By Zachary McMahon-
On Wednesday morning, the Colonial Athletic Association Football Conference held the first day of a two-day Media Day which featured half of the football conference members, with their head coaches and two student-athletes from each school.
On Wednesday, it was mostly the New England members of the conference, like Bryant, Rhode Island, UNH, and Maine, and the members in the northeast like Monomouth, Stony Brook, and Villanova. Each member had 15 minutes to answer questions from members of the media that were present in the virtual meeting.
The first speaker was the CAA Commissioner Joe D’Antonio, he talked about how members of the CAA are in the top 25 in various polls, in which Villanova, William & Mary, Elon, Richmond, and UAlbany all being included in the FCS Preseason poll.
Then it moved on to Maine, who was represented by Head coach Jordan Stevens, who is entering his fourth season as the coach of the Black Bears, joined by tight end Cooper Heisey, who transferred from Rutgers two years ago, and Xavier Holmes who had a breakout season for the Black Bears in 2023. Coach Stevens talked about using the run game more in 2024, and that he wants to use what is called the “black hole” defense.
Next, was New Hampshire with head coach Rick Santos, with defensive end Josiah Silver, who was on the CAA Second-Team All-Defense in 2023, and wide receiver Logan Tomlinson, a graduate transfer from Division III Wesleyan in 2023. One athlete that was extensively talked about was transfer quarterback Seth Morgan, who is on track to be the starting quarterback in 2024 for UNH. Morgan is a transfer from Division II Shepherd and VMI. They were looking for a quarterback after their starter from last season Max Brosmer transferred to Minnesota.
UAlbany Head Coach Greg Gattuso was joined by offensive lineman Scott Houseman and Ozzie Hutchinson on one screen as they talked about the offense, as they moved on to the FCS Semifinal, where they lost to no. 1 North Dakota State last season.
Billy Cosh participated in his first media day as a head coach of Stony Brook, as he was most recently the offensive coordinator at Eastern Michigan, and he was the OC at Richmond in 2022, so this is not his first rodeo in the CAA. Stony Brook’s number of wins has decreased in the last three seasons, as they had an 0-10 record in 2023. Cosh preached mental and physical toughness to his athletes, and his players got accountability when he was hired as head coach in December.
Next, Rhode Island Head Coach Jim Fleming was joined by Freshman All-American wide receiver Marquis Buchanan and All-CAA Football Third-Team linebacker AJ Pena. Rhode Island is coming off their fourth straight winning season when they had a 6-5 record. Fleming is going to focus on defense, as they were starting to balance out the successes of the Rams offense in the last two seasons. He said that there are plenty of position battles, which includes QB after Kasim Hill ran out of his eligibility, as he played in his seventh year of eligibility in 2023, after he spent his first two seasons at Maryland, and did not play in 2019 with Tennessee, and spent the next three years quarterbacking for the Rams.
Next is Bryant, the newest member of the CAA Football conference after they spent the 2023 season in the BigSouth-OVC Football Alliance. Bryant was represented by head coach Chris Merritt, tight end Marc Tagileri Jr., and Jersey City native linebacker Ben Silver. This if the fourth football conference that Bryant has joined in the last four seasons, and Coach Merritt said the most challenging this was the opponent’s familiarity, but at the same time he remarked that the opponents don’t know Bryant football either. The coach’s moot was that it doesn’t matter who they play, they play to win.
The last two teams had quarterbacks as one of their representatives, as Derek Robertson represented Monmouth and Connor Watkins represented Villanova in his sixth year of eligibility, as Watkins hopes that it’s his last year if he stays healthy.
Day two will feature Campbell, North Carolina A&T, Elon, Hampton, William & Mary, Richmond, Towson, and Delaware, as the conference wraps up from 9:30-11:45 am on Thursday. Tiffany Williams will be providing coverage for Day 2 of the media day.
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