Patriot FB coaches talk numbers, etc.

Colgate opened the 2015 football season at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, and Raiders coach Dan Hunt, answering a question about roster sizes during the Patriot League’s football teleconference on Thursday, quipped, “(The Midshipmen are) still coming out of the tunnel, they had so many guys.”

I thought pretty much the same thing last season when Lafayette played at Army West Point. The Cadets have 92 players listed on a 2017 roster I examined – and that doesn’t include freshmen. The academies bring in 80-90 freshmen a year. It’s brutal!

The Patriot League has a 90-player cap on roster size and considerably smaller number on travel-team size.

Bucknell has the earliest opening date for preseason camp – the Bison reported today (Sunday). Coach Joe Susan said, “We’re bringing in 85 and I know that some of the Ivy League teams we’re playing against are bringing in as many as 120. You’ve really got to be disciplined about how you handle yourself on field, in terms of contact. Because we’re bringing them in early, they’ll actually have a couple of days off. I think that’s intelligent on our part. That gives them a chance to regroup mentally and physically.” The Bison had a freshman class of 19 players, including four each at OL and DL and safety.

I decided to pursue the roster size with the coaches on the conference call. As it turns out, only Georgetown’s Rob Sgarlata reported that he is at the limit, and his 90 includes 27 freshmen and a transfer. Because he has so many new players, he said he said he doesn’t mind having an extra week of practice before opening Sept. 9.

Lafayette's Garrett: Staff 'may be even stronger'

So, you thought new Lafayette football head coach John Garrett had done a pretty good job of putting together a staff that would change the direction of the program.

Well, consider this. I talked with Coach G last week, and during our discussion of the staff, he said, “I really feel good about the staff – the makeup and the structure of it. It may be even stronger than [what] we originally had.”

Having to research two vital components of a Division I staff at a time when the most obviously qualified candidates have already been picked doesn’t sound like fun.

Unless you’re Garrett.

When offensive coordinator Rich Bartel and tight ends coach Luke Chiarolanzio surprisingly left first-year coach Garrett’s staff during the first week of June, it left him with deep holes to fill, little time to do it and a smaller pool that he might have had to work from five months earlier.