Oct. 23, 2007

By Willie T. Smith III, The Greenville News

With the offense spinning its wheels and the football team owning a losing record, the Furman University coaching staff made a tactical decision three weeks ago to return to its roots.

The Paladins opted to returned to something that has been good to it over the years the option.

"I think our problem from the beginning of the year was we needed to find an identity that we could hang our hats on a little bit," said Furman offensive coordinator Tim Sorrells. "We weren't quite sure what that was going to be. When (wide receiver) R. J. (Webb) got hurt it kind of limited our weapons. We felt we had to go back to doing what gives us our best chance. (Quarterback) Renaldo (Gray), being a good runner and a guy being a senior and knowing how to take care of the ball, that was going to give us our best chance."

The retooled offense got off to a rocky start in a 27-17 win over Coastal Carolina. Although the Paladins rushed for 201 yards on 48 carries, they lost two fumbles and threw two interceptions.

The Paladins then had what may have been their best offensive day to date in a 54-51 overtime loss to The Citadel. Furman rushed for 162 yards and passed for an additional 289.

In Saturday's 28-22 come-from-behind road win against Chattanooga, the Paladins struck a nice balance, getting 216 yards on the ground and an additional 146 through the air.

"We had been working on it all year," Gray said. "We just hadn't run it in game time situations. But the more you run it in the game, the more you're comfortable with it. ... It's always fun to run it. You get the defense out of place. They just can't sit still. They have to play responsibilities. It's exciting to get the ball to the tailbacks on the outside and watch them run."

The Paladins feature three tailbacks with the ability to get to and turn the corner in the offense: senior Cedrick Gipson, sophomore Stephone LaFrance and redshirt freshman Mike Brown.

That, along with the threat of senior fullback Jerome Felton diving up the middle and Gray's good decision-making has given the team confidence.

"A lot of the guys up front like (the option) more," said senior center Reggie Goolsby. "All of us, in some form, ran that style of offense in high school. It wasn't that hard going back. After the Wofford game we were 1-3 and just trying to figure out what was going on. Coach said we were going back to the basics. Every since then, we're doing pretty good with it.

"If you ask any of the offensive linemen what they would rather do and it would be run blocking. "It gives you a chance to chase linebackers and out-flank people."

The offense has also been a hit with the tailbacks, who have found it easier to discover running room outside.

"The Citadel game, we came out and pretty high powered on offense," said Felton. "We didn't have the ball that much in the Chattanooga game. But I think pretty much every time we had it we got into a scoring position. The offense is really coming along. (Gray) is really stepping up and making things happen."

"We've got a lot of speed and we try to use that speed and get to the corner," said Brown. "(Gray) can run, too. If we can get him into some space, he can get up field and pick up some yards. Coach is really putting emphasis on that ó getting us in the open field and letting us use our speed."