I hope everyone enjoyed a happy and safe holiday season and New Year's.
The offseason is usually pretty quiet, but with Early Action notices going out this Tuesday we should start seeing some of the latest commitments to the Class of 2027. Based on a recent tweet by HC Kevin DeWall '00, it's pretty obvious what the Statesmen's recruiting, and player development, needs are going into the fall:
Hobart had 3 SR QBs finish their careers, leaving SO QB Johnny Columbi as the only one on the Statesmen's roster with game experience. He contributed 386 total yards of offense, with 1 passing and 1 rushing TD on the season.
FY QBs Tabor Engle (from my hometown of Avon, CT) and Jack Smalley (from Long Island) are in the wings and will compete for time in spring practice.
The Statesmen OL may be of bigger concern, as what was expected to be an anchor for the 2022 season didn't always perform as expected. Injuries, penalties and related challenges saw a drop off in performance from the offense in the run game. To be fair, this OL unit was excellent at pass blocking, ranked as one of the Top 10 best in the nation with respect to sacks allowed.
The good news is the roster has 12 returning players (which is really an assumption at this point given there are always some FY players who transfer out, realize D3FB is more of a commitment / challenge than they realized, etc.) in the OL group so Coach DeWall's plan to build depth at this critical position is taking shape. JR OL Devon Adamo will be the most seasoned in this group, going into his third season as a starter.
SO TE Luke Hescock is the only returning member of this group with game experience. It's been well chronicled on the Parents and Fans of Hobart Football Facebook group that he lost his older brother Jake to a sudden illness two weeks before Christmas. Such a tragic loss makes articles like this very irrelevant in the big picture. Hopefully, the Hescock family are healing and being supported by friends and family alike during this difficult time.
Moving on, the WR unit did lose talent to graduation also, but the future is bright here given the emergence of players like SO WRs Rane Daramola, Marcus Lenz, Peyton Cayea and JR WR Chris Bartosic.
Defensively, Hobart will need to replace a couple of starters on the DL (DE and NG, specifically), but bring back a lot of talent in the LB corps and secondary. SO DE Alex Karpawich had a breakout season, earning 1st Team All-LL honors. I'd expect JR DL Caleb Pulver to play a larger role this fall also.
The LB group is the most talented on the squad going into the 2023 season. SO LB Anthony Romano (see prior post) had a breakout season, as did SO LB Peterson Monexant (2nd team All-LL). JR LB Jamien Bliss and JR LB Drew Walsh (who converted from RB) also had a nice year. FY LB Mike McGhee performed very well when given the opportunity.
The Statesmen will need to replace two starters in the secondary, but the future is bright with guys like JR DB James Mahoney coming back and the emergence of players like SO DB Chris Ntumba.
Special teams are in good hands with FY PK Vicente Lyon and SO PK Tobias Wefering coming back, but the Statesmen will need to find a replacement for SR LS Jordan O'Connor who's graduating.
Given the Landmark / Empire 8 alliance, I wouldn't be surprised to see more LL and New England team pairings - we've already seen RPI will play Dean College this fall. The LL is definitely an "odd man out" when it comes to scheduling due to this and other alliances (e.g., NJAC and CC) / changes (PAC have a full 10-game conference schedule).
Over the coming weeks and months, I'll try to provide updates regarding new recruits as they announce their commitments via social media and keep you posted regarding the 2023 regular season schedule. Last year, the new schedule dropped in early March and the official announcements on the incoming recruiting class started in late April and went thru the first week of May.
That's it for now. Thanks as always for reading and go 'Bart!
