6 factors could make or break Delaware football in 2018
Kevin Tresolini
The University of Delaware opens a football season laced with promise Thursday night when Rhode Island visits.
The Blue Hens are ranked No. 15 nationally in the preseason, despite having not finished a season in the Top 25 since 2011 nor been there to start one since 2012.
The word is out that Delaware has the potential to contend for the title in FCS football’s deepest and most competitive league – the Colonial Athletic Association – and rejoin the NCAA playoffs it once frequented.
That optimism is built upon the Blue Hens’ experience, last year’s best-in-six-years 7-4 finish and second-year coach Danny Rocco’s reputation as a winner. Rocco is 97-46 in a dozen previous seasons at Liberty, Richmond and Delaware.
But status is truly earned only through performance on the field. Here are six factors – three of each – that could make or break the Blue Hens in 2018.
MAKE
That defense. There is no limit to its potential nor its aspirations.
“I know this defense won’t stop until we can consider ourselves one of the best in the country,” said fifth-year senior safety Malcolm Brown, who was named a team captain Tuesday along with quarterback Pat Kehoe, joining spring electees Charles Bell, Troy Reeder and Joe Walker.
Reeder and fellow senior safety Nasir Adderley have drawn NFL scouts to practice almost daily.
The linebacker corps alone – with sophomore Colby Reeder and senior Ray Jones flanking Bell and Troy Reeder – may be peerless. But the secondary also features a returning starter at one cornerback in Nijuel Hill and a senior, Tenny Adewusi, at the other, along with Adderley and Brown.
Up front, the Blue Hens have bolstered a unit depleted by graduation with the addition of FBS transfers Frank Burton (Ball State) and Caleb Ashworth (Cincinnati), the return of Cam Kitchen from a foot injury and the contributions of versatile senior Armen Ware, long one of the Blue Hens’ unsung heroes on defense.
Delaware was 10th nationally last year in scoring defense (16.8 points per game allowed), 10th in turnover margin (plus-one), 15th in total defense (305.5 yards per game), 18th in passing efficiency defense and 29th in rushing defense (126.2 ypg).
Those are statistics on which the Blue Hens could actually improve.
BREAK
Injuries are the unpredictable factor that can cripple a football team.
Sometimes they come in bunches, such as the first week of preseason camp when Delaware had seven defensive linemen out (four have returned and the other two will). Sometimes they don’t come at all.
Delaware once had back-to-back seasons in which it had injuries at virtually every position one year and then lost just one starter the next.
The Blue Hens’ defense could handle a few losses to injuries. It was fortunate last year that, when Bell and Kitchen suffered season-ending injuries in game No. 4 against James Madison, seniors Jalen Kindle and John Nassib stepped right in and were very good.
Delaware has less experience in its defensive depth this year, particularly at linebacker, where three of the four back-ups are freshmen. Certainly, Delaware has some talented young players, but the Hens would rather not have to call on them full-time yet.
MAKE
Delaware has some serious potential weapons on offense.
A few of those NFL scouts who’ve come to take a peek at Reeder and Adderley have had their attention grabbed by wideouts Walker, the converted quarterback, and Jamie Jarmon, the senior who returned to football after three years as a minor-league baseball player. Each has the athletic tools to give Delaware big-play potential, as does the Blue Hens’ third receiver, Vinny Papale.
Delaware is so fond of its running backs that it listed four on the two-deep – Kani Kane, Khory Spruill, Kareem Williams and the lone newcomer, DeJoun Lee. Each will want to make the most of his chances.
Rocco also loves to make use of his tight ends, and the group led by 6-foot-6 senior Charles Scarff also has loads of potential.
BREAK
Kehoe, a third-stringer the last two years, won the quarterback job because he proved more adept at passing the football to those guys within the structure of the UD offense.
He has to be able to carry that from practice to games, which is a considerable difference, having never thrown a pass in a college game before, especially with two quarterbacks behind him – J.P. Caruso and Darius Wade – who have.
Delaware’s inconsistency moving the football in the air, whether in an effort to balance out the running game or fight from behind, has often been its primary downfall the past several years. It cannot let the Hens down again.
Likewise, the offensive line, with depth and talent that Rocco has complimented, needs to be formidable in giving Kehoe every chance to be the quarterback coaches foresee. It’s also incumbent upon offensive coordinator Matt Simon and his staff, which has a great wild card in former QB Walker, to create and call the right plays.
MAKE
That defense has players who’ve started an astounding 166 games at Delaware, and 13 more at other places if you count Troy Reeder’s 11 at Penn State and Ashworth’s two with the Bearcats.
While the offense can’t match that, it’s also a proven unit, with Kehoe, sophomore left tackle David Kroll and junior center Collin Wallish the only first-time starters.
Not surprisingly, Delaware’s most successful football seasons have been those in which it had the biggest senior cast and the best veteran leadership, and this group has both. That’s a sturdy foundation upon which to build a memorable season.
BREAK
Delaware certainly has the experience of playing, but it doesn’t have the know-how of winning.
That’s what made last year encouraging but, at the same time, so discouraging to fans.
Delaware scored tremendous wins over nationally ranked Stony Brook 24-20 and Richmond 42-35 in overtime, putting itself in position to make a run at an NCAA playoff spot. A 31-17 win at Maine was no picnic either.
Yet the Blue Hens stumbled against two of their biggest rivals, losing at Towson 18-17 and, in particularly stunning fashion, 28-7 at Villanova in the season’s final four weeks. Towson and Villanova were 5-6 teams.
Winning is an acquired habit the Blue Hens have yet to procure.
On Thursday, Delaware's first of 11 games arrives. What the Blue Hens really want, need and have the potential to do is to play at least a dozen.
Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @kevintresolini.
MORE IN SPORTS
On Eagles QB starter, Pederson knows