Monmouth University Football Media Day Paints a Picture of a Program on the Rise

Photo above L to R: Darnell Leslie, HC Kevin Callahan, Cody Williams, Dimitrius Smith and Mike Basile

By Mike Ready

WEST LONG BRANCH – The rise of the Monmouth University football program took another huge step this week as heavy equipment began clearing the ground on the location of what will be the new Monmouth Stadium.

The original 23-year old facility will be torn down completely after the conclusion of the 2016 home portion of the football schedule, October 29, 2016 against Big South foe Kennesaw State.

The $15 million project will increase seating to 4000 plus seats including over 800 chairbacks enclosed in a brick façade. The new structure will stretch endzone to endzone and include ticket booths, an exclusive Blue/White Club deck, a full service press box and concessions/rest room areas.

The new state-of-the-art facility is expected to be ready for opening the first home game of the 2017 football season.

However, due to the commencement of construction and related scheduling implications the Hawks will host just three home games this season with eight games being played on the road.

“We’re excited about the 2016 season and we have quite a challenge in front of us with the schedule and the opponents we’re playing,” head coach Kevin Callahan said. “We have an additional challenge in the fact that we will only play three times at home but there’s a good thing there. The reason we’re doing this is because construction has begun on the new stadium. So moving ahead, the eight games on the road and three at home doesn’t seem that daunting in that respect.”

With the ground breaking of the new stadium in plain sight, it set off a positive vibe for a program already deep into the rise of a new era of football. It left those in attendance at Monmouth University’s 24th football media day with a feeling that this up-and-coming program is ready to explode to new heights.

Callahan was pleased with the way his players reported to camp both physically and mentally ready to take the next step in the programs level of competitiveness. “Although it’s early in the process, I really like the way this team is performing. That goes back to the level of conditioning that they came into camp with and that’s something that just didn’t happen this summer. They were very committed throughout the winter and spring. We had just about 60 players who spent all but about three weeks of summer on campus training with our strength and conditioning coach and working out together. And I think we’re seeing the dividends of that hard work right now. We were able to pick up right where we left off in spring practice.

“Every position across the board there’s a much greater knowledge, a much greater understanding of what we’re doing on both sides of the ball. And that enables us as a coaching staff to install much quicker and do more each and every day.”

A year ago, the focus of training camp was finding a starting quarterback. Then-redshirt freshman Cody Williams emerged from the competition as the No.1 guy and started all 11 games for the Hawks. With a year of experience under his belt and a full spring practice and summer workouts behind him, Williams is firmly entrenched as the starter and exudes a level of confidence that his teammates feed off of.

“Last year going into the season, let’s be honest, we were working with a quarterback who had never played a college game,” Callahan said. “There were questions, lots of them. But through last season, winter and the spring those questions have been erased, so we feel really good about that.

“With Cody’s maturation as a quarterback and as an integral part of our offense it’s allowed us to have a greater width of confidence in the things that we can do. We feel much more confident doing more things now and taking it to a higher level of play. He not only understands his role and what his assignment is but understands what the defense is doing, how the defense is lined up and how the play we have called can best take advantage of that defense.”

“I was just trying to find my role before I could progress to a leadership role even though carrying the quarterback label brings a leadership tag with it,” Williams said. “The adjustment to the game speed was big. I thought I had a grasp on it until my first couple of game snaps and I was like “wow.” But with the help of my teammates believing in me and having faith in me starting those eleven games, I felt like I got a lot of confidence under my belt. Then coming into this off-season I knew it was more of a mental standpoint knowing I could play, and now it’s just owning the defensive side of the ball.”

Counting Williams, the Hawks return six starters on offense including first team All-Big South wide receiver Darren Ambush and second team All-Big South running back Lavon Chaney. Reggie White Jr. also returns at wideout after gathering in 35 balls for 432 yards and five touchdowns.

Second team All-Big South center Alex Thompson is back to anchor the offensive line that also returns starter Matt Stoneberg but must replace three departed starters on the line.

“On the offensive side of the ball we need to replace three of the five starters in the offensive line from a year ago,” Callahan said. “I think we’ve got a pretty good idea who will make up that three even if we don’t know exactly what three it will be.”

Redshirt-freshman John Gallina, junior Ryan Wetzel and junior Russ Clayton appear to be the early favorites but don't count out junior Peter Righi and former Long Branch standout and Rutgers graduate transfer Ryan Brodie along with a host of other worthy candidates.

Tight end Hakeem Valles’ – now with the Arizona Cardinals – production will be missed but Callahan feels fifth-year senior Zach Fabel and a number of experienced underclassman can step up and contribute immediately.

The defense also returns six starters from a year ago led by 2X first team All-Big South safety Mike Basile.

“Being a leader is important to me,” the junior Basile said. “As a freshman and sophomore I wasn’t really able to take on that role because we had the older guys who were already the leaders. The last two years I grew as a player and matured more as a player and to be honest I don’t think I was ready to be a leader. Now I really believe I can be a leader of this team and I believe I can help everyone on this team by bringing my knowledge and experience down to the younger guys, everyone. I really feel I can help this team come together.”

“Mike has the potential and the ability to add to what he’s already accomplished and take his game to another level,” Callahan said. “In addition to performing at a different level what we’re going to see is him bringing the level of play of the other members of the secondary up with him. His leadership will be invaluable to us.”

Second team All-Big South middle linebacker Payton Minnich is back to lead a young but talented group of linebackers including Ja’len Burgess and Diego Zubieta.

On the defensive line, 2014 All-Big South defensive end Darnell Leslie returns from an injury that kept him out all of last season. Leslie has 12 career sacks to his credit and when asked what his goal was for the season he responded, “I want to break the school’s career sack record of 25.5.”

Defensive end Zach Talley also returns from an injury after starting the first three games a year ago when he recorded a sack and three TFL before getting injured. Underrated starting defensive tackle Dimitrius Smith is back and primed for huge year after recording 39 tackles, 6.5 TFL and 1.5 sacks a year ago with Manny Maragoto stepping at the other tackle spot.

Staring weak-side safety Teddie Martinez returns to team up with Basile in the backfield and junior Marcus Leslie is back at cornerback after starting seven games a year ago. LeKeith Celestain, Tymere Berry, Kyle Gregory and Deonta Fair all have experience and will battle for a starting spot and playing time.

Monmouth finished 5-6 last season but posted an impressive 3-3 record in its second season as a member of the Big South Conference – good for third place. They open the 2016 season on the road at Lehigh September 3. Their first home game of the season will be September 24 against Charleston Southern, ranked No. 6 nationally in FCS preseason polls. Monmouth received 16 votes good for 39th out of 125 FCS teams nationally.

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