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Know the Foe: Nicholls

Know the Foe: Nicholls

Football Sep 08
By ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist Paul Letlow

History will be suited up in maroon and gold and standing on ULM's sidelines against the next opponent. Former Southland Conference mate Nicholls visits the Warhawks on Saturday for a 7 p.m. date at Malone Stadium. ULM holds a commanding 23-3 lead in the all-time series and has won nine-straight games against the Colonels, winning by an average of nearly 22 points. ULM won 47-0 in 2015 – the most recent meeting. The last series win for the Colonels came in 1991 in a 15-10 victory. "It's one of those games, where we need to go out and play our best," ULM coach Terry Bowden said. "If we play our best and they play their best, I'll take our odds. But we've got to play our best to make the best improvement." While ULM (0-1) was toiling against Texas in Week 1, Nicholls opened the 2022 season with a 48-7 loss at South Alabama. The Sun Belt Conference member held the Colonels to just 161 total yards, their lowest total since 2015. "They're a much better team than the score indicated against South Alabama," Bowden said. "They've played very, very well against teams from our conference." Running back Julien Gums, who missed the final seven games last season with an injury, moved closer to the program record of 35 rushing touchdowns with the 33rd of his career at South Alabama. Gums needs only 70 yards rushing to become the program's all-time leader. He had nine carries for 33 yards in the opener to up his career total to 2,589, trailing Josh Son's record 2,658 yards. Gums already has his name in the record book after setting single-season records in 2019 in rushing yards (1,232) and touchdowns (16). Sophomore running back Collin Guggenheim ended the '21 campaign with five consecutive 100-yard rushing efforts, and set a program single-season rushing record with 103.3 yards per game. After serving as the back-up quarterback for the last three seasons, Kohen Granier is finally atop the Nicholls depth chart. Granier completed 15-of-27 passes for 106 yards and one interception in the loss at South Alabama. With the graduation of the program's all-time leading receiver, Dai'Jean Dixon, the offense will feature a new wave of targets, including eight true or red-shirt freshmen. Freshman Neno Lemay caught three balls for 40 yards in the opener. Leading the veterans is slot receiver K.J. Franklin, who earned All-Southland Second-Team honors last season. In his third year with the Colonels, Franklin ranked sixth in the conference with 636 yards and six touchdowns on 46 receptions. Al'Dontre Davis, who started his career at TCU, also returns after totaling 226 yards on 15 receptions. The defensive front features All-SLC first-team selection Perry Ganci. In 2021, Ganci ranked fifth in the Southland with 9.5 tackles for loss and tied for fourth in sacks with 6.0. Zack Bernard also started up front, racking up 5.0 TFLs with 3.5 sacks. The Nicholls linebacker group returns four letterwinners, including preseason All-SLC selection Hayden Shaheen. Shaheen ranked second on the team with 56 tackles (36 solo), including 6.5 for loss. "Our players have no trouble knowing the importance of this football game," Bowden said. "There are conference games that are critical in the sense that you're starting to compete for the conference. But we're at that point too where you need to find six or seven games to get to a bowl, which we haven't been able to do here. You want to be sure to win the ones you have a chance to win." Warhawk connections: A former assistant coach under Bobby Keasler, Mike Collins and Charlie Weatherbie, Nicholls head coach Tim Rebowe coached cornerbacks at ULM from 2001-03. Rebowe also served briefly as ULM's interim head coach in the spring of 2003 after Collins resigned, prior to Weatherbie's arrival. As a recruiter, Rebowe notably discovered ULM Hall of Fame quarterback Steven Jyles at Glen Oaks in Baton Rouge during his senior season. Jyles was considered a college prospect at safety but showed himself as a fine quarterback too when he became a high school starter and threw for 2,237 yards and 28 touchdowns while running for 713 yards and eight more scores. ULM spoiled Rebowe's head coaching debut at Nicholls with a 47-0 win over the Colonels in 2015. Nicholls is 0-5 against Sun Belt Conference teams under Rebowe, who in his eighth season is his program's career win leader with 44. In addition to Rebowe's ties to Monroe, defensive back Chancellor Hitchens and linebacker Lance Rockwood started their college careers at ULM before transferring to Nicholls. Colonel kernels: Nicholls was 6-5 in 2021, giving the Colonels a winning record for a fifth consecutive season. Picked third in the 2022 Southland preseason poll, the Colonels have reached the playoffs three-straight years. … Nicholls will be looking to knock off an FBS program for the fifth time since 2000. The last victory for the Colonels came in an overtime win at Kansas to start the 2018 season. The other three victories were against Arkansas State (2001), Rice (2007) and Western Michigan (2013). … Over the last five seasons, the Nicholls offense has had 41 100-yard rushing performances by a combined 11 players. … Center Evan Roussel has started at center in his first two seasons at Nicholls and was named to the Stats Perform FCS Preseason All-America Third Team this season.
 
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