Highly regarded Presidents could be dominant
The conversation with his brother Nick was a little surprising and certainly an eye-opener.
Mike Sirianni was receiving well-wishes on the ranking of Washington & Jefferson College’s football team in a particular preseason poll.
Not unusual.
The Presidents normally find themselves in preseason polls from eastern publications.
What made this unique was Nick Sirianni, the quarterbacks coach for the San Diego Chargers, was calling from the West Coast, where he had picked up The Sporting News magazine and saw the Presidents ranked fourth behind Mount Union, Linfield (Ore.) and Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Depending on where one looks, W&J is ranked anywhere from No. 4 to No. 16. The Sporting News shows the type of reach the program has now and, along with that comes expectations.
“In terms of national rankings, I embrace that. That’s neat to talk about,” said Mike Sirianni, who begins his 12th season at W&J with a 111-26 record. “Kids like to go to the grocery story, pick up the college preview and see their picture in it or their name in it, and see their team ranked fourth in the country. That’s neat. I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s not. It’s national exposure. Those publications might knot know a lot about Division III football, but you can pick them up in Hawaii, California. It’s good for the program and the people who played here but it doesn’t mean we’re going to win any more games. It doesn’t mean we are the fourth-best team in the country.”
That needs to be proven on the field.
And the Presidents will have a lot of talented, experienced players when they take the field for the regular season opener Saturday at the College of Wooster.
The Presidents return nearly every starter from last season’s 10-2 team that tied Thomas More for the PAC title and reached the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. They were the clear pick to win the Presidents’ Athletic Conference in the media day poll. D3football, which does know a lot about Division III football, has the Presidents ranked 15th.
“Every season takes on its own identity,” Sirianni said. “But I don’t remember being ranked this high since I was the offensive coordinator here in 2002. We beat Christopher Newport in a No. 7 vs. 8 game, then laid an egg the next week (in a 45-10 loss at Trinity University). We had (Brian) Dawson, (Joey) Nichols, (Todd) Fry. Sometimes injury plays a part. We lost Fry and that hurt us. The difference between this team and what we used to be is our depth.”
Everything starts with Pete Coughlin, who quarterbacked one of the highest-scoring teams in Division III last year. He returns for his junior season after completing 66 percent of his passes for 3,257 yards, 31 touchdowns and just six interceptions in 417 attempts. Coughlin will have three of his top four receivers back, including Chartiers-Houston graduate Dan Lis, who had a team-high 82 receptions for 879 yards and nine touchdowns. Jesse Zubik led with 881 yards on just 55 catches and 10 touchdwons. Tailback Ryan Ruffing went on a touchdown tear early in the season, finished with 25, and rushed for 1,605 yards.
“Pete needs to improve,” said Sirianni. “He has to improve throwing the ball down the field. We don’t want to increase our turnover rate. We might change our goals this year. Instead of concentrating on plays per game, this year the goal of our offense is more yards per play. We’re going to be more efficient.”
Ruffing will get fewer carries because Sirianni is comfortable with the depth.
“He doesn’t need to carry the ball 35 to 40 times a game,” Sirianni said. “If you watched him, he wasn’t as fresh at the end of the year. We want him fresh the whole season.”
The offensive line returns all but one starter – center John Wanner – and they understand what is expected. Tackle Zack Crossey, a preseason All-American, dropped 30 pounds to increase his quickness.
“Losing Wanner is a big loss,” said Crossey. “We’ll stay close to what we did last year. We have a lot of athletes on offense, our running backs, our wideouts, a quarterback who can run. The line is ready for whatever they want to do. We’re a close group.”
On defense, only two starters were lost to graduation: linebacker Jared Pratt, who led the team with 136 tackles, and cornerback Alec Schram, who had a team-high four interceptions. End Jon Turner and his team-high 11 1/2 sacks return as does linebacker Bryce Merrill (92 tackles, nine sacks).
“We have the ability on defense to be dominant, and we haven’t been that for a long, long time,” Sirianni said. “Maybe it’s because the head coach is an offensive coach, but never in the 17 years I’ve been here have we dominated. We can be the type that says ‘You aren’t getting a first down in this quarter.’ That’s the defense we can be.”
The secondary lost Schram, but the rest returns intact. The high mark for this group came in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs at Wittenberg. Schram and safety Billy Kelley each had three interceptions and cornerback Tim Blair and safety Dan Graziani each had one. The eight interceptions and one fumble recovery produced a 41-26 victory and, of course, another encounter against Mount Union. It did not go well as the Purple Raiders ended W&J’s season with a 67-0 win.
“I can’t control who we might play in Week 11,” Sirianni said. “We are focused as soon as we break camp on the College of Wooster. That’s it.”