For Farmville residents and football fans in other nearby counties, Hampden-Sydney College football is the closest college football program. The program has been tremendous under head coach Marty Favret who has a 111-46 record, including numerous conference titles and NCAA playoff appearances during his 15 years at the school.

Another factor that makes the Tigers program so appealing to many local fans is the fact that the team has quite a few players on the roster that played for local high schools.

In a recent interview Favret mentioned Buckingham Knights product Cam Johnson as being an integral part of the offense this year. Johnson was a standout performer in the James River District on both sides of the ball at Buckingham. In addition to Johnson, the roster last season included other former Knights such as Austin Seay and Ryan Jones, who both have eligibility left for a return this season.

Many Buckingham and JRD fans also will recognize the name of a freshman that was among the 34-member class at H-SC this year. Kyree Koonce is among the 28 members of the incoming class who are from the state of Virginia. Koonce was a standout running back for the Knights, prior to moving to play at Monticello High School for his last season.

Fuqua School also has players who were on the roster last season and could return again this year, including Larry Haskins who was a two-way player for the Falcons. He played defensive back for the Tigers. Carter Cunningham is another Fuqua graduate that played for the Tigers. The three-way sports standout joined the Tigers at the H-back position last season.

Other area schools represented at H-SC included Wesley Spencer, who was an offensive lineman at Central Lunenburg. Wesley is a rising sophomore at H-SC.

Max Antwerpes was a senior last season, but the kicker attended both Central Lunenburg and Kenston Forest in high school after coming to Virginia as an exchange student from Germany.

Overall, the Tigers featured 86 players from Virginia last season on their roster, and with 28 of 34 in-state players in the incoming class, the Tigers will continue to have many nearby standouts available for fans to continue to follow through college.