The "Cardiac Kids," as WEOS FM's Ted Baker called them, had several close wins and saw the Hobart offense break multiple school records in the passing game. Players like JR WR Brandon Shed and JR QB Shane Sweeney got on the national radar with outstanding statistical and other performances as well.
While SR OL Nick Testani will be missed, the majority of the Statesmen OL will be back in 2017. SO OL John Deveney had a solid year at LT as did SO OL Jack Koch (who btw had one of the best in-game pictures I've seen in a while with this one):
Sweeney earned the LL OPOTY award for his 3,436 passing and 36 TD year. Shed (1,284 RYDs & 17 TDs), SR WR Jack Pfohl (705 RYDs & 9 TDs) and Testani all earned 1st team All-LL awards for their contributions this season. JR TE Zach Withers and Deveney earned 2nd team All-LL awards and SO RB Tynard Barfield, SR RB Brad Burns, and JR OL Alex Helm earned Honorable Mention status.
The Hobart defense gave up more points than they have in prior years, but they also always seemed to come up with big plays down the stretch in a "bend, but don't break" type of fashion. Several young Statesmen made a name for themselves defensively which bodes well for the future. FY LB Jedh Downey finished seventh in the LL with 86 total tackles and linemen such as SO DTs AJ McFarlane and Sean Moore had excellent seasons.
Hobart saw SR DE James Hedger and SR OLB Marcus Jemison earn 1st team All-LL awards for their efforts. SR FS Matt Cragg, JR DB Tommy D'Antonio and JR LB Almamy Conde earned 2nd team All-LL awards. McFarlane and Downey joined SR DB Todd Collier as All-LL Honorable Mention players.
JR PK Rio Schmidt earned a share of the LL STPOTY award. Schmidt had an outstanding season punting for the Statesmen, averaging a league best 41.2 YPP. 29 of his 44 punts were either inside the opposition's 20 yard line (14), called for fair catch or touchbacks and finished in the Top 25 nationally in this category.
Not surprisingly, HC Mike Cragg and staff earned the CSOTY award from the league based on their 6-1 mark and head-to-head victory over Co-Champions, Saint Lawrence (9-1, 6-1).
While there were exciting games every weekend of the 2016 season, for me the turning point of the year was Hobart's coming back to win the WPI game. That drive that culminated with the 18 yard TD catch by SR WR Jack Pfohl with three seconds left was simply amazing.
That may have even eclipsed the GEICO College Football Play of the Year - a 57 yard TD catch and run by Pfohl to win the USMMA game with 19 seconds left - but not by much. The WPI win felt more meaningful to me because it kept the Statesmen's LL title hopes alive and made the following week's match up (and ultimately a win) against SLU that much more significant.
You can see the GEICO POTY here.
As an aside, this was the second year in a row a Hobart player won the award. Last year, SR RB Brad Burns won it for his hurdling 36 yard TD run against Endicott.
Speaking of the Gulls, rumor has it that they and an Empire 8 squad will be on the Statesmen's 2017 schedule. The HWS Athletics site currently shows only seven games due to the departures of WPI, USMMA and Springfield from the LL (they'll join the NEWMAC, an existing New England-based, but new FB conference next season). While a nine game season would be ok, the Statesmen are on the hunt for a 10th game / new series going forward. More on that in future posts.
Looking ahead, Hobart will likely be the favorite to retain the LL title again in 2017. Unfortunately without an additional team joining the LL, Hobart and others could end up in playoff limbo starting in 2018 given the likelihood the NCAA won't provide a "Pool B" (or at large berth to teams in conferences without sufficient representation, i.e., < 7 teams and/or independent programs) and the number of Pool C (at large) berths will also be limited due to more conferences gaining access via the Pool A (aka automatic qualifier or AQ). The good news is the 2017 team will be "grandfathered" in, so the LL Championship team will make the 2017 field as a Pool A bid in spite of the fact they would be below the required number of teams in their conference to gain access via an AQ. More on this in future posts as well.
What we also know about 2017 is Hobart should return about 7-8 starters on offense based on who played in the 11 games this season with several others in the WR corps and other positions like OL and RB with significant in-game experience.
Defensively the Statesmen will have openings at DE, OLB and FS but otherwise should return the majority (7) of the starting defense from 2016.
On special teams JR PK Will McCool or someone else will need to take over the majority of the kicking duties given the graduation of SR PK Sean Kirshe. Perhaps Schmidt will get some looks in this area (he did have one KO for 54 yards this season), otherwise the Statesmen coaches will have to bring in a FY or transfer player to take over these jobs. Hobart struggled on FGs (3-7) and PATs (39-46) this year, so this should be a priority to improve on over the offseason.
SR WR Sean Cunningham will need to be replaced as far as punt return duties are concerned also (his 501 RYDs & 4TD production will be missed too). Kickoffs were handled well by FY WR Isaiah Hill and FY RB Brian Haeffner this season and they will likely get looks to do more of the same in 2017 pending preseason camp competition.
Overall the future looks bright for Hobart who should end the 2016 season ranked in the Top 25 (D3football.com and the AFCA usually release their final standings just after the Stagg Bowl) and potentially ranked in the 2017 preseason Top 25 based on who's coming back.
Make sure you tune into D3football.com's webcast before kickoff of the Stagg Bowl on Friday, December 16th to see if players like Sweeney and Shed make their All-American teams (I have a feeling at least one, if not both of them will).
Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!
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