Blazers out to reclaim Gulf South title

Posted 7:52AM on Sunday 8th August 2004 ( 20 years ago )

ATLANTA - A 10-win season would satisfy most college football coaches, but the standards are higher at Valdosta State University, where Chris Hatcher has averaged 11.5 wins in his first four seasons. After sharing the Gulf South Conference championship in his 2000 debut season in Valdosta and then winning the league outright the next two years, Hatcher saw his Blazers finish second to North Alabama last year. A 17-10 loss to North Alabama snapped a streak of 29 straight Gulf South wins for Valdosta State. The 10-2 2003 season ended with a loss to Carson-Newman in the first round of the Division II playoffs, one year after the Blazers played in the national championship game. The Blazers enter the 2004 season as the coaches' preseason pick to return to the top of the tough Gulf South. Any of the projected top teams in the league Valdosta State, North Alabama or Delta State could emerge as national championship contenders. To finish the season number one in the conference or nation, junior defensive end Tim Thompson says the Blazers first must realize a goal ``to be one as a team.'' ``A couple of players felt last year's team wasn't connecting,'' Thompson said. ``This year we're more unified. In the spring we joined together to become more of a team.'' Thompson says the Blazers have ``great returning players I believe can step up and lead us back to the national championship.'' Thompson is one of eight returning starters. He earned first-team All-Gulf South Conference honors after recording six sacks and 12 tackles for losses last year. Another top returner is senior running back Tyran Robinson, who has rushed for more than 1,700 yards his first three years. The Blazers also have some interesting new players, including two quarterbacks Florida State transfer Fabian Walker and Auburn transfer Allen Tillman who are competing with returning starter Barrett Wilkes for the starting job. ``Whichever one of the three rise to the top, that's who will play,'' said assistant coach Shawn Bostick. ``It will be the one who's playing best on that day. We have to create competition on the practice field. We feel it makes us better.'' Robinson said ``All three of them are good, but they bring different things to the table.'' Hatcher has proved he's not afraid of changing quarterbacks. After leading the Blazers to the 2002 national championship game and throwing for nearly 4,000 yards, Buster Faulkner lost his starting job to Wilkes in preseason practice last year. Wilkes is a pocket passer. Walker is more of a rollout passer. Tillman has skills as a runner and passer. A quarterback controversy always has the potential to divide a team, but Hatcher said the Blazers are motivated by their hunger for championships. ``We've got something to prove,'' Hatcher told The Valdosta Daily Times. ``We're not used to being second. We're not wearing that championship belt, and we want to get that back.'' Added Thompson: ``As long as we can be one, I don't think there's a team out there that can beat us.''

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