SETTING THE SCENE
Fresh off a 42-10 victory over Albany State on Saturday, the No. 5/7 Valdosta State football team makes its first road trip of the season on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Newberry College.  This is the first meeting between the two teams since 2011.   
 
AGAINST THE PALMETTO STATE
The Blazers will earn their frequent flyer miles to South Carolina this season as they visit the Palmetto State three times with trips to Newberry (Sept. 7), Erskine (Sept. 21) and North Greenville (Oct. 12).  The Blazers are 3-1 all-time against Newberry and 5-0 all-time against North Greenville.  This will be the first meeting on the gridiron against Erskine.  Overall, the Blazers are 9-1 all-time against teams from South Carolina.
 
CALLING THE GAME
TALK 92.1 FM will broadcast the Blazer games all season long with Wade Beale and Scott James having the call.  Fans can access links to the radio broadcast and video broadcast at vstateblazers.com on the football schedule page.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES WITH NEWBERRY
The Blazers lead the all-time series with Newberry 3-1 as the teams haven't played since 2011 in a 24-17 victory by VSU in Valdosta on Sept. 8, 2011.  VSU is 2-0 in its previous meetings in Newberry with wins on Aug. 30, 2008 (14-9) and 45-17 on Sept. 11, 2010.  Newberry's lone win in the series came on Aug. 29, 2009, in Valdosta in a 34-21 setback for the Blazers.  Newberry head coach Todd Knight is 1-2 against VSU.  
 
EDWARDS AND ELDER EARN GSC WEEKLY HONORS
Valdosta State senior quarterback Sammy Edwards and graduate student defensive back Larry Elder were named GSC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, after their outstanding performances in the Blazers' 42-10 victory over Albany State last Saturday.  Edwards, a native of Saint Augustine, Fla., began the 2024 campaign right where he left off last season, as he threw for four touchdowns and ran for one Saturday.  He was 18 of 25 passing for 306 yards and four TD passes, while he had three carries for five yards and a touchdown.  Edwards' 306 yards marked the seventh time in his career he has thrown over 300 yards and his fifth game of throwing and running for at least one touchdown.  Edwards had a 72% completion percentage for the game marked the third-best completion percentage game for him in his career as a starter as he improved to 13-2 in starts as a Blazer.  Elder, a Richmond, Va., native, finished his first game in a Blazer uniform with a team-high nine total tackles and five solo stops in the Blazers' 42-10 win over Albany State in the season-opener for both teams.  Elder was everywhere on the field and had 0.5 tackles for loss, along with one breakup.  Elder and the Blazer "D" held ASU to just 318 yards of offense and just 217 through the air and held ASU to a 3.2 average on the ground.
 
WATCH ON FLOSPORTS
All VSU home and GSC road football games, along with the game Saturday at Newberry, will be broadcast on FloSports once again this season.  For fans eager to watch fall sports, subscribe to pay $14.99 per month or $99.99 per year ($8.33/month). Additionally, those who use a .edu email from a GSC member institution will be able to sign up at a discounted subscription price of $9.99 per month or $69.99 for the year ($5.83/month). The negotiated promotional pricing for GSC fans will be available on the landing page. Fans choosing to sign up via other links or pages may not receive the full benefit of promotional pricing. As part of their subscription, fans receive access to all FloSports verticals. Subscriptions can be canceled at any time.
 
A HISTORY OF SUCCESS
The Blazers have had an outstanding 41 years of football since the program began in 1982.  The Blazers have the second-highest winning percentage all-time in NCAA Division II with a 334-137-4 record (.707) behind Grand Valley State (440-148-3) with a .747 clip.  VSU went 88-27 from 2010-2019 for a .765 average which is good for eighth in NCAA Division II for the decade and tenth in overall wins.  The Blazers then went 104-20 (.839) from 2000-2009 for the fourth-highest winning percentage and overall wins for that decade. Since 2000, the Blazers are 222-77 overall.
 
NO SHUTOUTS
The Blazers lead all of NCAA Division II with 378 consecutive games without being shutout dating back to a 12-0 loss to Central Florida on Sept. 14, 1991.  VSU only has been shut out five times in program history.  Grand Valley is just behind the Blazers at over 366 games without being shutout.
 
VALDOSTA STATE COACHING TREE RUNS DEEP
Since football began in 1982 at Valdosta State, there has been an outstanding lineage of coaches who have come through Titletown.  Beginning in 1992, Hal Mumme took over the Blazer program and was off and running in 1994 with the program's first playoff berths in both 1994 and 1996.  Under Mumme, who is considered the founder of the air raid offense, has a fantastic coaching tree.  Both he and Mike Leach conceived the Air Raid Offense at Iowa Wesleyan College and perfected it in Titletown.  Among the coaches under Mumme who came to Titletown are; current Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach, current Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen, Guy Morriss (Kentucky, Baylor, Texas A&M-Commerce), current Samford head coach Chris Hatcher (also Blazer head coach), along with current Samford offensive line coach Shawn Bostick.  Former Blazer head coach Gary Goff played wide receiver for Mumme at VSU, and now is the head coach at McNeese State, while Leach was his offensive coordinator and Holgorsen was the quarterback coach of Hatcher.  Hatcher then took over as head coach at VSU in 2000.  On is inaugural coaching staff were Bostick, current University of Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, along with current Georgia analyst Will Muschamp, who also served as head coach at Florida and South Carolina.  In addition, former Blazer head coach and two-time Blazer national champion David Dean served on Hatcher's staff.  Dean now is the head coach at West Georgia and is the only Blazer head football coach to win two national titles in 2007 and 2012.  On January 10, 2020, Leach became the third former Blazer assistant football coach to be named the then-current head coach at a Southeastern Conference school.  (Leach, Mississippi State), Smart (Georgia) and Muschamp (South Carolina).  Former Blazer head coach Kerwin Bell, who won the national title in 2018, now is the head coach at Western Carolina.  Along with the coaches listed above, some other notable coaches who have come through Valdosta include; Seth Wallace (Iowa), Buster Faulkner (Georgia Tech), Doug Belk (USC), Joe Cauthen (Utah State), Danny Verpaele (Army), Kerry Webb (Western Carolina) and Jeremy Darveau (Pittsburg), Kade Bell (Pittsburgh) to name a few.
 
EDWARDS AND ELDER EARN STEEL'S JEWELRY ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
For the first Steel's Jewelry Blazer Athletes of the Week, the awards went to Edwards and Elder for their outstanding play last week in the win over Albany State.
 
THIS WEEK IN THE GSC
Mississippi College lost 29-5 to Shorter on Wednesday, while West Florida defeated McKendree 38-6 and Keiser edged North Greenville 23-20 in overtime on Thursday evening.  Saturday's action features Chowan at Elizabeth City State, Missouri S&T visiting Delta State, Tusculum at West Alabama, Presbyterian at Erskine and VSU traveling to Newberry.      
 
TEN THINGS FROM LAST SATURDAY

 
COACH TREMAINE JACKSON POSTGAME SHOW
The Coach Tremaine Jackson Postgame Show will be available each Sunday at vstateblazers.com on the football page throughout the season as it will include interviews from Jackson, select players and highlights from the previous game.  Scott James and Dave Garner host the show throughout the season and Jamie Abbott of Crashandannie Productions directs and produces the show. 
 
BIG NICK'S BBQ & JUKE JOINT TREMAINE JACKSON COACHES' SHOW
This season the weekly Coach Tremaine Jackson radio show moves to Big Nick's new restaurant at 1201 Baytree Road next to the Dollar General in Remerton at the Big Nick's BBQ & Juke Joint sponsored by the Hughston Clinic.  The show will be Thursday evenings throughout the season from 7 to 8 p.m. and broadcast on TALK 921.1 WDDQ FM and at www.talk921.com.  The show will highlight the upcoming game with insight from Jackson and select players and coaches and recap the previous game.  All Blazer fans are welcome to attend as there will be raffle prizes for those in attendance.  
 
CHANGES IN THE GSC FOR 2024
Gone this season are West Georgia (Division I) and Shorter (Independent DII), while Erskine (Due West, S.C.) joins the league in 2024 in football only.  Chowan is in the league for its second season, along with Delta State, Mississippi College, North Greenville, Valdosta State, West Alabama and West Florida.
 
PRESEASON ACCOLADES
Senior quarterback Sammy Edwards and senior tight end Noah Gillan were named to the Preseason All-GSC Team, while Edwards was named to the D2Football.com Elite 100 list and named to the Lindy's Magazine Preseason All-America Team.  Edwards, a native of Saint Augustine, Fla., stepped into the starting role under center for the Blazers and put together a record-setting campaign capped with finishing third in the prestigious Harlon Hill Award.  He earned GSC Top Ten honors for 2023-24 and was named VSU Male Athlete of the Year in April.  He earned Gulf South Conference Offensive Player of the Year and was named D2 Conference Commissioners Association Super Region Two Offensive Player of the Year in 2023.  He finished second nationally for passing yards this season with 4,223, just three yards shy of tying the school-record for passing yards in a season.  He went 327 of 494 passing for 34 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, while is 34 touchdown passes put him third all-time in a single season in program history.  The 4,223 yards passing is third-most all-time in league history.  Nationally speaking, Edwards finished 11th in completion percentage at a 66.2 clip, while he finished sixth in completions per game at 23.36.  He finished 20th nationally in passing efficiency (156.3) for third in the league, while his 34 TD tosses were sixth-most nationally.  Edwards finished with 301.6 yards passing per game for fifth nationally and he was fifth in total offense at 321.0 yards per game.  Gillan, also a native of Saint Augustine, Fla., played in all 14 games with two starts last season.  He finished with 19 receptions for 174 yards and a touchdown.  Gillan has played in 36 games for his career with 23 catches for 202 yards and two touchdowns.
 
BLAZERS TOP GSC PRESEASON POLL
For the first time since 2022, the Blazers were tabbed the league favorite in the GSC Preseason Coaches Poll.  The Blazers topped the poll with five first-place nods as they collected 46 total points after finishing in the national quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Football Championship in 2023.  West Florida was picked second with 42 points and one first-place vote, while Delta State was third with 41 points and the remaining two first-place votes.  West Alabama was selected fourth with 30 points, followed by North Greenville (24), Mississippi College (21), while Chowan and league newcomer Erskine tied for seventh with ten points.  The points were awarded on a 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale and schools were unable to vote for themselves. 
 
TWO-MINUTE TIMEOUT COMES TO COLLEGE FOOTBALL
For the first time in college football, there will be a two-minute timeout in the second and fourth quarters similar to what the NFL does.
 
JACKSON NAMED TO NCAA FOOTBALL RULES COMMITTEE
Blazer head football coach Tremaine Jackson was named to the NCAA Football Rules Committee serving until Aug. 31, 2028.  
 
D2FOOTBALL.COM WEEKLY PICKS
Cory Guinn of D2Football.com returns for 2024 for his weekly picks, this week he has for Saturday Elizabeth City State over Chowan, Delta State downing Missouri S&T, Tusculum winning on the road at West Alabama, Presbyterian (FCS) winning at Erskine and the Blazers picking up a road victory at Newberry.  Ryan Gladwin, who writes for the South Atlantic Conference, has VSU winning by 17-20 at Newberry.
 
NEW LOOK STAFF
The Blazers have a number of new faces on staff this season, including a new offensive coordinator in Graham Craig who came to Titletown from Memphis, but also had stops at West Georgia and was a quarterback for the Blazers and was a member of the 2012 Blazer national championship team.  Offensive line coach Brice Carlson came to VSU after two stints at West Georgia, while new wide receivers coach Bryson Abraham came from Jackson State and Texas State.  New running backs coach Alex Nelson served for the last three years at Tusculum and prior to that on Dan Mullen's staff at Florida, along with stints at Georgia State and Florida Atlantic.  Former Blazer national champion LaVonne Gauthney (2018) returns to help on coach the offensive line, while former Blazers Javiontae Martin, Brett Buckridge and Flip Williams continue coaching in 2024.  New defensive backs coach Darren Garrigan came this spring after a two-year stint at Texas Southern, as well as time at Incarnate Word and also the NFL.  
 
ABOUT NEWBERRY
The Wolves are coming off a 4-7 season in 2023.  Newberry will look to run the ball with a solid duo of Dwayne Wright and Trakell Murray, along with Keith Desaussure, but all three signal callers are gone from a season ago.  The Wolves have a stout defense as it allowed just 316 yards per game last season and just 178.5 yards through the air in 2023.  The Wolves finished second nationally a season ago in turnovers lost with just eight and were ninth nationally in fewest interceptions with five.  Newberry won the SAC in 2022, and was picked fifth in the 2024 preseason coaches poll.  Wright, and offensive lineman Damari Joyner earned preseason all-league honors.  Joyner paved the way for Wright to rush for 902 yards and eight touchdowns last season. 
 
VERSUS THE SOUTH ATLANTIC CONFERENCE
VSU is 15-6 all-time against the South Atlantic Conference and most recently played both Limestone and Lenoir-Rhyne in 2023 from the SAC.  VSU downed Limestone 62-41 on Nvo. 13, 2023, while losing 35-7 to Lenoir-Rhyne to end the 2023 season in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Dec. 2, 2023, in Valdosta.  Saturday's contest marks the first road game at a SAC institution since winning 23-21 at Lenoir-Rhyne on Nov. 29, 2014 in the playoffs.  VSU hasn't played at a SAC school in the regular season since a 34-28 double-overtime victory at Wingate to open the 2011 season.  
 
A VICTORY OVER NEWBERRY WOULD . . .

 
UP NEXT
The Blazers return home to host Fayetteville State on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 7 p.m. at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.  Tickets are on sale now at vstateblazers.com on the football schedule page or by calling 229-333-SEAT (7328).