Furman University

2012 Furman Football Yearbook

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2012 FURMAN PALADINS p FOOTBALL JORDAN SORRELLS Director of Operations football operations at Furman following a stellar football career as quarterback with the Paladins. After a record setting career at Greenville High School, Jordan Sorrells is now in his second season as director of in his first collegiate appearance, coming off the bench in the second half for injured starting quarterback Renaldo Gray to complete a game winning 19-yard touchdown strike with 28 seconds remaining to defeat Jacksonville State, 17-13, in the 2006 season opener. Later that season, in only his second career start, he threw for a career high 335 yards against Chattanooga, including a 25-yard touchdown strike in overtime, to defeat the Mocs. Over the next three seasons the Paladin left-hander compiled impressive numbers and in his where he threw for 9, 405 yards and 105 touchdowns and was named Shrine Bowl MVP his senior year, Sorrells enrolled at Furman, following in the footsteps of his father, Tim, a two-time All-Southern Conference signal caller in the early 1980s. Following a redshirt season in 2005, he made an impact Support Staff DAVID ABERNETHY Director of Strength Training & Conditioning training & conditioning at Furman. Prior to coming to Furman he served as senior assistant David Abernethy is in his first year as director of strength for Western Kentucky University (2003-05), working with all 20 varsity teams and directly with football and men's basketball. Prior to Western Kentucky he was assistant strength and conditioning coach at the University final game tied a school record by throwing five touchdowns in a 48-21 win over Wofford. He finished his career as Furman's career passing yards (6,278) and passing touchdowns (42) leader, and still holds over a half dozen school standards. Sorrells also excelled in the classroom, earning SoCon Academic Honor Roll accolades five times before graduating with a degree in history. Sorrells' Furman roots run deep. In addition to his father, Tim, his mother Tracy is also a Furman graduate, as are cousins John and Paul Sorrells, both of whom played football for the Paladins. Sorrells is married to his high school sweetheart, Sarah Kathryn Williams of Greenville. BEN BURRESS Video Coordinator, Assistant/Operations program, Ben Burress serves as video coordinator and assistant director of game operations. A Sumter, S.C., native, he came to Furman in May of 2011 as Currently in his second year of service to Furman's football torney General of South Carolina as part of the medicaid fraud and violence against women units. TIM MITCHELL Football Equipment Manager Tim Mitchell is entering his fourth year as football equipment manager, having succeeded the late Spear Sedgley, who served in the same capacity for 21 years. Prior to coming to Furman, Mitchell spent the 2007 and '08 Virginia University, where he served as a graduate assistant football equipment manager for the Mountaineers from 2005-07. TRACEY HENDRICKS Football Administrative Assistant assistant to Furman's football program and fifth year at the university. Prior to assuming her current duties she worked two years with continuing education. An Ann Arbor, Mich., native she and her husband, Robert, Tracey Hendricks is now in her third season as administrative seasons as equipment manager at Southern Conference member The Citadel. He is a 2004 graduate of the University of Tennessee and holds a master's degree in sports management from West an operations intern to complete requirements for a bachelor of science degree, which he was awarded in 2012 in sport and entertainment management from the University of South Carolina. As an undergraduate he interned with the Office of the At- of Mississippi (2001-03) after beginning his career as a graduate assistant at Clemson (1999-01) under Joey Batson, who served as Furman's first strength coach (1993-96). Abernethy played football at Western Carolina, lettering two years as an offensive guard after spending his first two years at Methodist College. He graduated from WCU in 1999 with a bachelor of science degree. He earned his master's degree from Western Kentucky in exercise science and also completed graduate work in educa- tion at Clemson. He is a certified member of the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association, strength training and conditioning coach at Clemson for seven years, coordinating the nutrition and supplementation program for all student-athletes and overseeing all technol- ogy associated with strength training. His primary football focus involved work with the offensive line and tight ends. Abernethy served as director of strength & conditioning the National Strength and Conditioning Association, the National Association of Speed and Explo- sion, and is recognized by the American Fitness Professionals Association as a Certified Sports Nutrition Consultant. Abernethy is married to the former Kelli Iddings of Denver, N.C., and the couple has a daugh- ter, Madilyn, and a son, Brooks David. ADAM SMOTHERMAN Assistant/Strength Training & Conditioning director of strength training and conditioning in July. A native of Smyrna, Tenn., and former 5A all-state selec- Adam Smotherman was named Furman's new assistant twice, and was the recipient of the program's Football's Dedication Award in 2010, his senior year. He was awarded a B.S. degree in secondary education and history in the spring of 2011. tion, he started for three years as a defensive tackle at Van- derbilt. In 2008 he tallied four tackles in the Commodores' 16-14 victory over Boston College in Music City Bowl and, as a senior, was elected team captain and representative to the leadership council by his teammates. He captured Vander- bilt's Ironman Lineman Award three times, Lifter of the Year After serving as a intern in Vanderbilt's strength training and conditioning program in the winter and spring of 2011, he accepted the graduate assistant's position at Clemson. Smotherman, who is nearing completion of a master's degree in youth development leadership from Clemson, is certified by USA Weightlifting as a Sport Performance Coach. CRAIG CLARK Head Athletic Trainer, A.T.C. Craig Clark is now in his fourth year as head athletic trainer. Clark's arrival at Furman in 2009 followed a nine-year tenure at The Citadel, where he served as assistant director of sports medicine and worked primarily with the school's football and baseball programs. In addition, he administered travel budgets and coordinated travel arrangements for various sports. A 1999 graduate of East Tennessee State University, he earned have a son, Cody, a freshman at Furman, and Emily, a senior at Central Michigan University. with the Tennessee Titans during the 1998 & '99 seasons. After holding a similar position with the Atlanta Braves in the spring of 2000, he accepted a resident athletic trainer's post at The Citadel in the fall of 2000 and two years later was named assistant director of sports medicine. He is a member of the College Athletic Trainers Society, Mid-Atlanta Athletic Trainers' Association, a master's degree in education from The Citadel in 2003. Clark began his sports medicine career as a summer intern National Athletic Trainers' Association, and South Carolina Athletic Trainers' Association, for which he currently serves as president-elect. He is married to the April Foley, formerly of Muncie, Ind. 41

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