Aug. 30—A familiar figure will be at the helm of Cumberland's offense at 1 p.m. today when the Phoenix open the 2024 football season at Missouri Baptist in St. Louis.

Junior Luke Holloway won the preseason battle to retain his job of two years as Cumberland's starting quarterback as Coach Tim Mathis and Offensive Coordinator Bobby Brown opened the position. He fended off challenges from former Lebanon High star Jaylen Abston, who transferred from Murray State, and last year's backup Zach Holdsclaw.

"(Holloway's) done really, really well and he stepped up to it," Mathis said Wednesday. "It was an open competition and he stepped up to it and won the position.

"We got two very, very capable guys behind him, that's for sure... There's going to be times the other guys are going to have to play."

Missouri Baptist, of the Heart of the Midwest Athletic Conference, went 2-8 last season. But the Spartans have a majority of their players returning and both coordinators. Cumberland is coming off a 5-5 campaign. Each team swapped three game videos from last season.

"It ought to be a good first test for us," Mathis said. "On defense, they're similar to our defense. They run a 4-2-5 defense. They don't have great athletes in the secondary so they play zone coverage. They do have one very good defensive back (and) they play man with him and kind of play zone with everybody else. Offensively, they're similar to us in that they're a spread RPO team.

"Obviously, we're going to have some wrinkles and they're probably going to have some wrinkles that we've never seen, so it is kind of up in the air. Both teams really don't know what's going on. But both teams have both coordinators coming back, so a lot shouldn't change."

Asked if the Phoenix have arrived at Week 1 healthy, Mathis said, "For the most part.

"We got some guys that are banged up that we might not have. The one thing that has helped us this year is our depth... We're not going to have as much rotation as we would if everybody was healthy. But we've got some guys who are going be out a week or two with muscle injuries and shoulder injuries. They're not season-ending. They're in the rehab process. They just won't be ready for Week 1. It hurts our depth a little bit but we have guys in there we're very, very comfortable with."