North Carolina Wesleyan football begins spring practice this week, and the Battling Bishops hope to build on momentum gained during the back half of the 2023 season.
After an 0-4 start, the Bishops won all four of their October games and finished above .500 in USA South Athletic Conference play overall. Spring workouts were scheduled to start today (Tuesday) and will conclude April 17. Division III football schools aren’t permitted to have a spring game per NCAA rules, though teams can have a certain number of workouts in full gear.
NC Wesleyan coach Jeff Filkovski, who has been with the program since 2013, said this time of year is important for developing cohesion as a team and within each unit of the team, in addition to the usual goals of becoming bigger, faster and stronger.
“We’ve got to continually get better and the wins will happen,” he said. “I want us to be a physical football team, a tough football team. That’s the way we practice. That is what we do on a daily basis.”
All-conference building blocks
NC Wesleyan featured a youthful roster in 2023 and will build its ’24 lineup around a solid core of sophomores and juniors, Filkovski said. Seniors will take on various leadership roles, Filkovski said.
Offensive lineman Desmond Barnes, one of the key seniors, is coming off a first-team all-conference season. The 5-11, 300-pounder, who played at nearby Rocky Mount High, rarely gave up a sack or quarterback hurry. He served as a team captain in 2023 and has been on the President’s List for strong academics multiple times. In addition to being on the USA South Academic All-Conference team, he received Academic All-District honors from College Sports Communicators earlier this winter.
“I talk to him all the time about how the culture of our football team is going to rely on our play up front, offensively and defensively,” Filkovski said. “Des needs to take the initiative to lead the grittiness and toughness up front.”
Tailback Anthony Byrd and wide receiver Christian Drumgoole helped the offense go in 2023. Both earned second-team all-conference honors.
Byrd, who will be a senior, bullied LaGrange and Greensboro for 433 rushing yards and three touchdowns last October. The Wallace-Rose Hill High School product finished with 731 rushing yards and eight scores on the season.
Drumgoole, a rising sophomore from Dinwiddie, Va., snared 47 passes for 552 yards in his rookie campaign with the Bishops. He caught seven balls for 123 yards and a score against Southern Virginia.
“He had a breakout year as a freshman,” Filkovski said. “Now, can he go and be great? The stable (of receivers) is going to be pretty big for us now. We’ve got a lot of players there.”
Question marks remain on the defensive line heading into spring camp, the coach said. That position group is a “little thin.” The Bishops currently have 13 players competing for jobs in the defensive backfield. Two corners return but there are spots to win at safety.
Eric Cooper, another all-conference pick (honorable mention), returns at linebacker. He can be a ball-hawk, recording 12 tackles and 1.5 hits behind the line-of-scrimmage against Ferrum. From Florence, S.C. (South Florence HS), Cooper finished his sophomore season with 57 total tackles, including 37 solo hits.
Bishops’ special Specialist
Two-sport star Braxtyn Green from Live Oak, FL (Suwannee HS) made an instant impact on NCWU’s football squad. He earned USA South Specialist of the Year recognition after rewriting school records and scoring 39 total points in field goals and PATs.
Green, who also plays baseball, booted four field goals from beyond 40 yards during the year, including a new school-best 51-yarder against Southern Virginia. Green also landed on the all-conference second team as a punter, averaging 37 yards per boot. A reliable kicker is a blessing at any level of football, and it opens up possibilities for NC Wesleyan on offense, Filkovski said.
Green twice earned the conference’s Specialist of the Week honors. He also was named our NC Football News Division III Most Outstanding Specialist, beating out some solid contenders.
“This kid is an All-American kicker,” Filkovski said. “He’s as good as you are going to find at this level. I promise you that there are some Division I programs out there who wish they had him.”
Chaz Hirschman, a rising senior from Jacksonville, FL (West Nassau), looks like the leader to take the reins at quarterback. He played in eight games in 2022 and two contests last season.
3x Conference Champion
NC Wesleyan still hasn’t released its 2024 schedule. From other schedule releases, we know the Battling Bishops will visit in-state conference rival Greensboro College on Nov. 2 and will host Brevard the following Saturday. NCWU beat Greensboro 34-28 but did not play Brevard in 2023.
The Bishops have been playing football since 2005. The program won outright USA South Athletic Conference titles in 2007 and 2009 and shared the 2010 crown with former member Christopher Newport. Filkovski has kept NCWU competitive during his tenure — the Bishops are 38-35 in conference play over 11 seasons.
Can NC Wesleyan make a jump into the upper echelon of the league this fall?
“We’re excited about the guys who are returning, and we’ve got depth to build off of with this recruiting class,” Filkovski said. “We’re getting there. Football is about retention within your program. The more you can retain and get the machine going – and you’ve got a healthy senior class and a healthy junior class – you’ve got a chance to win and win big. I think this is where we are headed.”
