing Mercer by a score of 31-14. The Terriers got off to a quick 17-0 lead to close out the first half and protected their lead throughout the second half thanks to sound defense and clock control..
“I was really pleased with the effort, I thought we tackled well on defense, it was semi-clean on offense” said Head Coach Josh Conklin. “We had a couple mental mistakes, offsides, some things that weren’t maybe what you would like, but, you know, from an execution standpoint I’m really excited about where we’re at, it’s a great game for us to build on for next week.”
Quarterback Jimmy Weirick ‘22 went 12-for-18 for 173 yards in his first career start after throwing a cumulative 10-for-15 and 93 yards the last two seasons. Despite spending most of the last two seasons behind recent graduate Joe Newman and Georgia Southern transfer Miller Mosley, Weirick earned the starting spot over Peyton Derrick ‘22.
After being held scoreless in the first half, the Bears went on a 7-play, 69 yard scoring drive to open the second half. The Terriers responded with a pair of 70+ yard drives in the third and fourth quarters that put the game out of reach.
“I looked at [my linemen] and told them ‘we just gotta respond,’” Weirick said. “‘Respond here and they’ll lay down. That’s what we came out and did…when someone hits you in the mouth and you hit ‘em right back, it’s hard to recover from that.”
The Terriers held Mercer to 131 yards passing and 181 yards rushing, a stout defensive performance following a week that featured major coaching shake-ups on the defensive side. Defensive Coordinator and Inside Linebackers Coach Sam Siefkes’ and Defensive Line Coach Allen Smith’s departure to NFL organizations left a short amount of time for staff turnover and preparation for the season opener against the Bears.
Siefkes left to assume the position of Defensive Quality Control with the Minnesota Vikings, while Smith is now the assistant Defensive Line Coach with the Houston Texans. The staff reorganization for the Terriers included Pitt grad assistant Bryan Bing replacing Smith as D-line coach, while Wofford and Dorman alum Rob Greene was elevated to Defensive Coordinator, Luke Johnson to Outside Linebackers, and Michael Vardzel joining the team as Defensive Quality Control.
Wofford and the University of Pittsburgh’s football program have had a notable connection over the last several years, as Coach Conklin was Defensive Coordinator at Pitt before taking the helm for the Terriers, with the most recent additions being Bing and Vardzel, who played for the Panthers on both offense, defense, and special teams.
The Terriers forced 3 turnovers by Mercer, scoring their first points off a turnover.
“We got some big takeaways” Conklin said. “Turnover margin is huge, (and) usually when you win that, you have a chance to win the game, and we did.”
Micheal Mason ‘23 totaled seven solo tackles, three of them tackles for loss, which included two strip sacks, and Brandon Brown ‘21 contributed five solo tackles while assisting on four.
“Being a linebacker it’s the most exciting thing to see a third down, and we stopped them” Brown said. “Mike was an animal out there today…he stole one of my sacks, but it’s okay. He played a great game today and that’s what we needed coming in, we all knew he was gonna have a great year this year and to start off like that with the first game is great.”
Tahir Ahnoor ‘23, Tanner Barnes ‘23, and Joe Beckett ‘21 all had six tackles apiece. Jahem Haze ‘23l and Rett Russell ‘23 each logged four, with Russell adding a sack. The Terriers ran for 211 yards with six different running backs getting carries; Irvin Mulligan ‘23 led Wofford with 90 yards, and was one of four backs to rush in a touchdown along with Nathan Walker ‘22, Jamari Broussard ‘22, and Ryan Lovelace ‘21.
