Football season is almost here, and the Colonels look to bounce back from going 4-6 last season.
Things will look differently this year as coach Trey Brown will be taking over after being named the eighth head coach in Wilkes Football history.
Coach Brown brings his 16 years of coaching experience to the table, as he now has the opportunity to run his own program.
Prior to being named head coach, Brown was the quarterbacks coach and special teams’ coordinator at Muhlenberg University for four years, where he played a vital role in the success of the team’s offense as Muhlenberg averaged 37 points per game.
Before coaching at Muhlenberg, Brown also coached at Lehigh University, University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University.
Camp begins Aug. 13 for players, and the players will go through two gruesome weeks of training.
The team is set to begin their journey toward winning the Middle Atlantic Conference on September 6th against the Muhlenberg Mules, Coach Brown’s former team.
It will not be an easy task, as the Mules finished 8-3 last season. Winning the conference will not easy either, as the Colonels will have to go against nationally ranked teams.
Coming into the season, seniors Omar Richardson and Nick Dawson were named to the 2014 USA College Football Division III Pre Season All American teams. Richardson was named to the second team on defense while Dawson was named to the third team on offense.
At corner last season, Richardson started all 10 games and finished third on the team in tackles with 59. Dawson started in all ten games last season, leading the Colonels ground game as they averaged over 170 yards per game and 3.9 yards per carry on the ground.
There is still plenty of time until the start of the season and nothing is set in stone for who will be starting this upcoming season for the Colonels. Wilkes will look to win its first Middle Atlantic Conference championship since the 2006 season when they finished the season 11-1 going 9-0 in Conference play.
This year’s team is certainly capable of doing just that as they return as one of the top defenses in the nation. They will be hurt by the loss of All American linebacker Tate Moore-Jacobs, but will be having talent return that is certainly capable of stepping in and producing.