How is the second year under head coach Jason Swepson for the Elon University football team?
The playbook is not new. The coaching staff is not new, besides one exception (new linebackers coach Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay). The quarterback is the same.
But, the Elon University football team expects the results to be different.
“The difference is that we’re more comfortable with each other now,” said senior wide receiver Jeremy Peterson. “(Last year there were) new coaches, it was the beginning of the season, they didn’t know us, we didn’t know them. This year, I feel like we’re all together, we’re all on the same page.”
Last season was filled with a whole lot of new. Then-junior quarterback Thomas Wilson was beginning his first year at the helm of the Phoenix offense and Swepson was a Division I head coach for the first time.
It was filled with a lot of discord on and off the field. The Phoenix was second-to-last in the Football Championship Subdivision in turnovers (36) and dealt with off-the-field “finger-pointing,” Swepson said.
“That’s what happened last year,” he said. “I don’t think we have that this year. Everyone is supportive of each other. I think we’re more together — that togetherness is real this year.”
Late last season, Swepson said things such as, “We’ve got some guys still not buying into the system, and that’s what’s hurting us at this point.”
A 5-6 record will bring that mentality. But things are different this year.
“We know what to expect from the coaches, (and) the coaches know what to expect from us,” said Wilson, now a senior,. “It’s a mutual thing between the players and the coaches. (We’ve) got those first-year jitters under our belt.”
Swepson runs a much more relaxed practice this year, with intensity and optimism on both sides of the ball.
[quote]Everyone is supportive of each other. I think we’re more together — that togetherness is real this year. - Jason Swepson, Elon football head coach[/quote]
For the offense, eight starters return, including primary playmakers Wilson, Peterson and All-American senior wide receiver Aaron Mellette.
With hot NFL prospects, Mellette is expected to bring in a lot of points for the Phoenix this season.
“I’m trying to push for an even better season, especially in touchdowns,” Mellette said. “I’m just trying to be a scoring machine and do whatever I can to help us win.”
Swepson said at the end of last season he expects more than the 12 touchdowns Mellete has pulled in each of the last two seasons.
“Catching a lot of balls is great and getting a lot of yards is great, but we need a bunch of touchdowns,” Swepson said. “If that number is 20, then we’re winning a lot of football games.”
Wilson will be attempting to cut down on his 21 interceptions, most in the FCS, from last season and has already seen improvement in practice on that front.
“As an offense, you’re not going to win football games turning the ball over,” he said. “Turnovers has been a huge thing that we’ve been working on throughout the spring and over the summer, and now into preseason camp - decreasing the amount of turnovers, protecting the ball, interceptions, fumbles, things of that nature. And we’ve definitely cut back on those, so that’s been a huge step for us, with the turnover margin.”
[box]Starters Lost Offense: OL Ned Cuthbertson, OL Logan Hardin, OL Rodney Austin, WR Christian Dennis, RB A.J. Harris, TE Andre Labinowicz Defense: LB Joshua Jones, LB Zach Henderson, CB Jonathan Conner[/box]
On the other side of that turnover margin is the defense, which loses key players in graduated linebacker Joshua Jones and cornerback Jonathan Conner. Led by senior linebacker and defensive captain Blake Thompson, who changed positions from safety during the spring, the defense expects to change things this season. And it starts with the comfort that comes with having a year with the system under their belt.
“This year, we’ve made huge, huge strides with the defense itself, just making it our own, checking things, because we don’t need the help of the coaches anymore,” Thompson said. “Everybody’s more comfortable with the defense and the system that we’re playing and we like it. It’s a fun defense, it’s a lot of running around, a lot of movement, a lot of blitzes and stuff like that.”
And Thompson is confident Jones will not be missed that much because of the players he has playing beside him.
Who are this year's team's captains? See who here.[divider_flat] [/box]
“If somebody drops the gun, somebody else has to be there to pick it up,” he added. “So everybody’s going to graduate one day. So we’re picking up, not just myself, but (redshirt sophomore linebacker Jonathan) Spain, (sophomore linebacker) Odell Benton, (sophomore safety) Miles (Williams), (junior safety) Chandler (Wrightenberry), we’re all picking up that gun and we’re shooting.”
Swepson said the turnover factor, on both sides of the ball, is the key to this season’s success.
“We’ve got to protect the ball better on offense,” he said. “What people don’t realize is that last year, the defense didn’t create any turnovers, until the last two games.”
Jones had a pick-six to seal a victory over Furman University Nov. 12 and Wrightenberry had an interception against Appalachian State University in a loss to the Mountaineers a week later, but the Phoenix had an FCS-worst turnover margin per game of minus-two.
“If we can continue that trend and give our offense a short field, I think we’ll be tough to beat,” Swepson said. “The bottom line is, we’ve got to cut down on turnovers (on offense), increase turnovers on defense.”
The Phoenix will have an opportunity to do that Sept. 1 against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Football Bowl Subdivision and Atlantic Coast Conference foe.
[box]2012 Football Schedule Get a glimpse of who the Phoenix is playing this season.[/box]
But instead of focusing on its opponents, the Phoenix is looking at the basics: offense, defense and special teams. With veterans senior kicker and captain Adam Shreiner, junior punter Kenton Beal and sophomore long snapper Michael Crispi leading the special teams, and a lot of returners on either side of the ball, Swepson is confident about this season.
“As long as we can win two of the three situations — offense, defense and special teams — you usually win the football game,” he said. “I told them some days the defense is going to have a bad day and the offense needs to carry the load with the special teams and vice versa.”
Team chemistry is also at an all-time high in the Phoenix locker room at Rhodes Stadium, a significant change from 2011.
“(The coaches are) not yelling about the plays, messing up the plays or getting to the right depth,” Peterson said. “Now, in everybody’s minds, if you make a mistake, they know that you know what you’re supposed to do. I feel like we have better chemistry with stuff like that. They know what we’re capable of now. So it’s just line up and play fast.”