The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Blue Devils favored to repeat
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Pete Rossomando puts as much stock in preseason predictions as Major League scouts have in the numbers on the back of Eastern League All-Star Tim Tebow’s baseball card.
In other words, he takes them with a grain of salt.
Rossomando, the head football coach at Central Connecticut State University, downplayed the hot-offthe-presses Northeast Conference preseason poll, which selected the Blue Devils as the favorite to defend their title.
“Sometimes I think that’s a historical award rather than an upcoming season award,” Rossomando said Tuesday morning after the poll was released at the league’s Social Media Day at MetLife Stadium. “No one really has an idea of what a team’s going to be at this point based on injuries and all the things that can happen from here on out. It’s a nice honor. It’s great for our guys, they deserve it.
“Obviously, they went out and won the championship last year. But, last year is a different year. This is a totally different team.”
It is, however, a very talented team — at least on paper. CCSU had seven players named to the AllNEC preseason team, including quarterback Jacob Dolegala and four in-state products: offensive linemen J’Von Brown (Norwich Free Academy) and Connor Mignone ( Joel Barlow), linebacker Kenneth Keen (Brien McMahon) and defensive back Tajik Bagley (Ansonia).
CCSU received five of the seven first-place votes, as selected by the league’s head coaches. The remaining two went to Duquesne and Bryant, who were picked to finish second and third, respectively. Sacred Heart was chosen to finish sixth.
“I think we deserve the No. 1 spot,” CCSU senior wide receiver and Windsor native Courtney Rush said. “At the same time, we can never let people on the team look at it as we’ve made it. It’s just a preseason ranking. I believe we just have to keep our mentality that we should never get complacent. We should just keep working.”
The respect for the Blue Devils is warranted. Returning are nine starters on offense and six on defense from a team that went 8-4 (6-0 in conference) and made it to the FCS playoffs. Nevertheless, Rossomando is leery of heaping praise on a team in July. He’s seen predictions go awry in the past.
“I would argue that the year we went 2-9 (in 2016), I thought that was one of our more talented teams,” he said. “Certainly, we are at a point now where we match up really well with the teams in our league, whereas before I think we were undermanned.”
The Blue Devils’ in-state rival, Sacred Heart, finds itself fighting for respect coming off a 4-7 finish. Last year was just the second time in six seasons under coach Mark Nofri that the Pioneers finished with a losing record.
The Pioneers have six starters back on offense, including quarterback Kevin Duke and wide receiver Andrew O’Neill. Only three starters return on defense.
“Obviously, nobody’s going to pick you to finish in the top half of the league coming off a 4-7 season and losing a lot of kids to graduation,” Nofri said. “Hopefully there’s some motivation. Hopefully the younger kids see that they’ve got to earn their respect. Nobody’s going to give it to them.
“They’re going to get back at it. They’re anxious to get going again.”
In October, the Pioneers will square up with Bryant and 2017 NEC Defensive Player of the Year Thomas Costigan. The standout linebacker and Trinity Catholic product has big goals in mind after recording 103 tackles and a school-record tying 11.5 sacks last year as a junior.
“I’ve got to prove that I can do it again this year to get any sort of chance at the next level,” said Costigan, one of five Connecticut natives selected to the preseason all-conference team. “For now, I’m still focused on winning that ring.”