Hobart College Football 2026 Season Preview

The Hobart College Statesmen football program is looking to bounce back after a challenging 2025 season where injuries and close games got the better of them, at least for the first half of the year. While the Statesmen struggled at times, they did manage to win their final five games, including an impressive 42-14 romp in the ECAC James Lynah Bowl game. 

The positive momentum won’t get them any preseason poll votes, but with changes and graduations across the Liberty League, Hobart could be a team flying under some people’s radar with potential to surprise this year. The Statesmen return a good core from the 2025 squad but will need some up-and-comers to make their mark also. 

Let’s take a look, starting with the Hobart:

DEFENSE

The biggest change from 2025 to 2026 is the graduation of half the starting LB corps, particularly Mike McGhee ‘26. There will be a lot of production to replace here, but one thing HC Kevin DeWall ’00 has shown in his eight years leading the Statesmen is his ability to keep finding excellent LB talent.

Season ending injuries to players like SO LBs Nate Bush and Tyler Cummings impacted the 2025 group, but both return healthy. SO LB Jeron Atwater, Jr., who also missed part of the season due to injury, finished his FY campaign with 36 tackles, 5.5 TFL and 2.5 sacks. SR LB Jack Ligarzewski and JR LB Matt Huliev will be expected to make bigger contributions in 2026 also. 

Up front, Hobart welcomes back some proven players in JR DL Billy Brosko and SR DL Hunter Vos. These two combined for over 100 tackles, nearly 20 TFL and four sacks. I expect JR DLs Perry Goodridge, Jon Regan and Trey Dillabough to play bigger roles this season.

The secondary also returns a strong and experienced unit that includes JR DB Ryan Van Tassel, SR DB Zeshaun Dixon and SO Isa Abdus-Salaam. 

OFFENSE

Injuries to SO QB Aidan Conrath and SR QB Tru Styles affected the early QB play to start the season, and eventually SO QB Jeremy Weiss’s improvements landed him the starting job. He finished the season with a 62.5% pass completion mark (80-128), for 1,447 yards and 15 passing TDs. He set a couple of records against SLU with a 96-yard TD pass and finishing with the highest pass efficiency rating in Hobart history (316.7). That said Styles and Conrath also return, meaning the Hobart QB preseason battle will be a competitive one once again. 

The Statesmen OL lost some experience due to graduation but returns a couple of cornerstone players in JR OL Jake Jeffay and JR OL Javon James. There are several other strong OL players that will be working their way into the starting rotation / depth chart this preseason. 

Leading the rushing attack for the fourth year in a row will be SR RB E.J. Taylor. He has rushed for 2,883 yards and 33 rushing TDs in his great Hobart football career. Last season he had a career high 19 receptions for 172 receiving yards also, including one receiving TD. Behind Taylor is a strong group of unproven, but still very talented, RBs.

The WR corps return all three starters from last season including JR WR Johnny Harding, SR WR Marcus Peterson and JR WR Tristan Reynolds, the latter who missed half the season with injury. Also back is JR WR Jordan Nolan (the guy on the receiving end of Weiss’s 96-yard TD pass that was mentioned above) and JR WR Luke Hansen. This group tallied over 1,600 receiving yards and 15 receiving TDs in 2025.

The Statesmen will also welcome back some talented blockers and receivers in the TE group, which will be led by players like SR TE Timothy McKeever and SO TE Harry Salters.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Hobart welcomes back three experienced PKs in GR Vicente Lyon, a 2025 All-American, SR PK Luke Monteyne and JR PK Colin Goff. Monteyne attempted seven FGs in 2025, with four successful tries with a long of 37 yards. He added 39 successful PATs also. Goff averaged 52.3 YPKO with six touchbacks last season. 

SCHEDULE

Hobart will play the same opponents as 2025, but in a slightly different order. The schedule is also highlighted by the fact that this season the Statesmen get six, instead of four, home games. This is a welcome change, given the longstanding home field advantage (and winning percentage) Hobart has at the “Boz.”

The Statesmen will open the 2026 season at home under the lights on Friday, September 4th against Alfred University of the Empire 8, then welcome Brockport to the Boz in Week 2. The first road trip of the year will be to Utica in Week 3, then Hobart kicks off Liberty League play in Week 4 on the road against RPI. Weeks 5 and 6 feature big home games against Ithaca and Union. After these blockbusters, Week 7 brings Hobart a much-needed bye week. Week 8 opens on the road at Saint Lawrence, followed by home games in Week 9 and 10 against Rochester and Hilbert (LL affiliate). The latter will serve as the Statesmen’s Senior Day game. The regular season finale will be at Buffalo State in Week 11.

LOOKING AT THE LEAGUE

Union and RPI will be auditioning new QBs in 2026, and Ithaca has a new HC in Brandon Maguire. The Bombers seem to be in the best shape, returning nine offensive and eight defensive starters. QB Michael Reed, RB Chris Scully, WR Nick Lang, S Joe Spirra and CB Marcus Boyle are all back at Ithaca. I would expect to see them “receiving votes” in some polls, and they could be the LL preseason favorite. 

RPI hasn’t reported returning starters, and Union will need to replace players like QB Patch Flanagan, TE Cam Fries and DT Charles Johnson, who helped them win the LL last season. The Dutchmen reported five returning offensive and nine defensive starters back, meaning they will likely need to lean on their defense early in the season, but they should have an established QB and offense by the time they arrive in Geneva come Week 6.

FINAL THOUGHTS

While the memories of a 6-5 season from 2025 (Hobart’s worst since the 2010 and 2018 seasons), still sting a bit, Team 132 is a fresh start that shouldn’t be burdened by last year. This Statesmen squad has a great opportunity to turn around some of the struggles from 25 and make 2026 a special year. 

I am looking forward to Ted Baker and Coach DeWall’s weekly podcasts and following the team this fall. 

Thanks as always for reading and go ‘Bart!

Here Comes the Class of 2030 (Reprise) - Part V

We wrap up the work week with the fifth (and potentially final) group of new Statesmen players. This one's only six versus the seven a day we saw from Monday-Thursday; so perhaps things are either slowing down, or this is the final bunch to bring us to 34 (which is a good-sized recruiting class). 

We clocked of a couple of the below commitments in the spring (e.g., Larsen, Wells and Oji), but the other three are new names to Hobart fans and extended families.

Let's take a look below:

If that's a wrap on recruiting news, up next will be my 2026 preseason preview. More to come.

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!

Here Comes the Class of 2030 (Reprise) - Part IV

Moving right along to the fourth batch of incoming Statesmen football players, we see a more familiar names from earlier this year (Mongno, Lopez, Lawrence and Perez), with a couple of newer ones.

Cummingham will join SO RB Juah-Siblay Kolliegbo as the second St. Paul's player from MD. Cheaton is an interesting get as he'll be the only Hobart player from the state of DE on the roster.

That gets us up to 28 new Statesmen in the Class of 2030. Stay tuned for another group tomorrow - at least I suspect there will be at least one more, we shall see.

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!

Here Comes the Class of 2030 (Reprise) - Part III

Good morning, Statesmen fans and families! 

Here are the next seven incoming first year players, as posted this morning by Hobart Football HC Kevin DeWall '00. 

This group features at least one future Hobart player we caught back in June, as well as an apparent teammate to one we captured in February. A strong showing from the Tri-State area, plus a young man from Jacksonville, FL to mix things up a little. So far, this class has players from Texas, Florida, and North Carolina. 

Here's the latest group:

That gets us up to 21 new Statesmen for the Class of 2030, but I imagine we have at least 1-2 more groups to post about before this week is up. Stay tuned!

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!

Here Comes the Class of 2030 (Reprise), Part II

Another round of seven new Statesmen was released this morning with one familiar name (Magley) from earlier this year. A kicker from NC was an interesting get, as well as a lineman named Mania. 

Here's the next group in Coach DeWall's latest update:

Another strong group, bringing the Class to 14, so far. This one is a nice group from places Hobart has had success in the past - NJ, Boston area and Southern CT - along with the usual NYS group. 

More to come here on the recruiting front as I would expect another group tomorrow and likely into Thursday. 

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!

Here Comes the Class of 2030 (Reprise Edition), Part I

With only two weeks to go until fall preseason camp, Hobart Football HC Kevin DeWall '00 has taken to the app formerly known as Twitter to start introducing the new members of the Statesmen Class of 2030. 

Let's see who he's recognized, and we'll keep adding updates as we see them:

A strong group to start us off. I had previously tracked down the commitments from Watson and Regan, but the other five are new players to me. Very interested in the Milligan commitment. Hobart doesn't often get student athletes from Texas. 

More to come here on the recruiting front as I would expect another group tomorrow and likely into Wednesday or Thursday. 

Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!

More Moye's To Attend Hobart

Hope everyone is enjoying a happy and healthy summer. It's already pretty hot here in Florida and it's only June!

I was recently given a heads up that the Pingry School (NJ) SR QB Ryan Moye, younger brother of rising SO WR Jack Moye, will be coming to Hobart this fall as part of the Class of 2030.

Moye was a three-sport student athlete at Pingry, also playing basketball and baseball. You can check out his football highlight reel here. 

Moye had a record-breaking career on the gridiron for Pingry, passing for 4,389 yards, 50 passing TDs compared to only 15 INTs in his four years there. A dual threat, he also rushed for 956 yards and 13 rushing TDs over the same time period. 

Needless to say, he looks like he has the tools to be a QB of the future for the Statesmen, but time will tell as he adjusts to the college game. 

Please join me in welcoming Ryan to the Hobart College Football family. Great to have more Moye's on the team!

Thanks as always for reading, and go 'Bart!