FB: Liberty League

[Ice Bear]

Hopefully this is readable.  Just for fun, it is an attempt to breakout last season's Liberty League rosters by state. Of course some of the numbers are affected by recruiting from 5-6 years ago.
NY was far and away the most popular state league wide (42%). NY was also the most popular state for each school. Buff State was 100% NY.  Union had the fewest from NY both by percentage (27%) and actual numbers.

State	BUF	HOB	ITH	ROC	RPI	STL	UNI	Total
NY	59	32	51	34	38	40	27	281
MA		6	5	11	22	30	26	100
NJ		12	28	8	16	2	21	87
PA		6	26	7	9	2		50
CT		3	6	2	5	9	17	42
MD		3	3	2	10		3	21
FL		1	4	4	3	1		13
NH		1		1	1	6	2	11
GA			2	4	3			9
CA				3	4		1	8
VA			1	3	4			8
VT		1				4		5
RI						2	2	4
DE		1		2				3
IL			1	2				3
TX				1	2			3
WA				1	2			3
MI				2				2
MN				1	1			2
OH			1	1				2
OR				2				2
SC					1		1	2
TN				1	1			2
AL				1				1
BC,Can						1		1
CO		1						1
DC							1	1
IN					1			1
LA		1						1
NC					1			1
NM					1			1
NV					1			1
ON, Can				1				1
Sweden						1		1
UT				1				1
Total	59	68	128	95	126	98	101	675

Excellent job on your compilation Jersey42. A lot of work there. Thanks and big +k. It's easy to see that the easternmost LL schools mostly recruit New England and that's precisely why they have New England schools on their OOC schedule.

The Union College Garnet have been back in town for a week now and along with some stalworth returnies come the first year's. Union has brought in 25 of them and in keeping with Jersey42's statistics most of them are from Connecticut(9) and Massachusetts(7). There's also 4 from NY, 2 from NJ, one from Toronto, Canada and a pair of LBs from the same school, Marin Catholic in California! Still no recruits from Pennsylvania. Leave those for the western NY schools I guess.

As for who's coming back...https://unionathletics.com/sports/football/roster/2023
On Offense...The big name is starting QB Donovan Pacatte. His ability and rxperience will be paramount since the Garnet have lost key offensive players, Ike Irabor and Andre Ross Jr. to graduation and WR's Nicholas Dunneman and Avery Turton to the dreaded transfer portal. Fortunately the O-line brings back 4 of 5 starters and some veteran reserves and RBs Michael Fiore, Jonathan Anderson and John Rust, all capable, are back to carry the rock. 20 WR candidates will fight it out to see who emerges as the next great Union receiver. Garrett Cafaro returns at TE.
As for the Defense...Look who's back, DT Jimaar Edwards, a 2021 LL 1st teamer and All Region 2nd teamer, has returned after missing the 2022 season. His presence will anchor the D-line along with all 3 of last year's starters. The LB corp is a strength with captains Cole DeSilva and Tommy Cavallo and 2 other starters returning. Now for the questionmarks. The secondary was wiped out by graduation and defection but there is talent and experience waiting for their chance.Their development will be key.   
Special teams...punter/placekicker Andrew Lau and backup Max Gluck both return. More consistency is needed.

The 2023 Union Dutchmen, Charging Garnet...OK Garnet Chargers will be interesting. New Head Coach Jon Poppe's ability to get the team functioning going into the tough part of their LL schedule will be helped by the relative ease of their first four OOC games and continuity on the coaching staff. The only new coach is OC/Line coach Greg Skjold who's a 2013 Union grad.   
                                                FTC

Ice Bear ****ing loves this Ufan! Ice Bear says +k old friend for this great informational post. Ice likes what he sees personnel wise for his beloved Garnet. Ice LOVES the returners on the O-line. Ice says if Pacatte can stay healthy, between that line, the solid running back core, and some decent receivers, Ice believes the O will have some success this season. Ice is also quite pleased knowing Jimaar, Cavallo, and Desilva are back on the defensive side of the ball. Ice says the U may surprise some this season.

Urgent report from the campus of Union College: Ice Bear Sr. was down at Frank Bailey yesterday and said Poppe was running all over the field like a maniac! Sr Bear said Poppe was pumped up, picking up cones, running from drill to drill, and absolutely eating it up. Ice thinks this was a great hire and loves the fire and lunch pail mentality that is currently brewing in Shocktown.

Ice Bear says he is making a compromise regarding the abysmal nickname that has been thrust upon Union College. Ice will refer to Union as the Garnet moving forward. Ice says he is all about acceptance but this one is a ****ing doozy. Ice says **** the name chargers (won't capitalize it ever!) and Ice will go with the Garnet.

[Ice Bear]

Ice predicts Union Jr. RB Jonathan Anderson will run like an antelope out of control throughout the 2023 season. Ice really likes the way this young man runs.

[unionpalooza]

Ice predicts Union Jr. RB Jonathan Anderson will run like an antelope out of control throughout the 2023 season. Ice really likes the way this young man runs.

Unionpalooza endorses this prediction.  JA has arguably been the Dutchmen's most consistent back these past two years, and the dude brings the load straight downhill.

[unionpalooza]

Interesting tidbit, now that rosters are starting to be posted - starting to see a return to parity in terms of senior numbers.  Ithaca's roster shows 19 seniors and 14 graduate students, for 34 senior guys (down from 46 last year year).  Union's roster reports 31 seniors (no grad program there) (up from 23 last year), and Hobart reports 19 seniors (again, no grad program).  RPI hasn't posted yet - they had 41 last year (16 grad students and 25 seniors).  They only had 10 juniors last year, so I would expect that number to be down.

Still no 2023 roster for RPI.

[Ice Bear]

Ice Bear just wants to mention that included in the Shocktown Gazette's article on Poppe and Union today it was mentioned ****ing multiple times how Poppe runs around like a crazy person (Ice mentioned this last week) during practice. Ice Bear says ****, he bets that even during the team movie Poppe is running ****ing laps around the room jumping over chairs and stealing players hats. Ice ****ing likes this guy's style!

https://dailygazette.com/2023/08/22/union-college-football-new-head-coach-poppe-bringing-infectious-energy-to-garnet-chargers/

[Bartman]

Ice Bear just wants to mention that included in the Shocktown Gazette's article on Poppe and Union today it was mentioned ****ing multiple times how Poppe runs around like a crazy person (Ice mentioned this last week) during practice. Ice Bear says ****, he bets that even during the team movie Poppe is running ****ing laps around the room jumping over chairs and stealing players hats. Ice ****ing likes this guy's style!

https://dailygazette.com/2023/08/22/union-college-football-new-head-coach-poppe-bringing-infectious-energy-to-garnet-chargers/

IB, I don't want to pour cold water on your excitement , but quite a few successful coaches never exhibited this type of ****ing maniacal behavior....I prefer to wait to see the results ....just saying....but I'm still lovin the IB comments and enthusiasm for the GARNET CHARGERS.

Oh by the way, the Hobart roster is now full, with not 68, but 98 with the 30 youngins checking into camp....hoping the Freshmen OL group with a few beefy boys will fill the shoes of the graduating OL group.....looking forward to whether coach DeWall has some new twists this year on offense that will confuse our respected opponents in the LL.......Bartman has heard he does, but we must wait for the Ithaca game for the full unveiling on that Hill overlooking Cayuga Lake.

[UfanBill]

It's about to begin...The Liberty League 2023 season...Union has a scrimmage at Hartwick tomorrow, yes on a Thursday, at 2:00 in their cage. You know the Hawks will throw it up and test the Garnet's rebuilt secondary. Union will go about it's business building it's depth by playing the whole roster. That's what scrimmages are for. Some will say Union has scrimmages the first three weeks with games at Hilbert and Worcester St. weeks #1 and #2. New coach Jon Poppe will get a good look at everyone during those games.

I still think Hartwick should be in the Liberty League but whatever...The E8 is adding Buffalo area Hilbert in 2024 and quite likely losing Utica to D2 or higher. IMO swapping Hartwick for Buffalo State makes sense to me but apparently not in Oneonta. In reality my opinion only counts here though right?

It would be great if we had regular participation from  Rochester fans on this forum but lacking that and with me having too much time on my hands itching for football, let me chime in. The Yellow Jackets could easily surprise some folks this year. Led by prolific RB Daniel Panpantonis and fellow 1st team LL selection DL Bradley Beckwith they've built talent and depth to their roster under capable HC Chad Martinovich. They reportedly have 9 starters returning on both sides of the ball. A lot will be revealed by how they fare in their opener hosting rebuilding Utica but their next 3 OOC games seem winable...Alfred St., Salve Regina and the University of New England. They open LL play at Buffalo St. week #5 before things get tougher. Could they be 5-0 traveling to Union on Oct 7th...4-1, ? Could happen.   

[Caz Bombers]

It's about to begin...The Liberty League 2023 season...Union has a scrimmage at Hartwick tomorrow, yes on a Thursday, at 2:00 in their cage. You know the Hawks will throw it up and test the Garnet's rebuilt secondary. Union will go about it's business building it's depth by playing the whole roster. That's what scrimmages are for. Some will say Union has scrimmages the first three weeks with games at Hilbert and Worcester St. weeks #1 and #2. New coach Jon Poppe will get a good look at everyone during those games.

I still think Hartwick should be in the Liberty League but whatever...The E8 is adding Buffalo area Hilbert in 2024 and quite likely losing Utica to D2 or higher. IMO swapping Hartwick for Buffalo State makes sense to me but apparently not in Oneonta. In reality my opinion only counts here though right?

It would be great if we had regular participation from  Rochester fans on this forum but lacking that and with me having too much time on my hands itching for football, let me chime in. The Yellow Jackets could easily surprise some folks this year. Led by prolific RB Daniel Panpantonis and fellow 1st team LL selection DL Bradley Beckwith they've built talent and depth to their roster under capable HC Chad Martinovich. They reportedly have 9 starters returning on both sides of the ball. A lot will be revealed by how they fare in their opener hosting rebuilding Utica but their next 3 OOC games seem winable...Alfred St., Salve Regina and the University of New England. They open LL play at Buffalo St. week #5 before things get tougher. Could they be 5-0 traveling to Union on Oct 7th...4-1, ? Could happen. 

I don't think Hartwick is what the LL presidents are looking for, but I wouldn't be surprised if their leadership reaches out anyway in the near future. They were one of the votes against the E8 adding Brockport and Geneseo for all sports and it passed against their wishes.

[Jersey42]

I don't think Hartwick is what the LL presidents are looking for, but I wouldn't be surprised if their leadership reaches out anyway in the near future. They were one of the votes against the E8 adding Brockport and Geneseo for all sports and it passed against their wishes.

I took a look at the latest US News and World Report rankings for all of the Liberty League full members along with Buffalo St. I suspect other rankings may show somewhat different results, but I think these rankings are a reasonable indicator of the quality of the schools. All but one of the LL schools rank fairly high within their respective categories.  The only outlier is Buffalo State.  Hartwick ranks lower than Buffalo State, albeit in a different category.  I wonder what Hartwick would bring to the table that would entice the presidents?

By the way, I suspect the US News rankings would place the Liberty League in the top two or three D3 football conferences. 



   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

School	Group	Rank	Numb	Percentile
Rochester	National Universities	36	443	92%
RPI	National Universities	51	443	88%
RIT	National Universities	105	443	76%
Clarkson	National Universities	127	443	71%
Vassar	National Liberal Arts Colleges	13	210	94%
Skidmore	National Liberal Arts Colleges	39	210	81%
Union	National Liberal Arts Colleges	48	210	77%
Bard	National Liberal Arts Colleges	60	210	71%
St. Lawrence	National Liberal Arts Colleges	68	210	68%
Hobart/William Smith	National Liberal Arts Colleges	72	210	66%
Ithaca	Regional Universities North	12	181	93%
Buffalo State	Regional Universities North	113	181	38%
.
Hartwick	National Liberal Arts Colleges	142	210	32%

* Numb is the number of schools in the group.

[Pat Coleman]

How does it look when you take the non-football schools out of your list, however?

[Jonny Utah]

How does it look when you take the non-football schools out of your list, however?

Much tougher

[Jersey42]

How does it look when you take the non-football schools out of your list, however?

Pat: My main point is all of the current full member LL schools (football team or not) are in the top 2/3 of the US News rankings for each school's category. Hartwick would be in the bottom 1/3 of its category.  So Hartwick may not be a good academic fit for the LL.  Buffalo State was probably not a good fit either.

[Pat Coleman]

How does it look when you take the non-football schools out of your list, however?

Pat: My main point is all of the current full member LL schools (football team or not) are in the top 2/3 of the US News rankings for each school's category. Hartwick would be in the bottom 1/3 of its category.  So Hartwick may not be a good academic fit for the LL.  Buffalo State was probably not a good fit either.

My point is if you were using US News rankings (flawed as they are) to rank football conferences, you'd only use the rankings of the schools that play the sport.

[unionpalooza]

Hartwick makes much more sense in the E8, which has traditionally been comprised on small private central/western NY schools.  (That said, Brockport and Geneseo just got admitted as full time members.). I think traditionally the LL has sought to limit themselves to a certain kind of school, but with Buff State they showed they will clearly open the tent if they have to, for FB, to keep the AQ.  I'd love to see Buff St switched out with an E8 school like Hartwick or Alfred or SJF, but none of those are going to leave their core conference to play in a different FB league.
Of course, what I'd really like to see is an OOC scheduling deal among the two leagues that guarantees everyone two a year cross-league.  I know the trend is towards flashy OOC games way out of region, and as a fan those are fun, but keeping games in-region make more financial sense and is much closer to to the D3 ideal.  But I'm also the guy who complains about 170 man rosters and worries about the coming wave of college closures.

[Jonny Utah]

Hartwick makes much more sense in the E8, which has traditionally been comprised on small private central/western NY schools.  (That said, Brockport and Geneseo just got admitted as full time members.). I think traditionally the LL has sought to limit themselves to a certain kind of school, but with Buff State they showed they will clearly open the tent if they have to, for FB, to keep the AQ.  I'd love to see Buff St switched out with an E8 school like Hartwick or Alfred or SJF, but none of those are going to leave their core conference to play in a different FB league.
Of course, what I'd really like to see is an OOC scheduling deal among the two leagues that guarantees everyone two a year cross-league.  I know the trend is towards flashy OOC games way out of region, and as a fan those are fun, but keeping games in-region make more financial sense and is much closer to to the D3 ideal.  But I'm also the guy who complains about 170 man rosters and worries about the coming wave of college closures.

I've always thought there was some sort of back room agreement between the E8/LL about preserving the AQ and the LL agreed to take Buffalo State to even things out.  It benefits the LL because they get to keep the AQ and benefits the E8 because the less schools in the conference, the better chance everyone has at making the playoffs (I think?). 

Anyway I was looking In the FAQ section to see if the Pool A requirements is still 7 teams for a conference and I stumbled upon this great question in the comments:

Taye Binta
3 years ago
Do you get to keep your jersey if you play d3 football?