Samford football ‘excited’ about playing a spring season

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - The Samford Bulldogs will hit the practice field Monday to begin preparation for their season opener on Feb. 20 at East Tennessee State.

“It’s good to talk Samford football. It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to do this. Our guys came back after a seven-week layoff, and they’re in great spirits, they’re excited,” said Bulldogs Head Coach Chris Hatcher.

Hatcher, who previewed the Bulldogs first-ever spring football season Thursday during the Southern Conference virtual media day, said prepping to play a spring season has been an adjustment. “Normally during this time we are recruiting and coaches change jobs. I’ve lost my offensive coordinator, I lost my strength coach yesterday to Marshall and normally you have a little time to make those hires, but tomorrow I’ll be the strength coach in the morning and next week I’ll be the strength coach,” said Hatcher.

Hatcher, who enters his sixth season as head coach, believes success this season will come down to which team is the most excited about playing while adjusting on the fly due to COVID. “Right now we’re doing great with our COVID testing, but as we know living through a pandemic, that can change tomorrow if you have a lot of positives,” Hatcher said. “We’re going to give reps to more people, we did that in the spring, and we will continue to do that the next three weeks to have more people available due to injuries, or a COVID outbreak.”

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