Harvard ranks No. 23 in HERO Sports’ FCS Preseason Top 25.
The Crimson finished 8-2 last year, tying for first in the Ivy League with Dartmouth and Columbia.
Here’s a look at the 2025 Harvard football squad.
New Customer Offers at BetMGM
Bonus Bets Expire in 7 Days. One New Customer Offer Only. Add’l Terms
Returning 2024 FCS All-Conference Players (5)
1st Team
DB Ty Bartrum
2nd Team
QB Jaden Craig
TE Seamus Gilmartin
DB Damien Henderson
Honorable Mention
RB Xaviah Bascon
D1 Transfer Portal Movement
Transfers Coming In From The FBS (0)
Transfers Coming In From The FCS (0)
Transfers Lost To The FBS (4)
Gavin Shipman (DB) to Charlotte
Cooper Barkate (WR) to Duke
Austin Gentle (OL) to Memphis
Mike Entwistle (OL) to UMass
Transfers Lost To The FCS (4)
Myles Wiley (DB) to Austin Peay
Scott Woods II (WR) to Maine
Ameer Dudley (DB) to Robert Morris
Jacob Psyk (DL) to UC Davis
For more FCS coverage, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Offensive Outlook
Harvard enters its second season under head coach Andrew Aurich with its starting quarterback, leading rusher, one of its top five pass-catchers, and three of its top five offensive linemen back in Cambridge.
The QB is senior Jaden Craig, who was 60.6% passing for 2,430 yards, 23 touchdowns, and three interceptions in 2024. Craig was third in the Ivy League in passing YPG (243). His experience for the Crimson dates back to 2023, his first year seeing game time, when he made three starts out of seven games played and was good for 775 yards and four touchdowns through the air, along with 135 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.
Elsewhere in the offensive backfield, only one of Harvard’s top four rushers is back, but fortunately, the returnee is No. 1 runner Xaviah Bascon. Bascon is a junior coming off a career year in which he ranked ninth in the Ivy in all-purpose yards (798) and scored six total touchdowns.
Harvard will look different this season as far as Craig’s top targets. Just one of 2024’s top five pass catchers is on the roster: TE Seamus Gilmartin. Gilmartin finished last year with at least one catch in eight straight contests to total 18 receptions for 379 yards and four TDs. Gilmartin chose to come east to Harvard over offers that included FBS members Nevada, Fresno State, and Utah State.
Three Crimson offensive linemen logged nearly 700 snaps last season, and two of them (center Austin Gentle and guard Mike Entwistle) are now in the FBS. A building block back for Harvard is guard Aidan Kilstrom (6-2, 260) to go with tackles Derek Osman (6-4, 295) and Spencer Doan (6-7, 260).
Tight end could be a focal point for the offense when factoring in senior Ryan Osborne, who had eight receptions for 98 yards and three touchdowns in seven games at the position a year ago. The wide receiver room has to partially replace the heavy production by Cooper Barkate and Scott Woods II. Those two combined for over 1,600 receiving yards last fall. Barkate’s 11 TD catches were more than double the figure of the next closest Crimson.
Defensive Outlook
Three of Harvard’s top 11 tacklers return for 2025: safety and captain Ty Bartrum (No. 1), DB Austin-Jake Guillory (No. 3), and DB Damien Henderson (No. 6).
That shapes up to be a trusty secondary, one that was a close third in pass defense in the Ivy last campaign (215.1 YPG, two yards out of first place).
Harvard’s 131.9 YPG rushing defense was second in the conference in ’24. The Crimson led in games frequently, which doesn’t hurt, but the defense showed balance nonetheless.
Replicating that will depend in part on Bartrum, whose 83 total stops were third in the league, just four tackles away from the league lead. Bartrum stuffed his 2024 stats to the tune of five TFLs, 1.5 sacks, one interception, four PBUs, and one fumble recovery.
Pressure on the opposing QB might be TBD for the Crimson, as all four of the team’s top sources of sacks in ’24 have moved on.
We’ve alluded to Harvard playing with a lead often, and the Crimson punished foes who had to play stressful downs perhaps from behind last season. Harvard’s 40.9% rate on opponent 4th down conversions was best in the Ivy League while having the conference’s No. 3 (40.1%) 3rd down defense.
Harvard associate head coach and defensive coordinator Scott Larkee is the second-most experienced DC in the Ivy by school tenure as he embarks on his 17th season as defensive coordinator. It’s a league with several long-tenured coaches, but that presence should help the Crimson navigate a reload on the defensive depth.
At Harvard, as with other Ivy League programs, the staff can plan reliably for life after a team’s outgoing graduate transfers depart because the conference restricts eligibility to undergrads. There is arguably more predictability in roster management and in bringing along younger players for that reason compared to the national scene.
Harvard would love to introduce the country to the Ivy way of life in the FCS playoffs, with this season being the first that the conference will participate in the modern postseason. An intriguing era looms for the Ivy League in the northeast as its traditional rival, the Patriot League, strengthens, making it possible that a winning tradition like Harvard’s could extend into the battles for regional supremacy once controlled by the CAA.
2025 Preseason Preview Central
Harvard Football Schedule
9/20 at Stetson
9/27 vs Brown
10/4 at Holy Cross
10/10 vs Cornell
10/18 vs Merrimack
10/25 at Princeton
11/1 vs Dartmouth
11/7 at Columbia
11/15 vs Penn
11/22 at Yale
Bold indicates Ivy League games
