Tag: Greg Thompson

Just Don’t Call It a Rebuild: Bowdoin Season Preview

Running Back Tyler Grant '17 has the advantage of running behind an experienced line. (Courtesy of Bowdoin Athletics)
Running Back Tyler Grant ’17 has the advantage of running behind an experienced line. (Courtesy of Bowdoin Athletics)

Editor’s Note: Our other previews will look a little different than this one. With a new Head Coach at Bowdoin, we wanted to look a little more into the changes in Brunswick.
Additionally, while 99 percent of the work done in these previews is credited directly to the author, the projected records are a decision made solely by the editors, Adam and Joe. So if you don’t like it, blame us.

Projected Record: 3-5

Projected Offensive Starters

QB: Tim Drakeley ’17
RB: Tyler Grant ’17
FB: Tyler MacNeil ’18
WR: Dan Barone ’16
WR: Seamus Power ’16
TE: Bryan Porter ’18
LT: Kyle Losardo ’17
LG: Brian Mullin ’17
C: Matt Netto ’16
RG: Stephen Melgar ’16
RT: Jack Lucy ’17

Projected Defensive Starters

DE: Parker Mundt ’16
DT: Nadim Elhage ’16
DT: Dan Wanger ’17
DE: Latif Armiyaw ’18
LB: Branden Morin ’16
LB: Brendan Lawler ’16
LB/Rover: Bjorn Halvorson ’17
CB: Jibrail Coy ’16
CB: Alan Banks ’18
SS: Reeder Wells ’17
FS: Greg Thompson ’16

Overview

First-year coach JB Wells is not implementing a turn-around project for the football program; it is a realignment. “It has just been a change in our mentality rather than a change in our game plan,” said junior RB Tyler Grant. Beginning last spring, when he met his team for the time, Wells made it clear that he wanted to establish a level of consistency and a tradition of success. A change in culture was paramount to the goals he had in mind. The first phase had to do with establishing team standards and raising the expectations of every player.

“We have not necessarily made any big changes,” said senior captain Parker Mundt. “The things Coach Wells has stressed to the team have been extremely easy to get behind and have brought our team closer together”. The next phase focused on establishing core values.

“One thing that I thought was missing from the Bowdoin team culture was that they really didn’t know what they were all about,” said Wells. “I knew the guys really liked football, I think they liked what it was all about, but it was really one of those things that came down to finding out what [the team] is at its core – at its base level.”

Wells encourages a culture of mutual understanding. He wants Bowdoin football to have its own definitions of words like “passion, toughness, love, integrity, and tenacity”, defined not by the coaching staff but by the players themselves. In Wells’ mind, there is a stark contrast between process and outcomes; rather than looking at it as an eight game season, it should be looked at as a 365-day process.

“The goal is not to beat a rival or win the NESCAC; that’s an outcome,” said Wells. “Instead, focus on how you play rather than who you play, to make investments rather than sacrifices”.

The goal is to dominate the day and to develop unparalleled team chemistry. “It’s like building on sand. You need to sink things in as deep as you can,” Wells notes. “When that happens, you create a culture of achievement, and that’s what we’re trying to do here”.

Bowdoin starts its season with a blank slate and a battle at every position. “I don’t care what you’ve done up until this point, it’s what you do going forward,” said Wells. The Tufts scrimmage will be a good indicator of who will fall into leading roles, but there will be depth at every position.

Junior Tim Drakeley is the likely candidate to win the starting quarterback job, but sophomore Chad Carrera ’17 and two incoming freshmen are making the decision for Coach Wells a difficult one. It is unlikely that junior RB Tyler Grant ’17 will replicate the heavy load he carried last year with Wells’ new playbook and the re-emergence of senior Trey Brown. Grant rushed for 893 yards in 226 attempts and added 11 receptions for 77 yards. He finished with eight touchdowns, which was good for second among running backs, trailing only Chudi Iregbulem ’15 of Trinity. The Polar Bears have depth at WR this year led by seniors Dan Barone ’16, Kenny Skon ’16 and Seamus Power ’16.

Barone looks to perform at the same level he did last fall when he finished fifth in the NECAC in receptions (36) and averaged nearly 50 yards per game (48.8). Skon returns after missing all of last season due to back and knee injuries, and the 6’2”, 212-pound wide out will prove to be a valuable deep ball threat if he is able to stay healthy. A converted WR from QB, Power will play on the outside along with Liam Blair-Ford ’17 and the two will look to create more big plays in the passing game.

The only lock on the offensive line appears to be All-League center Matt Netto ’16, but seniors Jonathan Macat ’16 and Stephen Melgar ’16 and juniors Kyle Losardo ’17, Brian Mullin ’17 and Jack Lucy ’17 are expected to see a big bump in production. Tevin Montgomery ’18, a transfer from Boston College, is another player that will play a good amount on the line. Coach Wells has depth on the o-line, and he plans to take advantage of it throughout the season by rotating lineman.

Nadim Elhage '15 celebrates a tackle against Bates (Courtesy of Bowdoin Athletics)
Nadim Elhage ’15 celebrates a tackle against Bates (Courtesy of Bowdoin Athletics)

The defense will showcase a 4-2-5 scheme, with a defensive line that is highlighted by captain DE Parker Mundt ’16 and senior DT Nadim Elhage ’16, the two unquestioned leaders of the defensive line this year. Seniors Branden Morin ’16 and Brendan Lawler ’16 will handle the inside LB duties, with junior Bjorn Halvorson ’17 returning as the OLB/rover. Senior Jibrail Coy ’16 will man one of the cornerback positions, with the other looking to be a battle between sophomores Henry Little ’18 and Alan Banks ’18. Coy turned in a noteworthy junior season, finishing with 44 total tackles, one interception, and eight broken up passes, which was tied for first in the NESCAC. Reeder Wells ’17 makes the transition from cornerback to safety and may be joined by converted senior wide receiver Greg Thompson ’16. Andrew Murowchick ’16 looks to continue his success as the team’s punter and sophomore Andrew Sisti ’18 hopes to pick up where he left off last year with the placekicking duties.

Other than the leadership and talent being put on display in training camp, Coach Wells considers the players’ efforts to do things right as the team’s greatest strength. As for the weaknesses, Wells cannot pinpoint any area of concern, not a particularly surprising thing for a coach to say. The cultural realignment that began last spring is paying dividends.

“Our team culture this year really revolves around accountability. If your teammates cannot hold you accountable to do the little things like knowing your role and doing your job, you will not survive on our team,” noted Mundt.

Training camp has been physical and competitive, and Wells can already see the Polar Bears building toward a level of consistency. They have come a long way and they are a much different team than they were last year. There is work still to be done, but the players and coaches are putting trust into the process and laying the foundation for a successful season. Like in every facet of life, the biggest obstacle will be consistency. “The biggest challenge for us will be to keep a level mindset throughout the entire season,” said Grant. “It is a short season so we have to maintain our focus and effort game in and game out”. When the Polar Bears take the field against the Williams Ephs on September 26, they  will showcase much of the same talent as last year, but this year they have a new weapon: unity.

Offensive MVP: QB Tim Drakeley ’17 – The Polar Bears are not going to run the ball as much this season as they did last fall. They had a meager one passing touchdown, and it was to fullback Jack Donovan ’15. All-League RB Tyler Grant will be an integral part of the team’s offense this fall, but with the return of Trey Brown, he will not be asked to carry the offense how he did last year. He’ll be put into space more often where he’ll be able to use his pass-catching ability and speed to his advantage, but in Coach Wells’ new regime, the Bears will showcase a more balanced offensive attack, and QB Tim Drakeley will be the driving force behind it all. In 2014, Drakeley played in only two games, but he showed flashes of promise, notably in his 13-24, 96-yard performance against an undefeated Amherst team. With an experienced offensive line, reloaded arsenal at WR, and a three-headed, pass-catching monster at RB in Tyler Grant, Trey Brown, and Garrett Thomas ’17, Drakeley is equipped for success. Fantasy owners should be buying high on the QB in his first full season under center.

Defensive MVP: Junior OLB/Rover Bjorn Halvorson – Coming off a season in which he finished third on the Polar Bears in total tackles (51), Halvorson looks to replicate and improve upon the success he had last fall. A safety in high school, he moved to outside linebacker at Bowdoin, and the junior is set to thrive under Wells’ new defensive scheme. The way the new Bowdoin defense is designed, Halvorson will be in the thick of it all. In the 4-2-5 alignment, he will be tasked with stopping short runs and covering the short passing zone. Expect the skilled defender to become a force in the NESCAC this year and see an increase in his totals from last season, especially in terms of big time plays like takeaways.

Biggest Surprise of Camp: When asked, Coach Wells was cagey about singling out a player who has excelled in camp. Wells did, however, have nothing but high praise for Nadim Elhage.

“Nadim is a hell of a defensive tackle,” said Wells. “He’s as good of a player as there is in the league”.

As he inherits a more expanded role after the Bears lost leading defensive tackle Jake Prince ’15 to graduation, there are high expectations for Elhage by his coaches, teammates, and himself. “I came to Bowdoin with really high expectations for myself and since I’ve been here I’ve felt like I haven’t come close to meeting those expectations,” Elhage said. “This summer and preseason I have worked incredibly hard to fulfill my potential and become the best player I can be”. His hard work has not gone unnoticed, as Elhage is described by senior captain Matt Netto as having come into camp “strong, quick, and in overall great shape”. In limited playing time last fall, Elhage recorded nine tackles and one broken up pass, but finished fourth on the team in sacks (1.5). We know what Elhage is capable of; it’s only a matter of time until number 98 breaks out. Check out his Twitter account if you don’t believe me.

 

Best Tweet of the Offseason:

Biggest Game: Colby, November 14 – If Bowdoin takes care of business from the start of the season until the finish, their biggest game may be the season finale against Colby College at home on November 14. It’s a short season, and the most important game is going to always be the next one, but if Bowdoin plays itself into a position to compete for a title, it will have stolen a couple surprise wins and the Polar Bears may be controlling their own fate when they take on Colby in the last game of the season. Even if Bowdoin is not in the championship fold by then, the Bears may be playing for the best record of the three Maine colleges and the CBB (Colby-Bates-Bowdoin) crown. Last fall, the Polar Bears lost a 14-7 thriller to Colby in the last game of the season, resulting in a tie in the standings between the two schools. Also, in case you don’t remember what happened the last time these two played at Bowdoin…

No I Won’t Back Down: Bowdoin’s Trey Brown Returns from Injury

Photo courtesy of Trey Brown
Photo courtesy of Trey Brown

Running back Trey Brown entered Bowdoin as a freshman in the fall of 2012 eager to get onto the football field. He was planning on playing football and baseball, but his first love was always football. Brown was especially eager to play because his last season of high school football at Phillips Andover Academy ended way too abruptly. On his very first carry at Andover as a post-graduate student he tore his right ACL in a preseason scrimmage. The game meant nothing, and the injury knocked him out for the entire season and began an eight month rehabilitation. Despite the injury causing him to miss out on the chance to impress college coaches, Bowdoin recruited Brown to play running back.

Brown only heard about Bowdoin as a post-grad at Andover, a prep school that routinely sends kids to NESCAC schools. Brown went to high school in his hometown of Livingston, California, a small city two hours inland from the Bay Area. Far away from the traditional enclaves of East Coast recruiting, he didn’t register on the radars of NESCAC coaches, and it was a family friend who recommended he try the post-graduate year to boost his exposure. His story up to this point is far from unique. Many students take post-graduate years and end up at NESCAC schools. Brown was hoping to go to a a Division-II  or NAIA school where he could get a scholarship, and he had never even heard of the NESCAC before coming to Andover. Tearing his ACL in the first half of a scrimmage erased those ideas of going to a big time football school. He became focused on finding a school that would be a good fit for both academics and athletics. His academic advisor at Andover was a Bowdoin graduate and was the first one to recommend Bowdoin to Brown.

Even though he barely played at Andover, the year at prep school was huge for Brown. He describes Andover as a small college, a rigorous and somewhat specialized place where he had to work harder than in high school. In Brown’s own words: “I don’t think I would have been able to excel here [Bowdoin] without Andover … the curriculum at Andover is hard so I was prepared for college.”

Without football at Andover, he spent the year concentrating on getting good enough grades to get into Bowdoin and making friends who came from places all over the world.

So that’s how Brown ended up in Brunwick, Maine, far away from the Central Valley of California. He was confident coming into his freshman year that he was healthy again. He went through all of the preseason and was primed for significant carries early on because of injuries to upperclassmen. Then it happened again.

On a first half carry, he tore his right ACL once again, ending his season and causing some soul searching.

“I was shook. Yeah I was ready to hang them up. I was ready to hang them up.”

Still wanting to feel a part of a community at a new school, Brown went to all of the football activities for a few weeks after his injury. “I went to the meetings for the first two or three weeks and then I couldn’t be around it,” Brown says. “I was acting like I was in the games but I was on the sidelines.” Even with the two ACL surgeries on the same knee, Brown decided to go through another rehabilitation process with the blessing of the Bowdoin training staff. He couldn’t picture himself not at least trying to play football if it was at all possible.

Although he was cleared to play at the beginning of his sophomore year, Brown did not feel completely healthy entering the season.

“I didn’t feel too confident to make hard cuts off of my [right knee] … I thought to myself, ‘I’m alright, I’m alright,’ but it was false confidence I think.”

Still, he made it through all of preseason camp again and entered the season as the primary backup. He played in four games and ran for 162 yards, including 73 in the third game against Tufts. It was his first time playing football in three years, but he never felt completely right. “It was forced, I tried to do too much.” He was overcompensating for his injury, and on his first carry against Hamilton in Week 4, a 16-yarder, he he felt his ACL tear again, this time in his left knee instead of his right one where the first two tears occurred.

The injury hit Brown extremely hard.

“I wasn’t depressed, but I was different. I was distraught.”

He once again thought about whether he could come back to play football. After both of his ACL injuries at Bowdoin, Brown leaned on a close group of friends who encouraged him to make the decision that he wanted. His roomates, who include players or former players like Greg Thompson ’16, Jibrail Coy ’16 (a player who himself has had to overcome two ACL injuries while at Bowdoin), and Skyler Lee ’16 encouraged Brown to come back if that’s what he wanted, even if the rehab would be long and difficult. Brown knows that he couldn’t have come back without them. He sees the football team as his family at Bowdoin.

His family at home, meanwhile, was much more ambivalent about him trying to continue playing football, arguing that he risked ending up in a wheelchair. His mom especially wanted him to stop playing, but Brown felt the risks are worth it payoff. He knows that studies have linked ACL injuries to arthritis, but he thinks at the end of the day “it’s all worth it.” This is a sentiment that you hear often from Division-III athletes. That all the time spent practicing and training for games that often go unnoticed is always ‘worth it.’ However, most athletes wouldn’t sing the same tune after three ACL tears. Brown does, and he’s started to formulate a plan for returning for his final year.

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Trey Brown (Photo Courtesy of Bowdoin Athletics)

He worked last season for Bowdoin trainer Dan Davies, somebody with whom Brown has spent a lot of time. Last year he spent his time treating his own injuries, instead of being treated. Meanwhile, being around the football field all the time wasn’t always easy.

“There were times when I wanted to get on the field, but I knew I wasn’t ready. I still was thinking about playing all the time.”

The extra time off was necessary, and Brown was able to take solace in the fact that he would have that offseason to get ready for one last hurrah.

When last winter began, Brown was healthy for the first offseason ever at Bowdoin, and when I asked him what that was like, he just told me that it was “awesome” multiple times. He was in the weight room almost everyday, finally able to do everything with his teammates again. In the offseason, Brown met new coach JB Wells for the first time. The two quickly built a relationship as Wells leaned on the returning juniors who had not gone abroad. Then at the end of the spring semester in a somewhat unusual move, Wells made Brown and Matt Netto ’16 captains. The decision happened in part because all three elected captains were abroad that spring. Wells wanted to recognize Brown and Netto, two players who have been huge parts of the Bowdoin team in different ways. The moment struck Brown.

“I was in shock. I looked around to make sure it was true. It meant a lot to me.”

Despite not having played in 2014, Brown is a Bowdoin football captain.

So far this preseason, Brown has felt good and healthy as ever, but he knows he has to be more careful than ever. He is a physical, down-hill runner who takes a lot of hits, and even with all the advancements in surgery, he is more likely to tear his ACL now than ever before. Already he has been able to take and give some big hits. Wells will have to make sure not to overload the running back, but at the same time Wells is hoping that Brown can help starting running back Tyler Grant ’17 not get as worn down as last season.

For now, Brown isn’t too worried. He is happy to simply be back on the field, playing the sport that has given and taken so much from him. The journey to this point has been a long one, and he is grateful for where he is right now. The biggest lesson Brown has taken from this journey is simple.

“Perseverance is the big word for me, in every aspect: sports, academics, just life.”

When asked about his hopes and expectations for himself and the team this year, Brown paused and smiled.

“Just wait on it. That’s all I have to say.”