FB: New Jersey Athletic Conference

[Teamski]

I read about Wesley when it happened, damn shame. Great battles between Rowan and Wesley. Some blowouts, but all I remember were the nail biters. I wonder if this might have a positive impact on Rowan recuiting. I remember Drass [RIP] getting quite good at snatching talent from South Jersey.

A lot of that was Steve Azzanessi, that was his recruiting area and he followed South Jersey HS football fanatically. He is the OC at Delaware State now.

Interestingly, when Wesley beat Rowan for the first time in '14, I know it meant a lot to Joe Callahan, a Holy Spirit product. When I interviewed him afterward, I asked him what it meant to him. He said that he had seen how Rowan had advertised how "they were recruiting the best players in South Jersey." "I guess I wasn't on that list."

Jason - Any more updates on Wesley players and the whereabouts of the coaching staff heading into the 2021 season?

Here's what I have seen/heard:

Jay Holmes, linebacker from local HS Caesar Rodney, is headed to IUP.

Mathew Gore, D-lineman headed to William Paterson.

D'Andre Curry, D-back to Fairmont State.

Brady Walters, quarterback to Widener.

Mike Brewer, LB/SS type to Shippensburg.

DC Arthur Smith may coach LBs at Delaware State. Former assistants Steve Azzanesi and Jeff Braxton are already there.

Many of the juniors and seniors will walk on at Delaware State. I imagine so they don't lose credits transferring. I'd think FS Marcus Gaspard and All-NJAC corner Isaiah Mitchell are among those.

Interested as to what Dante Daniel, NJAC DPOY in '19, is going to do? Del State?

Also, QB Drew Fry did not come back to school for '20-'21. Not sure if he still has plans to play ball. Man, is he talented.

I think the coaching talent that DSU got from Wesley will definitely make them a better team.  Keep an eye on them this next year in the MEAC.  I also agree that Drew Fry needs to find a team.  He is really good and unfortunately, never got to truly spread his wings.  Without a doubt, he would have been on the list of Wesley greats.

-Ski

[jmcozenlaw]

I read about Wesley when it happened, damn shame. Great battles between Rowan and Wesley. Some blowouts, but all I remember were the nail biters. I wonder if this might have a positive impact on Rowan recuiting. I remember Drass [RIP] getting quite good at snatching talent from South Jersey.

A lot of that was Steve Azzanessi, that was his recruiting area and he followed South Jersey HS football fanatically. He is the OC at Delaware State now.

Interestingly, when Wesley beat Rowan for the first time in '14, I know it meant a lot to Joe Callahan, a Holy Spirit product. When I interviewed him afterward, I asked him what it meant to him. He said that he had seen how Rowan had advertised how "they were recruiting the best players in South Jersey." "I guess I wasn't on that list."

Jason - Any more updates on Wesley players and the whereabouts of the coaching staff heading into the 2021 season?

Here's what I have seen/heard:

Jay Holmes, linebacker from local HS Caesar Rodney, is headed to IUP.

Mathew Gore, D-lineman headed to William Paterson.

D'Andre Curry, D-back to Fairmont State.

Brady Walters, quarterback to Widener.

Mike Brewer, LB/SS type to Shippensburg.

DC Arthur Smith may coach LBs at Delaware State. Former assistants Steve Azzanesi and Jeff Braxton are already there.

Many of the juniors and seniors will walk on at Delaware State. I imagine so they don't lose credits transferring. I'd think FS Marcus Gaspard and All-NJAC corner Isaiah Mitchell are among those.

Interested as to what Dante Daniel, NJAC DPOY in '19, is going to do? Del State?

Also, QB Drew Fry did not come back to school for '20-'21. Not sure if he still has plans to play ball. Man, is he talented.

I think the coaching talent that DSU got from Wesley will definitely make them a better team.  Keep an eye on them this next year in the MEAC.  I also agree that Drew Fry needs to find a team.  He is really good and unfortunately, never got to truly spread his wings.  Without a doubt, he would have been on the list of Wesley greats.

-Ski

Ski - I'm kind of surprised that nobody close to the Wesley program has an idea of what Fry is up to. I'm guessing that he might have just hung up the cleats as it's getting late to latch on somewhere if it's not a done deal by now.

[RowanPhan]

Happy August 1st everyone

I think most camps will kickoff next week... I'll try to sneak over to Glassboro to catch a few Rowan practices before the season kicks off

[CNU85]

Now this is really good news! Chris is a good guy! Glad he is back!

https://www.cnusports.com/news/2021/8/4/chris-ellis-named-christopher-newport-football-special-teams-coordinator.aspx?fbclid=IwAR1iNHc2sy4owpA7DRXfT8gga7MeqA-b9QD6WbbMzEoCrQLG9pKOhk13Rf4

[MRMIKESMITH]

Now this is really good news! Chris is a good guy! Glad he is back!

https://www.cnusports.com/news/2021/8/4/chris-ellis-named-christopher-newport-football-special-teams-coordinator.aspx?fbclid=IwAR1iNHc2sy4owpA7DRXfT8gga7MeqA-b9QD6WbbMzEoCrQLG9pKOhk13Rf4

Definitely a good pickup, I'm sure the connections and improved experienced will help with both on the field and off the field recruiting.

[RowanPhan]

Any one know when is NJAC football Media Day?  I tried asking their twitter acct but never got a response :/

[MRMIKESMITH]

Any one know when is NJAC football Media Day?  I tried asking their twitter acct but never got a response :/

I know in 2019, they released the coaches poll on 8/12/2019, so I assume today or tomorrow or early next week. I believe camp starts for a few teams on Sunday/Monday

[RowanPhan]

Rowan recently posted their returning lettermen roster. The Profs return a lot of experience and talent, especially on the OL. A few key names are missing, however experienced players return at every position group. In terms of returning experience, their thinnest position is WR where only Captain John Maldonado returns. Their deepest position is OL where 5 experienced lineman return. Other positions of strength will be QB and LB. Transfers and new recruits should add to Rowan's talent pool in 2021.

I'll post a more detailed team overview once the full roster is a available later in the month.

[CNU85]

Congrats to Salisbury. And I bet DelVal finishes stronger than this preseason poll.

https://www.d3football.com/top25/2021/preseason

[Pat Coleman]

I'm a little late on this but our understanding was that Fry was not eligible last season so he may not be able to land anywhere until he sorts that out.

[@d3jason]

Congrats to Salisbury. And I bet DelVal finishes stronger than this preseason poll.

https://www.d3football.com/top25/2021/preseason

Their D-line should be elite for sure. They haven't posted a 2021 roster, as yet, so it will be interesting to see who else is back. I would think that they will be very good again based on their ability to crank out teams recently. (Cue jmcoz telling me that they will stink because they lost too many...... )

I kinda had the feeling that they had claimed to top dog in the east after burying the Wolverines in the 2019 playoffs. I thought that they slugged it out with North Central and had a chance before fumbling inside the 10, down 10 at the start of the fourth quarter.

I personally would have had them above Salisbury. It was surprising that Muhlenberg was not higher based on what they did to the Gulls, but who really knows in this current climate. Salisbury does have the advantage of paying a couple games this past spring.

[jmcozenlaw]

Congrats to Salisbury. And I bet DelVal finishes stronger than this preseason poll.

https://www.d3football.com/top25/2021/preseason

Their D-line should be elite for sure. They haven't posted a 2021 roster, as yet, so it will be interesting to see who else is back. I would think that they will be very good again based on their ability to crank out teams recently. (Cue jmcoz telling me that they will stink because they lost too many...... )

I kinda had the feeling that they had claimed to top dog in the east after burying the Wolverines in the 2019 playoffs. I thought that they slugged it out with North Central and had a chance before fumbling inside the 10, down 10 at the start of the fourth quarter.

I personally would have had them above Salisbury. It was surprising that Muhlenberg was not higher based on what they did to the Gulls, but who really knows in this current climate. Salisbury does have the advantage of paying a couple games this past spring.

Surely you jest Jason as I have NEVER said DelVal will "stink". That is almost an impossibility in any given year, BUT, since you don't have any inside scoop, sit back and enjoy

The defensive line, while not deep, should be EXCELLENT!! They did lose 3 out of their 4 multi-year starters at LB. Their secondary should be solid. Any secondary will look good with that defensive line though.

Offensively, they lost 3 out of 5 mutli-year starting offensive linemen. They also lost their starting QB (Fontana), 2 of their top 3 RB's, their all-league FB, 2 of their top 3 WR's and their top 2 tight ends, including Dan Allen who was a match up nightmare for LB's and DB's (ask Wesley). Their kicker and punter also went bye bye.

While encouraged by some of the newcomers, not many will be make a significant enough impact. The roster is by FAR the smallest number it has been in many, many years and they did lose several potential starters to an on-time graduation and money woes.

The team that destroyed Wesley in the 2019 playoffs is long gone, BUT, this team can win the MAC. Stevenson is good and bringing back a ton. Widener and Lycoming were very, very young.......but who knows if they lost anybody due to the COVID mess.

To wrap up, my adopted (as a bucolic Doylestown resident) Aggies will FAR from stink. I believe the ranking is a bit overrated but who knows. Will they get to the 3rd round of the NCAA Playoffs yet again? If they get great QB play from somebody and can fill in the holes at OL, RB, FB, WR and especially TE..................they have a shot. This team will have to do it primarily on defense.

They do have a great coaching staff so maybe they can mold the team into a Top 16 or Top 8 team by the end of the year................which would be one hell of an accomplishment given the facilities and resources.

[MRMIKESMITH]

I do believe the Spring helps any team for the matter. I think programs that brought in freshmen during both the fall and spring were able to take advantage of utilizing the spring games to seriously evaluate talent especially the o-line and d-line. They also got to evaluate players to see if they have what it takes to actually get hit in the mouth and or hit others in the mouth to see how they respond. In DIII, you have a lot of workout warriors and 7-on-7 guys that never translate those talents to in-game/on the field.  I personally, never had the opportunity to have contact practices in the Spring, it was all 7-on-7 and o-line vs. d-line drills. It was good to stay in shape and to evaluate technical aspects, which is a foundation aspect of the game.

Spring season benefited the freshmen more than anything and from a coaching perspective, you got to eliminate those that didn't have it or decided to give others the opportunity to improve over the summer and come back. As opposed to the 1 to 2 week evaluation during summer camp, where good talent can get overlooked because of 1 mistake and 80 to 100+ bodies running around.

This season has so many unknowns, because of the abbreviated season.  I will give the nod to teams that have their starting QBs or someone with considerable playing time returning. I will also give the nod to those who have starters returning at each level.

[CNU85]

CNU played 2 spring games. Hopefully they were good for the coaches to evaluate. All I see is the box score and noticed the D scored more than the O.

Just for fun I went back to the last game of 2019 and looked at the 2 deep. Then looked at the current roster just updated.
Good news - lots of returners from that 2 deep
Not so good news - we went 2-8 in 2019

CNU has 83 players who have not endured a full college season (41 Fr, 41 So and a Sr who played LAX the past 3 years)

QB competition should be good. I noticed we landed the State 6A Champion starting QB. Will see how that translates to college ball.

Defense - loaded with LB. Not surprising since the HC played LB at Florida.  So perhaps CNU will run a 1-9-1 Defense! hahahahaha!

I have no idea of the talent, experience, injury factors, etc. All I can do is look at rosters, stats, bios, etc.

I'm just hoping we are competitive and can enjoy some really good games and a full season!!

[Pat Coleman]

I personally would have had them above Salisbury. It was surprising that Muhlenberg was not higher based on what they did to the Gulls, but who really knows in this current climate. Salisbury does have the advantage of paying a couple games this past spring.

Muhlenberg brings back just two starters on offense and four on defense from that 2019 season.