Harborfields Buda Says Statesmen are the 1

Harborfields HS (Greenlawn, NY) SR WR Gavin Buda took to Twitter to announce he has officially committed to be a student athlete at Hobart College. Given the graduation of SR RB Joe Letizia, it appears as though Gavin will be #1 in your Statesmen game-day programs starting in 2018.

A shot of Gavin during a recent visit to Geneva

Gavin starred at WR for the Tornadoes, who went 5-3 in 2017. You can see from Gavin's SR season highlights he dominated his competition, but it's likely he'll have tougher match ups at the college level.

I like his versatility, as he was both an able X and Z receiver. At 6' 1" 185 lbs he has good size, and should be able to contribute on special teams early on in his Statesmen career. His confidence and route-running style reminds me a little of Garth Muratori '12.

Please join me in welcoming Gavin and the Buda family to Hobart!

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Two "Strong Island" Sailors Sign with the Statesmen

OCHS HC Rob Blount (@Coach_Blount) tweeted on Friday that two of his former players will attend Hobart College as part of the Class of 2022.

Class and teammates Bernie Diaz (6' 0" 180 lbs) and Bryan Aguilar (5' 10" 196 lbs) will join the LB corps. They helped OCHS to an 11-1 season in 2017.

Aguilar played MLB, showing strong read and scraping skills. Diaz can drop back into coverage or rush the passer, using this athleticism to make big plays on both sides of the ball.

You can see Bernie and Bryan's highlights in the embedded links. I'm excited to see both of these "Strong Island" players make an impact for the Statesmen.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Cheshire's Kornacki is Coming to Hobart

Devin Worthington '14 was one of the best Hobart College football players in recent years, if not one of the All-Time greatest. I have to think a spot in the Hall of Fame is already reserved for him after being a multi-year All-American during his playing career in Geneva. Post-Hobart, Devin has begun a successful professional career serving as a teacher, administrator and football coach at the prestigious Cheshire Academy in Southern CT.

Thanks to Coach Worthington, Hobart is starting to get more attention from the Wildcats program. JR FS CJ Boleware was the first and the next up will be OL Ethan Kornacki. Kornacki played C and LG for the Wildcats who went 8-1 his SR season. His commitment to Hobart was reported by GameTimeCT.com's CT HS Football Signing List last week.

His highlight reel can be seen here.

At 6' 250 lbs, Ethan (#50 below) may need to add some bulk, but his technique and HS experience of playing with and against several top D1 prospects (e.g., two of his teammates signed with Alabama and Temple, respectively, and several others signed with FCS schools such as Princeton, Georgetown, Merrimack and Holy Cross) will help him adjust quickly to the college game. Coach Worthington views Ethan as a "perfect fit" for Hobart.

With no real experienced C returning from last year's squad, Kornacki could be in the mix early on at that position. It should be noted that Hobart's best center in recent years (if not in program history, at least in the modern era) is Coach Worthington's former teammate and current OL Coach Michael Green '14, who earned All-American honors as a SR and who was "only" 6' 1" 250 lbs. in his playing days.

Please join me in welcoming Ethan and the Kornacki family to the program!

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Wayne Hills' Zaccone Commits to Hobart

While it normally doesn't have the same pomp and circumstance of the Division 1 variety, last week thousands of student athletes who plan to attend Division III colleges also participated in National Signing Day festivities in their respective communities.

NJ.com mentioned one such student athlete - SR LB Mike Zaccone, Jr. from Wayne Hills HS - who has committed to play football at Hobart College. A link to that announcement can be seen here.

I looked up some more information on Mike and am a BIG FAN already.

Mike comes from a football family, as his dad Mike, Sr. (a police officer in his day job and former HS state champ and college player at Wagner) has coached at WHHS since 2012. Coach Mike has covered special teams, FBs, OL and DBs during his coaching career. Mike Jr. (6'2" 225 lbs) has been a versatile player and has been used at OL, H-back/FB and ILB during his HS career. He served as a team captain his SR year and was described as an "excellent student," just the kind of one-two punch we like to see in our future Statesmen!

Father and Son Celebrate a Championship (NJ.com)

Zaccone racked up a program record 111 tackles in his senior season to go with three INTs. Mike is a solid scraper and hard hitter. He can cover or play the run, squaring up with good technique at the point of attack. You can check out his highlight reel for a closer look. While I suppose he could be looked at as an H-back in college, my guess is he'll join the LB corps.

Please join me in welcoming what looks like another great family into the Hobart Football family.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Current Status of 2018 Schedule (Updated)

The University of Rochester and Ithaca College released their 2018 schedules this week (and SLU released theirs this weekend - on 2/10), shedding more light on the Hobart College Statesmen's slate. Hobart is still looking for a 10th game, but we do know a few more things based on the above, so let's take a look (games that are confirmed are in bold):

Week 1 @ Brockport on 9/1/18
Week 2 vs. SUNY-Morrisville on 9/8/18 - Season opener at the Boz
Week 3 @ Shenandoah on 9/15/18 at 7 PM
Week 4 @ Endicott on 9/22/18
Week 5 vs. TBD on 9/29/18 - Homecoming game, likely under the lights
Week 6 vs. Union on 10/6/18 (RPI plays IC that weekend and SLU plays UofR)
Week 7 UofR on 10/13/18 - Centennial Cup game won't end the regular season for 1st time since '04
Week 8 @ RPI on 10/20/18 (IC is playing UofR on this date and SLU is playing Union)
Week 9 TBD on 10/27/18 (Likely bye week - RPI is playing UofR and IC hosts SLU)
Week 10 vs. Ithaca on 11/3/18
Week 11 @ SLU on 11/10/18

So basically Week 5 needs an OOC opponent for Homecoming, and the Union and RPI games will most likely take place during Weeks 6 and 8. I'd say Week 9 is the bye, which is great to prep an extra week before what could be a de facto LL championship at Hobart on 11/3.

Will update the above as the final game is scheduled and announced.

PS - The MBB team is on a 13 game win streak and was just ranked #1 in the initial NCAA tournament East Region Rankings! The "Skatesmen" Hockey team is ranked 11th in the nation and go into this weekend looking to secure a bid into the NEHC tournament (they beat Norwich last night for their 7th win in a row!).

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Drach New HC at Wilkes

Hobart College OC Jon Drach will officially named as the new HC of the Wilkes University Colonels (Wilkes-Barre, PA) at a press conference this Wednesday afternoon. He replaces Trey Brown who went 7-33 since 2014, including a 0-10 mark last season. Information on the announcement will likely be made available via the Colonels Football website, which you can access here. The story was leaked a couple of hours ago by FootballScoop.com.

The Colonels are part of the Middle Atlantic Conference (aka the "MAC") and have not had .500 or better season since 2012. Their best season in the last 20 years goes back to 2006, when they went undefeated in the regular season, winning the MAC title, then went on to win a first round game, 42-0, over W&L before falling to Rowan, 21-14, in the second round of the NCAA playoffs.

Coach Drach joined the Statesmen back in 2007 and has served as QB coach in prior seasons and was promoted to OC after the 2014 season. Under Drach's leadership the Statesmen set several program records with his wide open "Air Show" offense. He's mentored several great Hobart QBs including Shane Sweeney '18, Patrick Conlan '15, Nick Strang '14 and Rich Doyle '09.

While I'm happy for Coach Drach, this will be the fourth time in the past four seasons HC Mike Cragg has seen a top coordinator leave the staff for a new opportunity. What remains to be seen is whether this departure could open the door for former OC Kevin DeWall '00 return home or if a national search will find a new OC for Hobart? The Cragg coaching tree continues to grow with this placement, joining others in the HC ranks such as Scott Yoder '01 at Shenandoah, Nate Milne '03 at Muhlenberg, as well as other former players such as Chad Martinovich '94. This appointment also reunites Drach with a former Hobart Athletics colleague, former HC of Basketball, Izzy Metz '98

Either way, I wish nothing for the best for Coach Drach and his family at Wilkes. It'll be a challenging job for sure, but I have to think there will be a lot of players who will want to sign up for the kind of offensive system he runs. We'll have more updates on how his staff comes together this off season, as well as who comes in to call to the offense for the Statesmen in 2018.

Coach and I during Reunion Weekend, back in 2016

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!