The High School Football season started officially last week and this week, college football will start. In this article, I will discussing the five local college football programs. Those being King's, Wilkes, Misericordia, Bloomsburg, and Penn State. Penn State will probably be the program I will cover the most this season so look forward to that. With that being said, here are the previews for those college football programs.
King's College Monarchs
The Monarchs return several players on both sides of the ball. On offense, they return quarterback Zach Whitehead who threw for 2,832 yards and 19 touchdowns. Other returning starter is Tyler Marroni who caught 53 passes and had 749 yards. Several questions remaining on offense. The offensive line lost three starters and the running backs are inexperienced. On defense, the graduation of Bobby Russell deems large but they return several key players such as Bruce Damon and Hassan Maxwell at linebacker for King's. Jake Manetti returns as a starting safety for the Monarchs. He had 69 tackles and two interceptions. King's looks like they will have an explosive passing game, the question is will they be able to compete with the top teams in the MAC?
Wilkes Colonels
The Colonels look to improve from their 3-7 mark from last year. Two of those three victories were against Lycoming College and Stevenson. Sophomore quarterback Jose Tabora returns after starting late in the season. He threw for 1,098 yards and eight touchdowns. At receiver, Aaron Coyne returns. He had 21 catches for 250 yards. Zach Bogoly returns after recording 20 catches and 303 yards. All-American and All-MAC Tight End Garrett Armstrong returns after a 36 catch, 390 yard season last year. The offensive line returns three starters from last season. The strength of the defense looks to be their linebackers with returning starters in Lukas Wood, Michael Murphy and Bud Moyer. The secondary was the hardest hit by graduation as was the defensive line. The question with Wilkes is can they improve from their 3-7 season and build on the momentum from the end of last season?
Misericordia Cougars
Misericordia is in it's sixth season as a program and are still building up their program under Mark Ross. Junior running back Clayton Vleck returns after he rushed for 214 yards and seven touchdowns. Senior quarterback Brandon Leap returns after throwing for 979 yards and eight touchdowns in six games last season. Junior Sam Gillison returns as the Cougars top receiver after catching 50 passes and going for 582 yards last season. Junior LB Noah Bard returns after he led the team in tackles last season. Sophomore safety Garrett Murray also returns after being second in tackles and had an interception in eight games last season. Sophomore safety Jared Henn led the team in interceptions with two. Appeared in seven games last season. After a 1-9, head coach Mark Ross hopes the experience they got last year will help improve his football team. Can their win at the end of last season help them propel to an improvement in 2017?
Bloomsburg Huskies
The Huskies are projected to finish fourth in the PSAC East. The question is can they exceed the expectations? The Huskies return six starters on offense. Redshirt sophomore Michael Allen returns after catching 29 passes and 464 yards and a touchdown. On defense, Bloomsburg returns five starters. Redshirt junior Chris Gary returns after recording 12.5 sacks last season. Cornerbacks Dexter Jordan and Marquis Seamon both return. They combined for seven interceptions last season. The question that the Huskies have is who will be the starting QB? Redshirt junior Duffy Gilhool started the final four games of last season and redshirt senior Chris Palubinsky won the starting job out of training camp last season.
Penn State Nittany Lions
After a Big Ten Title and a Rose Bowl appearance. The Nittany Lions goal is simple.. get into the College Football Playoff. After being ranked sixth in the AP Poll, Penn State is hoping to improve. They return several key cogs from last season. Junior Saquon Barkley returns after rushing for 1,634 yards and 18 touchdowns last season. He also had 28 catches for 402 yards in the passing game. QB Trace McSorley also returns after throw for 3,614 yards and 29 touchdowns. Despite losing Chris Godwin to the NFL, they will not be short of weapons with Tight End Mike Gesicki, who caught 48 passes and 679 yards and five touchdowns last season. DaeSean Hamilton also returns after catching 34 passes and 506 yards. On the offensive line, they return three starters in senior Brandon Mahon and sophomores Ryan Bates and Connor McGovern. On defense, they return six starters in defensive linemen Kevin Givens (26 tackles, 4.5 sacks), senior linebacker Jason Cabinda (81 tackles 1 sack), junior linebacker Manny Bowen (68 tackles, 2 sacks), senior safety Marcus Allen (110 tackles), and senior cornerbacks Grant Haley (39 tackles) and Christian Campbell (31 tackles, 1 INT). All in all, Penn State looks like they will have a great season but will they be able to surpass the likes of Ohio State and Michigan to get to the Big Ten Championship game and make the college football playoff?
That is going to do it for the college football preview, stay tuned later this week for the High School and College Football weekly previews. The NFL Preview should be out next Monday or Tuesday depending on how much I am able to get done.
No comments:
Post a Comment