Road to the Throne Written by: Joshua Miller | Photography by: Eric Vinson, Juston Lewis, and Beth Tate
Valdosta State’s football team finished 2018 as Division II national champions in a season that can only be recognized as the best in program history. The Blazers not only won every game, but they dominated just about every opponent that stood in their way. VSU entered the season unranked and was pegged as the fifth seed in the Gulf South Conference for the preseason polls. Even though the Blazers finished with an unflattering 5-4 record in 2017, the rankings seemed like a slight toward the program given that their 2017 campaign was handicapped. The end of 2017 was a time for the Blazers to find themselves. Quarterback Rogan Wells earned the starting spot as a freshman, and head coach Kerwin Bell decided to invest most of his recruitment in building around Wells. Bell brought in a recruiting class of freshmen and transfers that was the perfect match of speed, strength, and skill to his current roster. Another significant change was that Bell turned to his son, Kade Bell, and gave him the responsibilities of offensive coordinator after serving as the quarterbacks coach for two seasons. 40 | itgnext.com
