The historically proud CAA Football conference’s reputation has taken a hit nationally in the past year.
After James Madison’s bolt for the FBS, the league’s title race tightened, showcasing depth in the standings, but 2022 ended with all CAA playoff qualifiers aside from Richmond being blown out or handled in elimination. South Dakota State rolled Delaware 42-6, Holy Cross beat New Hampshire by 16, Furman smothered Elon 31-6, and Montana State crushed William & Mary 55-7.
Those results have fans wondering, despite the parity in the newly named Coastal Athletic Association, how well the modern CAA stacks up as an FCS No. 3 to the Big Sky and Missouri Valley. The SoCon is breathing down the CAA’s neck for that title, arguably. More importantly, has the CAA’s image changed so much so that its usual crop of bubble teams will have fewer at-large spots to count on come Selection Sunday?
Here’s a look ahead at the top returning players and our predicted order of finish for the largest conference in the subdivision.
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Returning All-Conference Players
From last season’s All-CAA Team except where noted
William & Mary – 7: DB Ryan Poole (1st Team), DL Nate Lynn (1st Team), LB John Pius (1st Team), OL Charles Grant (1st Team), RB Bronson Yoder (1st Team), DB Jalen Jones (2nd Team), LB Isaiah Jones (2nd Team)
Richmond – 5: DL Marlem Louis (1st Team), LB Tristan Wheeler (1st Team), OL Ryan Coll (1st Team), DB Aaron Banks (2nd Team), DL Jeremiah Grant (3rd Team)
North Carolina A&T – 5: DB Karon Prunty (1st Team All-Big South), OL Tairiq Stewart (1st Team All-Big South), KR Taymon Cooke (2nd Team All-Big South), OL Korion Sharpe (2nd Team All-Big South), OL Cesar Minarro (2nd Team All-Big South)
Monmouth – 4: RB Jaden Shirden (1st Team), WR Dymere Miller (2nd Team), DB Mike Reid (3rd Team), OL Greg Anderson (3rd Team)
Campbell – 4: OL Mike Edwards (1st Team All-Big South), K Caleb Dowden (2nd Team All-Big South), LB CJ Tillman (2nd Team All-Big South), OL Isaiah Burch (2nd Team All-Big South)
New Hampshire – 3: DL Josiah Silver (1st Team), DL Dylan Ruiz (1st Team), PR/RB/KR Dylan Laube (1st/2nd/3rd Team)
Delaware – 3: DL Chase McGowan (3rd Team), OL Fintan Brose (3rd Team), WR Jourdan Townsend (3rd Team)
Elon – 3: OL Jabril Williams (3rd Team), RB Jalen Hampton (3rd Team), ST Chandler Brayboy (3rd Team)
Rhode Island – 3: OL Nick Correia (1st Team), LB Evan Stewart (3rd Team), OL Lorenzo Thompson (3rd Team)
Villanova – 3: WR Jaaron Hayek (1st Team), OL Michael Corbi (2nd Team), K Matthew Mercurio (3rd Team)
UAlbany – 3: DL Anton Juncaj (3rd Team), LB Dylan Kelly (3rd Team), QB Reese Poffenbarger (3rd Team)
Towson – 2: KR/PR D’Ago Hunter (1st/2nd Team), DL Jesus Gibbs (2nd Team)
Hampton – 1: LB Qwahsin Townsel (2nd Team)
Maine – 0
Stony Brook – 0
Teams Bringing In The Most D1 Transfers
Campbell – 21 (17 FBS, 4 FCS)
Stony Brook – 18 (15 FBS, 3 FCS)
Rhode Island – 12 (8 FBS, 4 FCS)
Delaware – 12 (5 FBS, 7 FCS)
Maine – 10 (6 FBS, 4 FCS)
Towson – 10 (3 FBS, 7 FCS)
UAlbany – 8 (7 FBS, 1 FCS)
Monmouth – 8 (4 FBS, 4 FCS)
North Carolina A&T – 7 (5 FBS, 2 FCS)
Names To Know
TOP OFFENSIVE PLAYER: Jaden Shirden, Monmouth RB – After his monster 2022 season (including a nation-leading 1,722 rushing yards/156.5 YPG), Shirden’s return to Monmouth gave the Hawks one of the biggest offseason wins in the FCS in an age of heavy transfer portal movement. Shirden is expected to ease MU’s transition at quarterback after Tony Muskett’s transfer to Virginia. Whether sophomore Enzo Arjona (started three games in 2022) or Sacred Heart grad transfer Marquez McCray wins the job to start, Shirden will be ‘old reliable’ and force defenses to respect the play-action. A 2,000-yard rushing season is within reach if Shirden stays healthy and his team cracks the postseason.
TOP DEFENSIVE PLAYER: Dylan Ruiz, New Hampshire DL – Ruiz noses out Wildcats teammate Josiah Silver here, but we’ll recognize Silver as well in this way: Part of the appeal of Ruiz, who is impressive in his own right, is his climb in stats while playing with a huge, proven tackler in Silver elsewhere on the D-line. Ruiz took a leap in 2022, totaling 60 tackles with two forced fumbles as a sophomore while finishing as UNH’s leader in sacks (12) and quarterback hurries (seven). He’s not to be overlooked in returning to UNH’s top-5-CAA rushing defense.
TOP NFL PROSPECT: John Pius, William & Mary LB – Pius is among the most fearsome Tribe defenders on a unit loaded with talent at each level. The edge rusher is listed as a junior in 2023, as his true freshman season came in spring 2021, giving him eligibility this year and next. However, if the Buck Buchanan Award finalist (2nd place in voting) follows his 2022 production (72 total tackles, 19 for loss, 11.5 sacks) with a campaign roughly repeating or surpassing those numbers, the NFL interest will only increase. Pius is Josh Buchanan’s second overall “small school” prospect for 2024. His profile figures to rise as the reigning CAA Defensive Player of the Year on the conference’s preseason favorite.
2023 FCS Preseason Preview Central
HERO Sports’ Predicted Order of Finish
- William & Mary
- New Hampshire
- Elon
- Richmond
- Delaware
- Villanova
- Rhode Island
- Monmouth
- Maine
- North Carolina A&T
- Towson
- UAlbany
- Campbell
- Stony Brook
- Hampton
As was the case in last summer’s CAA Football preview, we took the approach of picking the winner of every CAA game this fall to ensure a mathematically possible final standings outcome.
The results help us understand each squad’s schedule favorability and tell us emphatically that the CAA office might as well dust off the tiebreaking procedures now. In our projection, New Hampshire, Elon, Richmond, and Delaware all finish 6-2 in conference play. As if that weren’t enough, coming in hot on their tails are Villanova, Rhode Island, and Monmouth at 5-3. Finishing with a minimum of five league wins gives these CAA teams a reasonable shot at securing at least seven wins overall depending on nonconference decisions.
The short of it is this: It’s plausible that the CAA has a stunning eight teams with seven-plus wins in 2023. Of course, the CAA won’t get eight teams in the FCS playoff bracket, as it could be looking at three total bids rather than the five it collected in 2022.
William & Mary likely won’t have to worry about the fringes of the at-large picture. The Tribe brings back key components of its conference-best red zone defense, led by Pius and DL Nate Lynn. W&M will win up front on both sides of the ball, as its rushing offense (third nationally last season at 265.8 YPG) returns RB Bronson Yoder.
New Hampshire has the tools on offense and the Silver/Ruiz pair on the defensive line to give W&M pressure for the auto-bid, but the Wildcats don’t meet the Tribe in the regular season. In fact, William & Mary’s schedule shakes out on the lighter side, as its most formidable tests are games against Elon and Richmond. The average ranking of the Tribe’s other scheduled CAA foes, based on the above PDOF, is 11.3.
Regardless of that who’s-who, W&M and UNH have the overall talent and returning QBs (Darius Wilson and Max Brosmer, respectively) to make a clear claim for the top tier of the CAA.
Elon, Richmond, and Delaware round out the upper third of the CAA, but each must replace 2022’s starting QB. Delaware in particular is working through wholesale personnel changes on its starting defense, which finished fourth in the country in scoring defense a year ago. The Blue Hens, correspondingly, were the most active in the portal among ’22 CAA playoff teams.
The Elon-UR-UD trifecta could be disrupted by Rhody, Nova, or Monmouth. Shirden is a home run hitter who gives the Hawks a chance in most games, especially if their defense turns around after a season to adjust to CAA size in the front seven. URI isn’t getting the benefit of the doubt in this PDOF after consecutive near-postseason misses. The Rams have seventh-year QB Kasim Hill in the fold but face Villanova, Richmond, and UNH in the regular season. It’s a playoff-worthy roster, but there is little to no margin for stretch run slip-ups that have doomed Rhody.
Villanova is a prime bounce-back candidate. The Wildcats endured a down year (6-5) last season and still managed to bounce UD in the regular-season finale. It was one rivalry game, but a sign that VU isn’t going anywhere. It just seems like Mark Ferrante’s team is lying in the weeds with a chance to strike in ’23: The ’Cats have tests versus URI and Elon, but both are at home.
Our favorite dark horses for improvement or spoiler candidates are UAlbany and Towson.
It would be a surprise to see either play past Thanksgiving, but the Great Danes have their best QB since Jeff Undercuffler in Walter Payton Award Preseason Watch List member Reese Poffenbarger. The Tigers, meanwhile, finished 2022 (6-5) with a lame-duck head coach on a four-game win streak, a promising sign of team character even with roster turnover this offseason. New TU head coach Pete Shinnick is a known program-builder with Baltimore roots and a quality offensive coordinator hire in Stetson’s Brian Sheppard, who oversaw the Pioneer Football League’s top passing offense.
