The Emergence of Dwight Dasher

From Sidelines, 10/01/07

Folkston, Ga is home to Charlton County High School, winner of the last three AA state football championships. With a town of 2,178 and a tradition that goes beyond the three titles won, it is safe to say the town shuts down every Friday night in the fall. The quarterback for the Indians before this year was Dwight Dasher, a town favorite who led his team to a 42-2-1 record while he was the starter. His winning ways led him to receive interest from Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia. Eventually, Dasher chose Middle Tennessee and arrived on campus this past August.

The majority of the conversation surrounding Dasher involved how set the Blue Raiders were at quarterback for the future. With redshirt junior Joe Craddock getting his first opportunity to start for the Blue Raiders after sitting behind Clint Marks, the thought around the MT fan base was that Dasher would start after Craddock had graduated. Craddock started the season completing 20 of 32 passes for 190 yards against Florida Atlantic. It seemed as though the Blue Raiders could not find rhythm until the fourth quarter, when Craddock threw for his first touchdown of the season.

The next week, Craddock exploded against the University of Louisville to the tune of 290 passing yards and 51 rushing yards. While Craddock's season was flourishing, Dasher was quietly placed on the depth chart as the second string quarterback.

Against Louisiana State University, Dasher played the majority of the fourth quarter, well after the game was out of reach for MT. Fans from LSU were impressed with not only the fight of the Blue Raiders but also the talent of Dasher and other new recruits to the Blue Raider squad.

The game against Western Kentucky took place on a Thursday, just five days after taking on LSU in Baton Rouge and the fifth game in a 20-day span. This was expected to be the coming-out party of offensive coordinator G.A. Mangus' offense with Joe Craddock at the helm, but instead it was announced that Dasher would be receiving his first start of his young career. Assumptions were abundant as fans were trying to figure out if Craddock had lost his job to the hotshot freshman or whether or not he was being punished. Only members of the media in attendance knew of Craddock's back injury that still has him on the sideline as of press time.

In front of the fifth-largest crowd to ever see the Blue Raiders in Floyd Stadium, head coach Rick Stockstill and Mangus were forced to show off a vanilla version of the offense that was seen against Louisville just two weeks earlier. The final result against Western Kentucky was a last-second missed field goal and a three-point loss, the fourth of the season. Dasher's final drive showed promise. He ran a draw through the middle of the Hilltopper defense, threw two passes, and scrambled away from a sack before setting his team up for the eventual missed field goal.

A day later, it was announced that Dasher would again be the starter, this time against Florida International. While there were not as many fans to see the Blue Raiders face off against FIU, it did not kill the excitement directed towards Dasher. In the first half alone Dasher helped his offense score 47 points, the second-most ever scored in a half since MT turned I-A in 1999. Dasher was apart of five touchdowns which is the most by a player at Middle Tennessee since Josh Harris had five in 2003 against Louisiana - Lafayette in overtime.

With Virginia coming to Floyd Stadium on Saturday, expectations are high for Dasher. If his past is any indication of his future, the Dwight Dasher era will bring unprecedented success to Rick Stockstill and the Blue Raiders.