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2015 Results: Georgetown 4-7 (2-4)
Returning starters:
Offense: 4
Defense: 5
In a year when the Patriot League is fully stocked at 60 scholarships, the Georgetown Hoyas enter the 2016 season short on depth and facing questions on offense.
The only FCS non-scholarship team playing in a scholarship conference, the Hoyas return just nine starters from last season’s 4-7 team, with its entire backfield having graduated last spring and just one senior returning on offense.
The Hoyas will have some early decisions at quarterback, where senior Tim Barnes is the favorite to succeed Kyle Nolan, who threw for 5,750 yards in his Georgetown career. By contrast, Barnes enters training camp this week with just one start over three seasons, passing for 79 yards last season. Georgetown will carry six QB’s onto its pre-season roster, so Barnes must earn his starting role.
Georgetown needs to replace its starting backfield, with Isaac Ellsworth (141 yds, 0 TD) and Alex Valles (130 yds, 1 TD) expected to challenge for a starting role. The Hoyas averaged just 97 yards per game on the ground last season, and will look to the positioning of senior tight end Matt Buckman (32-251-4), a pre-season All-PL selection, to help support the run effort. Senior Justin Hill (46 catches, 636 yds.) will carry the load as the only returning starter at wide receiver from last season.
Despite the scholarship imbalance, the Hoyas have traditionally held its own on defense, where linebackers Dan Yankovich (88 tackles in 2015) and Leo Loughery (84 tackles) anchor the Georgetown effort. Of concern will be in the secondary, where head coach Rob Sgarlata must replace three starters from a team that finished second in the Patriot in defense last season.
Three Georgetown players were named to the all-Patriot pre-season team: Matt Buckman, senior placekicker Henry Darmstadter and sophomore DB Jethro Francois.
Two Pioneer League and three Ivy League teams form the Georgetown non-conference slate before Patriot League play begins on Oct. 15. Georgetown will have to pick up wins early to challenge for a winning record, a mark which has only been reached once since the 2000 season. Georgetown was a promising 4-4 heading into the final weeks of the 2015 season, but dropped its final three games.
Georgetown was picked last in the 2016 pre-season Patriot League media poll, with its best chance for a win in-conference coming Oct. 29 at Lafayette, which was picked sixth in the seven team poll. Road games against pre-season favorites Fordham (Oct. 22) and Colgate (Nov. 19) appear prohibitive–the Hoyas have not won in the Bronx since the 1974 season and have never won at Colgate since joining the Patriot League in 2001. The Hoyas will play tough, however, and can be expected to do so again this season despite the obstacles ahead of them.
2016 Schedule (home games in CAPS):
09/03: DAVIDSON
09/10: at Marist
09/24: COLUMBIA (77th Homecoming Game)
09/30: at Harvard
10/08: PRINCETON
10/15: LEHIGH
10/22: at Fordham
10/29: at Lafayette
11/05: HOLY CROSS
11/12: BUCKNELL
11/19: at Colgate