History has shown that the odds have not been in favor of a repeat, though. Of the seven instances where the defending champ prevailed as the favorite in the annual preseason poll, the head coaches’ forecast of a reigning NEC champion running it back the following year has only come to fruition twice.
Claiming the NEC regular season crown for the sixth time in program history in 2023,
Duquesne will look to buck the trend and prove the coaches right, as Jerry Schmitt’s team pulled in five first-place votes to finish first in the NEC preseason predicted order-of-finish.
Saint Francis U, which came short of defending its 2022 title despite being selected as the prohibitive preseason favorite in 2023, finished second in the poll.
In its first season back in the NEC,
Robert Morris was slotted for a third-place finish, while
LIU and
Stonehill, who were part of a four-way tie for second in the standings at year’s end in 2023, occupied the fourth and fifth spots, respectively.
Wagner was picked sixth followed by
Central Connecticut in seventh.
NEC newcomer
Mercyhurst was not included on the annual preseason poll ballot because the reclassifying Lakers will not be playing a full conference slate until the 2025 campaign.
The NEC unveiled the poll results, along with a 27-member Preseason All-Conference Team, during its #NECFB Social Media Day, held on July 24 at MetLife Stadium.
The reigning NEC Coach of the Year and his talented Duquesne squad will hit the gridiron in 2024 with hopes of making it back-to-back banner-raising campaigns for just the second time in the program’s 16 years as an NEC member. Schmitt, who has guided his team to winning seasons in eight of the past nine years with top-two finishes in seven of those campaigns, enters his 20th season at the helm boasting the best conference winning percentage amongst his fellow NEC peers with a 66-41 lifetime record against league foes (.617)
Passing was the name of the game and the key to the Dukes’ success a season ago, and that more than likely will not change in the upcoming year thanks to the return of 2023 All-NEC first team signal caller
Darius Perrantes (Los Angeles, CA/St. Francis (URI)). The senior’s arm was the catalyst of a Duquesne offense that produced a league-leading 44 touchdowns — including the 15th-most passing scores in the FCS — and paved the way as the only team in the circuit to average 200-or-more yards in the air per contest (205.5).
Senior
Tedy Afful (Bloomfield, NJ/DePaul Catholic (Stony Brook)), who was on the receiving end of nearly a quarter of the Dukes’ touchdown throws, is expected to be a top target for Perrantes in 2024, while senior wideout
Joey Isabella (Mayfield, OH/Mayfield), who averaged the third-most yards per catch in the NEC a year ago, will provide another option for the league’s top returning quarterback. In addition, Schmitt added even more depth at the position with the addition of
Noah Canty (Dover, MA/Xaverian Brothers (Stonehill)), who was an All-NEC Second Team selection at Stonehill in 2023.
Boasting the NEC’s top offensive squad that produced 27.2 points and 360.1 yards per contest, Saint Francis U was tangled in a four-way tie for second place in the conference standings at the conclusion of the 2023 campaign. All three of the Red Flash’s defeats during the seven-game slate were decided by three points or fewer, though, including a three-point defeat to eventual league champ Duquesne in October.
Chris Villarrial, Saint Francis U’s all-time winningest coach, will turn to redshirt sophomore
Nick Whitfield, Jr. (Fredonia, NY/Fredonia) to get the Red Flash over the hump and bring the coveted NEC regular-season title back to Loretto. The Fredonia, NY native showed glimpses of greatness when he was called up to start at QB against Merrimack (Oct. 28) and LIU (Nov. 4), combining to go 28-for-44 for 63.6 completion percentage, 373 passing yards and three touchdowns. Whitfield will also have the luxury of being protected by fellow classmate
Mason Imbt (Troy, PA/Troy), who at an elusive 6-foot-3 and 310 pounds, snuck into the endzone four times and was the only offensive lineman in the FCS to score a touchdown last season.
Piloted by seventh-year head coach Bernard Clark, Jr., the Colonials make their return to the conference in style, boasting one of the nation’s top running backs on their roster.
Tyvon Edmonds Jr. (White Plains, MD/Bishop McNamara (Merrimack)) needs no introduction to the NEC, though, as he has already wreaked havoc on conference opponents after he topped the league’s charts with 10 rushing scores, 1,247 rushing yards (8th in FCS) and 113.4 rushing yards per game (7th in FCS) at Merrimack last season. Robert Morris’ offense will also receive a much-needed jolt with the return of starting quarterback
Anthony Chiccitt (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) and wide receiver
Noah Robinson (Mineral, VA/Louisa County (Old Dominion)), an all-conference performer who became the Big South’s all-time single-season leader in receptions with 70 catches in 2023.
The Colonials went 6-1 for a second-place finish in the league standings in their most recent season as an NEC member in 2019. Having helped launch NEC football in 1996, Robert Morris claimed the first five conference crowns and secured its sixth title in 2010.
LIU has been on the up-and-up since Ron Cooper’s arrival in 2022. Inheriting a team that had two victories the year before, Cooper doubled that win total in his first season at the helm before he piloted the Sharks to the top half of the NEC standings for the first time since they joined the league in 2019. LIU closed out the latter part of its 2023 conference slate on a tear, scoring wins in three of its final four games to finish in a never-before-seen four-way tie for second place in the standings.
Cooper will rely on a healthy
Luca Stanzani (Clearwater, FL/Clearwater Academy International) — the league’s most efficient returning single caller with a 60.0 career completion percentage — to call the shots in 2024. There is even more experience at the quarterback position on the depth chart, though, as Queens native
Chris Howell (Queens, NY/Canarsie) called the shots in place of the injured Stanzani last season. He threw for 995 yards and seven scores while adding a pair of touchdown rushes in 11 appearances as a rookie.
Stonehill surged at the end of its second season as an NEC and Division I member. Scoring victories in three of its final four games, including consecutive defeats of eventual regular season champion Duquesne and LIU, the Skyhawks doubled their conference win total from the 2022 campaign and closed out the slate with a 4-3 mark, which was good for second place in the year-end rankings.
Veteran quarterback
Ashur Carraha (Cambridge, MA/Cambridge Rindge & Latin) has been a mainstay on offense for eighth-year head coach Eli Gardner and his Skyhawks, who are ineligible for the FCS Playoffs for two more years due to their status as an NCAA reclassifying program. Leading the conference in completions (141) and attempts (295), the local product from Cambridge, MA was third in passing yards per game (157.3) and total passing yards (1,573).
There might be some uncertainty in who will emerge as Wagner’s starting quarterback in 2024, but what is clear is that whoever fills the role will have the luxury of connecting with
Jaylen Bonelli (Cooper City, FL/St. Thomas Aquinas), one of the league’s top returning receivers. The speedy 5-foot-10 wideout quickly made a name for himself in his first year on Grymes Hill, ranking in the loop’s top-five with 40 catches, 627 yards and 57.0 receiving yards per game, and as a result, he was tabbed the NEC Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Fifth-year head coach Tom Masella also has other key components in place to build on last season’s 3-4 NEC record, which was the program’s most successful campaign since 2018.
Veterans
Rickey Spruill (Morrisville, PA/Notre Dame) and
Andre Hines Jr (Staten Island, NY/Erasmus Hall (Florida State)) — a fifth-year ACC transfer — will anchor a Seahawks’ running game that showed vast improvement from 2022 to 2023. Wagner’s defense also made noticeable advancements last season, shaving 12.7 points per game from the 2022 campaign.
Several key pieces are in place for Central Connecticut, which enters the second year of the Adam Lechtenberg Era. The NEC’s newest coach has two unanimous Preseason All-NEC all-stars — one on the offensive end of the gridiron and the other hailing from the defensive side of the field — to help the Blue Devils reestablish their dominance in the NEC and end a four-year title drought in New Britain.
Making a highly anticipated return is junior
Elijah Howard (Knoxville, TN/Baylor School (Virginia Tech)), a 2023 All-NEC second teamer who powered the league’s top running squad (186.8 yards per game) by averaging the third-most yards on the ground per game in the conference (90.0). Defensively, junior
Kimal Clark (Lackawanna, NY/St. Francis) put the opposition’s passing game in a stranglehold by delivering 8.9 tackles per game — the second-most in the league and 32nd-most in the nation — to earn a spot on the All-NEC first team. Add to the mix the nearly flawless right foot of junior and NEC first teamer
Jack Barnum (Southington, CT/Southington), the league’s most efficient and top-scoring place kicker from a year ago, and the Blue Devils have what it takes to turn the corner in 2024.
Mercyhurst will look to linebacker
Tyler Buterbaugh (Saxonburg, PA/Knoch) and defensive lineman
Camden White (Batavia, NY/Batavia) — a pair of 2023 Second Team All-PSAC defenders — to guide the transitioning Lakers in their first year as an NEC member. Also returning to the gridiron for head coach Ryan Riemedio, who enters his third year at the helm, is quarterback
Adam Urena (Chino Hills, CA/Chino Hills). As a junior, the Californian threw for 23 touchdowns while his 2,651 passing yards were the most by a Laker baller in more than a decade.
Seven-of-eight teams will be action during Week 1 of the 2024 campaign. Central Connecticut, Mercyhurst and Duquesne kick things off on Thursday, Aug. 29 with road games against Central Michigan, Wheeling and Toledo, respectively. Two days later, LIU (UAlbany), Robert Morris (Utah State), Saint Francis U (Dayton) and Wagner (Virginia University of Lynchburg) make their season debuts.
Stonehill opens its season on Saturday, Sept. 7 at Stony Brook on a date that lands all eight NEC squads on the gridiron for non-conference matchups.
About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 44th season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of nine institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States including New York (#1), Boston (#9). Hartford/New Haven (#34) and Syracuse (#85). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 25 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 15 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Central Connecticut, Chicago State, FDU, Le Moyne, LIU, Mercyhurst, Saint Francis U, Stonehill and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website (
www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (
www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all @NECsports.