ANDERSON, S.C. – With changes in the landscape of the South Atlantic Conference, the Anderson University football team and head coach Bobby Lamb have announced changes to the 2025 season schedule and have released kick-off times for all contests.
August 30, 2025 – 12:00 PM – at Shorter – Rome, Ga.
Scouting the Hawks: Shorter finished last season with a 3-7 clip, including a heavy Gulf South Conference partnership schedule as they transition into their full-time membership with Conference Carolinas and the league's first football season in 2025. Their marquee win from last season was a 55-0 shutout of Virginia-Lynchburg late in the season in the homecoming contest.
Their offense was led by Josh Brown at quarterback last year, where he evenly split touches out of the backfield with Chales Alia, their starting running back. The hawks have bolstered their backfield with a strong signing class including a SAC transfer in Trakell Murray from Newberry. Defensively the Hawks show a strong unit and balanced look as they have six different players with over 30 tackles last season.
September 6, 2025 – 1:00 PM – vs Erskine – Melvin and Dollie Younts Stadium.
Scouting the Flying Fleet: The Flying Fleet wrapped up the 2024 season with a 1-8 overall mark and a 0-6 mark in conference play in their lone season of an associate membership with the Gulf South Conference before moving to Conference Carolinas for the 2025 season. Their lone win of the season came in their season opener against now defunct Saint Andrews, as they were able to down the Knights, 52-0.
The Fleet had trouble getting their offense going once they hit conference action only scoring a grand total of 45 points over their final seven games of the season, 35 of which came in their closest game of the season, a 52-35 loss to North Greenville on the road. Erskine will have to look to a new backfield to bolster the offense as their two leading rushers were seniors last year. Not only that, but they will likely have a new field general as well as their two leading quarterbacks from last season were listed as seniors as well.
September 13, 2025 – 2:00 PM – vs Tusculum* – Melvin and Dollie Younts Stadium.
Scouting the Pioneers: Tusculum finished the season with a 1-9 mark overall and a 1-7 clip in league action with their lone win in each category coming against the Trojans last season. Despite trailing by 10 points heading into the halftime break, the Trojans were able to outscore the Pioneers by a 14-6 margin over the final 30 minutes of action, but fell just short of the comeback bid, falling 30-28.
Offensively, the Pioneers will be looking for a new signal caller next year as they graduated senior quarterback Matthew Palazzo who was their leading passer from last season. The focus may turn to their two-headed rushing attack with Jojo Restall and Jalen Hunt each eclipsing 300 yards from scrimmage last year. Defensively, they will turn to the leadership of Rashad Watson, their leading tackler from a season ago and Daryl Smith, their lockdown defensive back who was able to swat away seven passes last season.
September 20, 2025 – 1:00 PM – at Mars Hill* – Mars Hill, N.C.
Scouting the Lions: Mars Hill was able to finish the year strong last season with a 5-4 overall record and a 5-3 mark in conference play. The Lions were able to take down the Trojans in their first ever meeting on the gridiron by a 31-16 margin. In all three of their conference losses, they only lost by a combined 14 points, with them nearly pulling off the upset of then No. 18 Carson-Newman, 28-27.
Mars Hill will be another team that will be looking towards a new quarterback in the backfield as their leading passer from last season with over 2,000 yards through the air in JR Martin was listed as a senior last season. Jon Gulllette lead the backfield for them last season as the sophomore was able to scamper for 534 yards on the season, including a career high 180 against the Trojans last season. Defensively, the Lions lose their leading tackler from the past season, who led the team by nearly 40 tackles over the third ranked tackler. They will look to the likes of Steven Reid, who was second on the list with 79 tackles.
September 27, 2025 – 1:00 PM – at Emory & Henry – Emory, Va.
Scouting the Wasps: Emory & Henry finished the 2024 campaign with a 9-2 overall mark and 6-2 clip in conference action, with their lone losses coming to Limestone and Mars Hill. They were able to down two nationally ranked opponents last season in No. 6 Lenoir-Rhyne, 31-20, and No. 17 Carson-Newman, 17-10. The Wasps just missed out on participating in the SAC Championship game last season, with the honor instead going to Carson-Newman.
Charles Mutter III and Jordan Jackson both return in the backfield for the Wasps while All-American Cam Abshire returning to his wide receiver position, where he was able to haul in 51 catches for over 1,000 yards last season. Jackson was able to add an additional 1,000 on the ground. All-American Shawn Collins will anchor a defense that allowed just over 14 points per game last year. The defense will be helped by a handful of returns that were all able to post over 40 tackles last season while also hauling in 27 interceptions.
October 4, 2025 – 2:00 PM – vs UVA Wise – Melvin and Dollie Younts Stadium.
Scouting the Highland Cavaliers: UVA Wise was able to finish last season with a 4-6 record overall and a 2-5 record in league action. In the team's first ever match-up last season, the Trojans were able to down the Cavaliers by a score of 20-13 to pick up their first ever SAC win. UVA Wise kicked off their season with a trip to Division I ETSU before returning to take on Concord and picking up their first win of the season.
After making a mid-season switch at the quarterback position last season, the Cavaliers will have to decide which arm to go with, deciding between Jake Corkren and Cooper Wick. Corkren saw action against the Trojans, but it was Wick who led the offense late in the season. Ian Scammell and Dejauvis Dozier were the two leading rushers for the Cavaliers, each tallying more than 400 yards in the season. Brub Hines III was slated as their leading tackler a year ago with 68 total to his credit while Jalen Pickens was not far behind him at 54.
October 11, 2025 – 3:00 PM – at Lenoir-Rhyne – Hickory, N.C.
Scouting the Bears: The Bears were one of three SAC teams to make it to the NCAA playoffs last season, falling in the second round to Viginia Union, finishing the season with a 10-3 mark and a 7-2 clip in conference action. The Trojans and Bears met in the final game of the season, with the Trojans almost pulling off the upset as the Bears had to knock through field goal as time expired to take home the 27-24 win.
Jalen Ferguson was their leading passer last year, tossing for over 3,000 yards and 19 TDs. Alex Boyd and Jamir Fox got the most touches out of the backfield for the Bears, recording over 300 yards on the ground each. Adonis McDaniel was Lenoir-Rhyne's leading receiver as he was able to account for 1,000 yards. Songa Yates was not far behind him with 723. Jaelin Willis was their leading tackler from a season ago with 90 on the year to go with 12 TFLs as well.
October 18, 2025 – 1:00 PM – vs Carson-Newman – Melvin and Dollie Younts Stadium.
Scouting the Eagles: Carson-Newman was also one of the three SAC teams to make the NCAA playoffs a season ago, falling in the opening round to No. 22 Miles by a score of 14-13. The Eagles finished their season 9-3 overall and 7-1 in league action, earning a berth to the SAC Championship game, but ultimately fell to Wingate in the contest. The Trojans fell to the Eagles last year 28-7 in Carson-Newman's homecoming contest.
Running the triple-option offense, Jayden Sullins led the Eagles with 1,224 yards on the ground an 11 TDs while Don Bradley and Cam Ferguson each added nearly 400 yards as well. Despite being a running offense, the Eagles accounted for 12 touchdowns through the air, including a pair of receivers that caught for 364 and 266 yards, respectively. Defensively, the Eagles were led by Christian Hicks who recorded 80 tackles on the season, including 12 TFLs. Mekhi Brown and Cruz Temple were right behind him with 65 and 60 tackles, respectively.
October 25, 2025 – 2:00 PM – vs Wingate – Melvin and Dollie Younts Stadium.
Scouting the Bulldogs: Wingate was able to pick up the SAC Championship last year as they were able to down the Eagles of Carson-Newman, avenging an early season overtime loss, and securing the third bid from the conference to the NCAA playoffs. The Bulldogs finished the season 9-2 overall and 6-1 in conference action, getting ousted in the first round of the NCAA tournament by Virginia Union.
Led by Gene Upshaw award winner Marquese Fleming, the Wingate defense was as stout as it got in the league and nationally as the only allowed their opponents to score on average 12.7 points per game. Fleming was able to record 52 tackles and 16 TFLs, as well as 5.5 sacks. Kai Russell will be the main man on the line this season however, as he tallied 55 tackles, 12.5 TFLs and 6.5 sacks. Offensively, the Bulldogs were balanced with a pair of running backs eclipsing the 400-yard mark on the year while Brooks Bentley was able to toss for nearly 1,900 yards.
November 1, 2025 – 1:00 PM – vs Newberry – Melvin and Dollie Younts Stadium.
Scouting the Wolves: Newberry had a historically bad year for their program, typically one of the perennial powerhouses of the conference, as they finished the year 3-7 overall and 3-5 in league action. All three of the Wolves' win last year came against conference opponents, as they started the season against Valdosta State, the national runners-up, and Kaiser, the 2024 NAIA national champions.
The Newberry defense allowed nearly 30 points a game last year while the offense mustered nearly 20 points a contest. Dwayne Wright led the Wolves out of the backfield with 664 yards on the ground while Reed Charpia was their leading passer at the end of the season, finishing with just under 1,000 yards. Defensively, the Wolves were led by Devron Williams, Colby Taylor and Chucky Roach, with each of them tallying over 40 tackles on the year. Taylor was the main threat to the quarterback, sacking them seven times while hurrying them 10 other times.
November 8, 2025 – 6:00 PM – at Catawba – Salisbury, N.C.
Scouting the Catawba Indians: Catawba finished the 2024 campaign with a 3-8 overall mark and a 1-7 clip in league play. Their lone win in the conference came against the Trojans, though Anderson gave them everything they had as they forced the contest into overtime but ultimately fell 44-41. Anderson was able to burn the Indians defense through the air with 357 yards and four TDs, but LJ Turner ran for 329 yards and five scores for the Indians on the ground to lead them to victory.
Turner was their leading rusher on the year, earning All-American honors at the end of the season with 1,224 yards on the ground. Catawba used three different quarterbacks throughout the year due to injury, but they threw for a combined 2,285 yards and 16 TDs. Kobe Chrisitan was their favorite target, accounting for 547 yards while Deuce Linder was able to haul in 38 catches for 465 yards. Evan Simons was the leader on the defense, accounting for 76 tackles, 3 sacks and 9 TFLs. Khalil Stimpson and Jaylen Hinton were both able to account for more than 60 tackles on the year for the Indians as well.
The Trojans kick off their 2025 campaign officially on August 30 with their trip to Rome, Ga. to take on the Hawks of Shorter University.
