FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[RamapoRUFan]

I am kicking off my previews for each NESCAC team - first up is Bowdoin.  Check it out at https://nescacfootballreport.com/team-overviews/

[TheJeff]

Adding to the offensive conversation, can say it's the first time in years I can say I'm excited about the Amherst offense. The success of their offense this year mainly rests on Marek Hill, but I really think Amherst has found a legitimate NESCAC starter in him.

It will certainly be tough without Jung at wideout, but Moore along with a slew of young guys should fill those roles. Additionally, Matt Diaz was one of the most effective TE's in the league.

For running back: Demitrius Smith will be one of the leaders of the rushing attack. He was a key in revitalizing the rushing layer of the Amherst offense that was dormant for a couple of years (which I attribute a significant amount of their offensive shortcomings to). A name to look out for is Michael Dunmore, a sophomore running back, who I'm assuming was going to see significant time last year, but was injured in Bates to end his season. He supposedly had some serious D1 looks and I think could do some serious damage this year. I'm sure there will be other backs seeing time as the season goes on.

The biggest loss for the offensive line was Coach Ballard, hopefully the group doesn't miss a beat. They return senior Miles Roberts (possible the best lineman in the league), two sophomores: Jack Martin (monster tackle) and Emmett Haughney (could see him player either center or guard), both played well as FY's last year. Additionally, junior Jonathan McLaughlin (started at center first half of '25 season before injury) and senior Ryan McGurn (started '24 season until an early injury and missed all of '25) will be back from injury. Not quite sure where those two will be used, but I'm assuming they will be starters. Amherst has experience up front and I believe will have depth having recruited 5+ OL the past 2 recruiting classes.

Although Amherst may not have the star power of a team like Wesleyan going into the season, some players seem like they could have breakout years. I look forward to week 1 vs. Bates at Pratt, should be a great one.

[nescac1]

Ok so after all the talk of explosive offenses I did some digging and it really is unprecedented how much offensive firepower is returning to the league (well, at least outside of that first COVID year):

17 of the top 20 runners return including two truly elite backs in McLellan and Lynskey.
7 of the 10 ten passers return including six of the top seven QBs, and Middlebury always seems to find a strong QB.
15 of the top 20 receivers return including a bunch of elite players (O'Brien, Falls, Kelly, Newcombe, Hooper could get there, and I'd put Nye and Kuehberger in there too as I suspect both will have big years, as usual in NESCAC just a loaded group).

As for the other two QB transitions, Bates rotated a bunch of guys last year at QB and I suspect will find a more steady solution to get to the ball to their MANY offensive weapons in any event, and Colby's improved depth chart there has already been noted.  So really, Middlebury, which loses its QB, its top WR, and its top lineman, is the ONLY team in transition on offense, but they still have a few big stars to build around and typically figure out how to move the ball through the air with that system. 

There is plenty of talent returning on defense around the league, too, but there are some bigger losses on that side of the ball.  Colby, Amherst, Trinity and Wesleyan all lose multiple all-league guys on defense (and all but Trinity lose at least two first-team guys).  Trinity remains stacked and Wesleyan seems to be able to replace guys pretty easily now but I do think the Colby and Amherst (which graduated in my view two of the top three defenders in the league, both guys who made life easier for everyone around them in the front seven) personnel losses are significant.  Still, those two teams always are tough on D and should still be fine. 

In short, this is a very good year for NESCAC's first year competing in the NCAA.  Last year was a bit of a transition year for the league but now most teams are pretty stacked, especially the pre-season co-favorites, Trinity and Wesleyan.  But even if a dark horse surpasses both, they will have to be a very strong squad to do so.

On another note, of course Williams JUST updated its positions on the roster after my roster analysis, so I'll go back and update that post accordingly.  Spoiler: there still ain't a lot of DL! 

 

[Trin9-0]

Adding to the offensive conversation, can say it's the first time in years I can say I'm excited about the Amherst offense. The success of their offense this year mainly rests on Marek Hill, but I really think Amherst has found a

Marek Hill could be the biggest wild card of the NESCAC season. His career numbers aren't great; 14 touchdowns with 16 interceptions and a 61% completion percentage in 14 games. However, he still has two years left and he's a capable runner. If he can take a step forward then Amherst could push to be near the top of that middle cohort which also includes Williams, Middlebury, Colby, and Tufts.

I find Colby particularly interesting. They finished 6-3 last year, just one game short of a three-way tie for the league championship! And they somehow did it with the second worst offense in the league. Their quarterbacks combined for just two passing touchdowns... TWO. For the year! It's also worth noting that 5 of their 6 wins came by an average of just 7 points. It appears to be either sophomore Pat Miller or transfer Stephen Gill taking snaps in Waterville. If they can produce anything offensively for the Mules it will be a huge upgrade. The downside for Colby is that they graduate 4 All-NESCAC defenders from the #1 scoring defense in the league. But Colby actually returns a lot of kids with playing experience on defense, especially in the secondary. Will they continue to build on last year or do they come crashing back to earth?

Middlebury similarly is one of the few teams that will start the year with a new quarterback which makes them difficult to predict. Ahonen is a legitimate loss but the rest of the receiving corps is back. They also graduated much of their o-line, but have depth returning at linebacker and in the secondary. It was strange seeing a Panther passing attack be so pedestrian last year. My guess is that junior, Aidan Moss, takes over at QB. I'm not convinced that he's enough of an improvement to change their win total from last year. 

I still see Trinity and Wesleyan as the clear top two in the league with Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Tufts and Colby in the secondar-tier. Any one of them could beat the others within that group and it's likely that at least one of them will upset either Trin or Wes.

Bates, Hamilton, and Bowdoin will likely resume their place at the bottom but, like last year, the gap between them and the middle tier is not as large as it has been in the past.