TOWSON, Md. — The Towson Tigers are set to begin their football season tonight as they travel to Norfolk State to face the Spartans in what promises to be an exciting matchup under the lights.
The atmosphere is expected to be electric, with an anticipated crowd of 30,000 fans. For the Tigers, this season opener represents both opportunity and uncertainty as they look to make their mark against new competition.
Watch as the some of the players describe their excitement
"We're under the lights. They're talking about 30,000 people, so I'm super excited, just ready to get rolling. Really excited going to my last year, ready to wrap up with this good group,"graduate senior, Myles Brodie said.
The excitement extends beyond just the Tigers' roster. As head coach Pete Shinnick noted, there's a sense that fans across the country are eager to see fresh matchups.
"This time everybody in America is like, ok , let's see someone else. Let's go against somebody different. And with that, you know, comes a lot of excitement but also a lot of unknown," Shinnick said.
Quarterback situation remains under wraps
Part of that unknown centers around the most important position on the field: quarterback. Shinnick said he has named a starter for tonight's game but has decided to keep that information internal.
"We got two guys who played a lot of football, you know what I mean? And I mean we're probably the only FCS team that has 22 quarterbacks that have started 8+ games, you know what I mean? So then when you're starting to prepare, which guy are you preparing for? What does it look like we've had great competition, so I think it's just kind of part of the chess match," Shinnick said.
Familiar faces on opposite sidelines
Another chess match includes going up against the Spartans team whose offensive coordinator was here in Towson a season ago.
"He's gone against our defense for two years and we've gone against him, so it's kind of mutual back and forth, you know. I know he'll do a good job. I know he'll put together a really good game plan. Our defense is going to have to be on point," Shinnick said.
Veteran leadership on defense
That defense will be relying on veterans like Brodie, who has had a remarkable college football journey. Starting out as a Division 3 player, he has transformed himself into one of the top players on the Tigers.
"Just trust in the process. Just trusting trusting it is what you do. I feel like if you put in enough time and effort into things that you love, it'll all pan out in your favor," Brody said.
Tonight's game kicks off at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
