BOWLING GREEN — Here’s a quick trivia question: Who is the only Bowling Green football player with both a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown in 2022?
The answer might surprise you.
It’s not sophomore running back Ta’Ron Keith, the Falcons’ second-leading rusher and third-leading receiver this season (as well as the recipient of senior quarterback Matt McDonald’s walk-off touchdown pass in the Marshall game). Nor is it senior wide receiver Odieu Hilaire, a versatile downfield talent who has seen action on sweep plays in the opening weeks.
The honor belongs to freshman tight end Harold Fannin, Jr. In addition to the receiving touchdown he scored against Mississippi State, he took his only carry of the season one yard for a score against the Thundering Herd.
“I feel blessed,” Fannin said. “I never thought my freshman year I’d be playing.”
Head coach Scot Loeffler said Fannin blended in with all the Southeastern Conference talent on the field.
“If you watched him, at least on TV, he looked exactly like he fit in, in terms of people were bouncing off him left and right,” Loeffler said. “He's just a strong, powerful guy. I don't think he even knows how much talent that he has. I think he could be really special.”
Against Mississippi State, Bowling Green’s freshmen began to pay dividends in a big way.
Fannin led the Falcons in catches with five and receiving yards with 49. Inside linebacker Joseph Sipp, Jr., recorded three total tackles. And most intriguingly for an unsettled running back room, freshman Jaylen Jennings carried the ball six times for a team-leading 28 yards.
“I felt confident,” Jennings said. “It was just excitement running through my body — excitement for more carries.”
All of Jennings’s attempts came in the fourth quarter, when the game was well in hand. When Bowling Green took over on its 20-yard line with 6:23 to play, junior quarterback Camden Orth handed the ball off to Jennings on four consecutive plays. He gained four, eight, and eight yards, before being stopped for no gain on his penultimate attempt of the contest.
Jennings and Sipp were among 10 three-star recruits signed by the Falcons this offseason.
“My adjustment has been pretty good,” Jennings said. “It’s definitely faster than high school football. I’ve got confident over time, and my coach, [running backs] coach Brian White, has definitely prepared me well.”
Sipp has left his fingerprints all over Bowling Green’s defense this season.
The Tampa native racked up 10 tackles in his collegiate debut against UCLA -— the only true freshman nationally to reach that number in the season’s opening week.
“The biggest challenge was learning the calls. It was a lot to take in,” Sipp said. “But our defense is not that hard. ... I just needed to get the calls and player personnels down and become a student of the game.”
Sipp credited several of the Falcons’ defensive veterans, including junior linebacker JB Brown and senior linebacker Darren Anders, for their mentorship as Bowling Green has navigated a rocky, unconventional opening stretch.
“They brought me in with open arms and taught me everything — square one from the base personnel to other stuff,” Sipp said. “I want to shout out them because they were a huge factor.”
Fannin expressed similar gratitude to those around him — particularly for their assistance on his first career receiving touchdown. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Orth found Fannin in the end zone to give the Falcons a touchdown that made it a 38-14 ballgame.
“Guys are telling me to go slow, not too fast,” Fannin said. “I was pretty excited, because I knew it was going to work.”
First Published September 30, 2022, 7:15 p.m.
