Colonials Corner

With Evers gone, who will be the big play receiver for the Colonials in 2010?

It was the tale of two seasons for the Robert Morris football team. There was the unexpected collapse and six game losing streak to open the season, and then the remarkable turnaround with wins over the cream of the crop in the NEC to finish with a five game winning streak.

Despite the turnaround, a key question remains. How good is this team? For all his hiccups and perceived attitude issues, Jeff Sinclair had his best performances in the final few games of the season. The defense overcame a rash of injuries to become increasingly difficult to score against. And Garrett Clawson has become a fairly clutch kicker, always a nice luxury on a winning team.

But is the offense really on the way up? The offensive line still had problems maintaining any sort of consistency, even in the winning streak. And Sinclair will lose his top receiver, Sherrod Evers, to graduation. No one behind Evers really stepped up as a consistent threat outside of tight end Shadrae King.

Robert Morris will return 19 starters next year and plenty of depth. Will it be enough to finally return to the top of the NEC? We shall see. What follows is a breakdown of the highs and lows of the season and the strengths and weaknesses of the team heading into the offseason.

BEST GAME: The 37-10 victory over Wagner on November 14 knocked the Seahawks out of first place in the conference and showcased how dangerous the Colonials could be. Myles Russ had 173 yards rushing, Sinclair threw for close to 200 yards and 3 touchdowns, the line gave up just one sack, and the Colonials did not turn the ball over. All this while the Colonials shut down the Seahawks in the second half. A sign of things to come? They can only hope.

WORST GAME: The 20-13 loss to Bryant was the lowpoint of the season. While the Colonials would later lose the following two weeks, they managed to burn through three quarterbacks in this game, all who performed well below the standard expected of a quality college QB. Camdin Crouse was harassed all day long and eventually knocked out of the game with meager stats to show for his pain. Aaron Smetanka came in and threw seven straight incompletions. Desmond Brentley tried to save the day but threw a pick late to seal the win for Bryant. In a game the Colonials should have won, the offense couldn’t fight its way out of a wet paper bag.

DiMichele is the heart and soul of the defense, and perhaps even the team.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Alex DiMichele, MLB. He’ll be a senior next year, and every defensive player I’ve talked to points to DiMichele as the heart and soul of the RMU defense. The defense has plenty of leaders, from Mark Syzmanski up front to Adam Lawrence and Ian Milanak at linebacker, and Mike Landers in the secondary. But DiMichele is the motor of the Colonials’ machine. He and Myles Russ might be the best bets the Colonials have of turning out their first NFL player in years.

DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR: The quarterback position. Even with the loss of a consistent starter in Erik Cwalinski, no one expected the Colonials to struggle so badly at quarterback. They had three potential starters working at the position throughout the spring and three youngsters available as well. But none of the vets stepped forward, Kevin Quinn went out with an injury, and the carousel began. Whatever you think about the individual merits of each, the fact that none of the vets stepped up in spring ball or in training camp is a disappointment.

BEST COACHING JOB: John Banaszak with the defensive line. This is a unit that had roughly ten different players start at one of the three positions on the line over the course of the season. An even greater number played as backups. With Farren Mason (among others) returning from his early season injury next year and a year of experience for guys like Steve Mitchell, Nolan Nearhoof, and R.J. Cook, Banaszak will have a host of quality players to mix in along the line next year to withstand the losses of seniors like Mark Syzmanski and Mike Burkett.

MOST OUTSTANDING FRESHMAN: Nolan Nearhoof worked his way into the rotation at defensive end and once the carnage took over at the position, stepped in and became a force in the Colonials’ 3-4 defense. While the Colonials love to pressure with their linebackers, Nearhoof was consistently in the backfield on passing downs and stuffing the run as well. Give him a year to condition at the college level and he’ll be in position to likely start along with Farren Mason and Mike Lovely up front next year.

BREAKOUT PLAYER OF THE YEAR: LB Elias Navarro. Neck and neck with DiMichele for tackles all year long, the junior LB emerged as the next solid linebacker in the line of heavyweights at the position. Navarro was a special teams ace the past two years before finishing second to DiMichele in tackles. He also had two sacks and tied for the team lead in interceptions with three.

2010 STRENGTHS: The back eight on defense and leadership. With DiMichele, Navarro, Mike Landers, Rolf Bathold, and the return of James Snider, the Colonials will be chock full of playmakers on defense next year. They’ll also be able to plug in youngsters like rising sophomore Brad Banas at linebacker, a veteran like Ryan Nearhoof at linebacker, and Eric Lowry at corner. DiMichele and Landers are top flight leaders, as well, and if someone like Myles Russ and one of the senior linemen (Carlos Andrade and Corey Konycki) can help the offense get in gear, the Colonials should at least be on the same page exiting training camp.

2010 WEAKNESS: Among consistency issues, the personnel question is: Who will catch the football? Shadrae King will be a target over the middle, but outside of that, it gets murky. Anthony Coleman could be a speedy deep threat, but he needs to be far more consistent and mentally aware of his position on the football field. T.J. Green will be the tall possession receiver, but he needs to avoid disappearing for stretches at a time. Beyond them…maybe one of the freshmen from this year (Preston Carmon, Quinton Pirl) can step up. Maybe the Colonials can nab a local product like the tall, rangy Mark Ross from Hopewell High School and plug him in right away.

SCHEDULE QUIRKS: The Colonials will have just 4 conference games at home after having 5 this year. Duquesne, Central Connecticut, Albany, and Monmouth will come to Joe Walton Stadium. The series with Bucknell and VMI should be over as well, although both still have open dates on their schedule. I would imagine the series with Dayton would continue, leaving two holes on the schedule. Some potential opponents with open dates, are in the RMU travel area, and who fit into the RMU method of scheduling include Brown, Columbia, Penn, Fordham, Georgetown, Holy Cross, and basically all of the Pioneer League.

Colonials Corner votes for a continued relationship with the Patriot League with a season opening road game againt either Georgetown or Fordham, a game against Dayton, and a late September home game against one of the Ivies.

This ends our primary football coverage for this year. We’ll focus primarily on basketball from here on out. Of course, if something worthwhile breaks in the gridiron realm, we’ll let you know.