A trio of St. Michael Cardinals will be looking for a new college football home after Birmingham-Southern College announced its closure, effective at the end of this school year, on Tuesday, March 26.

The youngest of the three, Carson Maloney in St. Michael’s Class of 2024, only committed to the Panthers three weeks ago at the end of his recruiting roller coaster which included six offers. However, he was set to reunite with his brother, Austin from the Cardinals’ Class of 2022, who played defensive back at BSC.

Luke Edmiston, an offensive lineman also from St. Michael’s Class of 2022, joined Austin Maloney in representing the Eastern Shore as a sophomore on the Panthers’ 2023 roster. They were among the over 100 former Baldwin County football players featured on college rosters last season.

Birmingham-Southern head football coach Anthony Colucci reported that as of Wednesday morning, the Panther coaches had compiled “contact info for everyone on our current roster, as well as commits. We have sent them to 40+ schools and counting,” he said in an 8:04 a.m. post.

Wednesday morning’s post came on the heels of the program’s initial statement from 2:48 p.m. on Tuesday.

“Devastated by the news we received today. Devastated for Birmingham-Southern College past, present and future,” reads Panther Football’s statement. “Our focus must now shift to the 77 returners we have on our roster as well as the historic recruiting class we had signed.”

Carson Maloney was among the incoming group set to bolster the Birmingham-Southern squad. The 6-foot, 255-pound center racked up 53 pancakes and allowed 0 sacks as freshman quarterback Gunner Rivers threw for 3,077 yards which ranked second in the state at the end of the Cardinals’ season. Carson was a team captain of St. Michael’s first football squad to make the playoffs last year.

Before he committed to Birmingham-Southern, Carson fielded other offers from John Melvin University, Faulkner, Erskine, Tusculum and Huntingdon. He made campus visits this winter to BSC, Faulkner and Erskine then announced his commitment to the Panthers on March 7.

Carson wasted no time fielding his first offer after he reopened his recruitment following Birmingham-Southern’s closure. Wednesday night, Carson announced Buena Vista University became his seventh college football offer.