In some football circles, a near-.500 record in a coach’s debut with a new team might be encouraging. Pete Shinnick reacted differently to Towson’s 5-6 mark last fall.
“I told the staff at the end of the year, ‘Hey, I want this to be our low point,’” he said. “I don’t want to dip. It’s got to go up.”
That mindset has permeated throughout the Tigers program as they embark on their second year under Shinnick, who succeeded Rob Ambrose after guiding West Florida to an 11-4 record and the NCAA Division II title game in his second season in 2017, the national championship in 2019 and playoff berths in 2021 and 2022.
If there is one aspect of last fall’s mark — including a 4-4 record in the Coastal Athletic Association — that bugs the players, it’s that the Tigers went 1-4 at home but 4-2 on the road.
“We’ve got to play better at home,” redshirt senior center Ralph Paige Jr. said. “We can’t be OK with a win away and then come home and lose.”
After 14 years with Ambrose, a 1993 graduate who played wide receiver, Towson had to adjust to a new voice in Shinnick. In their second preseason camp with Shinnick, redshirt senior defensive tackle Dion Crews-Harris said the players’ attitudes have changed more than Shinnick’s coaching style or expectations.
“He was the new coach at school with a lot of new players, and not a lot of people knew what was going to happen, especially the returning players,” the Baltimore resident and Dunbar graduate said. “This year, we’ve got more guys accepting the message.”
The Tigers return seven starters on offense, including redshirt senior quarterback Nathan Kent, an Eldersburg resident and Liberty graduate who started all 11 games last season, completed 58.3% of his passes for 2,123 yards, 14 touchdowns and six interceptions, and carried the ball 82 times for 288 yards and three touchdowns. The incumbent is being challenged by graduate student Carlos Davis, a Baltimore resident and Mervo graduate who transferred from Massachusetts after connecting on 61.4% of his throws for 886 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions in four games.
Graduation and transfers took a toll on the defense, which returns only three starters from a year ago. But Shinnick is optimistic that a group including redshirt junior inside linebacker Evan Rutkowski, redshirt junior cornerback Shafeek Smith and redshirt senior defensive end Brockman Wallace II can contribute immediately.
“I think we could’ve been closer last year and could’ve had a better record, and that’s the challenge,” Shinnick said. “The challenge is always trying to find a way to make it work.”
Morgan State’s familiar face
When running back J.J. Davis entered the transfer portal after last season, his No. 0 jersey became available, and quarterback Tahj Smith pounced on the opportunity to wear a number not usually associated with his position.
“I feel like you don’t really see too many quarterbacks wearing No. 0,” said Smith, who wore No. 7 last fall. “So it was something different.”
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound sophomore is hoping to help the Bears (4-6, 3-2 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) produce different results. After starting the final four games of last year, Smith returns as the incumbent.
Junior Dominique Anthony and redshirt juniors Duce Taylor and Kobe Muasau, a New Mexico Military Institute transfer, are also pushing for playing time. But coach Damon Wilson said the job is Smith’s to lose.
“He’s athletic, he’s a dual threat,” said Wilson, who had two primary quarterbacks in his first two seasons. “He’s a guy who can make every throw on the field, but he also can hurt you with his legs. So he’s a problem defensively because you’ve got to account for his arm as well as his legs.”
Smith, who completed only 40.8% of his passes for 426 yards and three touchdowns and was the team’s third-leading rusher on 159 yards and two touchdowns, will be tasked with improving one of the least effective offenses in the MEAC. Last fall, Morgan State ranked last in the league in both points and yards per game (16.1 and 250.8, respectively) and scored 20 points or more in just four games.
In light of those numbers, Smith said there is room for improvement.
“I think I showed a little glimpse, but I don’t think it was enough,” he said. “I’m not very happy and not very proud. We didn’t get that MEAC championship, and we didn’t go to the Celebration Bowl. So it wasn’t enough for me.”
Smith said last season’s experience helped him build confidence, and he said he has devoted himself to refining his mental grasp of the game.
“I’ve been more locked in than ever,” he said. “I’ve been doing the little things like watching more film, getting into my playbook more, understanding the game better.”
Wilson said he has been encouraged by Smith’s recognition to make pre-snap audibles and avoid what he called “bad plays.” Smith was intercepted just once last year, and Wilson said the quarterback must continue to protect the ball.
“The first thing is to be more efficient with the ball and make sure that we’re getting the ball to the right people in certain situations,” he said. “He only played four games at the collegiate level. So he’ll continue to get better with more experience.”
Continuing success at Johns Hopkins?
Dan Wodicka is still getting adjusted to being the face of the Johns Hopkins program.
“I try to stay away from that as much as possible,” said the 32-year-old Wodicka, a former wide receiver and 2014 graduate who became the Blue Jays’ 28th coach on Feb. 1. “Technically, I’m running the whole thing, but I told the seniors, ‘Hey, this is your team. I’m here to help guide you, and I’m here to help navigate and make sure that I can answer questions and keep you on the right path, but this is your team.’”
Wodicka, who was the team’s defensive coordinator, succeeds a pair of mentors, the late Jim Margraff and Greg Chimera. Margraff, who had been a record-setting quarterback for Johns Hopkins, shepherded the school to a career record of 221-89-3, 14 Centennial Conference titles, two NCAA Division III Tournament quarterfinals and a semifinal appearance in 2018 before dying of a heart attack on Jan. 2, 2019. Chimera, a former fullback, had guided the Blue Jays to a 40-7 mark that included Centennial Conference championships and NCAA playoff berths in 2021 and 2023.
Wodicka, whose team is ranked No. 8 in the D3football.com preseason poll, understands the standard expected by fans and alumni.
“We don’t look at it as pressure. We look at it as an opportunity,” he said. “We have such a great group of talented football players and young men, and we’re going to have an opportunity to do something hopefully really special this year. And I think our guys embrace that. I think that’s why they came to Johns Hopkins. They came to challenge themselves on the football field and in the classroom.”
Returning McDaniel to competitiveness
Skyler Fultz already has an idea how he will feel when he debuts as his alma mater’s 28th coach in McDaniel’s season opener against Catholic on Sept. 6 in the team’s first night game since Sept. 5, 2015.
“I’m going to be a ball of mess all day,” quipped the 35-year-old Fultz, a 2011 graduate and former tight end. “I think once we get down to the field, the football will take over. The kids will be excited, and I’ll be excited just to watch them play. But up until that first whistle, it’s that old adage of how a duck looks calm on the pond, but you have no idea what his feet look like under the water. That’s going to be me.”
Success has been a rare commodity for the Green Terror, who went winless in 10 games last season and haven’t enjoyed a victory since Nov. 5, 2022. But the return of seven starters on offense and six on defense and a restocked roster of 102 players including 49 newcomers has sprung a few notes of optimism.
“We want to be competitive in every game,” said Fultz, who led King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to an 8-3 record (7-2 in the Middle Atlantic Conference) and its second consecutive Centennial-MAC Bowl Series appearance last fall. “You don’t want to have it where it’s 55-0. We want to continue to grow so that we can teach these guys how to win. A lot of guys, they didn’t have a win last year. So they need to learn how to win football games. Well, first, you have to learn how to be competitive in football games for all four quarters.”