2023_Western_Carolina_Catamounts_football_team

2023 Western Carolina Catamounts football
2023 Western Carolina Catamounts football
Conference	Southern Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 23
Record	7–4 (5–3 SoCon)
Head coach	Kerwin Bell (3rd season);
Offensive coordinator	Kade Bell (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Chaz Scales (3rd season)
Home stadium	Bob Waters Field at E. J. Whitmire Stadium
	Seasons ← 2022 2024 →

2023 Western Carolina Catamounts football team

American college football season

The 2023 Western Carolina Catamounts football team represented Western Carolina University as a member of the Southern Conference during the 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Catamounts were led by third-year head coach Kerwin Bell and played home games at Bob Waters Field at E. J. Whitmire Stadium in Cullowhee, North Carolina.

Quick Facts Western Carolina Catamounts football, Conference ...

More information Conf, Overall ...

Game summaries

Roster

More information Players, Coaches ...

2023 Western Carolina Catamounts football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
WR	`0`	AJ Colombo	So
RB	`1`	Desmond Reid	So
WR	`2`	Corey Washington	Fr
WR	`3`	Calvin Jones	So
WR	`4`	De'Andre Tamarez	Fr
RB	`5`	Jalynn Williams	Sr
WR	`6`	Terrence Horne	Sr
WR	`7`	David White Jr.	Sr
QB	`8`	Taron Dickens	Fr
QB	`9`	Cole Gonzales	So
WR	`10`	Censere Lee	So
TE	`11`	Ajay Belanger	Sr
QB	`12`	Brody Palhegyi	So
QB	`13`	Charlie Dean	Jr
WR	`14`	Santana Fleming	Fr
WR	`15`	Jai Boyd	Fr
WR	`16`	James Tyre	Fr
QB	`17`	Bennett Judy	Fr
WR	`18`	Malik Knight	Fr
WR	`19`	Zion Booker	Fr
RB	`20`	Corey Reddick Jr.	Fr
RB	`22`	Branson Adams	So
RB	`25`	Marlin Cochran	Fr
RB	`28`	Markel Townsend	Fr
RB	`34`	Quenten Zanders	Sr
TE	`39`	Brayden Blackmon	Jr
RB	`41`	Camury Reid	Fr
OL	`51`	Aaron Sanez	Fr
OL	`52`	Antwann Fann	Jr
OL	`53`	Zach Watson	Fr
OL	`60`	Therion Cannon	So
OL	`61`	Hudson Jones	Fr
OL	`62`	Peyton Davis	So
OL	`63`	Marselle Felton	Fr
OL	`64`	Tyler Bailey	Fr
OL	`65`	Blake Ellsworth	Fr
OL	`66`	Derek Simmons	Jr
OL	`67`	Steven Hamby	Fr
OL	`69`	Ashton Travis	Jr
OL	`70`	Christian Coulter	Sr
OL	`71`	Cade McClellan	Fr
OL	`72`	Blake Whitmore	Jr
OL	`73`	Xavier Graham	Jr
OL	`74`	Tyler Smith	Sr
OL	`75`	Caleb Carter	Jr
OL	`76`	Nathan Linkous	So
OL	`78`	Evan Carney	Fr
OL	`79`	Aidan Alston	Jr
WR	`80`	Rashad Davis	Fr
WR	`81`	Ca'Lique Cunningham	Fr
WR	`82`	Nate Abraham	Fr
WR	`83`	Ryan Sims	Fr
WR	`84`	Eric Rasheed	Fr
TE	`85`	David Hulbert	Fr
TE	`86`	Clayton Bardall	Sr
TE	`87`	Jake Young	Fr
WR	`88`	Patrick Boyd Jr.	Fr
RB		Brandon Benjamin	So
RB		Levi Berryhill	So
RB		Jaiden Bond	So
TE		Ty Handley	Fr
WR		Caden Robinson	Fr
WR		Cade Snotherly	Jr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DL	`0`	Bryce Wilson	Sr
S	`1`	Mateo Sudipo	Jr
CB	`2`	Rod Gattison	Sr
CB	`3`	Samaurie Dukes	So
CB	`4`	CJ Williams	Jr
LB	`5`	Hayward McQueen Jr.	So
DL	`6`	Curtis Fann Jr.	Jr
LB	`7`	Ed Jones IV	Jr
LB	`8`	Va Lealaimatafao	Sr
DE	`9`	Micah Nelson	Jr
DL	`10`	Tahjae Mullix	So
DL	`11`	Caleb Fisher	So
CB	`12`	Ken Moore Jr.	Fr
CB	`13`	Darian Anderson Jr.	Fr
S	`14`	Nick Louis	Sr
LB	`15`	Antoine Williams	Jr
CB	`16`	Jordy Lowery	Fr
DE	`17`	Malik Richardson	Jr
LB	`18`	Antarron Turner	Fr
LB	`19`	Jayelin Davis	Sr
S	`21`	Andreas Keaton	Jr
DB	`24`	Zayveon Wells	Fr
DB	`26`	Bo Simpson	Fr
LB	`27`	Skylin Thomas	Jr
DB	`29`	Devuntray Hampton	GS
DE	`30`	Kenyon Partridge	Fr
LB	`31`	Tyler Matheny	GS
DB	`32`	Trevaughn Martinez	Fr
S	`33`	Lee Campbell	So
LB	`35`	Christian Murphy	Fr
S	`36`	Ja'Morri Downing	Fr
S	`37`	Marquis Lymon	Fr
S	`38`	Jhamari Pierre-Louis	Fr
S	`40`	Cory Hennings	So
S	`42`	Jayion McMillan	Fr
DB	`43`	Walter Gibson	Jr
LB	`44`	Caleb Scott	Jr
DL	`45`	Justin Wallace	Fr
LB	`47`	Blue Monroe	Fr
LB	`50`	Jeno Junius Jr.	Fr
DL	`55`	Richard Garrett	Fr
LB	`58`	Giovanni Ricciardi	Jr
LB	`59`	Anthony Joseph	Fr
DL	`90`	Marlon Alexander	GS
DL	`91`	Jaquarius Guinn	Jr
DL	`92`	Brandon Smiley	Fr
DL	`93`	Chris Morgan	Jr
DE	`96`	Isaac McLellan	Fr
DL	`97`	Caleb Bradford	So
DL	`99`	Ronald Wilson	Jr
DL		Jackson Hensley	Fr
CB		Joshua McMullen	Fr
CB		Don Robinson III	Fr
DB		Cam Smith	Fr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K	`46`	Paxton Robertson	Jr
LS	`48`	Colby Cross	Jr
K	`49`	Corbin Shirley	Fr
K	`89`	Richard McCollum	Sr
P	`95`	Stephen Brantley	Fr
LS		Mabry Bumgarner	Fr

Head coach

Kerwin Bell

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Kade Bell – Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks
Chazmon Scales – Defensive coordinator/safeties
Chris Norris – Special teams coordinator
Rudi Small – Running backs
JJ Laster – Wide receivers
Rylan Wells – Tight ends/fullbacks
Jeremy Darveau – Offensive line
Brian Cochran – Defensive line
Cody Edwards – Linebackers
Larry Murphy – Cornerbacks

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster
Last update: January 28, 2024

Statistics

Individual leaders

More information Passing statistics, # ...

More information Rushing statistics, # ...

More information Receiving statistics, # ...

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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article 2023_Western_Carolina_Catamounts_football_team, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] [1]
"2023 Catamount Football Schedule". catamountsports.com. Retrieved March 11, 2023.

[2] [2]
"2023 Football Schedule". FBS Schedules. Retrieved March 25, 2023.

[1]

[2]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	1:00 p.m.	at Arkansas*		War Memorial Stadium Little Rock, AR	SECN+/ESPN+	L 13–56	44,397
September 9	2:30 p.m.	No. 8 Samford		Bob Waters Field at E. J. Whitmire Stadium Cullowhee, NC	ESPN+	W 30–7	12,410
September 16	6:00 p.m.	at Eastern Kentucky*		Roy Kidd Stadium Richmond, KY	ESPN+	W 27–24	13,596
September 23	2:30 p.m.	Charleston Southern*	No. 23	Bob Waters Field at E. J. Whitmire Stadium Cullowhee, NC	ESPN+	W 77–21	13,357
September 30	2:00 p.m.	at The Citadel	No. 17	Johnson Hagood Stadium Charleston, SC	ESPN+	W 49–14	12,317
October 7	4:00 p.m.	at No. 24 Chattanooga	No. 11	Finley Stadium Chattanooga, TN	ESPN+	W 52–50	8,978
October 21	2:30 p.m.	No. 4 Furman	No. 8	Bob Waters Field at E. J. Whitmire Stadium Cullowhee, NC	ESPN+	L 17–29	10,736
October 28	2:30 p.m.	Mercer	No. 10	Bob Waters Field at E. J. Whitmire Stadium Cullowhee, NC	ESPN+	L 38–45	12,154
November 4	3:00 p.m.	at Wofford	No. 16	Gibbs Stadium Spartanburg, SC	ESPN+	W 28–25	4,996
November 11	1:00 p.m.	East Tennessee State	No. 17	Bob Waters Field at E. J. Whitmire Stadium Cullowhee, NC	ESPN+	W 58–7	11,019
November 18	12:00 p.m.	at VMI	No. 14	Alumni Memorial Field Lexington, VA	ESPN+	L 24–27	5,297
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Statistics	Western Carolina	Arkansas
First downs	18	21
Plays–yards	70–291	61–379
Rushes–yards	30–64	36–105
Passing yards	227	274
Passing: comp–att–int	25–40–4	20–25–0
Turnovers	5	0
Time of possession	30:43	29:17

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Samford	7	0	0	0	7
Western Carolina	7	13	3	7	30

Statistics	SAM	WCU
First downs	15	34
Plays–yards	57–361	84–546
Rushes–yards	23–46	49–284
Passing yards	315	262
Passing: comp–att–int	21–34–0	29–35–0
Time of possession	18:51	41:09

Period	1	2	Total
Western Carolina			0
Eastern Kentucky			0

2023_Western_Carolina_Catamounts_football_team

2023 Western Carolina Catamounts football team

Schedule

Game summaries

at Arkansas

No. 8 Samford

at Eastern Kentucky

Charleston Southern

at The Citadel

at Chattanooga

Furman

Mercer

at Wofford

East Tennessee State

at VMI

Roster

Statistics

Team

Individual leaders

Defense

Special teams

References

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v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 7 Furman $^	7	–	1	10	–	3
No. 14 Chattanooga ^	6	–	2	8	–	5
No. 17 Mercer ^	6	–	2	9	–	4
No. 23 Western Carolina	5	–	3	7	–	4
Samford	4	–	4	6	–	5
VMI	4	–	4	5	–	6
East Tennessee State	2	–	6	3	–	8
Wofford	2	–	6	2	–	9
The Citadel	0	–	8	0	–	11

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Western Carolina	Passing	Cole Gonzales	9/14, 118 yards, 1 INT
	Rushing	Branson Adams	4 carries, 38 yards
	Receiving	Censere Lee	3 receptions, 41 yards
Arkansas	Passing	KJ Jefferson	18/23, 246 yards, 3 TD
	Rushing	Raheim Sanders	15 carries, 42 yards, 2 TD
	Receiving	Jaedon Wilson	3 receptions, 83 yards, 1 TD

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
No. 8 Samford	Passing	Michael Hiers	21/34, 315 yards, TD
	Rushing	Jay Stanton	7 carries, 26 yards
	Receiving	Ty King	3 receptions, 96 yards
Western Carolina	Passing	Cole Gonzales	29/35, 262 yards, 2 TD
	Rushing	Desmond Reid	27 carries, 170 yards, TD
	Receiving	AJ Colombo	5 receptions, 79 yards, TD

Passing statistics
#	NAME	POS	RAT	CMP-ATT-INT	YDS	AVG/G	CMP%	TD	LONG
		QB	0.0	0-0-0	0 yrds		0.0%	0 TDs	0
	TOTALS		0.0	0-0-0	0 yrds	0.0	0.0%	0 TDs	0

Rushing statistics
#	NAME	POS	ATT	GAIN	AVG	TD	LONG	AVG/G
		RB	0	0 yrds	0.0	0 TDs	0	0.0
	TOTALS		0	0 yrds	0.0	0 TDs	0	0.0

Defense statistics
#	NAME	POS	SOLO	AST	TOT	TFL-YDS	SACK-YDS	INT-YDS-TD	BU	QBH	RCV-YDS	FF	BLK	SAF
			0	0	0	0-0 yrds	0-0 yrds	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	TOTAL		0	0	0	0-0 yrds	0-0 yrds	0-0 yrds- 0 TDs	0	0	-	0	0	-

Kicking/off statistics
#	NAME	POS	XPM-XPA (XP%)	FGM-FGA (FG%)	1–19	20–29	30–39	40–49	50+	PTS	LNG	KICKS	YDS	AVG	TB	OB
		PK	0-0 (0.0%)	0-0 (0.0%)	-/-	-/-	-/-	-/-	-/-	0 pts	0	0	0 yrds	0.0	0	-
	TOTALS		0-0 (0.0%)	0-0 (0.0%)	-/-	-/-	-/-	-/-	-/-	0	0	0	0 yrds	0.0	0	-

Punting statistics
#	NAME	POS	PUNTS	YDS	AVG	LONG	TB	FC	I–20	50+	BLK
		P	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Team	--	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0
	TOTALS		0	0 yrds	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Kick return statistics
#	NAME	POS	RTNS	YDS	AVG	TD	LNG
			-	-	-	-	-
	TOTALS		0	0 yrds	0.0	0 TD's	0