Austin Peay Football celebrates FCS playoff spot and UAC title
The Austin Peay football team defeated Central Arkansas on Saturday to secure a spot in the FCS playoffs and a United Athletic Conference title.
In the last 282 days, the Austin Peay football team has won a conference championship, made the FCS playoffs, hired a new coach, signed 59 players and seen one school join the conference and another leave.
With the Governors opening the 2024 season at Louisville on Aug. 31 (11 a.m. CT, ACC Network), there’s a lot to catch up on. Here are five things to know about APSU football in its first season under Jeff Faris.
Austin Peay has a new coach: Jeff Faris
Faris, 34, played at Duke and was a longtime Blue Devils assistant under David Cutcliffe. Most recently, he coached tight ends at UCLA under Chip Kelly. The Knoxville native replaces Scotty Walden, who was hired by UTEP after four seasons at APSU.
With Faris came a brand new group of assistant coaches, including offensive coordinator Quinn Billerman, who was quarterbacks coach at Jackson State, and defensive coordinator Tripp Weaver, who coached the safeties at East Carolina.
Perhaps the most famous name on the team is George Quarles, a legendary Maryville High School coach who coached East Tennessee State in 2022 and 2023. Quarles will coach the Govs’ tight ends.
“It takes time to get used to a whole new coaching staff,” said offensive lineman Chandler Kirton. “But I think Coach Faris has done a great job of bringing in coaches that are going to coach you hard.”
Austin Peay has revised its squad
Only 43 of the 102 players on APSU’s roster were on the team that won the first United Athletic Conference championship with a 9-3 record last season.
Quarterback Mike DiLiello, who was named UAC Offensive Player of the Year last season, is one of those who has exhausted his eligibility. But the majority of departures occurred through the transfer portal. A large portion of players followed Walden to UTEP, including running back Jevon Jackson, receivers Trey Goodman, Kam Thomas and Kenny Odom, defensive backs Kory Chapman and Xavier Smith and offensive lineman Isaiah Wright.
Defensive back Cedarius Doss (Indiana), defensive back Jevon McIver Jr. (TCU), defensive end Travis Bates (Kansas State) and linebacker Sam Howard (Tulane) also moved to FBS programs.
Faris made an impressive haul of his own through the transfer portal, securing the commitment of a number of high school students who had committed under Walden. APSU brought in 18 FBS transfers, including quarterbacks Mason Garcia (East Carolina) and Austin Smith (Eastern Michigan); running backs La’Vell Wright (Kentucky) and O’Shaan Allison (Ohio); wide receiver Malik Bowen-Sims (Duke); defensive lineman Davion Hood (Temple); and defensive back Sammy Anderson Jr. (Cincinnati).
Kirton and defensive end Hosea Knifeley Jr., both named to the All-UAC team in the preseason, are among the Govs’ top returning players.
Austin Peay motivated to defend UAC title
Last season, APSU lost its first two games (to Southern Illinois and Tennessee) before reeling off nine straight wins and winning the UAC, earning its second FCS playoff berth despite losing to Chattanooga 24-21 on a walk-off field goal in the first round.
This season, the Govs finished fifth out of nine teams in the conference’s preseason coaches poll, behind Central Arkansas, Tarleton State, Southern Utah and Eastern Kentucky, and received one first-place vote.
“The turnover is tough, but the expectations from last year are not lost,” Kirton said. “We want to go deep in the playoffs, we want to win the conference.”
United Athletic Conference 2024 a little different
The UAC is a merger of the Atlantic Sun and WAC, neither of which has enough football schools to sponsor the sport themselves. Last season was the first under that name, as it was played as the WAC-ASUN Challenge in 2021 and 2022. The conference champion automatically receives a spot in the FCS playoffs.
The league consists of APSU, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama and West Georgia from the ASUN, and Abilene Christian, Southern Utah, Tarleton State and Utah Tech from the WAC. West Georgia is a new member, promoted from Division II, replacing Stephen F. Austin, who moved to the Southland.
Unlike in 2023, when each team played six conference games, the UAC schedule calls for a round-robin tournament with four home games and four away games for each team.
MORE: Here are the terms of Jeff Faris’ contract as Austin Peay’s new football coach
Governors don’t forget Jeremiah Collins
In July 2023, defensive back Jeremiah Collins died in a car crash in Nashville. Collins, who graduated from Oakland High School in Murfreesboro, would have been a freshman. Throughout the season, the Governors cited Collins’ memory as a driving force.
Out of respect for him, APSU still has Collins on its roster, and this season no Governor will wear No. 16, which would have been his jersey number.
“We’re still playing for Jeremiah Collins and his family,” Kirton said. “That was a big loss for us last year and that really motivated us to go out and win a championship for him and that doesn’t stop here. So we’re going to keep fighting for him.”
Jacob Shames can be reached via email at [email protected] and on Twitter at @Jacob_Shames.
