Harding University Prepares To Lock Horns With Hardships

CHARLOTTE, NC – It is a brand new season for Harding University. In a new conference with a new head coach, they have their work cut out for them.

The Rams of Harding University are more familiar with adversity than success in recent seasons, and they are desperate for a way to turn things around.

“Two-and-seven to three-and-seven, it was just like when is it ever going to end. So it’s like now we are working on trying to build it back up and get our team together so we can finish this year out strong,” said senior and self-proclaimed athlete Amoriea Jenkins.

“We have a lot of shoes to fill you know what I’m saying. We just ready to put our head down and work compete with every team that gets in our way basically,” said senior outside linebacker Cameron Brown.

Enter a new head coach from out west, whose passion and energy quickly created a culture built around family.

“Definitely something different, definitely a Cali way of doing things. But really you know it’s just my passion for the kids I think that is really the main things the kids have seen. They know that I care, they know I am going to be here even when I’m not supposed to be here they know I’m gonna put the energy in,” said Head Coach J.T. Stone.

“Everything the whole program has changed from a football standpoint. He just got a lot of guys buying into the program, I just love what he is doing,” said Brown.

There is not a more urgent time to do so, as the Rams go in to their first season as one of the three 3A teams in a stacked Queen City conference.

“You know I wasn’t too familiar with 3A/4A but at the end of the day we gotta play football. I don’t care about 3A or 4A, we gotta get to the playoffs to play in either. So for us it is just building our program to gain in confidence so you know two to three years we are starting to get to the playoffs every year. That is our goal,” said Stone.

“We are definitely viewed as the weakest of course, but we gone wake them up soon,” said Brown.

Stone believes they have the toughest conference in the state, and he is ready to rely on his seniors to send them to the postseason.

“Leadership. Leadership. Leadership. There is a lot of things we have to fix at Harding and it started with the kids. I tell them all the time, this is their program and really my seniors are my right arm right now so and the ones that I have right now I’m very proud of and I’m going to lean on them all season.

Harding University opens up their season on the road in South Carolina, taking on Brookland-Cayce on Friday, August 18, 2023.