SFA to Host Fourth Annual Graylan Spring Game on April 26

Charles Demmings, 6-foot-1 and 191 pounds with 35 career passes defended, worked out at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis in February as the No. 3 FCS prospect in the 2026 draft. His departure from SFA is the biggest positional story heading into the fourth annual Graylan Spring Game on April 26 at Homer Bryce Stadium, where the Lumberjacks open spring practice's final chapter at 2:00 p.m., gates at 1:00 p.m., with free admission and parking in Hall 20, the commuter lot and along Hayter Street.

Head coach Colby Carthel, entering his eighth season, offered the sharpest summary of where his roster stands: "We return all but really one starter this spring." That one is Demmings, who leaves behind the program's all-time record in passes defended and a corner one vacancy that is the marquee competition at this year's spring finale. If Demmings becomes the first SFA defensive back drafted since Terrance Shaw in 1995, the race to replace him gets written into SFA history alongside him.

The backdrop to all of it is the most accomplished SFA season in three decades. The Lumberjacks went 11-0 in Southland Conference play in 2025, the program's first perfect conference record in 99 seasons, won the conference title, and made their ninth FCS postseason appearance. Their 11 total wins were the most since 1995. SFA led all Southland programs with 15 All-Conference selections, nine of them first-team.

Against that standard, three position battles carry the most weight April 26.

The first is the quarterback depth chart. Sam Vidlak threw for more than 2,300 yards in 2025 and enters the spring as the established starter. Backup Gavin Rutherford contributed touchdown runs and touchdown passes during the championship run, but Carthel noted that the transfer portal also added "a few guys to the mix offensively." The spring game will draw the earliest legible line between Rutherford and any portal challenger for the No. 2 role.

The second is perimeter receiver depth. Kylon Harris caught multiple touchdown passes from Vidlak in the Southland campaign, Isaiah Davis hauled in two scoring strikes in SFA's 50-3 rout of Houston Christian, and Bugs Mortimer supplied a 66-yard punt return touchdown that illustrated what SFA's skill position talent can do in space. Whether that depth extends into a third reliable option is the question the receiving corps needs to answer.

The third is the front seven, where outside linebacker Aaron Austin brings a pass-rush profile that bears watching for pro evaluators. Austin totaled 9 tackles for loss and 11 quarterback hurries in the 2024 season, and defensive tackle Edward Bobino III, a 6-foot-2, 340-pound three-time All-Conference anchor, rounds out a defensive interior that has been the identity of Carthel's program. The question for 2026 is whether the unit sustains that production with a full year of Southland film on its tendencies.

The spring game itself is named for Graylan Spring, the former Lumberjack who died in an automobile crash in January 2023. Now in its fourth year, the event has settled into its role as the ceremonial close of spring practice and the first public snapshot of a program entering its 100th season of football. For a team that has not won 11 regular-season games since Bill Clinton's first term, the questions being answered on April 26 carry genuine weight.