Friday Features: Dickey says UWG football 'right on schedule'
By Mike Perrin
The University of
West Georgia Wolves’ remarkable run in the NCAA Division II playoffs may have been a surprise to almost everyone not on the UWG campus, but junior quarterback
Dallas Dickey believes his team is right on track.
The Wolves won three straight road playoff games as the No. 6 seed to claim the Super Region 2 title, but fell 10-7 at Colorado State-Pueblo last week one victory away from the national championship game. It was West Georgia’s first trip to the national semifinals.
“I feel like we’re right on schedule about where we are trying to take this program,” Dickey said of the 12-3 Wolves after their first season under coach Will Hall. “This first year, no doubt people thought would be a successful season, but no one thought we would make it this far.”
West Georgia finished tied for third in the Gulf South Conference with a 9-2 record and avenged one league setback by beating Valdosta in the playoff quarterfinals. The Wolves topped three higher seeds on the way to the semifinals, beating No. 3 Tuskegee, No. 2 Delta State and No. 5 Valdosta State.
“As the season progressed, the players, along with the coaches, realized we’ve got something special going here and we believed in that and rode that train as long as we could,” Dickey said. “We came up shorter than we wanted, but these seniors laid a great foundation for this program and made this university known nationwide, so it’s up to us to continue the trend and get us back where we belong in the playoffs.”
With Dickey under center, accounting for 1,982 yards passing and 453 on the ground, the Wolves doubled their win total from a year ago. The 2013 season was the last for Daryl Dickey – Dallas’ father – at the helm as both head football coach and athletics director. Transitioning to a new coach was difficult at first, the quarterback said. “It was a great experience to play for my dad,” Dallas said, “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and something I will remember the rest of my life. At first, I was hesitant (when he gave up his coaching duties), because much of my decision to come here was based off of that. Once I took a step back, I realized he would still be heavily involved with the program. It helps our university tremendously to have a full-time AD as well as a full-time football coach.”
Dickey, who said he always got a little extra coaching at home from his dad (a former University of Tennessee quarterback), is happy to learn under the 2003 Harlon Hill Trophy-winning QB at North Alabama. “Me and Coach Hall have a great relationship,” Dickey said. “We have been on the same page since Day One about what he was trying to build here. Along the way, he has taught me a lot about the game of football, specifically about the quarterback position and how he likes it played in his offense.”
Dickey and his teammates taught the rest of the GSC – and the country – that West Georgia will be a program to be reckoned with in the years to come.
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12/05/2014 - UWA Coach Ray Stanfield Pushes Cross Country Teams to Top.
12/12/2014 - CBU Men's Basketball Making Noise.