Courtesy of Newberry College Athletics
NEWBERRY — We are officially only a few days away from the Wolves season opener against UVA Wise on Sept. 6th. Todd Knight will be entering his 17th season as the head football coach of Newberry College and signed an extension to remain the head man through the 2031 season.
He is more rejuvenated than ever to shake off the bad vibes from the last two seasons(2023,2024) where the Wolves had back-to-back losing records and an overall record of 7-14. It was a hard fall from grace after the team won back-to-back to South Atlantic Conference titles in 2021 and 2022 along with a 2021 Division II football playoffs appearance and a upset of the defending champs in the first round, University of West Florida.
“I am excited to see how far we’ve come. I feel like we have had the best offseason in a long time around here and for the first time since I’ve been the head coach here we were allowed to have a summer program. We’ve never had one before and when you combine a great offseason along with the first ever summer program, gave me a huge wave of emotions and create a lot of positive vibes, especially with the way our players are getting along and meshing. I could walk down to our locker room during the summer and they are in their playing ping pong and just enjoying being around each other,” said Knight during SAC Media Day press conference.
The biggest problem that the Wolves have faced over the past two seasons is not knowing who was gone be the man under center. It seems that problem was solved last season with the good play of Reed Charpia. In 2024, he started five games and lead the team in total offense (1,002 yards), passing yards (977), passing touchdowns (3), completion percentage (.593) and quarterback rating (132.18).
The biggest two concerns for Charpia is, can he continue his stellar play from last season and can he remain healthy? He was forced to miss the last two regular season games in 2024 due to injury and was knocked out of a game early last season due to injury after he took over as the starter.
If Charpia can stay healthy then the Wolves can shape up to have a pretty good offense with the speedy Keith Desassure and De’Andre Coleman on the oustide at the receiver positions along with Dwayne Wright in the backfield.
Also, the defense for the Wolves will be an area of focus after losing a lot of leadership from the 2024 squad. The biggest hurdle will be replacing middle linebacker and one of the captains of the defense for the past few seasons, Chucky Roach.
Devron Williams and Jalen Stradford will be the two linebackers will be tasked to help fill the void of leadership and production left behind by Roach.
2024 Overall Record: 4-7
2025 Record Prediction: 6-4
Key Players: Reed Charpia-QB, Dwayne Wright-RB, Keith Desassure-WR, De’Andre Coleman-WR, Devron Williams-LB, Jalen Stradford-OLB, Jaydon Eason-DL
Head Coach: Todd Knight
2025 Schedule
09/06 @ UVA Wise 6:00 p.m.
09/13 vs. Point University 7:00 p.m.
09/20 vs. Catawba College 7:00 p.m.
09/27 @ Lenoir-Rhyne University 6:00 p.m.
10/04 vs. Wingate University 7:00 p.m.
10/11 @ Tusculum 2:00 p.m.
10/18 vs. Mars Hill University 6:00 p.m. *HOMECOMING
10/25 vs. Emory & Henry University 6:00 p.m.
11/01 @ Anderson University 4:00 p.m.
11/08 vs. Carson-Newman University 1:00 p.m.
Reach Greg Hollis @ 803-768-3117 or on X @TheNBOnews