BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—The Samford football team practiced for about an hour in shorts and helmets Thursday afternoon at Seibert Stadium. The practice was the final workout in preparation for Saturday’s season finale against 10th-ranked Elon.
Saturday’s game is the final game in a Samford uniform for the Bulldogs’ 13 seniors. Those seniors will be honored prior to Saturday’s game. Sullivan said this group of seniors will be sorely missed at Samford.
“They’ve been awfully special for our program,” Sullivan said. “They’ve given leadership to our program. Not only are we going to miss them as players, we are going to miss them as people.”
Samford’s 13 seniors are Wes Alexander, Ryan Anderson, C.J. Brown, Josh Fields, Ryan Fordham, Rumiko Forrester, Brock Johnson, Harris Johnson, Ty Levie, Jonathan Lowery, Paul Selmon, Taylor Strickland and Jon Weber.
Samford is coming off two-straight wins after defeating Georgia Southern, 31-7 on Nov. 7, and winning at Wofford, 27-24 on Nov. 14. The Bulldogs have improved to 5-5 overall and 3-4 in SoCon play and have a chance to earn back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1999.
“We’ve had a good year,” Sullivan said. “It’s not the year we started out wanting. We had some injuries at the first of the year that hurt us a little, but I think the way our guys have bounced back the last couple of weeks has really said a lot about their character.”
Elon is ranked 10th in both the Sports Network and Division I Football Championship Subdivision Coaches polls. Sullivan said he knows his team faces a tough task in taking on the Phoenix.
“Elon is ranked in the top 10 in the country and have certainly had a lot of success over the last few years,” Sullivan said. “They have a lot of good football players and they are well coached. This will be a big, big challenge for us.”
Saturday’s game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. kickoff from Seibert Stadium. The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu. Fans can also follow the game on the internet via GameTracker at www.samfordsports.com.
