Roundtable: What Are You Most Excited About Entering the 2021 Season?

Cole Jacobson: The obvious cop-out answer here is that sprint football is back altogether. It’s an immense shame that the Class of 2021 lost out on what should’ve been its final season, and I can’t put into words the empathy I have for those kids. Coming off the first year since World War II that the CSFL did not declare a league champion, it’s a blessing that we’re back to the point where we actually have a sprint football season to be writing about. Much credit to Kyle for doing all he could to keep a stream of content on the website in the middle of what was obviously an extremely uneventful past year-and-change for the league. But beyond the general anticipation for what should be a relatively normal football season, here are a pair of specific CSFL ideas that are exciting me.

The first one is the major transition period that Penn is in. While I obviously have some extra incentive to be particularly interested in that program given that I was playing for it three seasons ago, even the most unbiased observer can acknowledge the changes happening in West Philadelphia. The biggest, and most obvious, one is that the post-Bill Wagner era will finally begin. After spending 50 seasons as Penn’s Head Coach from 1970-2019, Wags has moved on, with former Offensive Coordinator Jerry McConnell moving into the HC spot. This has also led Wide Receivers Coach Dave Hubsher to vault up into the OC role. It remains to be seen how these changes will show up on the field, but I’m optimistic that the new staff will lead to some improvements. While it’s hard to find any coach who is as good with people as Wags is, which is why he’ll thrive in his current “Head Coach Emeritus” position (more or less meaning “Alumni Relations guy”), having a younger head coach could pay off dividends both in connecting to recruits better, and in making the split-second in-game decisions such as when to burn a timeout or when to go for it on a 4th-down play. I also am excited to see what “Hoobs” will be capable of as the OC, since his WR groups have always had success; four different Penn WRs have finished a season ranked top-3 in the CSFL in receiving yards since 2014, his first year as an assistant. 

But the major coaching change isn’t all that will be new about Penn’s 2021 season. Among the players who have departed since Penn last played a game is 2019 CSFL MVP Eddie Jenkins, whose 27 total offensive TD (11 pass, 16 rush) were the most by any CSFL player in a season since Penn’s Todd Busler (27) and Army’s Javier Sustaita (35) in 2011. Led by Jenkins, Penn’s rushing offense was preposterously successful in 2019, with 231.1 rush YPG and 26 rush TD in 7 games, becoming the only team since at least 2003 (when the CSFL website started tracking stats) to have 25+ rush TD in a season. But with Jenkins and four out of five starting offensive linemen from that season having since graduated, the offense might look a little different for reasons beyond the aforementioned coaching changes. Looking at the program more broadly, with the departure of Jenkins and the rest of the Class of 2020, this means that this will be Penn’s first season with no players on the roster who were a part of the 2016 championship team. It’s been five years since that undefeated season, and to steal words from Stephen Curry, it doesn’t “smell like champagne” at all anymore in that Penn locker room.

There are some even further examples of foundational changes that could impact the program in either direction. Longtime Dean of Admissions Eric Furda, a Penn sprint football star in the 1980s as a center, left the school at the end of 2020, though it will be years until we can tell if that has a real impact on the admission of sprint football student-athletes. On a similar note, former Penn Athletic Director Grace Calhoun left in 2021 for the same position at Brown, and while this likely won’t have quite as big of an impact on the athletic department, University President Amy Gutmann will leave in 2022 to become the United States’ ambassador to Germany. Whether it comes down to coaches, players, or off-the-field University personnel, it seems that everything around the program has changed in the blink of an eye, and it will be enthralling to follow which of these changes will impact the program, both this season and longer-term.

In the interest of proving that I know anything about this league that doesn’t relate to Penn, my second major concept to look out for is Caldwell’s move to the North Division. Because there were no games in the fall of 2020 anyway outside of Army-Navy, it flew under the radar that Post left the CSFL in order to pursue NCAA Division II football. As a result of this, the CSFL decided to move Caldwell from the South to the North for the 2021 season, and I feel this was an absolute slam-dunk move by first-year Commissioner Dan Lara. First off, it makes sense for geographic reasons; located in northern New Jersey, Caldwell is within reach of North Division schools like Army (West Point, NY) and Cornell (Ithaca, NY). As a matter of fact, with Post and Franklin Pierce both out of the league, the division doesn’t have a single school in New England anymore. But the bigger reason I support the move is what it will do to the league’s competitive balance. I wrote in December 2019 about how imbalanced the league’s two divisions were, as just about any onlooker would argue that four of the league’s top five teams that season (all but Army) were in the South. Now that the league has nine teams instead of ten, it would make sense that the weaker overall division is the one that gets the extra team, even if that extra team wasn’t particularly good. 

But what makes the move even sweeter? That extra team is going to be very good. While it isn’t obvious if one just looks at the standings — Caldwell was 0-7 in 2018, and 2-5 in 2019 — the Cougars took major strides in their last full season on the field. Caldwell’s 2019 record was artificially deflated both by a very tough schedule (facing Army from the North Division, in addition to the tough triumvirate of Navy/Penn/Chesntut Hill from the South), and an absurd forfeit loss to Mansfield when they actually won on the field. While Caldwell was a pushover in 2018, losing all but one game by 14+ points, we saw Caldwell hang tough against even its strongest competition in 2019, being tied with Navy in the 4th quarter and trailing Penn by only 3 in the 4th, both without then-starting QB Tajae Irby. Now that Caldwell (whose debut season came in 2017) is entering its first-ever season with four full recruiting classes, their rise should only continue. In a sport as draining as tackle football, it’s no secret that roster depth plays a major role in a team’s chances to contend, and the Cougars should vastly benefit from finally having a roster full of recruited classes (by comparison, the 2019 team only had one senior). We saw as recently as 2018 how impactful this can be, as Chestnut Hill upset Penn during its fourth season of existence (i.e., its first season with four classes of recruits). While I still ultimately expect Army to take the North Division this season, the fact that the North was able to add such a rising program is a fantastic sign for the long-term future of the league.

Kyle Johnson-Hackett: To piggyback off of Cole’s sentiment the return of CSFL Football is cause for celebration. I am extremely excited to cover these games, players, and coaches this upcoming season. The 2021 season will surely be one for the ages.

That being said one thing and team I am looking forward to seeing is the return of Alderson Broaddus. 2019 was the inaugural  season for Alderson Broaddus. During that season they showed great promise despite going 1-6. Obviously we will have to see what players have returned as well as what new additions will make an impact, but the last time they were on the field we saw what could potentially be a great program. Innovative play calling with good young players from hotspots of talent quickly made AB a competitive team. HC Brad Jett will have his hands full with a tough schedule but I expect AB to continue to improve as they head into their second season. Look for multiple AB athletes to earn all league honors as AB enters their second season.

On the player side of things I am extremely excited to see this years MVP race. There are some well established players who will have a strong case and will undoubtedly be high impact players for their teams. Penn RB Laquan McKever should have a huge season. Look for him to be near the top of the league in rushing yards and touchdowns. With a first time starting QB and a new HC McKever should get a ton of impactful touches. In 2019 McKever finished with 766yards  7TD. Expect McKever to have similar production in his finals season. One of my breakout candidates, Alex Sobieski, is another senior I expect to make a push for MVP. Sobieski looks to continue the tradition of dominant defensive linemen at Army. As stated in the previous article Sobieski now has all the tools to be a force on the edge. Sobieski is a shoe in for a first team all league selection as well as some MVP votes barring any injuries. Mansfield has two guys in Matt Roberts and Terrance Quaker who will be huge on both sides of the ball. Both were 1st team all league selections in 2019 and both earned our CSFL HUB all freshmen team selections as well as a 1st team CSFL HUB selection for Roberts and 3rd team for Quaker. Matt should have an other great season at linebacker while Quaker may be playing both sides of the ball. Both will be players to watch this upcoming season as Mansfield looks continue their recent success.

These are just a few of the many things to be excited for this upcoming season. I know every team is chomping at the bit to get to that first game going. Stay on the lookout for a upcoming podcast with Cole and I just chatting about this upcoming season.