This is an interesting batch of football programs, as would be expected when conferences merge. The Big South-OVC has a number of playoff-caliber teams if it doesn’t chop itself up this fall.
The conference relies heavily on the transfer portal, as the nearly 150 incoming transfers show clearly. How those players fit into their new homes will be the key to all of the programs, particularly with Tennessee State, Gardner-Webb, UT Martin, and Tennessee Tech. Eastern Illinois may not have nearly as many, but the seven it picked up from the FBS ranks are expected to be key contributors.
So the big question is – which teams will gel most quickly, as there are quite a bit of unknowns? We take a look.
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Teams Bringing In The Most D1 Transfers
FBS-to-FCS Transfers & FCS-to-FCS Transfers
Tennessee State — 26 (16 FBS, 10 FCS)
Gardner-Webb — 25 (17 FBS, 8 FCS)
UT Martin — 24 (17 FBS, 7 FCS)
Tennessee Tech — 23 (17 FBS, 6 FCS)
Western Illinois — 15 (12 FBS, 3 FCS)
Lindenwood — 11 (4 FBS, 7 FCS)
SEMO — 10 (4 FBS, 6 FCS)
Eastern Illinois — 8 (7 FBS, 1 FCS)
Charleston Southern — 6 (3 FBS, 3 FCS)
TOP OFFENSIVE PLAYER: Kinkead Dent, UT Martin QB — First of all, we see you Pierce Holley (Eastern Illinois). Like Dent, Holley also returns as a graduate student and had an impressive 2023 season. Dent, a previous Ole Miss quarterback, exploded during his first true chance to play college football. He accounted for 175 yards of total offense in his game against Georgia last year, throwing the lone TD (no INTs) for the Skyhawks. Dent threw for 2,295 yards and 25 TDs with only 8 INTs, while rushing for 351 more with 3 TDs.
TOP DEFENSIVE PLAYER: Bryce Norman, SEMO LB — Norman, an in-state product, led his team in tackles last fall in 10 games. He also posted 119 tackles as a sophomore in 2022 and 66 as a freshman in 2021 – so he’s no stranger to being productive and also has 22.5 career tackles for loss to prove it. He’s also a legacy, as his father Brandon was a two-time All-OVC selection at SEMO. Norman finished the 2023 season with 87 tackles, 9.5 TFLs, 5 sacks, and 1 INT.
TOP NFL PROSPECT: Eriq George, Tennessee State DL — George is the young guy, and we also could have gone with a guy like Lindenwood’s Kobe McClendon – who plays D-end in college but is built like a D-tackle prospect and tells HERO Sports he’ll play anywhere someone asks him. No matter how you go with it, these are a couple of 2024 standouts in the making in the Big South-OVC. George seems primed to explode onto the scene – 2023 was just a hint. George had 25 tackles and 6 TFLs last year and he was only a freshman.
HERO Sports’ Predicted Order of Finish
1. Eastern Illinois
2. UT Martin
3. SEMO
4. Tennessee State
5. Gardner-Webb
6. Charleston Southern
7. Tennessee Tech
8. Lindenwood
9. Western Illinois
Eastern Illinois clearly has the talent to win handily within the FCS level this fall. The recent trend of the transfer portal has improved the Panthers immensely, as they have found a way to blend that talent with their own homegrown talent recruited out of the high school ranks. The summer transfer haul was impressive, and last year’s 8-3 finish was just a breath away from the playoffs, giving the program its best season since the Jimmy Garoppolo days of going 12-2 in 2013.
Coach Chris Wilkerson has stabilized this program, and with talent back like RB M.J. Flowers and WR Eli Mirza on offense and DL Joel Barrows and an incredible secondary and linebacking corps on defense, this should be a special year. Look for the defense to be the rallying point for the Panthers.
UT Martin was picked by the coaches to win the league for the fifth straight year in the preseason poll, and understandably so. The Skyhawks have been the most consistent program within the OVC portion of things for many years under head coach Jason Simpson, the school’s winningest mentor in history. His teams generally win more than they lose, and the 8-win mark has been hit more often in recent years – including last year when the program really performed well.
SEMO football has been stable in recent years too, with coach Tom Matukewicz building something special in Cape Girardeau, Mo. The Redhawks already picked up a Week Zero win over North Alabama and will be a contender for the conference crown in 2024.
Tennessee State has several studs on the roster and coach Eddie George – the former NFL star – has this program looking up for the Tigers. They’ll be the dark horse candidate to get into that upper-three realm of the conference.
After the quartet above, there is an interesting batch of schools. Gardner-Webb was gutted like nobody else in the FCS when coach Tre Lamb took a couple of dozen players with him to his new position with ETSU. Lamb had built GWU into something special in recent years. Charleston Southern, Tennessee Tech, Lindenwood, and relatively new Western Illinois are all dealing with varying degrees of rebuilding – and are just looking for those key positives in 2024.
