Are you ready for some football?

By Adam Bagni
Collegian Reporter
August 30, 2006

There are two things a college football program needs to get recognition and respect: money and coaching.

Unfortunately for this year’s La Salle football team, it appears that those were the two main reasons it will be without both its quarterbacks from last year.

Former Explorer quarterbacks Michael Jump and Dwayne Lodge both cited their lack of financial aid, as well as their discontent with coaching, as rationale for leaving campus this year.

“Basically, it comes down to money. It’s a non-scholarship school,” said Jump, who was last year’s Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year. “I couldn’t really afford it anymore, and then everything went down [with Phil Longo’s resignation].”

Jump served as a surprisingly confident first-year quarterback last year, who threw for over 2,600 yards and 22 touchdowns, averaging over 260 passing yards per game. In completing 54 percent of his throws, Jump compiled a passing efficiency rating of 123, and broke school records multiple times (which were, albeit, not that impressive).

He is currently attending Division III Montclair State, where he expects to have an immediate impact on their football program. While Jump cited a lack of financial aid as his main reason for leaving, he noted that Longo’s actions played somewhat of a role.

“It caught me off guard when Longo left,” he said. “He told the team ‘I’m leaving,’ and then he was gone, and we didn’t have a head coach for a couple of months,” he said.

For Lodge (an above average athlete who was under-utilized last year), the fact that “La Salle is obviously a non-scholarship program” was a factor, but he was much more frank about his dismay for Longo.

“Longo had his own plan, and that plan was to make his name more credible as an offensive genius. Whether we won or lost, as long as we had a million passing yards, he was satisfied,” said Lodge, who is now a walk-on at East Carolina.

For the La Salle football team, two of its best players are gone, and the big story headed into this season is less about the players on the field, and more about those who are now off it.

So who’s left? Here’s a breakdown of things as I see them.

Offense

Offense has not been a glaring problem for the Explorers in recent years—possibly because that was the area that was overly focused upon. But with Longo gone, and his “fast break” offense with him, first-year head coach Tim Miller appears to be developing a much more conservative approach to scoring points.

In addition to the losses of quarterbacks Jump and Lodge, John Zabel (18 yds/catch, 7 TDs) was a constant All-American threat at the tight end and wide receiver positions. Zabel came up with some of the biggest catches of the year, many of which were on third down. He and Greg Vacarro (17.4 yds/catch, 4 TDs) will certainly be missed, but their departure may lead to a breakout year for Bernie Cevis (19.2 yds/catch, 4 TDs).

If the Explorers are deep at any position, it’s running back. Kevin Sullivan and Josh Brumfield are both very competent slasher backs. Sullivan (5.8 yds/carry, 4 TDs) was named to Don Hansen’s Football Gazette First Team Offensive, and Brumfield (5.7 yds/carry, 5 TDs) was given an honorable mention.

Look for La Salle to pound the ball consistently this season and use short passes to running backs to substitute for the high-flying offense La Salle employed last season.

Defense

A defense that gave up 373 points and nearly 3,000 passing yards last year has to improve. However, they’ll be hard pressed to do so with Mario Palmieri (50 tackles), Mark Moraca ( 49 tackles, 6 interceptions), Randy Carpenter (52 tackles and 4 interceptions) and JJ Luney (4.5 sacks) all gone for a variety of reasons.

I think the defense will stand on the shoulders of senior linebacker Nick DePinto to stop the run. The secondary had way too many tackles last year, and the senior leader is the biggest hope for the Explorers.

On the line, look out for Joe Hamm and Frank Curreri to stand out. My biggest surprise will be Chris Reiter, however, as I think he is underrated and will vastly improve on his overall production.

Final Prediction

La Salle finishes 4-6, with an above-.500 record next year. Wins will come against TCNJ, Ursinus, Husson and St. Peter’s.

bagnia1@lasalle.edu