FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[SpringSt7]

While we were away, Bill Belichick of the Wesleyan Class of '75 was let go as HCOF of the New England Patriots.

[The Ghost of John Wesley]

While we were away, Bill Belichick of the Wesleyan Class of '75 was let go as HCOF of the New England Patriots.

Pour one out for an O.G. Cardinal homie. It was a damn good run.

P.S. This new layout is fancy!

[nescac1]

Updated list of Eph recruits that I've seen announce their commitments to date.  Since Williams typically brings in around 18-24 guys, I suspect this will be the bulk of the class.  Looks like a very nice group of OL recruits in Muller, Gale, Fitzsimmons, and McKiernen, all of whom seem to have strong credentials / impressive offers and certainly great size.  A little light, so far, on skill guys and the defensive front seven, so hopefully some more recruits are still coming in April.  Zach Falls was all-scholastic at WR for Duxbury despite being fairly new to football and looks like a huge upside guy. Machnik had a big year for Choate as a dual-threat QB, but not sure if he will stick at QB or convert to a WR/DB in college.  QB McGrath played with two Amherst receivers in high school, the Jung brothers (one of them will be a FY at Amherst next year), which is interesting. 

James Muller, 6'6 290 OL Hun School (NJ)
Jimmy Montesano, 6'4 200 WR/TE, St. Joseph's (NJ)
William Gale, 6'3 300 OL, Falmouth (ME)
Owen Fitzsimmons, 6'3, 285 OL, Noble and Greenough
Finn Carley, 6'2 185 DB, Duxbury
Zach Falls, 6'4, 195 WR,  Duxbury
Henry Machnik, 6'1 205 QB/ATH, Nobles
Nick Dlugos, 6'0 190 ATH, Greensburg Central Catholic (PA)
Tommy Cottrell, 6'1 200 LB, Stepinac (NY)
Ben Yedid, 6'3 240 DL, Choate
Andrew Kreakie, 6'0 180 DB, Westerville (OH)
Tony Provenza, 5'9, 165 WR, Trinity Pawling
Mike McGrath, 5'11 160 QB, Menlo School (CA)
Declan McKiernan, 6'2 255 OL, Seton Hall Prep (NJ)
Connor Rapuano, 6'0 DB, North Haven (CT)
Matt Bott, 5'9 190 RB, Lasalle H.S. (NY)
Zakkai Moore, 5'9 195 LB, Maloney H.C. (CT)
Aaron Chiocca, 6'1 185 DB, Methuen (MA)

[NESCACFball24/7]

Have heard that some of the more resourced programs in the league have began looking into forming nil collectives as a way to offset the cost and attract players who may not be able to otherwise afford a nescac education. Would be a very interesting shift

[Scoops]

Great to be back on the boards. Hoping everyone had a good start to the new year. It looks like most of the recruiting is wrapping up around the league and there's definitely some interesting new additions to the conference.

Williams has probably the most intriguing class I've seen so far. They clearly went after what they needed, and went back to familiar territory to find it in Duxbury WR Zach Falls and Duxbury DB Finn Carley. Can't say Duxbury hasn't worked out well for them in the past.

Amherst seems to have figured out that you need a quarterback to play the game, landing a pair of QBs from Illinois. They also brought in the younger brother of top receiver Carter Jung, who by all accounts is as good as his brother if they can find someone to get him the ball.

Wesleyan has numbers, but I'm generally underwhelmed with the tape on the guys I've seen. They did address their atrocious offensive line, which was undoubtedly their biggest issue. They also brought in talented Choate RB Matt Diaz. But if they can't block for him then it's a waste. The major issue they did not address was their porous secondary. I'm sure opposing OC's are hoping they run that group back out there though.

Bowdoin loaded up on defense. Trinity went with the "if it ain't broke" approach. Tufts continued to push their out of region approach. Colby and Hamilton don't seem to have a lot of public commitments. Bates and Middlebury seem to have fairly decent classes, but nothing to really comment on otherwise.

There will likely be new commits soon, but it largely looks like the bulk of the league is set for the new year.

[Charlie]

Great to be back on the boards. Hoping everyone had a good start to the new year. It looks like most of the recruiting is wrapping up around the league and there's definitely some interesting new additions to the conference.

Williams has probably the most intriguing class I've seen so far. They clearly went after what they needed, and went back to familiar territory to find it in Duxbury WR Zach Falls and Duxbury DB Finn Carley. Can't say Duxbury hasn't worked out well for them in the past.

Amherst seems to have figured out that you need a quarterback to play the game, landing a pair of QBs from Illinois. They also brought in the younger brother of top receiver Carter Jung, who by all accounts is as good as his brother if they can find someone to get him the ball.

Wesleyan has numbers, but I'm generally underwhelmed with the tape on the guys I've seen. They did address their atrocious offensive line, which was undoubtedly their biggest issue. They also brought in talented Choate RB Matt Diaz. But if they can't block for him then it's a waste. The major issue they did not address was their porous secondary. I'm sure opposing OC's are hoping they run that group back out there though.

Bowdoin loaded up on defense. Trinity went with the "if it ain't broke" approach. Tufts continued to push their out of region approach. Colby and Hamilton don't seem to have a lot of public commitments. Bates and Middlebury seem to have fairly decent classes, but nothing to really comment on otherwise.

There will likely be new commits soon, but it largely looks like the bulk of the league is set for the new year.
[/quot

Have heard that some of the more resourced programs in the league have began looking into forming nil collectives as a way to offset the cost and attract players who may not be able to otherwise afford a nescac education. Would be a very interesting shift

Great to be back on the boards. Hoping everyone had a good start to the new year. It looks like most of the recruiting is wrapping up around the league and there's definitely some interesting new additions to the conference.

Williams has probably the most intriguing class I've seen so far. They clearly went after what they needed, and went back to familiar territory to find it in Duxbury WR Zach Falls and Duxbury DB Finn Carley. Can't say Duxbury hasn't worked out well for them in the past.

Amherst seems to have figured out that you need a quarterback to play the game, landing a pair of QBs from Illinois. They also brought in the younger brother of top receiver Carter Jung, who by all accounts is as good as his brother if they can find someone to get him the ball.

Wesleyan has numbers, but I'm generally underwhelmed with the tape on the guys I've seen. They did address their atrocious offensive line, which was undoubtedly their biggest issue. They also brought in talented Choate RB Matt Diaz. But if they can't block for him then it's a waste. The major issue they did not address was their porous secondary. I'm sure opposing OC's are hoping they run that group back out there though.

Bowdoin loaded up on defense. Trinity went with the "if it ain't broke" approach. Tufts continued to push their out of region approach. Colby and Hamilton don't seem to have a lot of public commitments. Bates and Middlebury seem to have fairly decent classes, but nothing to really comment on otherwise.

There will likely be new commits soon, but it largely looks like the bulk of the league is set for the new year.

Curious to see numbers this year. If the NESCAC is in fact going back to their roster limits next year will there be cuts on some of these teams as schools get ready for the limits. I am assuming this will also effect how they do their recruiting going forward.

On that note still perplexes me why Williams keeps recruiting QB they must have the most QB on the roster of any NESCAC unless they are just assuming they will be converted to other positions. Rather an odd way of recruitment. I heard admissions is giving the football program pushback. I am trying to find out why if something changed. So do not know if they are just recruiting on academics first then trying to fit the football piece.

[The Ghost of John Wesley]

Charles my friend, good to see the new forum layout hasn't affected your mastery of the quote feature. 

[Charlie]

Have to keep tradition going

[Charlie]

For those who dont know last years Tufts CB Coach Koby Tippet took job with New England Patriots staff as a secondary Coach. Great for him and great fanfare for the NESCAC. Proud that a Coach from the NESCAC gets a chance in the NFL

[nescac1]

Regarding Williams and quarterbacks, I don't think they have an excessive number of guys who actually play QB - it's just that the roster is not accurate and almost never is in terms of listed positions.  The Ephs seem to recruit a fair number of athletic QBs with the intention of making a position switch.  Last year Williams had four guys actually playing QB - Renzella, McHugh, Dickinson, and Bobo.  And Renzella I think may have been hurt?  O'Connell played at H-back and Wallace played at safety (which he started some games due to injuries late in the season).  This year they are so far adding two more, but one of them looks versatile enough to be moved to another position, and while all four guys from last year return, plus Owen Johansen, who was hurt and not on the roster, I would not be surprised to see Dickinson and/or Bobo make a position change as well.  Dickinson already excels at special teams and I imagine could be an interesting WR, where Williams needs help, if he's not in the QB mix.  Johansen was a star LB in high school in addition to playing QB, so I'm not sure which position (maybe both!) he will be competing at. 

[lumbercat]

Not sure what position but the Johansen kid will have an impact on the Williams program. One of the better NESCAC class of '27 recruits.

[nescac1]

Injuries happen to every team in football, but Williams had some brutal ones last fall.  Two of the their top recruits, Johansen and Marven, didn't play a snap.  Fischetti was never 100 percent and then went down for the season.  One of top DL missed almost the entire year after an early-season injury and several others were banged up.  The secondary got decimated to the point that Gehring had to play both ways (and did it effectively).  Hopefully the combo of injured guys back and many key fifth-year guys returning helps Williams to have a lot more depth and at least get back to over .500 next season. Only the OL (which itself mixed and matched a lot of guys due to injury) suffers any key personnel losses.   

[NESCACFball24/7]

For those who dont know last years Tufts CB Coach Koby Tippet took job with New England Patriots staff as a secondary Coach. Great for him and great fanfare for the NESCAC. Proud that a Coach from the NESCAC gets a chance in the NFL

Nothing against the kid but what makes you say that? He's from NY (not exactly a great hs football state or competition) and only had 1 offer (from Williams). His tape looks fine but nothing crazy.

[NE Football Fan]

For those who dont know last years Tufts CB Coach Koby Tippet took job with New England Patriots staff as a secondary Coach. Great for him and great fanfare for the NESCAC. Proud that a Coach from the NESCAC gets a chance in the NFL

Nothing against the kid but what makes you say that? He's from NY (not exactly a great hs football state or competition) and only had 1 offer (from Williams). His tape looks fine but nothing crazy.

Did Cortland State not win the National Championship? I have not even looked, but I'm going to take a guess and say 75% of that team came from NY.

[NESCACFball24/7]

For those who dont know last years Tufts CB Coach Koby Tippet took job with New England Patriots staff as a secondary Coach. Great for him and great fanfare for the NESCAC. Proud that a Coach from the NESCAC gets a chance in the NFL

Nothing against the kid but what makes you say that? He's from NY (not exactly a great hs football state or competition) and only had 1 offer (from Williams). His tape looks fine but nothing crazy.

Did Cortland State not win the National Championship? I have not even looked, but I'm going to take a guess and say 75% of that team came from NY.

My point was that the competition level of high school ball in New York is not high so someone who is supposed to be such a standout would presumably have great tape against there competition. I have no clue what Cortland State has to do with that.