Wait, what?
Harris Roberts graduated from Furman with a bachelor’s degree in pre-engineering while also competing to be the Paladins’ starting quarterback. The FCS school, however, does not offer the engineering degree the player wants, so Roberts, the Greenville News writes, “is enrolled in a cooperative educational exchange program” at Clemson which allows students like Roberts “to play at one school while pursuing their desired degree at another.”
In his case, Roberts is pursuing a second bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.
So, Roberts is a student at Clemson while also playing quarterback for the Furman football team. The kicker? Furman opens the 2018 college football season Sept. 1 with a road game against... Clemson.
From the News:Roberts said Clemson students and professors are initially stunned when they discover why he wears a slightly different shade of purple.
“Once they figure out that I play football at Furman, they’re kind of shell-shocked,” Roberts said. “They just kind of think it’s funny that they’re going to class with someone who is going to play against them.
Clemson and Furman, separated by 30 miles or so, have met 56 times previously in football. It’s believed this will mark the first time ever that a Furman player has played against the Tigers while attending Clemson as a student.
Last season as the primary backup to starter PJ Blazejowski, Roberts completed nine of 13 passes for 110 yards. He also carried the ball 5 times for another 71 yards, with a long of 44.
With Blazejowski having moved on due to expired eligibility, Roberts, elected as a team captain earlier on in summer camp, is in a fight with redshirt freshman JeMar Lincoln for the starting job. When he’s not traveling back and forth to Furman’s season-opening opponent’s campus, of course.
The Tigers, incidentally, hold a 42-10-4 edge in the all-time series, including wins in each of the last 30 games played. The Paladins last win came way back in 1936, which was followed by a 0-0 tie the following year that served as Furman’s last non-loss before Clemson’s current 30-game winning streak kicked in.