You see it, so you believe it. There it is — shoehorned in among neighborhood homes, a restaurant and what used to be a medical building — just a block off East Kings Highway.

There’s a football stadium there now. The bleachers are only on one side, but the structure is larger than you might have thought.

It sits there as if it is waiting on you. As if to say See, this is really happening.

Centenary College is about to play a football game. Just how long it has been since that happened depends on how deep you want to go to classify what it means to play college football. There was club football in the 1960s; the last varsity football goes back to the ‘40s.

Atkins Field, which won’t even become Atkins Field until about 20 minutes before gametime on Saturday, is symbolic of all that has gone on during the last three years since Centenary announced. Just keep doing whatever it is that seems like the right thing.

Give Centenary credit: A plan was put in place and they didn’t tip-toe its way along. Turn a grass soccer field into a synthetic turf football stadium? Done. Tear down tennis courts and build another half-field for practice purposes? You got it.

Might as well change the name of the facility previously known as Mayo Field while you’re at it.

It’s hard to get a read on just what is about to go on here. It’s either the most exciting thing or the scariest thing the Gents’ athletic program has ever undertaken. Probably both. Dropping down from Division I to Division III in 2011 was child’s play compared to this.

It’s a school in which the greatest football moment came when it was part of a game that set a national record for total punts (77). That was in 1939, three years before Centenary punted the actual program itself.

This is a school that has an undergraduate enrollment number that not only wouldn’t be in Class 5A high school football, it wouldn’t even be in Class 4A.

Hasn’t mattered. Doesn’t matter.

Especially to head coach Byron Dawson.

When he was hired in March 2022, he basically had to sell air. He travelled the state on recruiting trips, but what was he recruiting for? You try selling a product that doesn’t exist and let us know how that works out.

“It’s been a challenge, but it’s also been a great joy,” Dawson says. “It’s been an adventure to not even know what is out there, but to go for it anyway.”

Oh, they are definitely going for it. If you haven’t even thought about Centenary football since that first grand announcement, you are probably going to be more than a little surprised at what has happened.

There’s nothing makeshift about what has been done to get it off the ground.

But let’s not forget that this is still Division III. Do yourself a favor and don’t draw any comparisons to what you see on television on Saturday afternoons. Take this simply for what it is and don’t look for any games against Texas or Oklahoma on the schedule any time soon.

There are some curious things that have gone on, especially for those who thought the rebirth of Centenary football would be brought forth with trumpets blaring. It’s almost as if they didn’t want to metaphorically wake the neighbors (who, in actuality, do live across the street).

There wasn’t even a roster on the website until a week ago. (Florida State had already lost two games by then.)

But it’s here and it’s happening. The Gents will take on Hendrix Saturday at 7 p.m.

“I’m just ready for the game,” Dawson said. “I’m excited for the players and the coaches but also for the community. This is a great moment.” 

Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com