Injuries were a major part of Villanova’s lame season
RADNOR » One look at the Villanova sideline during any game in the last two months tells you all you need to know about what went wrong this season.
For the last nine games the Wildcats had almost as many players in sweats as they had in uniform. Not just any players, but those vital to the team’s success.
Injuries played a large role in Villanova’s demise.
Quarterback Zach Bednarczyk, running back Matt Gudzak, wide receivers Changa Hodge and Alex Padovani, tight end Ryan Bell and safety Rob Rolle, the preseason pick to win defensive Player of the Year honors in the CAA, were lost for the season in the first four games.
Guard Louie Csaszar missed two games after being hit in the face at practice. Defensive back Malik Reeves missed the better part of two games, too. In all, 18 Wildcats were lost for the season, 11 with knee injuries.
“It’s crazy,” offensive coordinator Sam Venuto said earlier in the week. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The injury bug hit the offense especially hard. Villanova’s points-per-game dropped from 25.4 through the first 11 games last season to 21 in the same number of games this year, and it was only that high because the Wildcats scored 110 of their 231 points in their first three games. The running game fell from 212.7 yards to 137.3 yards per game. The passing number dipped from 160.7 to 152.9. Villanova averaged 373.5 yards of total offense a year ago and 290.2 in 2017.
At the end of the regular season last year, Villanova had four players with 400 or more yards rushing. Junior Aaron Forbes was the only player to top that mark with 566 yards time around. That’s nearly 200 yards less than he had at the same time a year ago.
Villanova was hit so hard by the injury bug that head coach Mark Ferrante was forced to play most of the 13 true freshmen he had on scholarship, including quarterback Kyle McCloskey out of Germantown Academy.
Villanova has to be able to run the ball to be successful and the Wildcats were not able to do that on a consistent basis, which put added pressure on McCloskey and redshirt freshman Jack Schetelich after Bednarczyk went down. Neither had any experience and it showed.
That’s how a team goes from being ranked as high as sixth early in the season to losing four of its last five games.
“It was very frustrating because we knew our capabilities,” Forbes said. “We know what we could have been, and because we knew that, we pressed and when we didn’t play as well as we thought we could, we got down on ourselves.”
The pity party, though, will not carry into the offseason. The Wildcat gave themselves a huge lift with a 28-7 destruction of Delaware in the season finale Saturday afternoon. It was a stunning upset, one no one saw coming, even though Villanova has dominated the rivalry of late.
“This gives us a huge boost,” Forbes said. “It shows us how we’re capable of playing without all the guys we lost, so it has a big carryover effect. It’s a lot easier to get through those long, dragged out offseason workouts when you know you have a chance to be very good.”
The future is bright, despite the disappointing 5-6 finish. Of the nine players who started on offense, wide receiver Taurus Phillips and center Matt Donaghue out of Garnet Valley were the only seniors. All the rest are underclassmen and that does not include the injured players.
Bednarczyk, Hodge and Padovani are also expected to return next season. Gudzak and Bell are eligible to return as medical redshirts. If they do, the Wildcats could be a force offensively.
The defense, however, will take a hit, especially in the secondary. Malik Reaves, Rashaan Stewart and Trey Johnson all saw their careers come to an end Saturday. Rolle could return as a medical redshirt, which would give that unit a huge boost. Linebacker Ed Shockley and defensive lineman Ricky Young also played the final game of their respective careers. Reaves, Stewart, Johnson, Shockley and Young have been part of a unit that has been among the FCS leaders against the run for the last two seasons.
And while playing so many true freshman and redshirt freshman is not ideal, it can pay dividends down the road. Freshmen Malik Fisher, Trajan Anderson, Amin Black, and Jaquan Amos saw action in all 11 games either on defense or on special teams. Running back Damone Drew played in six games. McCloskey saw action in four games. That’s invaluable experience. The great unknown, though, is injuries, something the Wildcats found out the hard way this season. Lose a couple of key players and the season can change in a heartbeat. But the Wildcats aren’t concerned about that now. All they can do is look ahead.