Year one as a head coach always brings challenges. For Gardner-Webb’s Cris Reisert, it was a scramble.
“When we got here last year, we had around 38 players and one returning starter, and we looked a lot different than we do now,” Reisert said at OVC/Big South Media Day last month.
Fast-forward to summer 2025, and the Bulldogs look a lot more like a fully formed football program. Reisert says the roster has experienced a major boost in continuity since he first stepped on campus.
“We return 18 guys that have started football games for us, another 15 that have played a lot of football for us,” he said. “The growth is evident by the way they’ve worked in the weight room and personally developed and certainly what we’ve done on the field.”
That retention has allowed Reisert and his staff to spend less time plugging roster holes and more time building Gardner-Webb’s identity.
“One of our big things within our program is Kaizen. It means continuous improvement, and that goes for me too,” he said. “We’ve been able to double down on what we believe, on who we are and what we stand for as a program.”
𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫!
𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫. pic.twitter.com/M7uNKYe5rs— Gardner-Webb Football (@GWUFootball) August 17, 2025
QB competition at the forefront
One of the Runnin’ Bulldogs’ biggest question marks heading into 2025 comes at quarterback. Transfers Nate Hampton (Liberty) and Cole Pennington (Marshall) have battled throughout the spring and summer for the starting job. They are seeking to replace last year’s starter Tyler Riddell, who threw for more than 2,500 yards before transferring to Duquesne in the off-season.
“We’ve got two that we love,” Reisert said. “Nate Hampton from Liberty has been amazing since he stepped foot on campus. He has playing experience in a variety of different ways and threw a touchdown in their last bowl game.
“Beyond Nate is Cole Pennington… the two of them are really duking it out. I think both have high-level potential at the FCS level and both are capable of being starters.”
True freshman Finley Polk, an early enrollee from Rock Hill, SC (Northwestern HS), gives GWU a talented third option in the quarterback room. Polk finished his prep career with 121 touchdown passes and nearly 10,000 passing yards to his credit.
The future looks bright.
“Everything you think you’re going to get, you’re getting,” Reisert said of Polk. “We hope that he’s going to be a centerpiece for us for a long time.”
Continuity up front and weapons at skill positions
Whoever wins the quarterback job will benefit from a veteran offensive line, including redshirt junior Aaron McIver, who has more than 800 college snaps to his credit.
“We’ve got five linemen that started games for us last year that are back,” Reisert said. “There’s a lot of continuity there… that’s the most important position on our football team.”
Preseason all-conference pick Anthony Lowe returns as a dynamic receiver and return specialist after battling injuries last fall. Running backs Quasean Holmes and Carson Gresock “both have had tremendous offseasons of development and growth,” Reisert said.
Flipping close games
Gardner-Webb’s 4-8 record in 2024 didn’t tell the full story.
“If you look at last year, we had a ton of close football games,” head coach Cris Reisert said. “We had a chance to beat JMU at the end of that game, had a chance to beat Charlotte. We had a chance with SEMO. We were in it very late with Tennessee State, in it with Wofford in our opener.
“We had chances late in games to win those games. And I didn’t think that we had enough to fall back on from a training perspective to win those games.”
This offseason has been about building that foundation.
“Our guys have faced a ton of adversity,” Reisert said. “They’ve been put in challenging and hard situations almost daily, forcing them to have to respond as a group, forcing them to have to respond with a positive mindset. And I believe that as we get into those close football games, that training, that adversity understanding, it’s going to… give us an opportunity to win these games.”
Key defensive leaders return
A deep and experienced defense should help flip those margins.
“We’ve got Robert Holtz at one end and we’ve got Antonio O’Berry at another end, and both those guys were among the league leaders in sacks and TFLs last year,” Reisert said. “At the linebacker spot, Jackson Marshall is back as well. He suffered an injury in the middle of last year – he’s the voice of our defense, a tremendous leader.”
The safety tandem of Wendell McClain and Steven Rose returns healthy, while emerging playmakers like Jecari Bryson and Darius Johnson Jr. add depth.
Challenging schedule right out of the gate
Gardner-Webb won’t have to wait long to test its improvement. The non-conference slate features matchups with Western Carolina, Georgia Tech, The Citadel and Ohio – three of the four on the road. The showdown with WCU will be under the lights in Cullowhee next Saturday, Aug. 30.
“We’re going to learn a lot about ourselves,” Reisert said. “I think we’ve got one of the toughest schedules in the country and we relish that… we don’t shy away from it. We’ll attack it, we’ll play to win. And however it falls, it falls.”
The Bulldogs also host rival Charleston Southern in the newly minted North-South BBQ Bowl on Oct. 4.
“Anytime in the middle of the year you have something a little bit extra to play for as a coach makes my job easier,” Reisert said. “I’d like to play for 12 trophies if we could.”
Final word: Runnin’ Bulldogs trending up
Gardner-Webb’s foundation is stronger, its roster deeper and its identity clearer heading into Year 2 under Cris Reisert. With veteran leadership, new quarterback options and one of the toughest schedules in the state, the Bulldogs won’t ease into 2025 – they’ll dive in headfirst.
But if the offseason growth translates, Gardner-Webb could be one of the surprise stories of the fall.
📅 Bookmark the Gardner-Webb 2025 football schedule page for kickoff times, results and updates all season long.
