2015 Hobart QB Competition Will Be An "Arms Race"

The Hobart College Statesmen Football team has had many memorable offensive generals over the past 20 seasons including greats like Greg Helmer '97, Dan Birdsall '01, Craig Swanson '04, Shawn Mizro '07, Nick Strang '13 and most recently Patrick Conlan '15, who finished his career with a 22-2 record as starting QB.

This fall a handful of Statesmen will look to etch their names in the record books by competing for arguably the most difficult position on the field. Thanks to the coaching and recruiting prowess of HC Mike Cragg and OC Jon Drach the open starting QB job for Hobart will be one of the most talked about competitions of camp, if not the East Region.

SR Co-Captain Parker Thelander has patiently waited for this opportunity while being one of the best special teams players in the Liberty League (LL). He knows the playbook and his experience, leadership and understanding of the offense certainly puts him in prime position going into preseason camp.

Most D3FB programs would be happy (and lucky) to have three young men like these coming back. What makes Hobart, now a consistent Top 10-15 program in the nation an exception, is it's ability to attract other top student athletes from upper division programs. In this case a couple of interesting developments in the off-season have added intrigue to the Statesmen "Arms Race" namely:

SO QB Thomas Sydeski decided to return to Upstate NY and transferred to Hobart after attending Stonehill College (D2) outside of Boston, MA the last two years. A Brockport, NY native, Tom reminds me of Nick Strang '13 based on his build (6'5" 215 lbs) and ability to make plays.

Sydeski led Brockport HS to a 16-2 record over his JR and SR seasons, setting school records for passing yards (4,018) and TDs (48) over that time period. He earned All County and Player of the Year honors for his accomplishments. You can check out his HS highlights here.

Sydeski appeared in five games for Stonehill at QB in 2014 after effectively red-shirting his FY. You can see from the Sky Hawks highlights Sydeski has a strong arm which helped him average 233.2 YPG which speaks for itself. The one area Tom will need to work to improve upon is lowering his turnover ratio. He had a couple of rough outings at Stonehill where he threw for three and four interceptions, respectively, against the University of New Haven and So. CT State.

The other big news coming out of the Finger Lakes happened last week when former SUNY-Albany and now SO QB Shane Sweeney decided to "come home" and transfer to Hobart. A Geneva, NY native, Sweeney was heavily recruited by Hobart but took a football scholarship opportunity with the Great Danes program after graduating from GHS in 2013. He lit up the scoreboard for the Panthers his SR season passing for 2,005 yards and leading the team to several Section V accolades.

Apparently after a coaching change at Albany left Sweeney caught in transition he contacted Coach Cragg. A link to the Finger Lakes Times report and Coach's comments on the story can be found here. A few highlights of Sweeney's work at Albany can be seen here.

All in all it's a very exciting time to be a Hobart Football fan.

While certainly a running team "at heart," this amount of QB power combined with a talented receiver corp that includes players like SR WR Cooper Merrill, JR WR Jack Pfohl, JR WR Sean Cunningham (who played with Sweeney at GHS) and SO WR Brandon Shed, to name just a few, makes Hobart a legitimate threat to call a few "air strikes" on opposing defensive secondaries this fall.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Lindy's Preseason Poll Snubs Statesmen, Picks SLU

Lindy's recently releasing it's 2015 CFB preseason poll is hardly news. Their accuracy of coverage is average at best, especially compared to other publications like D3football.com.

As a Hobart fan however what's noticeable about this year's edition of Lindy's preseason rankings is that four time LL champion and NCAA Elite 8 participant Hobart wasn't included. A team that's returning a good amount of defensive firepower was also overlooked as not a single Statesman, on offense or otherwise, made the preseason Lindy's All-American roster either. For the record I do think we'll see the Statesmen in the D3football.com preseason Top 25, probably in the 14-19 range given the graduations of players like Tyre Coleman, Ali Marpet, DeAndre' Smith and Dominique Ellis.

LL runners up Saint Lawrence (8-2, 6-1) apparently are their favorite to supplant Hobart at the top of the league this fall earning a #15 ranking in the Lindy's poll. The Saints were certainly pleased by this development based on this press release.

To their credit, I have no doubt that the Saints will once again challenge and possibly earn back the LL title for the first time since 2010. SLU brings back a loaded defense with arguably the best secondary and special teams players in the LL, if not the entire East Region. The big question for them, which the Lindy's pollsters apparently overlooked, is if 5th year QB Mike Lefflbine who led the LL in passing yards and TDs, can improve the Saints scoring offense which ranked 6th in the LL at only 21.2 PPG? The Saints have a strong arsenal of offensive players, but it's hard (for me anyway) to gauge them without knowing if Lefflbine can and will improve that offense in 2015.

Regardless, I hope the Hobart coaches and players make note of this "slight" as they work this summer. Preseason camp is only a month or so away and the best part of D3FB is we prove it on the field, not in the polls, for a chance a National Championship.

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Independence Day weekend.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Wilbraham's MVP Aaron Louis to Attend Hobart

Wilbraham & Monson Academy (MA) has indicated that PG RB/ILB Aaron Louis will attend Hobart this fall as part of the Class of 2019. Although he struggled with injuries, Louis was named MVP for the 2014 campaign given his selfless play and leadership. Louis tallied over 100 tackles in only 8 games for the Titans.

Although he was recruited by several FCS level schools in New England, Louis also drew D3 interest from Hobart rival Springfield given it's proximity to WMA.

Louis sounds like a very competitive player, as this interview shows. It sounds like Louis has a big upside, and if he can stay healthy, have an impact on the Statesmen program.

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

Notre Dame's Deveney Signs With Statesmen

Notre Dame HS (Lawrenceville, NJ) SR DL John Deveney has committed to attend Hobart this fall. A versatile athlete, Deveney starred at DE for the Irish. He shows good technique in both interior line play and rushing the passer. On offense he played OT and also lined up at a FB / HB position.

A threat to block passes (and kicks) given his height of 6'5", Deveney has a lot of potential in my opinion. He has good size at 265 lbs and could be utilized in several different areas of the Statesmen game plan in future seasons.

A link to his highlight reel can be viewed here.

A big Hobart welcome to John. Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Coach David Named New Hobart Defensive Coordinator

The search for former DC Nick Grange's replacement ended last Friday when Head Football Coach Mike Cragg announced the hire of new Hobart DC Kory David.

A link to the announcement can be found here.

David brings a great resume of both D3 and NFL coaching experience. He's also originally from Massena, NY which, along with ties to the Philadelphia area, will be a plus for recruiting student athletes to Hobart.

Prior stints at perennial MAC contenders Delaware Valley, NJAC contenders Cortland State and CC schools like Dickinson means Coach David will require little time in getting up to speed in Geneva.

Overall Coach David brings 15 years of experience and given his expertise in LBs, he's a great fit for the Statesmen's LB centric 4x4 defense.

Please join me in welcoming Coach David into the Hobart family!

Thanks for reading and go Bart!

Signed, Sealed, Delivered - Marpet is Officially a Buc

Congratulations are in order to Ali Marpet '15, his agent Andy Ross and the entire Marpet family.

An announcement came out about an hour ago that Ali signed a four year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Terms of the contract were not disclosed but the important thing is Ali is signed in time for training camp.

Other than participating in OTA's, Ali has gotten involved in the Tampa community, visiting veterans and even shaving his head in support of pediatric cancer awareness.

Congrats again on another milestone as part of this amazing story from D3 to the NFL. I will look forward to seeing the Bucs in action in a couple of months.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart (and Bucs)!

New Recruit Update

The 2014 season banquet, coaching moves and all the exciting post season news around the Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafting Ali Marpet '15 has kept me a little behind on updating Hobart fans around new incoming student athletes.

Although Head Football Coach Cragg will announce the incoming class this August before preseason camp opens, there were a couple of articles I found online over the past couple of months that I wanted to share with you Statesmen and D3FB fans.

The first mention from the Class of 2019 came from Shoresportsnetwork.com reporting that OL/DL Pat Cino from Red Bank Catholic (NJ) committed to attend Hobart back in February (likely via Early Decision).

Cino has great size for a HS SR, standing 6'2" and weighing in at 300+ lbs. He helped his team earn an impressive 11-1 overall record for supposedly the third best HSFB program in the state of NJ! He played in every game and tallied 35 total tackles, including one TFL and three QB hurries.

You can check out Pat's highlight reel on the attached link. Pat's size definitely helped him at the HS level but he may need to develop a faster first step in order to become a starting college player.

The Times Tribune (Scranton, PA) reported that Abington Heights HS DB/WR Jake Henzes will join Cino as part of the Statesmen FB program this fall.

Henzes had 31 receptions for 378 yards and three TDs during his 40 game HS career. He also tallied 32 tackles and two INTs on defense. While Henzes has typical D3FB size at 5'11" 175 lbs, he is pretty fast clocking in a 11 second 100m and 22.7 second 200m as a sprinter for the Comet track team this spring. He also stars on the AHHS track team and he earned All Academic honors for a 3.0+ GPA!

A link to Henzes highlight reel can be found here. The tape shows me a player with a good motor and closing speed who isn't afraid to be a physical hitter.

I will post more information on new recruits as word comes in. The second annual FB Alumni & Friends Golf outing is scheduled for July 25th in Geneva. Contact OC Coach Jon Drach for more information!

Thanks for reading and go BART!