Oct. 10, 2002

Charleston, SC - Coach Paul Hamilton's vision of an all-Lowcountry backfield at East Tennessee State - quarterback Dashannon Gamble, fullback Nick Spearman and tailback Gaven Varner - hasn't quite worked out this season, for various reasons.

But the Buccaneeers still will bring a strong Lowcountry flavor with them when they come to The Citadel Saturday. East Tennessee State has 10 players from the Lowcountry on its football roster - more than The Citadel's nine - and 17 players from South Carolina.

The reason is simple - Hamilton, himself a 1977 graduate of the old Fort Johnson High School on James Island and a former Citadel assistant, has and maintains strong ties to the Lowcountry. His brother, Fred, coaches Battery Creek High near Beaufort; his father, Rusty, is a longtime veteran of high school coaching in the Lowcountry. And Hamilton's assistant head coach, Jeff Bleamer, was The Citadel's offensive line coach from 1987-96, including the Bulldogs' glory days of the Charlie Taaffe era.

"We've been able to recruit a lot of good players from the Lowcountry," Hamilton said this week. "They've been a big part of our program."

Prior to the season, Hamilton envisioned a backfield of former Stratford High teammates Gamble at QB and Varner at tailback, with ex-Summerville standout Spearman at fullback.

The Bucs had a revolving door at quarterback while losing two of their three games, with Gamble sharing time with Jatavis Sanders and Jason Davis, transfers from North Carolina State and Virginia Tech, respectively. The job eventually went to Sanders, and ETSU has managed to win two of its last three games with the senior at quarterback.

"It was crazy at quarterback there for a while," said Hamilton, who has coached quarterbacks at Wofford, Air Force and ETSU. "But we felt like Jatavis had the experience and maturity, and that was the deciding factor for us."

But that doesn't mean that Gamble, a 6-0, 215-pounder who was the quarterback on Stratford's 15-0 state championship team in 1999, won't be on the field Saturday against The Citadel. He has played as a slot receiver in the Bucs' last two games, though he's yet to catch a pass.

"We still feel like Dashannon is going to be a good quarterback for us," Hamilton said. "He'd been out of football for a year before this season, and had not played for us before. We're trying to get him on the field in several ways; he's too good of an athlete to stand on the bench and watch."

Gamble is still listed as a backup QB and could well be the starter next year, after Sanders is gone.

"You worry a little about playing him at another position," Hamilton said, "because he is still one of our quarterbacks. But he and I talked, and he's such a good athlete and a dogged competitor that he wants to play. We've got to get him out there on the field."

Hamilton feels the same way about Varner, the 6-2, 215-pound junior from Stratford and Georgia Military College who is the Bucs' leading rusher with 188 yards in four games. Varner ran for 128 yards and three touchdowns in a 35-21 win over VMI Sept. 21, but pulled a hamstring in that game. He dinged an ankle the next week at Western Carolina and has been hampered since then.

"Gaven can really be an impact player in this program," Hamilton said. "We've just got to get him healthy. When he's at full strength, he makes us a different kind of football team."

Spearman - who also played quarterback on a 15-0 state championship team, at Summerville in 1998 - moved to fullback at ETSU. He suffered a slight concussion against Western Carolina and missed last week's 29-10 loss to App State, but should return this week.

Perhaps the biggest success story among Lowcountry players at ETSU this season has been junior free safety Montreal Harkley from Hanahan High School.

Harkley has three interceptions this season, and was named Southern Conference defensive player of the week with seven tackles and two interceptions in the win over VMI.

"Montreal has become an outstanding leader on this team," Hamilton said of the 6-3, 195-pound Harkley, who won a national player of the week award last season. "He's one of the better safeties in the conference and has developed into one of our best football players.

"He's a tall, physical kid who makes plays in the run game and is real sound in breaking on the ball in the secondary."

In the Bucs' freshman class this season are receiver Stanton Yarborough from Fort Dorchester and Frank Green from Berkeley.