The graduation of SR QB Ryan Hofmann and the appearance of reticence in grooming his successor via live game action during the 2019 season makes the 2020 QB battle one of the more interesting one's Hobart has had in several seasons.
Hofmann finished his career as one of the best QBs in Hobart history
Hofmann had a fine season - passing for 2,241 yards and 21 TDs (the fourth best Hobart single season mark) compared to 10 INTs. His 2019 performance ranked third in pass attempts (323), fifth in yards and in completions (173) in the single season record book. All time he ranks as follows:
Passing TDs: 4th (41)
Passing yards/game: 4th (163.2)
Total offense/game: 4th (163.2)
Pass attempts: 5th (563)
Pass completions: 5th (317)
Passing yards: 5th (4080)
Pass completion pct: 5th (56.3)
Pass efficiency: 5th (134.5)
Total offense/play: 5th (6.81)
Average yards/pass: 6th (7.2)
Total offense yards: 8th (4079)
TDs responsible for: 9th (41)
Passes had intercepted: 14th (19)
Average yards/completion: 15th (12.9)
Certainly a solid career, by any stretch. However, this past season, Hofmann ended up as the fifth/sixth rated passer in the LL. The LL has evolved into a pass heavy conference and Hobart will need to find a way to either counter with a FY RBs Tim Denham, Jr. and Rayshawn Boswell two-headed rushing attack and/or find a QB who has the ability to hit over 60-65% completions, pass for over 2,500-3,000 yards and 25-30+ TDs per year.
The nation's top rated QBs passed for 4,500-5,000 yards by comparison. Ithaca SR QB Joe Germiniero, who didn't win the LL OPOTY but did win the D3football.com East Region OPOTY award, finished sixth in the nation with 3,388 passing yards. His 33 passing TDs was 10th best in the nation.
Needless to say, the bar has been raised and so it'll be interesting to see what Hobart can do to keep pace. Honestly the issue may be the fact that they may not have the personnel, yet. Time will tell. That said HC Kevin DeWall '00 does have a couple of recruiting classes under his belt, plus the Class of 2024 which will be announced over the next few months.
So far, of the current underclassmen, only FY QB Joe Pelletier saw time other than backup SO QB David Krewson. The latter seemed to be used sparingly and didn't appear to have as much confidence or efficiency as he did as a FY, completing under 42% of his passes and throwing 3 INTs (he did rush for 70 yards and 1 TD).
FY QB Sean Robles and Peyton Roberts are enigmas at this point, and given both are far from home, there's no guarantee they'll stick with the program (I hope they do). The Statesmen have had some retention issues over the years - and it's very common in college for 40+ student athlete recruiting classes to whittle down over time. The Class of 2020, for example, began with 36 players on the 2016 roster. Last season only 12 remained. The Class of 2021 has been better, going from 47 players in 2016 to 25 in 2019. I believe this will stabilize over time, but it's certainly worth noting. Ultimately the Statesmen need to get to the point where ~30+ players graduating per class is the standard.
Hofmann's predecessor, and most successful QB in Hobart history (statistically speaking, given players like Pat Conlan '15 and Nick Strang '13 had better W/L and playoff records), Shane Sweeney '17, came in via transfer. So did both QBs who played for the Stagg Bowl last December. It's become more common and programs like Brockport, Ithaca, Cortland and others have followed this approach with varying levels of success. Could the Statesmen try and find a FCS or D2 level player who could plug into the offense? Hard to say at the moment, but certainly something to wonder about during these off-season months.
Whether or not Hofmann's successor is on the roster now or will be joining it soon remains to be seen. I have confidence in the coaching staff to put a competitive off-season camp in place to test and evaluate the potential candidates. However it goes will be a big key to the Statesmen's success in 2020.
Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!
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