Preseason Preview - Part III (Special Teams and Schedule)

Special Teams

The good news for Hobart is that almost all of last year’s special teams’ players are returning to camp this fall. The bad news is that this unit was fairly mediocre last season. The Statesmen ranked sixth and fifth in the league in kick and punt returns, respectively. FY CB Leif Colberg may break into the lineup as a return man but I wouldn’t be surprised if SR WR Junior Woodard began the season as the Hobart’s primary kick returner with JR CB Connor Garrett (2nd in the LL in punt return average with 8.1 YPR) fielding punts. Although the Statesmen had the LL’s best kickoff coverage unit, they only converted one field goal (out of four attempts) and where fifth in the league in PAT’s (88%). SR PK Stephen Bruening is not returning to the team so Coach Cragg will have to see whether FY PKs  Bryce Snyder or Josh Neuss are up to the challenge for this fall.  Both JR WR Yosh Karbowniczak and SO WR Elvin Souffrant handled punting duties last season averaging 30.39 and 33.31 per punt on the season respectively.

“The Boz”

Home games for Hobart were scarce to come by in 2011 due to scheduling issues. This season is the exact opposite however with twice as many home games as there were the prior year. In fact, the Statesmen play four of their first six games at home to open the season and have no consecutive road trips in 2012.

That said the “Boz” has been less of a “lock” for Hobart since being upgraded to field turf in 2010. Dating back to 2000 through 2009, the Statesmen went 44-7 (an 86+% winning percentage) at home on the “grass” (some opponents I know have used more colorful language in describing the field conditions than is appropriate for this blog) at Boswell Field, including the postseason. Since the remodel, Hobart has only won five of eight (62.5%) games at home.

To be fair, 2010's five win season was Hobart's worst in over a decade an up and in 2011 Hobart only had three home games, going 2-1, losing the home finale by one.  Otherwise the Statesmen outscored their opposition 93-53 on their home turf last season.

Schedule

The Statesmen open up with Centennial Conference rival Dickinson College for the 21st consecutive season. Hobart then will take on the Geneva College Golden Tornadoes of the Presidential Athletic Conference before completing out of conference play at nearby Utica College of the Empire 8 conference.

The Statesmen kick of their LL schedule hosting the United States Merchant Marine Academy, then embark on their longest road trip of the season to Worcester, MA to play WPI. Hobart returns home to face conference newcomer Springfield College then has a bye week.

Out of the bye Hobart will look to avenge last season’s only conference loss at RPI, then welcome long-time rival Union College in what’s historically been a pivotal conference game. The Statesmen will then look to close out their season on the road at Saint Lawrence and at Boswell Field vs. Rochester in the regular season finale.

Things could shape up nicely for the Statesmen if they stay healthy and have success plugging in the few gaps left by graduation on the OL and DB positions.

Next week I'll have some more news regarding another season of the weekly LL football highlight and preview show "In The HuddLLe" (www.inthehuddlle.com).

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!