Limestone football adopted a motto during
its 2022 season that quarterback Dustin Noller described as, "At the end
of the week, know somebody else's story."
"That’s the special thing about
football," Noller said. "There are 150 guys in our locker room, so
there’s all kind of backgrounds. It’s unique [compared] to any setting in the
world. It’s awesome."
Football translates to art so effectively
in part because of this element. Sure, the action of the game is cinematic, but
dozens of personalities from a variety of backgrounds coming together and
succeeding only when everyone involved finds common ground.
And thus far, the 2022 season has been a movie at
Limestone.
Noller
noted that in his two previous seasons as a Saint, Limestone won one game. The
2021 Saints finished winless at 0-9, the second 0-for campaign in the upstart
program's brief history that began in 2014.
But
as November arrives, this year's Saints are 6-3 coming off a landmark win,
boast one of the most prolific offenses in the nation, and are very much alive
in the hunt for an NCAA Div. II playoff berth.
A 42-37 win over reigning South Atlantic
Conference champion Newberry in Week 9 combined much of what's made this a memorable
season at Limestone. Running back Tre Stewart rushed for 161 yards, including
an 80-yard touchdown. Noller passed for 296 yards and four touchdowns, the last
of which was the game-winning connection to Jelani Barker with 50 seconds on
the clock.
This
is an example of Limestone "flipping the narrative," as Mike Furrey
describes it. Furrey is in the first year of his second stint as Saints head
coach, and he's overseeing a team with a story arc not unlike his own.
Furrey's
story is among the more fascinating in the 21st Century NFL. After breaking into the rotation as a walk-on at Ohio
State in 1995, the same year that Eddie George brought the Heisman Trophy to
Columbus, Furrey transferred to Northern Iowa.
His time as a Panther came a few years
after the graduation of another UNI product who matriculated to the NFL, Kurt
Warner — whose own football story quite literally became a film — but Furrey
and Warner were eventually on the same roster with the St. Louis Rams.
Furrey broke into the NFL as a game-day
contributor in 2003, four years after he concluded a record-setting career at
Northern Iowa, navigating off the beaten path through seasons in the Arena
League and first iteration of the XFL. Furrey was a Las Vegas Outlaws teammate
of Rod Smart, a key contributor to the NFC champion Carolina Panthers in 2003,
whose infamous jersey reading "He Hate Me" became an enduring image
from the lone season of the spring league.
Though Furrey downplays his experiences as
a pro — "Just because you played doesn’t mean you’ll be a great coach. It
has to be about the players, and how you can help them attain their
goals," he said — there's undeniable symmetry in his unconventional
journey to success when compared to Limestone's emergence.
And, indeed, Furrey gained a spot in the NFL with a willingness to
fill any role a team needed. He played receiver, the same spot at which he made
history at Northern Iowa, but he moved to the secondary as a safety when called
upon. Furrey also excelled on special teams, giving him intimate familiarity
with all aspects of the game.
"I always felt I was pretty
knowledgeable in all three phases and could coach all three phases,"
Furrey said. "That’s always given me the itch to be a head football coach."
His
first head-coaching opportunity at NAIA Kentucky Christian produced the only
.500 tenure in program history, with Furrey finishing 11-11 in two seasons
before joining the staff at Marshall. He had similar, unprecedented success in
his first two years at Limestone, going 9-12 in 2016 and 2017 — just the third
and fourth seasons in Limestone football history — before becoming
wide-receivers coach of the Chicago Bears.
"I felt like the program at that time
had a chance to take off," Furrey said of Limestone's potential in his
first tenure. "I didn’t think at the time all the resources we have now
were there because we just started the program."
Crediting support from the administrative
system, Furrey said the university has "allow[ed] us to have the resources
to be successful."
"The players come into work every day,
and get to be encouraged by some of the best coaches out there," he added.
Limestone's coaching staff includes
defensive coordinator Joe Staab, an assistant on the Michigan Wolverines' Big
Ten championship-winning squad a season ago. Offensive line coach Nate Garner
is a former New York Jet and Miami Dolphin, defensive line coach Anthony
Hargrove won a Super Bowl playing for a different bunch of Saints, and wide
receivers coach Jerricho Cotchery is a longtime NFL star-turned-pro assistant
before joining Limestone.
Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks
coach Jake Kostner spent time with celebrated offensive minds like Jim
McElwain, Tom Herman and Steve Sarkisian. The Saints offense is putting up 35.4 points per game, a
top-20 national average and an increase of more than 22 points per game from
the 2021 season.
Stewart
is having a standout season at running back, accruing 1,108 yards and 12
touchdowns in nine games.
Noller
has been both efficient and productive at quarterback, throwing for 1,613 yards
and 14 touchdowns, with half of his scoring passes coming against ranked
opponents (Lenoir-Rhyne and Newberry). His
big-yardage passes led to the game-winning field goal that elevated Limestone
past Mars Hill on Sept. 29, a win that bolsters the Saints' growing playoff
resume with Mars Hill leading the SAC Mountain and its lone conference loss
coming in that contest.
"It’s our quarterback," Furrey
credited as the driving force behind Limestone's offensive success. "The
growth of what Dustin has done over the last four or five weeks has allowed us
to be a very effective offense...And what he’s done has not only allowed our
offense to really develop, but I think our team has gained an unbelievable
confidence in our potential and I think our guys are having a lot of fun doing
it."
Noller — who himself aspires to move into
coaching once his playing career wraps — functions as an extension of the staff
onto the field.
"Our offensive coordinator actually
gives me the role to go to players one-on-one and coach them, teach them, and I
feel like I have the respect of every single player on the offense where, when
I’m speaking, they’re going to listen to me," Noller said. "Not only
that, they’re going to trust what I’m saying, on the field where I’m starting
to get a little bit of freedom."
In this role, Noller's gained firsthand
experience managing the "special" dynamic that shapes a football
program, learning the stories and backgrounds of teammates to build bonds with
fellow Saints who come from as far away as Arizona; graduate transfer Drew
Dixon, a Tucson native, joined the program after previously playing at the
Power Five-conference University of Arizona.
And
while Furrey emphasized the importance of a coaching staff making its priority
the players, growth through learning from the experiences has trickled down
from the coaches to the players, Noller explained.
"The
whole season’s been fun, starting from spring ball when they first came in,
growing with the staff, learning from them and what they’ve been through,"
he said. "It’s been fun building the relationships you never really
thought you could do."
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