LIBERTY REPORT: Scouting North Greenville

FOR THE THIRD straight season, Liberty will open at home against a relatively obscure Division II opponent. In 2006, it was St. Paul’s. Last season, it was Tusculum. North Greenville visits Williams Stadium Saturday evening for the 2008 lid lifter, and the Crusaders bring a couple of NFL prospects worth keeping an eye on.

TAILBACK RASHAD CUMMINGS is a 5-foot-9, 208-pound senior who caught the eyes of pro scouts with an outstanding junior season, when he rushed for 1,573 yards on 276 carries and scored 16 touchdowns.

“He’s a heck of a back,” Crusaders coach Mike Taylor said. “He’s rushed for over 1,000 yards two years in a row. He’s a powerful young guy. They timed him at a high 4.4 last spring for the NFL scouts. He’ll pass protect and do all the little things a back’s got to do.”

Cummings isn’t alone in the backfield. Matt Moore, another senior, ran for 720 yards on 99 carries and scored eight TDs last season before moving to defense halfway through the year. He’ll be back on offense this season. The run game will have to carry the Crusaders for now, because the quarterback is untested.

NORTH GREENVILLE LOST a four-year starter in Eric Moeller, who completed 64 percent of his passes, broke the 3,000-yard mark and threw 30 touchdowns against just seven interceptions. Taylor named Western Carolina transfer Richard Harb the starter for Saturday’s game.

“I think he’s got a lot of talent,” Taylor said. “He’s got a good head for the game. It’s obvious when you graduate a kid like Eric Moeller, who was a great player for us, that the new quarterback isn’t going to be able to do the same things now that Eric was doing last year. But I think (Harb) will be a good quarterback for us, and it will be interesting to see how he plays against good competition.”

Harb is the first left-hander that Taylor has coached in more than a decade.

“For some reason, the guys that are left-handed throw a real nice spiral,” Taylor said. “He throws a real catchable ball.”

AND BRANDON DOBBINS is a more than capable receiver. At 6-6 and 230 pounds, Dobbins will provide Liberty’s secondary with a serious test. That’s a good thing, considering that LU will have to find a way to slow Elon All-American receiver Terrell Hudgins, who is of similar stature, in a Nov. 22 game in Lynchburg.

Dobbins, who caught 52 passes for 689 yards and eight TDs last year, came to North Greenville as a tight end but quickly moved to receiver.

“He’s really a good player in practice, and that’s why he’s developed so much,” Taylor said. “He’s a physical, big guy who really likes to play and never gives up on the football.”

OFFENSE WASN’T THE problem for the Crusaders last season. They rolled up more than 5,000 yards of offense and scored 442 points. But North Greenville couldn’t stop anyone. The Crusaders had 515 yards of total offense and scored 52 points against Presbyterian … and lost by 14 points. The big problem was on the perimeter. Teams were able to pass all over the Crusaders and beat them with stretch runs and toss plays.

After a 1-6 start, the Crusaders won their last four games, holding those opponents to a combined 45 points. The schedule was much more favorable at the end, however, with games against Chowan, Concordia, Faulkner and UNC Pembroke.

“We simplified things,” Taylor said. “As coaches, we sometimes keep adding things until things get too complicated for us, let alone the players. We went back to some basic, simple things and guys started making plays.”

NORTH GREENVILLE IS 3-13 all-time against FCS teams, with two of the victories coming during NGU’s 10-2 season in 2006, when the Crusaders beat non-scholarship Jacksonville and Austin Peay. The Crusaders went 0-3 last year against FCS teams (though technically it was 0-1, since Presbyterian and North Carolina Central were both transitional FCS schools.) The other loss was a 46-33 defeat at home against Big South member Charleston Southern.

NGU’s only victory against a scholarship FCS school was a 49-21 win at Charleston Southern in 2003.

THE CRUSADERS’ SCHEDULE is ambitious this season, with four FCS teams dotting the slate. North Greenville will also face Charleston Southern, Presbyterian and South Dakota. The Crusaders will meet two ranked Division II opponents in Newberry and North Alabama. As a Division II independent, filling a schedule is extremely difficult, Taylor said.

Once the NCAA moratorium on movement between divisions is lifted in 2011, North Greenville has eyes on joining fellow South Carolina schools Presbyterian, Wofford, Furman, Charleston Southern, South Carolina State, the Citadel and Coastal Carolina in the FCS.

“I think there’s no doubt that’s a direction this school could possibly go in,” Taylor said. “It’s a huge financial undertaking. But the football and the facilities are in line. We’ve got a new stadium here that’s beautiful. We can easily expand our stadium. It also helps that the school has experienced such a growth, not just in the athletics department but in the entire student body.

“When I came back here in 2004, there were 1,400 students. There’s well over 2,000 now. The school is growing, and I think the natural thought is that we’ll look to that in the future.”

ABOUT NORTH GREENVILLE
LOCATION: Tigerville, S.C.
ENROLLMENT: 1,900
FOUNDED: 1892
COLORS: Red and black
CONFERENCE: None (Division II independent)
STADIUM: Younts Stadium (5,000)
SURFACE: Natural grass
HEAD COACH: Mike Taylor (53-26, eight years at NGU; 100-99, 19 years overall)
OFFENSE: I, multiple
DEFENSE: 4-3
STARTERS RETURNING/LOST: 17/5
SERIES WITH LIBERTY: First meeting