Silvers Heads into Third Season with Centre College Football Team

Caleb Silvers enters fall camp for the Centre College as one of two long snappers on the roster.

The 2024 Fellowship Christian School graduate seeks a starting role on the field during the regular season.

“Fall camp begins Aug. 12, and I am getting ready,” Silvers said. “I am second on the depth chart, but I really think I can get into a good share of games this year. Freshman year started slow for me and it was a lot better my sophomore year. I got a lot of reps this spring practice. The Scotland trip [summer of 2024] was great for me and my confidence.”

The Colonels open the season at Hannover College in Indiana on Sept. 5 at 2 p.m.

Silvers, who has spent the past two seasons with the Centre team and played in two games as a freshman, was the team’s top long snapper since spring practice of his freshman year and during the Colonels’ trip to Scotland from May 23-June 3, 2025. The Colonels played the East Kilbride Pirates in an exhibition match on May 31, 2025, and beat them 66-0.

During his first two seasons at the Danville, Ky., the Colonels have notched a 13-8 overall record and a 10-4 mark in Southern Athletic Association contests.

In 2025, the team was 5-5 overall and 4-3 in the SAA. In Silvers’ freshman campaign, the Colonels posted an 8-3 mark overall and 6-1 in SAA contests. The team lost its lone NCAA Division III playoff game in the fall of 2024.

“This season was up and down as we finished 5-5,” Silvers said. “We started to rebound later in the season [after 2-3 and 3-5 starts] and we won our last two games. We had a lot of new coaches last year and it took a while for us. But our team chemistry has not changed.”

Silvers said this past spring’s practices helped the Colonels’ confidence as a team.

“We have the same goal as any year,” Silvers said. “We strive for a national championship. Me personally, I want to get into the lineup this year.”

The 6-foot-2, 203-pound long snapper said the Fellowship football coaching staff prepared him for college football.

“The experience was pretty impactful for me,” Silvers said. “Coach [John] Thompson and his staff were tough and taught us to work hard. If we messed up, we knew it, and we never messed up like that again. You wanted to do well for them. Coach Thompson was old school and demanded a lot. But we were always prepared and that helped me when I got to college.”

Silvers, who began snapping as a freshman at Fellowship, plays in the same conference as FCS graduates Nick Persiano (Rhodes College) and Caden Coffin (Berry College).

A phycology major, Silvers enjoys the academics at Centre.

“It’s similar to Fellowship,” he said. “The classes are small and there are more opportunities for 1:1 learning.”

Silvers has some practical advice for the 2026 FCS graduates heading to college athletics.

“I would say set your expectations high, and don’t get down if you struggle,” Silvers said. “Always be ready to work hard and you’ll get your chances to play.”

(Photos courtesy of centercolonels.com)