Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

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The Citadel Finish the Season Sloppy and Get Upset 49-46 by ETSU



The Bulldogs finished out the season going 6-6 (4-4). It was a good season for The Citadel who surprised a lot of people in the FCS. The Bulldogs were chosen to finish dead last in the SoCon this season, and yet they finished in the middle of the pack. This was a successful year for the Bulldogs. This game was controlled by the Bulldogs all game, but The Bulldogs started going away from their identity, which led to two pick sixes before halftime. The Bucs went up 30-20 at halftime and then scored on their possession after halftime to go up 37-20. The Bulldogs had to climb their way back to make the score respectable, but they fell short as they couldn't score on the final play of the game. It was a bittersweet day for Bulldog star Curtis Cuffey; he played well all season and was close to eclipsing 1000 yards on the ground, but he had a freak injury this game and dislocated his hip. Cuffey will need about 3 months to recover from his surgery. Coach V had this to say about Cuffey:

"Curtis, he's a great guy. He comes prepared every meeting, practice and games and gives 100%. When I saw him during practice, I knew he could have been something special. We needed explosive players to make this option offense work and we had a lot of runners who were explosive, but Cuffey was the train. It sucked seeing him go down like that, especially during the final game of the season. I'm glad the season is over so he can heal up and rest. We just need to look forward to next season."

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Beginning of Off-season

Coach V sat down and reflected on his first season as an offensive coordinator. He had no idea what to expect. At first, he thought he was way over his head by even applying to be an offensive coordinator. "What school is going to take a chance on a no name like me?" he thought when sending out applications. What colleges really want to run a flexbone offense? This style of offense is considered "outdated" or "gimmicky", it gets a bad rep. However, Drayton and the Citadel AD was willing to take a chance on coach V and it was a good idea so far. It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows though. In V's first year, the Bulldogs ran for 3,566 yards and averaged 27.1 points per game. This is a SIGNIFICANT improvement based off their 2023 season. But one thing that plagued the Bulldogs offensively, was turnovers and penalties. The Bulldogs sometimes just stopped themselves and shot themselves in the foot. Coach V was suspended for detrimental conduct, which was necessary. It just goes to show that coach V is serious about winning and this is a step in the right direction for sure for the Bulldogs, and coach V is looking forward to building up the Bulldogs the next season.

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2024 Offensive Stats

The Citadel Bulldogs Stats - 2024
Passing	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	YDS/G	LONG	TD	INT	RAT
Isaiah Best	44/102	844	8.3	64.4	86	3	9	104.7
Sedrick Holmes	23/51	317	6.2	31.7	63	2	5	90.6
Jamie Laing	17/42	175	4.2	35	51	0	3	61.1
Rushing	ATT	YDS	AVG	LONG	20+	TD	YDS/G	FUM
Curtis Cuffey	197	935	4.7	31	6	5	77.9	3
Isaiah Best	228	918	4.0	79	11	9	70.6	16
Garrett Mahler	76	636	8.4	59	9	3	48.9	0
Howie Hummel	98	416	4.2	25	1	5	34.7	3
Derrick Quick	48	361	7.5	54	3	2	27.8	1
Sedrick Holmes III	47	107	2.3	17	0	0	10.7	2
D.T. Jones Jr	7	97	8.1	40	1	3	8.1	0
Brett DuBose	14	59	4.2	12	0	0	9.8	0
Jamie Laing	69	58	4.2	34	1	1	11.6	6
Receiving	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	DROPS	YDS/G	YAC
Brandon Brewster	24	385	16.0	3	63	5	29.6	101
Xzavier Campbell	11	272	24.8	0	77	1	21.0	150
Derrick Quick	9	238	26.4	1	86	2	18.3	139
Garrett Mahler	21	219	10.4	1	34	4	16.8	169
De'Montrey Smith	11	152	13.8	0	51	3	11.7	27

Isaiah Best and Curtis Cuffey were the stars of this offense. Both players almost rushed for 1000 yards on the season. Both runners are aiming for that 1000 yards this season, but Cuffey is coming off a hip injury. The coaches might be conservative a little bit dealing with the severity of that injury. Curtis is determined to get back on the field but sometimes the coaches need to make tough decisions. He may miss a couple of games, or come in during the second half so he doesn't aggravate or re-injure his hip.

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2024 Citadel Offensive Commits

The Citadel Recruiting - 2024
NAME	POS	CLASS	HOMETOWN	HT	WT	CALIBER
Doug Meadows	QB	HS	Auburn, AL	6'1"	188
Terrence Labinjo	QB	HS	Huntsville, AL	6'0"	190
Tracey Muldrow	HB	HS	Buford, GA	5'8"	182
Alex Lashley	HB	HS	Tampa, FL	5'9"	225
Frank Rahman	HB	HS	Athens, GA	6'2"	204
Javier Garnett	HB	HS	Lanett, AL	5'11"	173
Ben Rossouw	RG	HS	Lithonia, GA	6'3"	285
David Cone	LG	HS	Cincinnati, OH	6'5"	301

The Bulldogs also managed to land two 3-star B-backs from the transfer portal. The Bulldogs poached Chattanooga's FB, Terrence Grayson. Grayson comes in at 6'2", 240 pounds. Grayson isn't the best runner, but he is a great blocker. Coach V said this: "Grayson will be on the field for a lot of designed QB runs. Obviously, there will be times where he does get a chance to run the ball, but his primary role will be to block on designed QB runs. And you know how much I love QB runs. You may see him on the field a lot, or who knows I may come up with a different philosophy before the 2025 season kicks off."

The next transfer is from Louisiana Lafayette, Elijah Davis. Davis is a bowling ball. He is 5'9", 228 pounds. This is a huge commitment that the Bulldogs needed. Star player, Curtis Cuffey dislocated his hip during the last game of the season. There's no telling how his rehab is going to go. Davis will most likely look to split carries with Curtis Cuffey, but coach V is hesitant to give Cuffey the massive workload he had last season so soon after that freak injury. Here's what coach V had to say: "Davis is a downhill runner. He's fast (91 speed) and has high acceleration (93) and his change of direction (87) is the best of any b-back on the roster. This is huge because I am not sure whether Cuffey will start the first few games of the season. When you have a hip injury, it messes up everything. The ability to cut, to explode and we need that from our b-backs. We still have a couple of months left to decide, but now that we have another great b-back, I might let Cuffey focus on recovering a little bit more."

The Bulldogs knew that they needed to address their quarterback situation during the off-season. Jamie Laing has graduated, Sedrick Holmes III transferred and that left only two quarterbacks on the roster, Isaiah Best and Taylor Hermanson. Best took a lot of punishment last season and Hermanson isn't the best QB to run this style of offense with. The Bulldogs landed two 3-star athletes, Doug Meadows and Terrence Labinjo. Labinjo has the strongest arm out of all the QB's (89 THP), but that's it. Labinjo may get redshirted to watch Isaiah Best play. Best is still the best quarterback on the roster, and we still don't know how Best will grow as a player. Doug Meadows and Best basically have the same talents when it comes to running the football, the only difference is, Meadows is a lot stronger than Best. These two QB's are going to play a huge role in the future for the Bulldogs.

Looking at our offensive line situation, coach V didn't address this skill group enough. We only landed two commitments, Ben Rossouw and David Cone. At first, coach V thought David Cone would have immediately started, but after looking at more film and seeing him do drills; coach V may have jumped the gun. "Cone has the potential to be a great lineman for us. He's lacking that power though. I saw a lot of our guys get pushed off the ball last season, and that is one thing I need to look for in our offensive linemen. We need to have strength for when we do want to run those zone dives. I will definitely look for those styled players for the 2025 season."

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Pre-season Conference Power Rankings 2025 Season

SoCon Football.png

1.) Furman Paladins

2.) Mercer Bears

3.) Wofford Terriers

4.) The Citadel Bulldogs

5.) Western Carolina

6.) VMI

7.) Samford

8.) Chattanooga

9.) East Tennessee State

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SoCon Media Day

Good morning everyone. Today we will be talking about The Citadel and their outlook for the upcoming 2025 season. Next to us we have head coach, Maurice Drayton and offensive coordinator and they're going to talk a little bit about his team and what they expect from them.

"Thanks for having me" Drayton started with, "we overachieved last season and I want to give thanks to my offensive and defensive coordinator for the success we had last season. There are a lot of things that we can improve on of course, but I am excited to get the season started. We had a successful off-season and got a lot of good players on both sides of the ball. We have had some productive practices and everyone looks good. We have a couple of new faces, and they are eager to see the field and contribute to the success of our program. Honestly, I think with the players we have this season we could possibly win the SoCon this year. If we clean up our inconsistencies on the offensive side of the ball we will be a team to fear this season."

Coach V began to speak:

"I agree. This team is starting to evolve into something special. We definitely want to focus on protecting the football this season. Our second leading rusher had 16 fumbles last season. That number is incomprehensible. If any other player had that type of number, they wouldn't see the field. We didn't have the depth last season, but now we do. If those same mistakes occur this season, they will lose their spot. Plain and simple. We have some great players returning like Isaiah Best and Curtis Cuffey. We got some new guys coming in, and the main guy I think that will make an immediate difference for us is transfer Sophomore, Elijah Davis. I was nervous about the position because I have made the decision to have Curtis sit out a little bit during the beginning half of the season due to his injury. He's a talented player that you need on the field. Elijah Davis can take the load off of Cuffey's shoulders this season."

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Quarterbacks for the 2025 Season

The Citadel QB Roster
#	OFFENSE	POS	HT	WT	CLASS	HOMETOWN
13	Terrence Labinjo	70 OVR	6'0"	190	FR	Huntsville, AL
4	Doug Meadows (RS)	66	6'1"	188	FR	Auburn, AL
10	Isaiah Best	64	5'10"	185	SO	Missouri City, TX

Our QB room is pretty solid. All of our QB's can run. Isaiah Best is the most agile of our new QB's (84 Juke) and that's what we look for from our QB's. They need to be able to run. Best is coming off of a 918 rushing yard season as a true freshman. Although he is the lowest rated QB on our roster, he will get the start. It's his spot to lose at this point.

Terrence Labinjo looks like he is going to be an interesting player. Labinjo is a true freshman and in high school he was a pure athlete. The type of throws he made off-balanced and while on the run had coach V in awe. He has the strongest arm out of all QB's (89 THP) so we can expect him to make throws down the field, which is what we lacked last season. He has the same running ability as Isaiah Best. You can expect to see Labinjo on the field this season if Isaiah Best can't get his fumbles under control.

Doug Meadows will be redshirted this season. Meadows is very composed and is the ultimate team player. He will be redshirted this season, and we are looking forward to seeing how he will grow as a person and player. Meadows is fast and agile, but there's still much more he needs to learn about this offense.

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The Citadel A-back Preview 2025 Season

The Citadel A-backs
#	OFFENSE	POS	HT	WT	CLASS	HOMETOWN
1	Derrick Qucik	77 Ovr	5'8"	180	SR	Aurora, CO
2	D.T. Jones Jr.	71	5'7"	170	JR	Provo, UT
29	Jack Borders	66	5'9"	175	FR (RS)	Clovis, NM
27	Kam Bankhead	65	5'9"	210	SO (RS)	Traverse City, MI
28	Mycah Zimmerman	65	5'11"	204	JR (RS)	Suffolk, VA

The Bulldogs have a young a-back committee. The best out of the group is Derrick Quick and ironically, his last name describes how he is on the field. Quick is lightning fast (97 spd, 99 acceleration). We expect to see a lot of rocket tosses with quick and on a lot of triple option plays. If we had to guess, Quick can easily end up with over 500 yards this season. This will be his last year with the Bulldogs as he is a senior.

D.T. Jones Jr received a little bit of playing time last season. Jones is also someone who can make a difference in the run game. He has quicker feet than Derrick Quick (91 COD vs Quick's 89 COD), which means you can expect to see D.T. run between the tackles just a little bit more than Derrick Quick. He has speed as well (90 SPD, 93 Acc). He and Derrick Quick will be menaces at this position for this season.

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The Citadel B-back Preview 2025 Season

The Citadel B-backs
#	OFFENSE	POS	HT	WT	CLASS	HOMETOWN
8	Curtis Cuffey	82 Ovr	6'0"	210	SR	Exeter, NH
32	Howie Hummel	79	5'11"	227	JR	Camas, WA
46	Elijah Davis	79	5'9"	228	SO (RS)	LaPlace, LA
45	Troy Grayson	74	6'2"	240	JR	Chattanooga, TN

This is a very important position for us, and Curtis Cuffey is back. It is his last year however, and he is still nursing a dislocated hip surgery he suffered last season. He was our leading rusher last season. He finished with 935 yards. Cuffey is a great ball carrier who hardly fumbles (99 carry). He is a tough guy to bring down and will easily run you over (88 TRK/80 BTK) and if he hits the hole, the only thing you will see is the number 8. He's deceptively fast (87 SPD/88 ACC). He will miss a couple of games in the first half of the season while he recovers from his injury.

Howie Hummel saw the field a lot last season. He finished last season with 416 yards as the backup b-back. Hummel won't necessarily wow you, but he is a reliable player with solid speed (85/86 ACC). He's a tough runner and hardly goes down after the first tackle.

Transfer HB Elijah Davis has been converted to our b-back due to his size. He's 5'9", 228 pounds and is fast (91 SPD/93 ACC). He has better feet than Cuffey. Davis has 87 COD whereas Cuffey is sitting at 81. Although we have a player that knows the offense in Howie Hummel, Davis will get the start at the beginning of the season until Cuffey is cleared to come back out on the field.

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The Citadel Starting OL 2025 Season

The Citadel Starting OL
#	OFFENSE	POS	HT	WT	CLASS	HOMETOWN
65	Conner Griggs	82 Ovr LG	6'4"	264	JR	Weare, NH
51	Mason Waterfield	85 Ovr LT	6'3"	277	SR	Littleton, CO
63	Trevor Dempsey	74 Ovr C	6'3"	268	SR	Aurora, CO
66	Tyler Van Gordon	78 Ovr RG	6'3"	249	SO (RS)	Colorado Springs, CO
54	Alex Wentworth	76 Ovr RT	6'2"	265	JR	Englewood, CO

This is going to be the starting OL for our team this season. Trevor Dempsey is our starting center for now. Dempsey was responsible for the bulk of our penalties on offense last season and lost his spot. The rest of the OL will be focused on run block power. Our OL was getting blown off the ball at times and we needed to try and make sure that we don't get blown off the line as much as we did.

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CUFFEY OUT INDEFINITELY DUE TO GROIN INJURY SUFFERED IN PRACTICE

Charleston, SC -- It was reported that the Bulldogs will be without their best offensive player and there isn't a timetable as to when he will return. This is unfortunate for Cuffey as he was slated to be a major part of the offense again. He suffered a partially torn groin while cutting during a live drill. He planted his left foot into the ground and immediately went down. He grabbed the inner part of his leg immediately and took off his helmet. His teammates circled around him to check on him while someone drove out with a cart to take him to the locker room.

Coach V's heart sunk after seeing it happen. Coach V had this to say: "Curtis worked so hard to rehab and prepare for his final year with us. Only for him to suffer this injury. It absolutely sucks. My heart goes out to him and I am hoping he can see the field this season at least."

[georgiafan]

Re: Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

Looks like your also struggling with interceptions. Ellijah Davis the transfer should be a stud for you. When I did a video on top 5 small school HB's to use in dynasty he made it.

[Flex on them]

Re: Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

Looks like your also struggling with interceptions. Ellijah Davis the transfer should be a stud for you. When I did a video on top 5 small school HB's to use in dynasty he made it.

Yea, I can't throw the ball at all, smh. And Davis is a good back for sure. I didn't get to do much with him in my first game, but thank God there is a full season.

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Charleston, SC -- The Citadel are preparing for their week 1 game against FCS East without their star player, Curtis Cuffey. Cuffey was primed to have a breakout senior year, but an injury has put him on the sideline indefinitely. No one knows whether Cuffey will play this season or not. Here's what Cuffey had to say on the matter.

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The Bulldogs Win 42-28 Against FCS East

Charleston, SC -- The Bulldogs came out to the field today eager to start their season. There were a few new faces on the offensive side of the ball. "Practice is a lot different than a real game gentlemen" coach V said. "It's easy to look good in practice when nothing is on the line. Now what are you going to do when something actually does matter?" Cuffey was on crutches while he listened to what coach V was saying. All of the players were staring at the coach intently. Coach V continued; "we are going to continue to do what we always have done and control this game. Let's get after it." Coach V has decided that Isaiah Best will get the start, but he had Terrence Labinjo play the entire second half. Labinjo definitely looked good. He ran for 87 yards on 17 carries and scored twice. New b-back, Elijah Davis struggled throughout this game. There weren't that many big runs, but he looked solid and also had two touchdowns. Derrick Quick will become the coach's favorite player by the end of the season due to his explosive play potential everytime he touches the ball. He ran for 93 yards on just 5 carries.