2022 Football Season Preview
9/13/2022
With a month of preseason practice nearly behind them, the Brown football team is set to kick off its 136th season this Saturday afternoon at home against the Bryant Bulldogs at Richard Gouse Field at Brown Stadium. With a much more experienced and deeper roster than recent years, the Bears are poised to take significant steps forward in year four, season three, of the James Perry era.
Brown returns nine players on offense, and seven on defense who started at least four games last season, and many more who played significant snaps throughout the season. The team features 111 players, including 28 newcomers and 32 seniors.
“We’re a deeper team than we’ve been in recent history,” Perry said. “The way that is expressing itself is a lot more competition out there across the board. We’re competing within positions because we’re deeper.”
Captains
The Bears will carry four senior captains this season in linebacker Junior Gafa, defensive tackle Brooks Jones, offensive lineman Lucas Ferraro and running back Allen Smith, who will be a captain for the second straight season.
“We’ve got four captains this year, and they have earned it,” Perry said. “We call it dispersed leadership, and what I want from them is instead of trying to do it all themselves, is to delegate that leadership and spread it throughout the locker room. They’ve allowed other guys the opportunity to step up, which is a great trait and teaches the younger guys how to be leaders as well.”
QUARTERBACKS
One of the biggest questions facing the Bears entering 2022 is who will be under center leading the offense? Graduated senior EJ Perry left his mark all over the Bears record book the past two seasons, en route to being named the Ivy Offensive Player of the Year in 2021 and now sits on the Jaguars practice squad. Despite the lack of game experience in the current quarterback room, coach James Perry still has a great deal of confidence in the potential and skillset of his current signal callers. The Bears will go into Saturday’s season opener without officially naming a starter.
“Aidan Gilman and Jake Willcox are the two frontrunners, and it is a dead heat,” Perry said. “Those two guys are still competing for that position. We have a deep room and have some young guys who are really gifted, but it’s fair to say those two separated themselves a bit. We always play quarterbacks, so guys like Michael Walsh and Nate Lussier will in all likelihood play football for us as well.”
Willcox appeared in seven games last season, rushing five times for 13 yards, and completed his only career pass attempt for an 11-yard touchdown in the season finale against Dartmouth. Gilman, a senior from Westfield, N.J. has yet to appear in a game at Brown.
RUNNING BACKS
The Bears return two significant pieces of their rushing attack in fifth-year Allen Smith and sophomore Jordan DeLucia. Smith averaged 52.6 ypg on the ground last season and led the Ivy League with 107.7 all-purpose yards last season while also returning kicks. DeLucia appeared in all 10 games in a solid freshman campaign and led the team at 4.3 yards per carry. The team will look to replace the loss of Perry, who as a dual threat QB averaged over 40 rushing yards per contest and led the team with seven rushing touchdown last season.
Part of the gap will be filled by sophomore Stockton Owen, who looks to play a prominent role in the rushing attack following a strong camp.
“Last spring, Jordan and Stockton both got a lot of work,” Perry said. “Both of those guys are really talented, and this summer we’ve seen Stockton really play at that next level. All three can play at a high level, and might even be able to have multiple of them play at the same time.”
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WIDE RECEIVERS
In a stark contrast to last season, when Brown returned just one player who had caught a touchdown pass from 2019, the Bears return 13 of the 18 players who caught a pass last season.
Junior Graham Walker and senior Wes Rockett – both All-Ivy selections - tied for fourth in the Ivy League with 664 receiving yards. Rockett boasted a league-leading eight touchdown receptions last season, while Hayes Sutton was second with seven touchdown catches, and Walker ranked third in the Ivy with six.
“They have a lot of experience in the system,” Perry said. “They have a lot of depth and everybody’s getting better. We’ll play six or seven wideouts in a game, so the competition for a spot in that group is high, but you look at Graham, Wes and Hayes, they’ve gotten much better because they are getting pushed from below. It’s a very strong group.”
Also returning at wideout are seniors Allan Houston III and Zachary Targoff. Houston has opened a lot of eyes in camp this summer according to Perry, and looks to play an ever-growing role in the offense after ranking fifth on the team with 20 receptions in 2021. Targoff averaged nearly 12 yards per reception last season, and had one touchdown. Junior Mark Mahoney and sophomore Samuel Baddoo also look to play a significant role in the receiving core this season.
OFFENSIVE LINE/TIGHT ENDS
The Bears return four starting offensive linemen from last year’s squad, which helped Brown average 29.5 points per game and lead the Ivy League with 445.3 total yards of offense and 311.9 yards passing per contest.
Ferraro is slotted in as the team’s starting center, with Jack Connelly, Griffin Sturtz, Hunter Folsom and Nicholas Turbyfill all returning to anchor the offensive front.
At tight end, senior Christopher Boyle returns as the team’s starter, catching 12 balls for 139 yards last season.
DEFENSIVE LINE
An area of significant progress for Brown this fall has been on the defensive line, now much deeper and more experienced than in years past. Camden Gagnon is back for a fifth year after posting a career-high 20.0 tackles last season, including 7.5 tackles-for-loss and 2.0 sacks.
“What’s fun is watching us start to play complementary football, and that happens at practice when the level of play continues to rise on the offensive and defensive line, and you start to learn how you need to play,” Perry said. “Unfortunately, when you’re so young and thin you often do the opposite and not play complementary football and put ourself into bad positions. I think we’re learning to do that better and subsequently play better defense.”
At tackle, senior captain Brooks Jones and fifth-year Maxwell Sweet both return ample experience inside, and will be joined by sophomores Kyle Philbin and Winston Jordan.
“We’re going to be three-deep a D-tackle, and they are all plug-and-play. This is the first time it’s felt like that,” Perry said. “We can roll out defensive tackles onto the field and they’re all good players. It’s a much deeper group and hopefully we can make some plays too.”
LINEBACKERS
Junior Gafa is back for his senior season after leading the team and ranking ninth in the Ivy League with 61.0 tackles (40 solo) last year, and a team-best 9.5 tackles-for-loss. He earned Second Team All-Ivy honors, as well as Phil Steele All-Ivy laurels.
Fellow senior Malcolm Brunson ranked third on the team with 46.0 tackles a season ago, and will play roles along with senior Ethan Royer and junior Isaiah Gamble. Sophomore Caleb Moorhead will also be in the mix for snaps.
DEFENSIVE BACKS
Sophomore Isaiah Reed returns after seeing significant minutes on the first team last season. Senior Cooper DeVeau will look to bounce back after an injury-plagued 2021 season, which followed a standout 2019 freshman season that saw him rank third on the team with 46 tackles and 11th in FCS Football with 11 pass breakups. The secondary will be boosted by returning seniors Joe Shell, Griffin McGovern, Josh Ofili, Harrison Ochs, Kris Diallo and Jaylen Fisher. Junior Trayvon Hobbs also returns after posting 30 stops last season.
“Getting Isaiah into his second year and having Cooper back brings a different complexion to the position,” Perry said. “We’ve got a lot of really good guys who have played inside for us. Joe Shell is playing at a very high level, and I expect him to have a very good year.”
SPECIAL TEAMS
Highlighting the special teams for Brown this year will be the return of sophomore Christopher Maron, who was 7-for-11 on field goals last season, including a perfect 6-for-6 inside of 40 yards, while also going 38-for-38 on PATs.
Punting, Declan Boyle averaged 41.9 yards per punt last year, while senior Michael Walsh will also see time punting the ball this year after a pair of punts in the season finale against Dartmouth.
Allen Smith averaged 19.07 yards per kick return and led the Ivy League in all-purpose yards per game. Rockett also returns as the team’s primary return man on punts.
