Hatcher’s 11th season at Samford Starts With New Faces On Offense
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - August 3, 2025
On paper, there is a lot of unknown for the Samford football team. In reality, though, Samford head coach Chris Hatcher has a pretty good idea of what to expect from his team, even though it’s still early in fall camp.
“We've made this big deal about camp starting (but) we’ve been practicing since March,” said Hatcher, who begins his 11th season as the Bulldogs head coach. “This is just another continuation of that. So, I know what most of the guys can do. It's just a matter of with the new players putting the pads on and seeing what those guys can do and where they fit in the depth chart.”
Speaking of depth charts, the only returning starter on the offense is quarterback Quincy Crittendon. While that’s a good spot to have proven experience there will be a lot of new starters around the talented senior quarterback.
“Like any year, you got guys that have been here and it's their time to step in,” Hatcher said. “You also brought some new players in and you got to find out where they fit in. The biggest thing you have to do is just make sure you're maybe a little slower on your install so you don't overload them mentally early on. I think that our staff's done a good job of that.”
Sophomore wide receiver Preston Bird played in 11 games last season without a start. He’s ready to take the step forward after grabbing 18 passes for 203 yards with a touchdown. In the final two games of the 2024 season – a win over nationally ranked Chattanooga and narrow loss to Western Carolina – Bird had a combined nine catches for 99 yards. Hatcher has also been impressed with transfer wide receiver Jaden Gibson, who played in 18 games at Virginia over the past two seasons. Gibson finished his high school career at Rabun County High in Georgia as the state’s career leader in receiving yards (5,124) and touchdown catches (59) and single season leader in touchdown catches (29 in 2022).
CJ Evans has made an impact at running back since transferring from Tennessee State for the spring semester. The 5-foot-8, 180-pound Mobile native played three seasons at Austin Peay before transferring to Tennessee State. He is sharing the Samford backfield with freshman Cam Bland, sophomore Ken Cherry and freshman Emerson Russell.
Hatcher and his staff are still working on figuring out the offensive line starters.
“Well, I think we're an athletic group up there,” Hatcher said. “I think we're more athletic than we were last season on the line. The biggest key on the line is you got to find where everybody fits. I keep using that word fit but, like right now, we have three right tackles that are all playing pretty well. We can't play with three right tackles but we think maybe the one of those three could maybe be the best guard we got. So we got to find the right combination of where all those five guys fit.”
Defense is also a work in progress. The group is led by linebacker Jaden Mosley, who was second on the team last year with 75 tackles and led the Bulldogs in tackles for loss with 14, and defensive lineman Conroy Cunningham II. Cunningham was second on the team with five sacks last season. Defensive coordinator Scot Sloan has a promising group in his first season at Samford.
“The secondary position we'll have a lot of new players there too but I think we're more athletic back there,” Hatcher said. “I think we're a little deeper (overall) than we were last year. We have a new scheme with Coach Sloan coming in (before) the spring. The guys have taken to it well. I think it's a little simpler for them to play a little freer. If spring was any indication, I think that we'll have a really solid defense this year.”