Nov. 10, 2005

Charleston, SC - Shawn Grant hobbled in with a walking boot on his right foot, protecting the case of turf toe he picked up last week at Chattanooga.

"Negatory," The Citadel's senior linebacker said emphatically when asked if the turf toe would keep him out of his final home football game as a Bulldog. "I will not miss my final home game."

Turf toe might be the least of the trials and tribulations endured by The Citadel's seniors, 14 of whom will play for the last time in Johnson Hagood Stadium on Saturday against Elon.

Of the 14 players, 10 were in the 31-member signing class of 2002. Since that 2002 season, those players have been through three head coaches, 22 assistant coaches and 29 losses.

Numbers alone won't tell their story.

"It's hard on the players," said senior safety Avery Dingle. "You don't have a steady foundation each year, like the Georgia Southerns and Furmans have. You have to rebuild each year, and you never know what the new coach is going to change, what position group you are going to be in, how the players are going to change, what practice is going to be like."

The players signed in 2002 were recruited by Ellis Johnson. He handed them off to John Zernhelt last year, and current coach Kevin Higgins came aboard after Zernhelt bolted for the NFL after one season.

"It's been difficult," said senior center Dusty Benefield. "You can't make up any excuses for why we have not done well. But this is the first year I've had the same position coach two years in a row. It probably has hurt us in recruiting, too. "But I think this team has kept its focus. That period when we were waiting for Coach Higgins to come, that was a tough time. But I think this team has done really well considering the situations we've had to go through."

On Wednesday, Dingle thumbed through a 2002 media guide listing his recruiting class. Of the 31 players signed that year, 15 are no longer on the team.

"It's shocking," Dingle said. "You remember the good times with all the guys you came in with, not the bad times. The guys that are still here, we toughed it out. We stayed together through all the adversity. It's like everybody preaches about this school, it brings out your relationships with people. When you go through tough times together, you have people you can fall back on in times of need."

Said senior defensive tackle Fred Townsend, "I'm proud of the guys who stuck it out. I think they are special guys. We formed a bond together, we stayed together and we will always fight for each other. We love each other."

Despite the Bulldogs 2-7 record, Higgins said the seniors made their third coaching change as smooth as was possible this season.

"There is no doubt about the leadership and commitment of those guys," Higgins said. "It's so hard for people outside to understand what they've been through. You are a player and you've got one coaching talking to you for a year, then another coach comes in and then another.

"It's incredible what the kids go through in terms of building stability.

"You look at Furman, where the same coaches have been lining up year after year, or Georgia Southern or Wofford. That's why programs are successful. I mean, Knute Rockne doesn't just show up and all of the sudden everything changes. It takes years and years."

For the seniors, those years have dwindled to one last home game.

"It would mean everything to win," Dingle said. "To see all the smiles on the faces, to jump around in the locker room one more time and remember all the times we won. It would be wonderful."