By: Colby Wilson, Associate Director of Athletics Communications (Exclusive for LetsGoPeay.com)
As always, leave it to Shaun Whittinghill to deliver the blunt response.
When asked if he came to Austin Peay with aspirations of winning a conference title, the fifth-year defensive lineman minced no words.
"No way," he said through his typical thousand-watt smile. "My thought process was, 'You know what, they're paying for my school and I'm gonna get my degree and get out.' I didn't think we'd win a game. We never had."
It's refreshing, in its way. It's easy to forget now what a doormat this team was, once upon a time. Two eight-win seasons in the last three years and standing on the precipice of a league championship for the first time since 1977 will change a lot of hearts and minds. But once, there was losing.
Just losing. Only losing. Lots and lots and lots of it.

But not everyone felt the way Whittinghill did. Some people thought they could be part of engineering a turnaround that would one day lead to something great.
"I didn't think it would be in the 4-5 years I was playing here but I thought that we had a chance to help turn the program during my time," said offensive lineman Hunter Schmeisser. "It's crazy to look back on everything. We've had three straight seasons of winning and being competitive, and our first two years we went 0-22, and really 0-24 because we lost the first two the next season. It's crazy to think about losing that much, that consistently, and now we're sitting at eight wins for the second time in three years."
And of course, there were the dreamers.
"Yes," said punter Devin Stuart. "That's why I came here. I was 100 percent confident."
Schmeisser, Whittinghill, Stuart and kicker Logan Birchfield are the historical through-lines, the last vestiges of the Kirby Cannon era who will see the field at Fortera Stadium. Fifth-year seniors all, they have gone from the depths of FCS football to quite possibly its largest stage, depending on how Saturday shakes out against Eastern Illinois. It will be Senior Day for the quartet, a day for reflection and recognition but also one of the biggest games of their collective careers.

Once upon a time, Senior Day at Austin Peay held no significance beyond the acknowledgement of those playing their final game in front of the home faithful. To quote Jim Mora, "Playoffs? Are you kidding me—playoffs?!"
Not anymore.
"It will be an emotional day all around," Birchfield said. "There's the history of Austin Peay not being very good, and we helped turn it around and that's a big factor. And then obviously it could be the last game this senior class ever plays here."
This quartet has experienced practically everything you can experience during a football career. Stuart was a fifth-string defensive back before converting to become of the best punters in program history. Whittinghill's body continually betrayed him; Schmeisser's too, albeit less in a constantly-on-crutches-for-most-of-three-years kind of way but to the point that he wasn't able to garner extended time on the offensive line until this season. Birchfield lost place-kicking duties for a while mid-career; now he's the program's all-time leader in PATs.
And that's just as individuals, before taking into account their collective trials as a group—the three head coaches, endless mat drills ("I was ready to quit," said the ever-honest Whittinghill. "Most of our class did."), the losing, the embarrassment, the long hours for what, at times, seemed like a pursuit destined for failure. But when others quit, walked away from the game or took on other pursuits, convinced that the commitment just was not worth it, these four persevered.

"The first two years [of my career], I started losing my love for football a little bit," Birchfield said. "It was a dread to come in here. That season we went 8-4, I got that love back. When we came here and had spring ball with Coach Hud, I could feel us coming back together [as a team]. I could feel something special was happening."
Now that something special has happened on the field and even more special things are crystallizing on the horizon, there's no time for this group to rest on its collective laurels just yet. It's one thing to turn a program around—it's another thing entirely to leave as part of one the most legendary teams in school history.
Treating this week like business as usual is a Herculean task, simply because this business—winning a title—has rarely been something that could pass as a talking point regarding Austin Peay football by November. Novembers were reserved for putting the past in the past, evaluating what was returning and then hoping for the generational recruiting class that could fill all the voids on the depth chart at once. Novembers were for the future.
This November, the Govs have kept their fans firmly focused on the present. Saturday won't be just another Saturday at Fortera Stadium, but the team that has done all this winning and record-breaking isn't likely to crack when the stakes are highest.

"Just have fun," Stuart said of his final guaranteed home appearance. "We knew this day [Senior Day] would come at some point. I don't think I took for granted a single day I was here, and I'm glad I can say that. I'd do it all again. Well, not all—I don't think I could back to the 0-11 seasons. But I'd go through the training and everything else, just to experience it.
"Just to get to this moment."