In between grocery shopping, cooking food, doing the dishes and laundry, driving kids around, taking the family to the beach, and working my day job, I have been speaking to several of the coaches around the East Region in preparation for this fall's football season.
I once again covered the Liberty League and a handful of other conferences for this August's annual D3football.com "Kickoff" preseason online magazine. While I haven't exactly nailed the predictions part over the years, you'd be hard pressed to find this kind of coverage of the LL and the Statesmen anywhere else, at least until a few days before Sept. 7th when HWSAthletics.com will finally publish their preseason preview.
I will shoot to have my own version of a more in-depth Hobart preseason preview by mid-to-late August, based on conversations with HC Kevin DeWall '00 and other coaches and sources around the league. This fall's LL race should be another close one as RPI looks strong again, as does Ithaca, at least on offense. The Bombers have lost a lot on the defensive side of the ball and the whole Germiniero transfer situation will be interesting to see play out over time.
SLU's new spread offense should cause more headaches for opposing defenses, and Union returns a lot of talent, but like Ithaca, has some key questions on the defensive side of the ball. Buffalo State gets included into the mix and the Bengals view last season as more of the exception than the rule. Fortunately the Statesmen don't have to play them until Week 10, which by then there will be plenty of game tape against familiar opponents to review. Rochester remains in rebuilding mode but you can count on former Hobart QB Chad Martinovich '94 to get the Yellow Jackets back on track sooner rather than later.
With camp just a few weeks away, Hobart is looking at a somewhat different role this season as a potential spoiler / dark horse, which honestly hasn't happened in quite some time. The Statesmen's biggest question mark remains the OL, and while there is experience in the middle, there's a key need at both tackle positions. Defensively the Statesmen return a good amount of experience and should have some players back lost to injury for parts, if not all, of 2018 that can make a difference.
We're only 38 days away from the home and season opener against Brockport.
It's almost football season!
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