Marpet, Buccaneers win Super Bowl LV

What a night.

Now the highest draft pick out of D3 can add "Super Bowl Champion" to his resume.

In what's been one of the strangest NFL seasons ever, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defied the odds, upsetting the defending champion Chiefs, 31-9.

I couldn't be happier for Ali and the extended Marpet and Hobart families. 

Marpet '15 is Heading to the Super Bowl!

In one of the most incredible NFL playoff runs in history, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers became the first team in pro football history to earn their way to the Super Bowl in their home city. They upset the #1 seeded Green Bay Packers, 31-26, to win the NFC Championship last night.

It's been an amazing run for Hobart Football alum Ali Marpet '15, who endured four losing seasons in his six season pro career before punching his ticket to the ultimate game. Maybe it was Tom Brady, maybe it's just destiny that a former #55 ends up playing in Super Bowl LV?!?!

Either way, we couldn't be happier for Ali and his teammates for this incredible achievement. You can see the HWSAthletics.com press release here.

How it started:

How it's going:

Super Bowl LV is scheduled for Sunday, February 7th with around a 6:40 PM ET kickoff.

Go Ali! Go Bucs! Go Bart!

Big Man from Western Mass Signs with Statesmen

Berkshire School PG TE/WR/DE Luke Hescock posted on his twitter feed today that he is "Excited for the next 4!" in a tweet declaring his commitment to Hobart College.

A tall and long target, 6'5" and 215 lbs., Hescock has some good genes and should fill into his big frame in college much like older brother and Orlando-based, UCF SR TE, Jake. 

Prior to attending Berkshire, Hescock starred as a TE/DE at Wahconah Regional HS (Dalton, MA). You can check out his offensive and defensive highlights in the attached links. Earning multiple FB awards, he also played on the varsity basketball team his entire HS career.

Please join me in welcoming Luke and the extended Hescock family to the Statesmen one!

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart! 

Marpet '15 is One Game Away from the Super Bowl!

After struggling through three losing seasons, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are heading to the NFC Championship game! It what has been an incredible turnaround story, Ali Marpet '15 and the Bucs defeated their division rivals, the New Orleans Saints, last Sunday night, 30-20.

QB Tom Brady made some key throws and the Bucs defense forced multiple turnovers to give Tampa a shot at the #1 seeded Green Bay Packers this Sunday afternoon.

It's been an exciting run for the Bucs and their fans and Ali has certainly been a big part of it. Named as an All Pro by Pro Football Focus, Marpet has had an outstanding season as one of the NFL's top OL.

While the Bucs will once again be road underdogs going up against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, Tampa did give Green Bay their worst loss of the season, a 38-10 drubbing, back in Week 6.

Here's hoping that Marpet, Brady and the Bucs have one more trick up their collective sleeves to return back to Tampa to prepare for Super Bowl LIV!

Go Bucs! Go Bart!

(Some of the) Empire 8 Will Play in the Spring, the Liberty League....?

Yesterday afternoon we learned that the Empire 8 has and released a 2021 Spring Football regular schedule. Made up of the four private schools in the conference - Alfred, Hartwick, Saint John Fisher and Utica - a round robin schedule of games will begin the weekend of March 12 and run three weeks.

A copy of the announcement can be seen here.

So what about the other NYS conference made up of all private colleges? Well, unfortunately the Liberty League has refrained from making a similar announcement, and based on sources I have, probably won't.

Buffalo State, as a SUNY school, won't even be back on campus until March. In a tweet reporting this news, my ITH co-host Frank Rossi surmised:

We lack clear LL answers. Here are our @D3FBHuddle thoughts:

Impossible: @RPIFootball (no full on-campus presence) & @BuffStateFB (SUNY). JB - add: We also learned yesterday that @SLUFootball is likely in this camp due to lack of resources to run games in the spring.

Unlikely: @UnionCollegeFB & @IthacaBomberFB (based on fall football postures)

Maybe: @HobartFootball & @UofRFootball

It's pretty clear the LL would need at least 4 teams to make a similar schedule work. Even with Dr. Jacobsen's pro-stance on getting HWS fall sports teams a spring season, the lack of available opponents may nix it from happening. 

I don't view either Union or Ithaca being game, so the only scenario I could see is a single game / scrimmage against the UofR as Hobart's only likely option, unfortunately.

Time will tell, but for now the Statesmen will need to keep looking towards the fall.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!

Recruiting Update - Start of the Class of 2025 Statesmen Signees

Although we had an unfortunate cancellation of the 2020 season, the Hobart College Statesmen Football coaches jobs as recruiters never ends. Earlier this week, the first of what is sure to be another strong recruiting class announced over Twitter that they were committed to coming to Hobart.

Another in a long line of student athletes who've come up to Geneva from "Strong Island", Oceanside HS SR RB/LB Andres Duran tweeted that:

"I am beyond grateful to announce that I will be furthering my academic and athletic career at Hobart College. I am extremely thankful for my coaches, family and friends that helped me along the way." @AndresDurann on 12/14/20

With HWS ED1 decisions delivered last weekend, I'm sure more of these announcements will occur over the coming weeks. Duran will be the second OHS player on the Hobart roster as he'll join Sailors alum and current Hobart JR LB Bryan Aguilar. 

As you can see from his junior season highlights, Andres brings a mix of speed, strength and natural instincts as a RB and LB. He rushed for 694 yards and 9 TDs (8.1 YPR) while adding 10 catches for 70 yards as a receiver. Standing 5' 10" and 195 lbs. Andres is stocky but a strong scraper and tackler with a nose for the football. He had 48 tackles, 2 sacks and 2 FRs as a "Mike" LB for OHS in 2019. He also starred in lacrosse for Sailors.

While time (and the 2021 preseason) will tell where the coaching staff decides to utilize Duran's talents, my initial guess is at LB given this photo op with Coach Fly during his recruiting visit back on November 3rd. 

Overall, Duran seems like a quality get for the Statesmen, as his timeline indicated he was getting interest / looking at several strong programs including Southern CT State (D2), Assumption (D2), Stonehill (D3), Springfield, Cortland and Utica. 

Please join me in being the first to welcome Andres and the extended Duran family to the Statesmen one! 

Thanks as always for reading the blog and go 'Bart! 

Spring Football May Happen, After All...

Another D3FB conference plans to released a "spring" schedule of football games happening at the end of February and running about five weeks. This will be about the ninth (depending how you're counting) conference to publish a spring schedule, given the advent of less expensive and more available testing measures. Others have alluded to publishing schedules at a future date.

Frank and I are tracking them and this is what we have so far:

While the Liberty League has yet to comment, I understand the Empire 8 has plans to make an announcement regarding spring football by or just after January 1, but it will depend on individual schools declaring they are ready and willing to compete. 

While I understand at least one LL school is likely only going to do one scrimmage and that's it, there is - at least for now - more hope / optimism we may get to see some D3FB come February and March.

Thanks, as always, for reading and go 'Bart!