Fordham Football Opens Spring Practice Schedule

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham University football Rams opened the spring practice season on Monday with a lot more questions than answers. Head coach Joe Moorhead lost over 30 players to graduation from last year's Patriot League champions, including 18 starters, and will use the spring to evaluate the returning team members as they get ready for the 2015 season, which will open on Friday night, September 4, when the Rams travel to West Point to face Army.
 
Both sides of the ball are missing key starters, including two-time All-America quarterback Mike Nebrich and the top four pass catchers from last fall, while on the defensive side, junior linebacker George Dawson is the lone returning starter.
 
Here is a position-by-position breakdown as the Rams head into spring practice:
 
Quarterback
For the first time in recent history, Fordham will enter a season with a starting quarterback who has not thrown a pass in a varsity game. Junior Kevin Anderson and walk-on Clayton Welch are the only two signal callers suiting up for the spring season. Anderson joined the Rams last summer after transferring from Marshall. A graduate of Boca Raton High School in Boca Raton, Florida, Anderson completed 40-of-81 passes for 509 yards and five touchdowns in 2012 before suffering a season-ending injury and connected on 123-of-254 passes for 1,712 yards and 11 touchdowns as a junior in high school.
 
Running Back

The one position Moorhead need not worry about on offense is running back as 2014 Jerry Rice Award winner Chase Edmonds returns to continue his assault on the record book. Last year,  Edmonds enjoyed a record-setting rookie season, carrying 294 for 1,838 yards and 23 touchdowns and returning 24 kickoffs for 514 yards (21.4 average). He set school marks for most rushing yards in a season (former record was 1,596 set by Carlton Koonce in 2012) and surpassed Kirwin Watson's former record of 20 rushing touchdowns set in 2003.
 
Edmonds led the Patriot League and was fourth in the NCAA in all-purpose yards per game (176.64) and he led the league and is seventh in the country in rushing yards per game (131.3). He also was tops in the Patriot League and is fifth in the NCAA FCS in scoring (10.3 ppg) and was first in the league and fifth in the FCS in rushing touchdowns and fourth in the nation in total rushing yards.
 
Junior Kendall Pearcey, who rushed 87 time for 592 yards last year, and sophomore Jarred Brevard, who had 12 carries for 52 yards in 2014, are also back for the Rams.
 
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
Unlike the running back position, the Rams need to find new starters at both wide receiver and tight end. Returning receivers who saw action in 2014 include junior Robbie Cantelli (two catches, 37 yards, one touchdown) along with seniors Tony Patrignelli (1 reception, 39 yards) and Ben Johnson (one reception, 5 yards). Also back is junior Jorge Solano, who missed all of last year with an injury.
 
The tight end position took a big hit with the graduation of All-American Dan Light and his backup Adam Malkiewicz but senior Phazahn Odom returns after making five catches for 56 yards last year.
 
Offensive Line
The good news is that three of the five Fordham starters on the offensive line received All-Patriot League honors last year. The bad news is that only one of those three, senior Garrick Mayweather, Jr., is back. Mayweather started every game last year at left guard and was a big part of the success of the Fordham record-setting offense as the Rams set school marks for rushing yards with 2,353, shattering the former mark of 2,162 set last year, and scoring with 569 points, surpassing last year's record of 526. Included in the scoring total was a school-record 31 rushing touchdowns.
 
The Rams led the Patriot League in passing offense, total offense and scoring offense while on the national level the Rams ranked fourth in passing offense (326.1 yards/game) in the NCAA FCS and ranked among the top ten in scoring offense (40.6 points/game – fifth), team passing efficiency (156.23 – third), total offense (494.1 yards/game – seventh) and first downs (331 - ninth).
 
Also back is sophomore Anthony Coyle, who stepped in when the line was hit by injury last fall, starting the final ten games at right tackle. Junior Kyle Vaughn, who started the first four games at right tackle, returns after suffering a season-ending injury in the Columbia game.
 
Juniors Sam Marlin, Erik McCauley, Charlie Credendino, Jack Treanor and Zack Johnson, are also back along with sophomores Garrett Donaldson, Ben Hartman, Sean Hoey.
 
Defensive Line

The Fordham defensive line took a hit to graduation with the loss of All-Patriot League players Brett Biestek and DeAndre Slate along with two other starters, Nick Merino and Justin Yancey. But the Rams do return some experience on the line with juniors Marlon Crook, Jr. (25 tackles, 17 solo, 10 for loss, 7.5 sacks), Justin Vaughn (24 tackles, 14 solo, 6.0 for loss, one sack), Emmanuel Adeyeye, Alex Washington and Brandon Weir along with seniors Nick Krejci (five solo tackles) and David Conroy. Junior Josh Klecko, who sat out last year with an injury, and sophomores Tony Fox (four tackles), Nick Angeli, Ty Green and John O'Boyle will also the mix on the defensive line.
 
Linebackers
The linebacking corps lost two of three starters with the lone returning starter being junior Georg Dawson, who did a tremendous job at filling in for 2014 Patriot League Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Stephen Hodge, who was lost for the season with an injury suffered in August. Dawson made 698 stops, 44 solo, including 5.5 for loss and he had a pair of interceptions.
 
Also back with experience at linebacker is senior David Barletta, who returned at the end of the 2014 season after missing almost two seasons with injuries, along with sophomore Niko Thorpe (eight tackles). Also vying for time will be junior Brett Lambert, senior Nick Zawisha and freshman Jonathan Dimon.
 
Defensive Backs
With all four starters gone, the Rams will be looking for an entirely new defensive backfield. But that doesn't mean there won't be talent at the position as Fordham returns seniors JQ Bowers (43 tackles, 32 solo, five PBUs) and Lourenzo Smith (22 tackles, 15 solo) along with junior Marcus Fulmore (17 tackles, 12 solo, three PBUs) and sophomore Caleb Ham (eight tackles) and Marcus Hicks.
 
Senior Stephen Samela, junior Roddy Roche and sophomore Vincent Sansone also return to the defensive backfield.
 
Kickers
The Rams return All-Patriot League punter, junior Joseph Pavlik, who averaged 38.8 yards/punt in 2014, but will be looking for a replacement for All-League placekicker Michael Marando. Among those competing for the placekicking job are junior Makay Redd and sophomores Alejandro Cardenas and Patrick Fordham.
 
Sophomore Robert Carlyle returns to handle the long snapping duties.