Concord Opens Cody Edwards' Era Against Regional Rival UVa.-Wise

Concord Stats - UVa.-Wise Stats - Live Stats - Live Video ($) - Tickets - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University football team opens the 2025 season at UVa.-Wise 6:00 p.m. Saturday when they face the Cavaliers in a non-conference matchup at Carl Smith Stadium in Wise, Virginia.

LIVE COVERAGE
The UVa.-Wise Sports Information Department will provide live statistics and live video of the game. The South Atlantic Conference uses FloSports for video streaming which requires a subscription

Live Stats
Live Video

Tickets are available electronically as well as at the gate on game day. Mobile tickets are $16 and can be purchased through this link. Day-of-game sales at the ticket gate are $20. 

SERIES HISTORY: Concord leads 6-5

Last Five Meetings vs. UVa.-Wise
September 14, 2024: UVa.-Wise 28 - Concord 0 (Athens, Va.)
September 15, 2018: UVa.-Wise 35 - Concord 20 (Wise, Va.)
September 14, 2017: Concord 7 - UVa.-Wise 0 (Athens, W.Va.)
October 6, 2016: UVa.-Wise 30 - Concord 19 (Wise, Va.)
October 10, 2015: Concord 63 - UVa.-Wise 21 (Athens, W.Va.)

Concord at a Glance
Overall Record: 1-10
MEC Record: 1-9
Home Record: 0-6
Away Record: 1-4
Last Five: 1-4
MEC Rank: Ninth

UVa.-Wise at a Glance
Overall Record: 4-6
SAC Record: 2-5
Home Record: 2-3
Away Record: 2-3
Last Five: 2-3
SAC Rank: Fourth in Mountain Division

TALE OF THE TAPE: Concord vs. UVa.-Wise

Concord	Statistical Category	UVa.-Wise
1	Wins	4
15.9	Points/Game	18.5
38.4	Opp Points/Game	31.8
89.7	Rushing/Game	99.3
215.6	Passing/Game	209.1
205.3	Opp Rushing/Game	211.1
227.8	Opp Passing/Game	224.0
305.4	Yards/Game	308.4
433.1	Opp Yards/Game	435.0
101.0	Penalty Yards/Game	50.8
23.4	Third Down Pct.	37.8
16	Takeaways	11
11	Sacks	12

* Stats reflect 2024 final numbers

Concord Leaders
Passing Yards: Kameron Howard (1,259), Tristan Gabrels (192)
Passing Touchdowns: Kameron Howard (7)
Receptions: Zion Odoms (12)
Receiving Yards: Zion Odoms (200)
Receiving Touchdowns: Zion Odoms (3)
Tackles: Nehemiah Scott (59), Jaylen Dollar (49), Xavier Ellison (26), Elijah Copes (20)
Tackles for Loss: Nehemiah Scott (4.5), Xavier Ellison (3.5)
Sacks: Xavier Ellison (1.5), Chris Williams (1.5), Jaylen Dollar (1.0)
Pass Break-Ups: Nehemiah Scott (7), Elijah Copes (3)

UVa.-Wise Leaders
Passing Yards: Jake Corkren (1,154)
Passing Touchdowns: Jake Corkren (8)
Rushing Yards: Ian Scammell (422)
Rushing Touchdowns: Ian Scammell (4)
Receptions: Seth Fischbach (45), DJ Powell (34)
Receiving Yards: Seth Fischbach (514), DJ Powell (422)
Receiving Touchdowns: Seth Fischbach (3)
Tackles: Ken Hines (68), Matt Strong (46), Jimmie Simmons (39), Kenneth Long (35), Emmanuel Scott (35)
Tackles for Loss: Kenneth Long (8.5), Jimmie Simmons (5.0) Emmanuel Scott (4.5), Raphaael Mayes (4.0)
Sacks: Kenneth Long (2.0), Raphaael Mayes (2.0), Jimmie Simmons (2.0), Emmaneul Scott (2.0)
Pass Break-Ups: Ken Hines (2)

FRESH START
After consecutive 1-10 seasons, Cody Edwards was hired in January in to rebuild the Mountain Lion football program—that owns 14 conference championships in program history. With Edwards having a defensive background, the first-year head coach hired former West Virginia Wesleyan offensive coordinator Justin Zimmerman to run that side of the ball. Joining Edwards from Western Carolina—where he was the linebackers coach and special teams coordinator—is CU defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator Dante Johnson and Mountain Lions' defensive backs coach DeAirus Whitney. Peyton Cox will coach CU's offensive line, rounding out the full-time staff members. Zimmerman is tasked with restarting a Concord offense that does not return any of its top three rushers from last year, and only one starting offensive linemen, junior Aidan Parsons. Quarterbacks Tristan Gabrels and Kameron Howard combined for eight touchdowns last year.

REBUILD THE D
While the Concord defense was not nearly as decimated by departure as the offense, Edwards and his staff look to improve a unit that gave up 38 points per game last year, and registered just 11 sacks and 16 takeaways. Junior defensive back Nehemiah Scott piled up 59 tackles last year which is good enough for third most in the Mountain East Conference among returning defenders. He added a team-best seven pass break-up. Scott started all 11 games in his first year in the Maroon and Gray in 2024. Graduate defensive lineman Jaylen Dollar racked up 49 stops last fall as he played in nine games. Junior defensive back Elijah Copes gives CU some needed experience in the secondary along with Scott as he has appeared in 19 career games. And junior linebacker Brodee Rice has played in 22 career games at Concord, rolling up nearly 90 career tackles.

LINK TO LIMESTONE
With the closure of Division II school Limestone University in Gaffney, South Carolina, Concord was able to reshape its roster with 14 transfers from the former South Atlantic Conference school—the same league that UVa.-Wise currently resides. Of the 14 transfers, nine are projected to see playing time this weekend. Sophomore wide receiver Que Moore is listed as the starting Z wide receiver. Defensively, seven players of the 22 on the CU two deep are Limestone transfers. Sophomore Jayden McCurdy and senior Ethan Rennels are listed as the two starting defensive tackles. Rennels had 26 tackles a season ago for the Saints. Junior linebacker Jonathan Williams, who played in five games last year for Limestone, is projected man in the middle of the Concord defense. And senior defensive back Stanley Horn Jr. is listed as one of two starting cornerbacks.

CARRIERS NEEDED
Of the 986 yards that the Mountain Lions rushed for last season, only 48 of those yards return to this year's roster. Edwards and staff brought in two Division II transfers at running back—graduate student Rashad Luckey-Dowdy (Erskine College) and junior Israel Rhodes (Benedict College). Junior running back Maurice Jones was at CU for spring drills after transferring from Garden City Community College. Luckey-Dowdy ran for 350 yards and three touchdowns last year at Erskine. In his time with the Fleet, Luckey-Dowdy scored nine touchdowns. Rhodes' best season at Benedict came in 2023 when he carried the ball for 179 yards and two scores. Rhodes (22) and Luckey-Dowdy (20) have combined to play in 42 career games.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
As Concord and UVa.-Wise get set to meet for the 12^th time on the gridiron, the Mountain Lions seek to ground a Cavaliers' passing game that was hot in UVa.-Wise's 28-0 win in Athens a season ago. Incumbent starting quarterback Jake Corkren completed 27 passes for 276 yards and three touchdowns at Callaghan Stadium last September. Seven different receivers caught passes from Corkren against Concord, including Seth Fischbach reeling in five catches for 64 yards and a touchdown. Defensively for CU, Scott tallied 11 tackles (eight solo) while adding a pass break-up. Dollar threw in five tackles in the contest. The 276 passing yards were the third most surrendered by the Maroon and Gray in 2024—for a pass defense that finished fifth in the MEC in yards allowed.

A HOMECOMING
When Coach Edwards leads the Mountain Lions on the turf of Carl Smith Stadium Saturday evening, he will be doing so at his alma mater. Edwards is a 2010 graduate of UVa.-Wise where he was a wide receiver on the football team. The Haysi, Virginia native grew up 38 miles away from the Wise, Virginia campus. During Edwards' time at UVa.-Wise, the Cavaliers were an NAIA program. Though not as a head coach, Edwards has faced his alma twice in his coaching career. When Edwards was the defensive coordinator at Tusculum, TU came away with two wins, 21-19 in 2019, and 37-21 in 2021.

REGIONAL RIVALRY
The all-time series between Concord and UVa.-Wise has gone back-and-forth over the brief 11-game history. For the schools separated by 114 miles, the Mountain Lions hold a 6-5 edge. The series dates back to 1998. After the schools split the first four meetings, CU won the next three. UVa.-Wise enters Saturday having won three of the last four games. Concord has not won in Wise County since a 30-13 win in 2014. UVa.-Wise has picked up home wins over the Mountain Lions, 30-19 (2016) and 35-20 (2018), in recent series history. When both schools were in the MEC (2013-18), Concord was 4-2 against the Cavaliers with an average margin of victory of 26 points per game.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
11- Years since Concord won at UVa.-Wise.

18- Career starts by Parsons which is the active career lead at Concord

200- Both Concord and UVa.-Wise averaged over 200 passing yards per game last year.

SCOUTING THE CAVALIERS
UVa.-Wise returns seven of its top nine tacklers from a season ago. The Cavaliers surrendered just under 32 points per game. Ken Hines led UVa.-Wise with 68 tackles a season ago. Corkren has his top two targets back in Fischbach and DJ Powell. The pair combined to haul in 89 receptions for just under 1,000 yards. Gary Bass, the second-year head coach at UVa.-Wise, went 4-6 in his first season as the Cavaliers were 3-1 in one-score games. One of UVa.-Wise losses was to Division I East Tennessee State. The Cavaliers also had a game against Newberry cancelled due to Hurricane Helene last September.