{"id":11031,"date":"2018-08-30T16:39:46","date_gmt":"2018-08-30T22:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/?p=11031"},"modified":"2018-08-30T21:59:26","modified_gmt":"2018-08-31T03:59:26","slug":"paden-set-to-lead-bisons-offense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/2018\/08\/30\/paden-set-to-lead-bisons-offense\/","title":{"rendered":"Paden set to lead Bisons offense"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harding football<\/a> enters the 2018 season looking to build off of a deep playoff run a year ago. The Bisons finished last year with a record of 11-4 and made the school\u2019s first-ever appearance in the national semifinals.
\nSophomore quarterback Preston Paden will lead the offense after spending his Freshman season on the sidelines behind last year\u2019s starter, junior quarterback Terrence Dingle. Paden takes on the job with less experience than the Bisons\u2019 quarterbacks have had in the last two seasons. In 2016, senior quarterback Park Parish led the Bisons into the playoffs, and last season, Dingle took them to the national semifinals.
\nParish and Dingle each came into those seasons with previous starting experience at the collegiate level. Parish started in the 2015 season, and Dingle got considerable playing time while Parish dealt with injuries in 2016.
\nPaden has started only one game, but it came in the biggest game of the year, when he was forced to start in the semifinals after Dingle was suspended.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s not a game that\u2019s too big, I feel like,\u201d Paden said. \u201cHaving that one big game under my belt really helps a lot.\u201d
\nHis coaches agree. Chris Hill, Harding\u2019s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, has worked with Paden throughout fall camp to prepare for the season.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s done all the things he needs to to put him in a position to be our starting quarterback,\u201d Hill said.
\nOn the other side of the ball, another player is continuing his role as a quarterback of the defense. Senior middle linebacker Sam Blankenship was named an All-American a season ago. As he prepares to enter his senior year, he sees that a lot about his game has changed.
\n\u201cI think the biggest thing is the experience I have,\u201d Blankenship said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of confidence knowing that I\u2019ve been out there before. I\u2019ve played the snaps. I\u2019ve seen everything.\u201d
\nThat includes leading the defense to the semifinals a year ago. But, while he has assumed the role of leader, Sam says he remembers the day when he first stepped foot on campus.
\n\u201cWhen I was a freshman I came in wide-eyed, looking at the leaders, and now, obviously, I\u2019m that guy that everyone is looking to,\u201d Blankenship said.
\nPaden has certainly been watching Blankenship, both across the line of scrimmage and off the field.
\n\u201cGuys like [senior center] Brice Bray, the Pledger twins, Sam [Blankenship] . . . guys like that really just pave the way for us younger guys to know how to act and how to play,\u201d Paden said.
\nBlankenship is also looking across the field at his new opponent each day in practice.
\n\u201cPreston\u2019s been killing it,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s obviously a new face, but he\u2019s been killing it.\u201d
\nBoth Paden and Blankenship will have to use their respective youth and experience if they hope to reach the team\u2019s goals.
\n\u201cThe big overall goal is rings,\u201d Blankenship said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at a conference championship ring. That\u2019s our first goal, and then obviously a national championship ring.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harding football enters the 2018 season looking to build off of a deep playoff run a year ago. The Bisons finished last year with a record of 11-4 and made…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15110,"featured_media":11033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[149,154,164],"class_list":["post-11031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-bisons","tag-harding-university-football","tag-preston-paden"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}