Saturday, Aug. 30, William and Mary football (0-0, 0-0 CAA) travels to Paladin Stadium in Greenville, S.C., to kick off its 2025 campaign against Furman (0-0, 0-0 Southern). There is one thing Tribe head coach Mike London is certain of: it is going to be hot out there.
“You try to reach the limits and sometimes go beyond what your body can withstand, but we gotta be smart, as well,” London said. “Two o’clock, South Carolina on turf, we’re going to have to go deep into depth.”
Artificial turf, which covers the field at Paladin Stadium, absorbs and retains heat and can reach temperatures roughly 30 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the surrounding air. With Saturday’s high hovering around 80 degrees, both the Tribe and the Paladins will have to navigate a playing surface that will be hot to the touch. William and Mary has held practices at noon to simulate this weekend’s game conditions and will pay special attention to the energy and hydration levels of its players, not hesitating to bring in its backups.
But the scorching upcountry sun won’t be the Green and Gold’s only concern. Although Furman suffered a 34-24 loss at Zable Stadium last season en route to an uninspiring 3-8 record, the Paladins return double-digit starters and have maintained a winning percentage of 60.4% since the pandemic ended. Last year marked an outlier in the program’s trajectory, but during the nine-year tenure of head coach Clay Hendrix, Furman has never posted losing records in consecutive seasons. The Paladins will present the Tribe with a significant challenge, a fact reflected in the game’s betting lines, most of which favor William and Mary by 3.5 points or fewer.
London expects to encounter an improved Furman squad. According to the Tribe coach, the Paladins are formidable opponents because they bring back a foundation of starters that are familiar with Furman’s system, such as sophomore quarterback Trey Hedden, senior wide receiver Ben Ferguson and redshirt senior offensive lineman Luke Petit. The Paladins’ experience and continuity will produce a unit more disciplined and more committed to Furman’s style of play than it was in 2024.
“The players know the scheme and the system, so you stay with it, and you keep practicing it, and you get bigger, faster, and stronger, and you eliminate those things that caused you to not be competitive,” London said. “I could see with all their personnel that have come back that they say to us, ‘You know, hey, we’re gonna embrace what we do and hang our head on it and we’re gonna play harder. We’re gonna play better than you.’”
Furman also buttressed its roster by importing players through the transfer portal and from the high school ranks, increasing its depth and addressing the weaknesses it exhibited in 2024, particularly on defense. London believes the Paladins possess more pieces with which to attack William and Mary in all aspects of the game.
“What happens for your first game, and actually for the first couple games, is you’re actually dealing with a team that has had chances to go back, look at themselves, reevaluate what they do,” London said. “They add to the roster with transfer portal guys or high school kids who are now in the program, and then they have some added strengths or things that they want to use to attack what you do. Both offensively, defensively and from a special teams standpoint.”
However, Furman isn’t the only team debuting players. The Tribe will trot out a new-look offense against the Paladins, replacing quarterback Darius Wilson, veteran running backs Bronson Yoder and Malachi Imoh, top receiver Hollis Mathis and NFL-bound left tackle Charles Grant, among others. In London’s approximation, the game will come down to which side can most effectively adjust their gameplan to account for their opponents’ roster changes.
“You can go off of the evaluation that you had of them last season,” London said. “Us playing them, the returners that are back. You can look at the skillset, you can decide the guys that we’ve added, how can we attack their systems and their schemes? I’m quite sure they’re looking to do the same thing.”
One challenge Furman must overcome while preparing for William and Mary’s attack — which ran for 384 yards against the Paladins last season — is that it will not look the same this season. The Green and Gold’s top three rushers have departed, and Tribe offensive coordinator Mario Acitelli left Williamsburg for Utah State in January. To fill the position, London hired Richmond offensive coordinator Winston October, who was William and Mary’s wide receivers coach from 2014 to 2017. London plans on combining the most effective aspects of the Tribe’s 2024 offense with several wrinkles instituted by October, such as running the same plays out of different personnel groupings to manipulate the formations the defense puts on the field.
“We’re going to look at the things that were successful for us last year and then keep that as part of what we do now,” London said. “And then we’re gonna try to disguise it with formations and shifts and motions and things like that, and we want to be true to what our players can execute.”
William and Mary’s most important offensive player is perhaps junior quarterback Tyler Hughes, who takes over for Wilson, the school record holder for starts by a signal-caller. Hughes rushed for 130 yards during a 2024 game against Hampton but has seen little playing time outside of that: he entered the program in 2022 and has sat behind Wilson since. Despite Hughes’ limited game experience, London harbors high hopes for the upperclassman, praising his patience over the last three years, his improved leadership abilities and the progress he has made under the tutelage of October and new Tribe quarterbacks coach Bryan Randall, a former NFL player.
“His football IQ and acumen as a quarterback have gotten much, much better,” London said. “He’s really done a good job of making those throws and reading the defenses and things. It’s gonna be exciting to see him. Now you gotta take it, you gotta do it, it’s gotta transfer over to the field, but I’m very excited about Ty. Love him to death, great competitor.”
On defense, William and Mary boasts an experienced defensive line but graduates three starters from its linebacker room. Furman’s run-first, play-action-heavy offense could potentially pose problems to a Tribe front seven that brings in a number of new faces. To prepare for the Paladins’ attack, William and Mary has spent the summer practicing against the offense of October, who deployed a similar style during his time at Richmond. Encouraged by what he has seen from the unit, London spotlighted a number of defenders, including senior lineman Davin Dzidzienyo, a preseason All-Coastal Athletic Association selection, sophomore edge rusher Ty Gordon, a Freshman All-American in 2024, and graduate student Cornell transfer Luke Banbury, who made the Phil Steele Preseason All-America team.
“I think our front seven is pretty good,” London said. “Davin Dzidzienyo, Ty Gordon, all those guys that are upfront. And then, we’ve added to the team. [Graduate student linebacker] Jorden McDonald, transfer out of Virginia Tech, is a really, really good edge player, and that’s pass rushing, that’s playing against the run, holding the edge. And then some of the younger kids have grown up in the program. [Redshirt freshman defensive end] Nate McDonald, I could just go on. But the best pass defense is a good pass rush. Luke Banbury, who is our starting inside linebacker, he’s an All-American, an all-conference player coming from Cornell. He’s another transfer portal guy. Smart, and he’s made the adjustment of adapting and adjusting to our team, our culture. He has done a really, really good job in training camp thus far. Having him makes us even better.”
London also made note of the depth of the Tribe secondary, a unit headlined by senior cornerback Jalen Jones, who was named a first-team All-American last season after leading the Football Championship Subdivision in pass breakups and passes defended.
“On the back end of it, you got Jalen Jones, who’s obviously an All-American,” London said. “[Graduate student safety] Latrelle Smith-Leaks, who’s started games for us in the past, [redshirt freshman safety Jaden] Ratliff, who has been a starting safety for us, [junior defensive back] Bryce Barnes, [graduate student defensive back] Aidan Ryan, who transferred from Virginia.”
London wants to see a number of things from his squad Saturday: strong performances from debuting players; a cohesive effort from the offensive line, which is led by graduate student center Ryan McKenna and boasts five players with starting experience; and most of all, a win. He’s unfazed by the roster turnover and uncertainty at certain position groups, and he believes that the culture fostered by program and school have made the transition between eras seamless.
“The kids, when they come here, they say, ‘OK, world-class degree. OK, I love the culture. I love the place. I love the coaches,’” London said. “‘OK, scouts come to practice.’ We’ve had a scout every day during camp. They come here because they know what kind of kids are here.”
“Thirty-two new players on our team,” London said. “Thirty-two new players. But at the same time, a lot of guys that have been here know the culture. It’s been really neat to watch the bond. They did a great job of summer working out together and bonding, making the transition. We brought in 13 high school kids, really, really good players. Some had FBS offers, but they decided to come because of the culture, the coaches, the school, the brand. It’s just putting everything together now, and you only know that after your first game, [when you] see where you are. But that’s the exciting part of. It is the challenge, the chase for the championships. The motto for us this year: mission possible.”
William and Mary begins its season at 2 p.m. Saturday.
