College football has finally returned and that means another season of Towson football. The Tigers begin their second season under head coach Pete Shinnick. Towson will look to improve upon last year’s 5-6 record and 4-4 record in conference play. The Tigers showed flashes of brilliance last year but struggled to put it together consistently. A few plays here and there and the Tigers are looking at an extra 2 wins on the year.
Nevertheless the Tigers have the chance to prove themselves this year. It all starts this Saturday with a roadtrip to Cincinnati to take on the Bearcats. They will have Morgan State at home before hitting the road against Villanova and North Dakota State. Their off week comes early in the year during week 5. After that it really ramps up for the Tigers: 4 home games (Williams & Mary, Stony Brook, Hampton and North Carolina A&T. 4 road games (Norfolk State, Monmouth, Richmond and finishing off the year at Campbell.
The Tigers lost some key contributors last year in Robert Javier, D’Ago Hunter, Charles Peeples, and Jesus Gibbs to name a few. The Tigers were able to bring in a few transfers in Jaceon Doss (WR- Fresno State), Tre Engram (RB- Kansas State), Ike Davis (RB- Syracuse), Carlos Davis (QB- UMass) and Bryce LaFollette (P- Virginia Tech) to add some talent and depth to the team.
The quarterback position will be an interesting one to watch as Carlos Davis will challenge Nathan Kent for the starting job. Kent had his share of ups and down this past year with over 2,000 yards passing and 14 touchdowns. He can run the ball and added 3 touchdowns on the ground. He did have 6 picks last year and the offense did struggle at times. However, he was able to grow and became a leader on offense. Davis is a Baltimore native, and graduate of Mervo.
This is Davis’ 5th stop after starting at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas. After that he had stops at EMCC, Western Carolina and then at UMass. He’s had success during his career and is a tremendous dual threat athlete. He should push Nathan Kent for that number 1 QB spot.
The running back room gets a big boost from returning Devin Matthews and Christopher Watkins. They added to it with incoming transfers Trey Engram and Ike Davis. Matthews got a lot of touches last year and should be the main guy. Having both Davis and Engram should help take the load off his shoulders
TE Carter Runyon is getting a lot of preseason award love and for good reason. He was All-CAA First Team TE and finished last year with 43 receptions for 549 yards and 4 touchdowns. He’s back and ready to show out this year.
The WR room has a blend of old and new pieces this year. Gone are Rishon Holmes, Matthew Akuchie and Daniel Thompson IV. D’Kendall James is still around as well as Lucas Londono, John Dunmore, Zay Perkins and Cee Chosen. They also have former South Carolina transfer Sam Reynolds and Fresno State transfer Jaceon Doss. There’s a lot of options for the Tigers to choose from when throwing the ball and hopefully the passing game will continue to make strides.
The OL features a good blend of youth and upper class. The Tigers ranked 7th in the conference in terms of rushing yards with 1688 yards and 17 touchdowns. Jean Germain and Dan Volpe will look to anchor the line and keep the rushing game going. They also feature Ibrahim Giwa who transferred in from Marist College who played a lot of snaps last year.
Defensively the Tigers have some new faces. The task of replacing Robert Javier and Jesus Gibbs will be difficult. The secondary has a lot of playing experience and has some size to them. Kaden Smith, Kam Snell, Shafeek Smith, Myles Brodie, Xavier Terry, and Justin Toler should make for a very solid unit. The defensive line has some solid players such as Mazio Randall, Dion Crews-Harris and Brockman Wallace. They also feature Ernie Smith and Daniel Johnson who transferred in from Stevenson.
The linebacking corps has a lot of veterans in that unit as well. Daniel Raymond, Will Middleton (a transfer from St Francis), John Gioia (a transfer from Wagner College), Nick Hayes (Snow College) and CJ McClendon (NE Oklahoma A&M). The depth is there on defense and hopefully it will give the Tigers a chance to be competitive this year.
Keegan Vaughn, who has also been getting a lot of preseason love will handle Field Goals and PAT’s while Bryce Lafollete will handle the punting game.
Looking Ahead to Cincinnati:
The Tigers kick off the year on the road to clash with the University of Cincinnati. The Bearcats start year 2 in the Big 12 after a rough first year. A 3-9 in year one is not how you want to make an impression on the new league. Inconsistent play hurt them all year and will look for a fresh start under center. With Emory Jones gone the offense is led by Brendan Sorsby, an Indiana transfer. Sorsby had a lot of good moments with Indiana and was fairly productive for the Hoosiers.
The Bearcats feature a plethora of offensive talent. Starting with running back Corey Kiner, a former LSU transfer ran for over 1,000 yards last season with 5 touchdowns. They also have Ohio Staye transfer Evan Pryor and Chance Williams from Grambling State. Williams was one of the best FCS backs last year and will look to continue that trend with the Bearcats. The Bearcats return Xzavier Henderson at WR and have Jamoi Meyers, Tony Johnson and Tyrin Smith to give them depth.
Cincinnati returns their entire offensive line this season which will make it tough to play against them. Luke Kandra was an All-Big 12 First team and is getting a lot of preseason love. Kandra could very well be playing on Sunday’s next fall. Dartanyan Tinsley and Gavin Gerhardt are 2 other guys to watch on that offensive line.
Defensively the Bearcats reloaded in the portal and have a lot of new faces at every level of the defense. Darian Varner, Jared Bartlett, Derrick Canteen, Josh Minkins and Mehki Miller will all look to have an immediate impact on defense. The main force on defense is Redshirt Junior Dontay Corelone who finished last year with 39 total tackles, 6.5 TFL (tackle for loss) and 3 sacks. Eric Phillips and Jack Dingle give the defense more defensive experience. The secondary has a ton of newcomers while Jordan Young is still around.
The Bearcats will need their transfers to step up big in order for them to have a turnaround season. They’ve been picked to finish in the lower half of the Big 12 so they will look to start off the year strong. The Tigers will need to come out strong and win the time of possession battle and score consistently.
Here’s to another year of Towson Football. GOH TIGERS!
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