When the Washington & Jefferson Presidents take the field Saturday afternoon against Wooster to begin a quest for their third consecutive Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship, something will be a little different for Mike Sirianni’s team.
W&J will be really young.
“We are as young as we have been in my 12 years here,” said Sirianni. “We have only 10 seniors on the whole team. But we have a lot of talent.”
Despite having the youngest team that Sirianni has ever had in his 12 years as the Presidents head coach, that doesn’t change anything as expectations are always high at W&J. The Sporting News College Football Preview lists the Presidents as the nation’s 22nd-ranked team coming into the season, while Lindy’s College Football Preview places W&J as its preseason No. 24 team.
Coming off a 34-20 loss to No. 1 Mount Union in the first round of the NCAA playoffs, the Presidents showed that they can compete with anyone at the Division III level.
They will be tested for sure this season, but you can’t coach speed and the Presidents have a ton of it.
“Same thing as always,” said Sirianni. “We have great speed everywhere. We have a lot of guys who can play. It is just a matter of if they are ready.”
Gone are a couple of big time playmakers the Presidents relied on for the past couple of seasons in quarterback Matt Bliss and All-American wide receiver Alex Baroffio.
But Bliss was hurt for a good portion of the 2013 campaign, giving sophomore quarterback Pete Coughlin, an Upper St. Clair graduate, an opportunity to get his feet wet, which should play a big role in Coughlin’s performance this season under center.
Throw in the fact that as a freshman Coughlin had to start the Presidents’ playoff game and W&J should be fine under center this season.
“Being able to play some last year helps me a lot,” said Coughlin. “I know I can have success. Even though we lost some people I still feel confident that we can do well and have a good year.”
Unlike Bliss last season, who was playing with a torn ACL, Coughlin will be able to make plays with both his legs and his arm, an element that was missing from the W&J attack last season.
Replacing Baroffio could be a different story, as he re-wrote the records books at W&J, leaving as the program’s all-time leader in receptions (269) and receiving yards (3,204).
However Sirianni is more than confident in the guys he has coming back, a group that includes: fifth-year senior Max Creighan (North Hills), juniors Asa Costelnock (Southmoreland), Daniel Lis (Chartiers-Houston) and Cody Stumpf and sophomore Eric Scott (Imani Christian Academy). Sophomore Luke Merhaut (Pine-Richland), a transfer from Clarion is also expected to be a big contributor.
That’s no surprise from a program that could be known as Wide Receiver U in the Division III circles.
“It will be your typical W&J team,” said Sirianni. “We have as good of a receiving group as we have ever had. They just haven’t played yet. I’m extremely confident in them.”
Junior running back and Thomas Jefferson graduate Ryan Ruffing has the chance to be very good in the W&J backfield running behind a solid offensive line. Upper St. Clair freshman Trevor Morrow will also likely be in the mix in the backfield.
W&J line coach Todd Young always turns out a solid unit and this year should be no exception as the W&J line has a pair of anchors in senior center John Wanner (North Hills) and junior left tackle Zack Crossey (Penn-Trafford). As both are among the PAC’s best offensive linemen.
However as good as the Presidents’ offense could turn out to be, W&J typically relies on a stout defensive unit and the 2014 version looks to be pretty good on paper. Just like the offense though, the defense is young with only five starters returning in Sirianni’s 4-2-5 scheme.
The Presidents have speed all over field and guys that should be able to make big plays at any time in a game.
They aren’t the biggest unit in the world so the Presidents could find some challenges if teams want to line up and run it right at them, but there’s enough speed on the defense that they should be able to make big plays at will.
“Last year we started slow on defense,” said Sirianni. “We can run. That’s for sure. We have speed all over the place. We aren’t very big so if teams line up and want to run power on us all day that could be a challenge to start the season, but we have enough guys who can get after it.”
Junior defensive end Jon Turner was an honorable mention All-PAC performer last season after posting 45 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and 6.0 sacks and should be the anchor of a defensive line that also features.
Senior Jared Pratt (Bethel Park) returns to lead the linebacking corps. Pratt had five double-digit tackles games last year and led the Presidents with 98 stops. He is the most experienced linebacker the Presidents can rely on, but there is a ton of other talent as competition for the other starting spots lasted all camp.
The secondary could be a strength for W&J as it is it’s a very experienced unit led by safety Bryce Merrill (Hempfield), who ranked fourth on the team with 55 tackles last season despite playing just six games. When Merrill returned from injury last season, the Presidents’ defense really came alive so big things are expected from him this year as well.
On the outside the Presidents also return senior Alex Schram (Canon-McMillan), who started all 11 games last year.
A big advantage for the Presidents under Sirianni is always in the special teams game, which if productive once again in 2014, could see the Presidents back on top of the PAC.
“The reason we won last year is we played great on special teams,” added Sirianni. “We play our best players on special teams. If we do well again in the kicking game and return game we will have a good chance.”
W&J opens the season on Saturday with a 7 p.m. start against Wooster at Cameron Stadium.
Photo Credit: W&J
