FB: New Jersey Athletic Conference

[Jonny Utah]

Lets see those numbers from 79

Yeah, see, that's the question: How long is history important? Does a recruit care more about 1979, 2003 or 2007?

It may show you how consistent a program has been.  Sometimes programs rise and fall with specific coaches or systems.

[Pat Coleman]

I can speak to the USAT Sports Weekly ranking, since that is mine. (I wrote the preview for them.)

I believe Cortland will be the best team in the league this year, and the best team in the NJAC merits a Top 15 slot in general.

Teams immediately below Cortland: Central lost its starting quarterback and a two-time league MVP running back, as well as key pieces on defense.

Eau Claire never had a quarterback all season last year, and lost its top two receivers to boot.

Case could be quite good but played a very weak schedule last year and got a great draw in the first round -- a draw they very nearly folded on.

It seemed reasonable to think Cortland would be better than all those teams.

Montclair was second in my mental preseason NJAC poll.

[Jonny Utah]

I can speak to the USAT Sports Weekly ranking, since that is mine. (I wrote the preview for them.)

I believe Cortland will be the best team in the league this year, and the best team in the NJAC merits a Top 15 slot in general.

Teams immediately below Cortland: Central lost its starting quarterback and a two-time league MVP running back, as well as key pieces on defense.

Eau Claire never had a quarterback all season last year, and lost its top two receivers to boot.

Case could be quite good but played a very weak schedule last year and got a great draw in the first round -- a draw they very nearly folded on.

It seemed reasonable to think Cortland would be better than all those teams.

Montclair was second in my mental preseason NJAC poll.

I just thought it was weird that they were ranked in front of Ithaca.  With Juvan (who improved 100% from the year before) and some decent WRs coming back I think Ithaca should be ranked higher.  Plus they smoked them in the regular season.

[rams1102]

Pat : Montclair is like Avis, we have to try harder.

Montclair was second in my mental preseason NJAC poll.

[JT]

Honestly, I have no feel for Rowan this year.  Usually I have a feeling.  Defense will be good although DC left for JMU.  He was replaced with another from the defensive staff.  What Rowan has been lacking is playmakers at WR. There have been some good Wr's, but no holy **** I have to try and cover this guy types since 2005.

If Ben Borsequot is back for his sophomore year, he may be the best RB in the NJAC.  However, Rowan needs studs at WR to make them go with a spread offense.  Each time Rowan has gone deep they've had some serious playmakers at WR.

I'll know more after NJAC day, but I'd have to agree with Pat that Cortland is the team to beat.  Rowan could finish 2-6 IMHO.  I'd put em top 40 on rep, but first time out of top 25 since I've been a voter.

[rams1102]

Honestly, I have no feel for Rowan this year.  Usually I have a feeling.  Defense will be good although DC left for JMU.  He was replaced with another from the defensive staff.  What Rowan has been lacking is playmakers at WR. There have been some good Wr's, but no holy **** I have to try and cover this guy types since 2005.

If Ben Borsequot is back for his sophomore year, he may be the best RB in the NJAC.  However, Rowan needs studs at WR to make them go with a spread offense.  Each time Rowan has gone deep they've had some serious playmakers at WR.

I'll know more after NJAC day, but I'd have to agree with Pat that Cortland is the team to beat.  Rowan could finish 2-6 IMHO.  I'd put em top 40 on rep, but first time out of top 25 since I've been a voter.

JT : Do you know when NJAC Media day is?

[JT]

Honestly, I have no feel for Rowan this year.  Usually I have a feeling.  Defense will be good although DC left for JMU.  He was replaced with another from the defensive staff.  What Rowan has been lacking is playmakers at WR. There have been some good Wr's, but no holy **** I have to try and cover this guy types since 2005.

If Ben Borsequot is back for his sophomore year, he may be the best RB in the NJAC.  However, Rowan needs studs at WR to make them go with a spread offense.  Each time Rowan has gone deep they've had some serious playmakers at WR.

I'll know more after NJAC day, but I'd have to agree with Pat that Cortland is the team to beat.  Rowan could finish 2-6 IMHO.  I'd put em top 40 on rep, but first time out of top 25 since I've been a voter.

JT : Do you know when NJAC Media day is?

Generally it is the during first full week of August.  Probably Tues Aug 5th or Weds Aug 6th.  Camp usually starts the coming Saturday August 9th for those having a game week one.

[thementor]

Bennie Borsequot... Watched him at west orange hs his senior year, yes he ran wild, but that team had 3 maybe 4 d-1 /& d-2 linemen & a tight end that were very good blocking ahead of him...also wohs plays a weak group 4 schedule.... what did he do his freshman year at rowan that would set him up as the best running back in the njac coming into this season ?...don't get me wrong , i am not down on him, i am a w.o. guy, but in 40 yrs that high school has had only 4 players make all  /njc - njac... joe serino, chris smith, rocco rubino & derick morrison

p.s  i remember them all..... i am getting old

[JT]

thementor,

I remember when I first saw Ben last year.  I said to myself, where the F have they been hiding this guy.  He bang off a couple of big runs then he'd disappear for two quarters.  Then he'd get a few more touches later.  Two seniors were ahead of him Encarnacion (who never really recovered from a broken leg against Union in 2005), and Rob Richardson who went down at Kean.  He combines the power of Encarnacion with the speed of Richardson.

If Ben has made the grades in the Spring (I mention this because quite a few freshman don't make it to sophomore year lately), and gets 20 touches a game,  I really like him.  Problem is I've seen a guy get hot during a game, and then watch the Profs stop using him.  He's got great feet, and really good balance.  He's a 1,000 yard regular season back.  If he can catch out of the backfield would be a nice bonus.

Rowan has a good offensive line.  If the passing game has matured Rowan can be in the running for the NJAC, otherwise it may be an up-and-down year.  Used to be WPU, Kean, and Jersey City had crappy coaching staffs.  Three gimmies in conference every year.  Not as many gimmies, most NJAC teams have good staffs.  I don't know much about Morrisville's staff and whether Willy P will slide back w/o Miello and Stinson.  But every other team has good staffs.  Can't just show up and win, and that certainly was part of Rowan's problem last year.

[rams1102]

Just ordered the 2008 Preview.

Now what do we do for the next 7 weeks.

How about some little bits of info throughout the 7 week time frame.

JT : thanks for the info.

[NYGiants02]

Boursiquot is not back for this season.

Rowan received a transfer Quarterback from Delaware who participated in spring ball. Very, very good athlete.

[JT]

Boursiquot is not back for this season.

Rowan received a transfer Quarterback from Delaware who participated in spring ball. Very, very good athlete.

Interesting.  Did Ben leave school, go somewhere else?

[NYGiants02]

Yes he did

[phil]

The mentor,

Just how far back do you go? Do you remember Dolce, D'Aries and the Mountain HS team that went 8-0 before playing undefeated Hanover Park on Thanksgiving (might have been 1970). Along the way they "nipped" the much hated Livingston Lancers 50-0.

[thementor]

Phil,

   steve dolce, rick avagene, matt mangino,ronnie devingo, steve & greg lennard, bill rooney , billy hoatson, d'aries, i grew up w/ all these guys , they played at mountain , i played at west orange... i remember driving out to hofstra to watch andy salerno(wo) & rick avagene play for potomac state jr college against nassau community college, when they were freshman & had dreams of tranferring to wvu to play big time football... they didnt ..... i played for tsc from 68-72...i'm the 1st name on the njac list.... tried  to get rubbino & morrison into tcnj, but they couldn't muster up, but i know that coach ham voted for them to make all  conference, he was well aware of both & wanted them , but it just didnt happen, the rubbino family had already had a son or 2 attend msu prior to rocco , so there was a natural connection...west orange.... will continue to stink, the school  now has a large population of dysfunctional pop culture creeps....not a lot of football players among them !... soccer & track will be ok, but football is way down