Hobart Appears in Two Preseason Polls, SRs Coleman and Marpet Named Preseason All-Americans

Although the 2014 season is still 90-some days away, the Sporting News and Lindys have already released their preseason Division III college football polls.

The Statesmen landed in the Top 20 in both, at #12 in the SNCFB and #17 in the Lindys publications, respectively. While I think the #12 ranking is a bit high given graduations of key players, somewhere between 12 and 17 is probably just right given last season's 10-1 record and the fact Hobart has 14 returning lettermen (not to mention the Class of 2015 has lost only one regular season game during their college careers).

SR DE Tyre Coleman and SR OL Ali Marpet were named to Lindys Preseason First All-DivIII teams. The only other Liberty League Player mentioned was RPI's SR PK Andrew Franks. Franks also earned First Team recognition as a kicker.

Coleman also earned a nod on the SNCFB preseason All-America squad.

While the D3football.com poll won't be released for two+ more months, the above publications are on news stands (and online) now if you want to study up on the upcoming season.

Thanks for reading and Go Bart!

Lakeland's Wallerstein Headed to Hobart

Lakelandfootball.net (Wanaque, NJ) reports that SR QB Adam Wallerstein has commited to attend Hobart College. A link to the article can be found here.

Wallerstein led the Lancers to a 7-3 overall record in 2013 passing for 1,902 yards with 28 passing and three rushing TDs. Wallerstein is good size at 6'3"and 200 lbs and has a strong - in five games he had TD passes over 50 yards - and an accurate - going 93 of 168 attempts or 55.5% - arm. He scored seven touchdowns in a game, an impressive feat chronciled here by NorthJersey.com.

Wallerstein, a co-captain of the Lancers, showed a lot of maturity and leadership after the game when he stated "how the offensive line protected me phenomenally and how my receivers and running backs helped me out throughout the game." Aside from being an excellent QB, Adam is an aspiring writer a skill he's sure to improve on at HWS.

Unless another recruit or transfer comes into camp, Adam will be the sixth QB on the Statesmen roster this fall. Last season Hobart brought in (rising) SO QBs Troy Anthony and Dillon Russo. If you have concerns that the Statesmen are stockpiling QBs, you should note that this is luxury most teams would like to have. Hobart's multiple QBs (e.g., a strong starter with a solid, if not equal backup) running the offense has been a winning formula for the Statesmen for several seasons when you consider:

2010 - Vella and Strang: Vella started all but the Union game which Strang won in 2OT, scoring six TDs
2011 - Strang and Olney: Strang started all but the NCAA playoff game which Olney threw for 200+ yards in a narrow 35-28 loss to then #3 Wesley
2012 - Strang and Olney: Strang started but Olney played a significant role in several games, especially in the NCAA playoffs
2013 - Conlan and Bayly: Conlan started all but Bayly appeared in nine games, passing for two TDs

This depth is a big reason for Hobart's recent run of three straight LL titles and playoff runs.

Please join me in welcoming Adam into the Statesmen Football family.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Trinity Pawling & Tappan Zee Star Letizia Selects Statesmen

I hope you and yours enjoyed a happy and healthy Memorial Day Weekend. I was tied up on the home and work front for a bit, so thanks to Sean McGlynn '01 for sending along this recruiting news.

Last week, Trinity Pawling School (Pawling, NY) released their 2014 football student athlete college selections. Of the 11 players on the team with plans to pursue athletics in college, PG RB/WR Joseph Letizia selected Hobart College. A link to the release can be found here.

Letizia will be at the least the third Statesmen with TPS ties on the team this fall. (Rising) SO LB Zach Thorton and SO OL Matthew Mancuso are also TPS alumni.

Letizia also played SS at TPS, but my guess is the coaching staff have him teed up to remain a RB. The Statesmen's roster currently has five RBs listed, which isn't a lot, especially considering Hobart's "I" style of offense.

Letizia originally hails from Rockland County, having starred in football at Tappan Zee.

Starred may be an understatement as Letizia racked up an incredible 4,234 yards, 56 touchdowns, and 367 points over his four year career, earning Player of the Year, All County and other awards.

Please see this article from the "Varsity Insider Sports Blog" for more information on Letizia's accomplishments.

Please join me in welcoming Joseph to the Hobart family. Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Statesmen Name Captains for 2014 Season

Hobart College Head Football Coach Mike Cragg announced that six rising SR Statesmen have been elected Captains for the 2014 season.

In the announcement he noted how this group of SRs has lost only ONE regular season game in the three prior seasons. Hobart also comes into 2014 as the three-peat defending Liberty League Champions.

The Co-Captains are listed below:

TE Mike Berkowitz - led Hobart with six receiving TDs
QB Patrick Conlan - started all 11 games at QB
OL Ali Marpet - All-American candidate and anchor of the OL
OLB Matt McGriff - vocal leader, 16 tackles and a pass break up
ILB Jake Price - contributed 48 tackles, good for fifth on the team
WR Troy Robinson - team high 366 receiving yards and four TDs

Please join me in congratulating these team leaders. It looks like the Statesmen are in good hands for 2014.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Woodgrove's Hoffer Coming to Hobart

Owen Gotimer of the Loudoun Sports News team reports that Woodgrove SR OLB Will Hoffer (Purceville, VA) will suit up for the Statesmen this fall. A link to the article can be found here.

Based on his highlight reel Hoffer shows good speed and discipline as an OLB. He scrapes well down the line of scrimmage to the ball and is a solid tackler. At 5'11" 210 he has good size but may need to work on developing his rush against the larger OL he'll face in college.

Barring other recruits coming in, Hoffer will be the third Statesmen player from VA (rising JR FB/TE Chris Holoman and rising SO PK Ethan Miller being the other two).

Please join me in welcoming Will into the Hobart family.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Now It's Time to Play..."You Be The AD!"

The Statesmen have an open date in the 2015 season and are currently looking to fill September 19, 2015 with a home game in Geneva, NY. As with longer term out of conference games (e.g., Dickinson), Hobart has been open to multi-year (i.e., "home and away") contracts. Historically the Statesmen prefer teams in the eastern region given travel and other expenses. It also doesn't hurt to have away games in areas that have an abundance of HWS alums, prospective students and/or recruits for obvious reasons.

That said it's kind fun to imagine potential "what if" scenarios, albeit tempered by a little dose of reality, of course. In this "game", let's take what D3football.com has posted as the teams who reportedly share the same 9/19/15 open date as the Statesmen.

Those teams are:

1. Cal Lutheran
2. Catholic
3. Coe
4. Guilford
5. Hampden-Sydney
6. Husson
7. Kean
8. Linfield
9. North Central (Ill.)
10. North Park
11. Pacific Lutheran
12. Simpson
13. UW-Oshkosh
14. Wartburg
15. Washington and Lee

Taking a quick look we can probably quickly eliminate 10 teams given driving and/or flying distance:

1. Cal Lutheran - Thousand Oaks, CA (I used to live close by here, nice campus, beautiful new stadium but requires a long flight if not flights)
2. Coe - Cedar Rapids, IA (almost 900 miles)
3. Guilford - Greensboro, NC (over 600 miles)
4. Linfield - McMinnville, OR (flight)
5. North Central - Naperville, IL (having done the drive from Geneva to Chicago, this one's definitely too far, especially if you're in a UHaul truck and drive through a hail storm)
6. North Park - Chicago, IL (see above)
7. PacLu - Tacoma, WA (flight)
8. Simpson - Indianola, IA (could be a Field of Dreams out there but too far)
9. UW-Oshkosh - WI (too far? You betcha)
10. Wartburg - Waverly, IA (see above)

Now I realize that it's possible that any of the above teams could consider a "one and done" deal to travel to Geneva to play Hobart. Of the above my best guess would be either NCC or UWO given their heavy commitment to playing the best teams in the country (which these days we can definitely put Hobart in that category). That said there are a lot of midwestern D3 programs that are closer / better geographic fits for them so the possibility they'd schlep to NY isn't very likely.

That leaves us with realistically only five potential match ups which I would "lump" into these two categories:

"East Coast" teams

1. Husson - Bangor, ME
2. Kean - Union, NJ

"DC/VA" teams

1. Catholic - Washington, DC
2. Hampden-Sydney - H-S, VA
3. Washington and Lee - Lexington, VA

I don't like Husson for a couple of reasons. First, their conference (the ECFC) really isn't strong. The Eagles went 5-5 in 2013 after posting two, zero and one win seasons from 2010-12 (yikes). Combined with the fact Hobart easily ousted the 2013 ECFC Champions Galluadet, 34-7, in the first round of the NCAAs, I wouldn't pick this match up. Also, Bangor is about as far east as it gets, and at almost 600 miles away, I don't know if either team would want to make this bus trip.

Kean on the other hand is very interesting. They are a solid progran in the NJAC, one of the best conferences in the East Region. The Cougars have fallen on tough times of late, only winning two games in 2013 after only being two seasons removed from going 10-2 and making the NCAA playoffs. Union (in this case NJ, not our rivals in Schenectady, NY) is less than a five hour drive from Geneva and only 25 miles from NYC making a longer term home/away series attractive (at least from a Hobart perspective. Kean may not see the same value in going to Upstate NY).

Catholic would be a nice match up too given their location and their recent turn of getting more competitive in the ODAC. The Cardinals have posted back to back six win seasons and would be a good test for Hobart. Like Kean, it would depend on whether or not Catholic saw any reciprocal value in playing the Statesmen. DC has a lot of HWS alumni/ae and would be a nice location for Hobart to get a home and away series set up.

Both HSC and W&L are great ODAC programs as well but likely a long shot given their location (over 450 miles away from Geneva). Statesmen fans obviously remember the latter from the first round of the NCAAs in 2012. Hobart won that contest against the Generals' vaunted triple option attack by a score of 38-20. Although the chances of either of these working out aren't likely, if I could pick one game I'd like to see, I'd go with HSC. The Tigers come into 2014 as the defending ODAC Champions and would be a very tough out / great playoff preparation for the Statesmen.

Given the above I'd rank my choices as follows:

1. Kean
2. Catholic
3. HSC

Who would you pick?

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Let The Countdown Begin

HWS SID Ken DeBolt has started the countdown to the 2014 season yesterday as @hwssid tweeted the Statesmen were 150 days away from their season opener vs. Dickinson College.

Hobart's schedule is listed below. Nice work on the helmet / dates look! Only 149 days and counting....

Go Bart!