Clay Hendrix, Jake Garcia and a Furman Team Finding Its Identity
If you feel like you’ve seen Jake Garcia in a few different uniforms over the years, you definitelyyyyy have.
Miami. Missouri. East Carolina. Michigan. Now Furman. 🟣
The former highly touted quarterback has taken one of the more winding roads in college football, and now, in his fifth year, Garcia may have found a pretty interesting landing spot in Greenville.
FCS Nation’s Kevin Marshall caught up with Furman head coach Clay Hendrix following the Paladins’ 20-13 road win over No. 14 Mercer to talk Garcia, a Furman defense that has been getting after people and a SoCon race that already looks like it could get weird.
My favorite part? Coach Hendrix: "It's great to hear a good familiar voice from the south." 🔥
The Jake Garcia Tour Lands at Furman
Garcia’s college football journey started at Miami in 2021. He appeared in nine games across two seasons with the Hurricanes before spending 2023 at Missouri. Then came East Carolina, where he finally got an opportunity, throwing for 1,426 yards and eight touchdowns while adding two more scores on the ground in 2024.
Michigan was next in 2025, where Garcia appeared in one game. Then came the purple guys.
Through three games in 2026, Garcia has thrown for 377 yards and a touchdown while adding 81 rushing yards. The raw numbers don’t jump off the page yet, but Hendrix sees something more important happening: progress.
“I think Jake, our quarterback, is getting a little better each week,” Hendrix told Marshall.
And Garcia’s mobility matters to what Hendrix wants Furman’s offense to become. After spending the last couple of seasons operating more as a drop-back passing team, Hendrix wants an offense capable of making defenses account for the entire field. We saw this with Tyler Huff. Garcia gives them a chance to get back to that kind of style on offense.
Furman Has More Than a Quarterback
The Paladins are 2-1, with wins over Anderson and Mercer sandwiched around a trip to Tennessee.
And there are already some names worth knowing.
Ben Croasdale leads Furman with 148 rushing yards and three touchdowns on just 19 carries, while CJ Nettles has added 131 yards at 6.6 yards per carry. Daniel Haughton has emerged as Garcia’s top target, highlighted by eight catches for 103 yards and a touchdown against Mercer.
But Furman’s defense stole the show in Macon.
Caleb Easterling picked off two passes, Trevor Short recorded two sacks and Joshua Stoneking finished with nine tackles as the Paladins forced four turnovers in the 20-13 win. That’s the side of the ball Hendrix feels best about right now.
“We’ve played well all year,” he said of the defense. “They’ve just been really solid.”
Now It Gets Interesting
There isn’t much time for Furman to enjoy the Mercer win.
No. 16 South Carolina State comes to Paladin Stadium next, a matchup Hendrix has wanted back on Furman’s schedule for years. From there, the Paladins travel to Richmond before diving deeper into a SoCon schedule that includes Tennessee Tech, Western Carolina, ETSU, Wofford, The Citadel, Chattanooga and VMI.
That Tennessee Tech game suddenly carries some extra juice, too. The Golden Eagles are new to the SoCon, and Hendrix told Kevin they’re almost unrecognizable from the Tennessee Tech teams Furman faced earlier this decade.
In other words: welcome to the SoCon. Good luck figuring it out.
Hendrix also talked about Furman’s Caleb Ellison, who is representing the Paladins in FCS Nation’s partnership with Northwestern Mutual and Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. The redshirt freshman earned a starting role after what Hendrix described as one of the best offseasons of anyone in the program.
Three games in, Furman is hardly a finished product.
Hendrix knows that. Garcia is still settling in. The offense is still finding its ceiling. And nobody has much of a clue yet how the SoCon pecking order will ultimately shake out.
But after walking into Mercer and leaving with a ranked road win, the Paladins have our attention.
And after Miami, Missouri, East Carolina and Michigan, Jake Garcia’s latest stop might be one of his most interesting yet.
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