FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Ephparent]

Did anyone make it to the Amherst Williams scrimmage? Interested to hear how it went

[nescac1]

I too am curious to hear about the scrimmage.  Williams has its season preview posted:

http://ephsports.williams.edu/sports/fball/2013-14/releases/2013091385ohja

It appears that all-NESCAC safety Chris Kim has left the team; that is a blow, although Williams does return three other starters at DB and it will be a chance for a young player to step up.  On the plus side, fullback Qadir Forbes, who showed a lot of promise as first-year, returns from a knee injury.  If healthy he is an upgrade at that position.  He is backed up by a 240-lb. former offensive linemen, which should be interesting in short-yardage packages. 

Adam Marske has won the QB competition although it sounds like there is still a chance for the other QB's to play.  The biggest key for Williams will be for Marske to return to his Sophomore form.  The other key for Williams will be improved OL play.  The offensive line is extremely young: starting two juniors and three sophomores, with three first-years in the two-deep.  If the OL comes together quickly and Marske avoids INT's I think the offense will be improved because there is a lot of talent at the skill positions, led by Scyocurka at TB backed by two solid seniors, and a very deep receiver core.  The receivers noted in the preview are absolutely massive, including a 6'5 235 lb. frosh, and a 6'5 215 lb. sophomore.  Although Hartwell is a big loss, the QB's should hopefully spread the ball around more now and a healthy Greg Payton could be the break-out player on the team.  Richie Beaton could also have a big senior season. 

LB seems like a big question mark on defense with only one player of note returning.  A young player or two will have to step up there in a big way.  Maybe Jack Ryan who showed promise as a first-year.   DL I think will be solid as James Howe and Mike Flynn are quick on the outside and Howe should be the break-out guy on defense.  The DT's both have excellent size and a lot of experience.  The DL needs to do a much better job this season of generating pressure on opposing QB's.  It should be a quicker group overall with a DE moving inside. 

If Williams has a successful season (which I'd define at this point as at least five wins) most of the following guys are going to have to stay healthy and be difference-makers (aka, all-NESCAC): Payton and/or Beaton, Scyocurka, C Alan Felix on offense, and Cabarle, Ernest Higginbothom, and Howe on defense.  In addition, a few of the many first and second year players near the top of the depth chart will have to emerge quickly, and most of all, they will need at least solid QB play. That's a lot of iffs, but there is certainly enough talent for a bounce-back year. 

[amh63]

Nice objective post Nescac1!   As of this moment,  Trinity has posted a preview, BUT, like Williams there are no final rosters posted.   Surprising in the case of Williams in that the preview cited freshmen backups at positions.  Still, it's progress....being that there is no movement  in info at Tufts and Amherst and Hamilton ...there is a preview for Hamilton of several paragraphs.  Did not check the Bowdoin site as I am a little depressed on the topic.
Update!.....Bowdoin does have its final roster up.   27 freshmen!  At least 75 players...counted 76 twice and consider it close enough.  Did not see a preview on the site...considering I had a time counting, could have missed seeing the preview.

[AlDavis]

Week One Offshore Opening Lines ( For Entertainment Purposes Only)

Trinity        - 5 1/2
Bates          54

Amherst     - 11 1/2
Hamilton      50

Middlebury   - 16 1/2
Bowdoin       49

Williams        - 10
Colby            48 1/2

Tufts             54
Wesleyan     - 17

4 Road Favorites.... some respect on Bates.....is it true that Tufts -Wesleyan game starts at 6:00 pm......Colby could be a sleeper Dog week 1.

after some early action and small tidbits of inside information these are updated lines ( for entertainment purposes only)

Trinity          - 6 1/2
Bates             53 1/2

Amherst        - 12
Hamilton         49 1/2

Middlebury      - 16
Bowdoin          49 1/2

Williams         - 9 1/2
Colby               49

Tufts                54 1/2
Wesleyan        - 16 1/2

what a weekend....strait cash
updated NESCAC lines.....any input....only Bates and Wesleyan have full rosters posted ....Wesleyan is not fooling around with their incoming class.

Trinity             - 8
Bates               52 1/2

Amherst          - 13
Hamilton           50

Middlebury       - 16 1/2
Bowdoin            49

Williams            - 10
Colby                 49 1/2

Tufts                  54
Wesleyan           - 17 1/2

DonBest Sports

Trinity                 - 8 1/2
Bates                     52

Amherst               - 13 1/2
Hamilton                50 1/2

Middlebury           - 17 1/2
Bowdoin                 49

Williams               - 9
Colby                     48 1/2

Tufts                     54 1/2
Wesleyan               - 18

[AlDavis]

...Like I have been saying the past couple of months ...Stick a Fork in Williams for this upcoming season......also first posting of 2013 Season EPIC Game Alert....  Wesleyan 7 - 0 at Trinity 7 - 0  November 9th.

[gridiron]

Trying to stir things up a bit, a la AlDavis....

Amazing to me that after all the hype the past several weeks about certain consistently "over-hyped" teams (and you know which ones I am talking about), suddenly there are limited reports back on the scrimmages....

Hmmm...could it be that somehow, some believe keeping things close to the vest will provide a competitive advantage of some sort???  Small minds...

[AlDavis]

hard to hype up a scrimmage , and I did state that Trinity held out some key players , Wesleyan looked really good on defense and did have a 99 yard 18 play drive , but hey its a scrimmage , we all know Trinity is for real....Wesleyan looks really deep and will soon find out if they match the Hype if not just excitement .....Simple Minds I believe is band from the 80's

[lumbercat]

Some pre season scouting reports-

Top NESCAC backs-

Bunker- Trinity
Drew-Wesleyan
Sycoroura(sp)- Amherst
Stannell-Hamilton
Crick- Trinity
Gibson- Wesleyan
Donarumma- Bowdoin
Doherty- Bates

Bunker is great but if Drew stays healthy he could be the most explosive in recent memory.

Top NESCAC QBs-

Foote- Middlebury
Lippe- Amherst
Warren- Wesleyan

All other NESCAC QB slots are open- the most wide open the conference has been at the QB position in years.

Top NESCAC Wide Receivers-

Jensen- Hamilton
O'Malley- Amherst
Davis- Bates
Fabien- Wesleyan
Jones- Trinity

Jensen of Hamilton gets little attention- if the Continentals have a QB that can get him the ball he will be outstanding- same with Davis at Bates who participated in an offense that attempted the least passing attempts in the conference last year with their triple option offense. At the end of the day the most dangerous receiver in the NESCAC is AJ Jones of Trinity who is stuck in a running offense with little reason to air it out.

Top NESCAC Offensive Linemen-

Rob Wasielewski- Amherst
Liam O'Neil-Bates
Jacob Sheffer-  Wesleyan
Mike Bernstein- Bates
Jack Allard - Middlebury
Paul Gallagher- Colby
Charlie Grossnickle- Williams
Joe Magardino- Trinity
Jake Golden- Trinity

[lumbercat]

Sorry for the typo- Scyocurka is from Williams, I said Amherst, the purple jerseys cause confusion.

[FourMoreYears]

DonBest Sports

Trinity                 - 8 1/2
Bates                     52

Amherst               - 13 1/2
Hamilton                50 1/2

Middlebury           - 17 1/2
Bowdoin                 49

Williams               - 9
Colby                     48 1/2

Tufts                     54 1/2
Wesleyan               - 18

Just for fun:

Bates + 8.5
Amherst -13.5
Bowdoin + 17.5
Williams - 9
Wesleyan -18

[amh63]

Lumbercat...understand the confusion!  Story goes that the mother of Winston Churchill tried to clarify the matter by putting out yellow ribbons for Williams.  For a moment, was trying to picture in my mind the Amherst runner
4more years...karma point for your effort to raise the board's interest.
Seems there is a chance for rain in Clinton NY on Sat.  Does weather move the spreads?

[AlDavis]

Lumbercat...understand the confusion!  Story goes that the mother of Winston Churchill tried to clarify the matter by putting out yellow ribbons for Williams.  For a moment, was trying to picture in my mind the Amherst runner
4more years...karma point for your effort to raise the board's interest.
Seems there is a chance for rain in Clinton NY on Sat.  Does weather move the spreads?

/

yes it does , thank you
Amherst      - 13 1/2
Hamilton        50

[amh63]

ALDavis...since you put up the spread info first...a point to you.

[amh63]

The Amherst preseason preview has been posted as of the last hour.  However, the final roster is not up....maybe to get all the head shots of the players for this season.  There is with the preview, an updated photo gallery with a promise for a video.  I have just looked on the flicker account and saw an new gallery....updated gallery of the football facilities.   The season is coming just right around the corner.
The college will hold a celebration of sorts this weekend on campus, with guilded tours of the new facilities.  I will be at the Hamilton game and miss the events.  Feel almost like a "new papa" a little....though I did not donate any funds to the building.....directly that is.

[lumbercat]

Just reviewed the photo essay on the Jeff's website with a good look at the new facility at Pratt field. Very impressive, the Field House looks spectacular and is the keystone of the project.
The entire project exudes a classic look as one would expect at Amherst.

The portion of the project that contradicts my expectations is the Football seating on the home side. I may be all wet but it appears maybe 1,200 seats....The large press box looks great with wonderful design but looks like it will hold almost as many as the grandstand.

The track looks great but for some reason I thought they were separating the track from the Football field as they are doing at Williams. Given the requisite "set back" for the track the football seating has to move back. With the shallow height of the seating hope that sight lines are not compromised which could make the game a rumor from the home stands.

All in all a great new facility and a credit to the perennial commitment to Athletics at Amherst.

Game on with archival Williams set to complete their project in the fall of 2014 as the perpetual Purple Race continues.