Huss role to expand with Koroly injury
By Joe Tuscano
Staff writer
jtuscano@observer-reporter.com
Justin Huss brought more electricity to Washington & Jefferson’s football team than Reddy Kilowat, the lightning icon that served as the image for a number of power companies in the 1970s and ’80s.
Huss is the type of players head coaches love, explosive, able to turn the game around with one play and feared by opponents.
The 5-8, 175-pounder will be the starting running back for the Presidents now that EJ Thompson graduated and Trinity’s Joey Koroly is still recovering from a broken femur in the last game of the season, the ECAC Clayton Chapman Bowl, where W&J lost to SUNY Brockport, 20-7, and finished the season with an 8-3 record.
Last year, the question circulating the press box was, “Why doesn’t W&J run the football more?” After all, a healthy Koroly, the mailbox-sized Thompson and Huss averaged nearly four yards a carry.
That’s way better than the three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust running game deemed successful by many teams.
“It was the offensive coordinator’s fault,” said W&J head coach Mike Sirianni, who also is the team’s offensive coordinator.
The problem Huss faces this year is that he won’t sneak up on any opponents. Huss ran the ball 25 times in 11 games and averaged 10.2 yards per carry. He also caught 28 passes for 245 yards, an 8.7-yard average.
But Huss’ biggest value might have been on returns. He had two punt returns – before opponents stopped kicking to him – for an average return of 36 yards. His 21 kickoff returns were tops on the team and so was his 34-yard average return.
“I’m excited to get the season started,” said Huss. “The last couple of years, I had Joey Koroly and EJ Thompnson to show me the ropes. They helped me a lot to learn the system and get ready for the season.”
Koroly and Thompson did such a good job with Huss that he enters this year having received preseason recognition as a member of the 2022 Division III Preseason Starting Lineup, which is presented by College Football America Yearbook.
Huss was one of 27 Division III football players and one of two players from the Presidents’ Athletic Conference to crack the list. He was joined by Westminster sophomore defensive back Brice Butler.
Huss was one of five Division III players to return multiple kickoffs for touchdowns in 2021. He ranked third in Division III in kickoff returns, averaging 34.6 per return a season ago.
“Hey, we don’t mind teams not kicking to him,” said Sirianni, “and we’ll start (our drives) at the 40-yard line.”
The graduate of Derry High School earned other postseason honors following the 2021 season. Huss was named a first team All-American by Hansen Ratings. He earned All-Region 2 Second Team honors from D3football.com and was voted first team All-PAC. Huss was named PAC Special Teams Player of the Week three times.
Huss credits his background in running track for his success on the football field. A sprinter for the Trojans, Huss had PRs of 11.1 in the 100-meter dash, 20.2 in the 200 and 49.5 in the 400.
But when it came to making a choice, football won out.
“I always loved it growing up. That’s where my heart was,” Huss said. “I always tried to give 100 percent doing it. I was thinking about running track (at W&J) but I’m using the spring to concentrate on football. I’m lifting, trying to get stronger.”
Colton Jones emerged as the starting quarterback at the end of the season, beating out Justin Heacock, who is now a grad assistant for the University of Toledo.
Jones completed 64 percent of his passes for 987 yards and six touchdowns. He threw four interceptions in of 170 attempts.
The wide receiver corps was decimated by graduation. Andrew Wolf, Payton Skalas, Cam O’Brien and Josh Burns left. With them went a combined for 160 catches, 1,958 yards and 22 touchdowns. That’s a wide open position at camp.
On defense, leading tackler Sean Doran, a linebacker, graduated and with him went a team-leading 100 tackles. Max Garda, a linebacker with 61 total tackles, also is gone.
That leaves the bulk of the defense in the hands of defensive back Drew Erhlich, linebacker Alex Bellinotti and defensive lineman Alex Keith.