2016 Team Preview – Oxford Area (1)

Written by: David Mika on Thursday, July 28th, 2016. Follow David Mika on Twitter.

Head Coach: Michael Means (Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator)

Assistant Coaches: Brian Wood (D.C.), Eric Szpyrka (WR/CB), Mo Nadachowski (JV D.C./CB/WR), Joe Martinelli (JV Head Coach/RB), Josh Schneider (Strength and Conditioning/LB/RB), George Hildebran (Oline/Dline), Rich Higgins (JV Oline/Dline) Leo Pizzini (Freshmen Head Coach)

Team Name: Oxford Area Hornets

2015 Record: 3-7

2016 Schedule:

Key Starters lost: Dan Green (QB), Noah Shoemaker (G), Mike Williams (WR/Strong Safety), Connor Hilaman (WR), Greg Roberts (WR)

Offensive Starters Returning: (8) SR RB Tim Davis (5’11, 180) SR WR Troy Brown (6’3 180) SR WR Pat Kinsella (6’2 180) SR C Josh Freese (5’9 230) SR G Brendan Chew (5’9 210) SR T Zach Davis (6′ 215) JR G Jared Tweed (5’10 235) SR T Mykie Brown (6′ 215)

Defensive Starters Returning: (9) SR CB Rob Civitella (5’10, 170) SR CB Nolan Benke (5’10 175) SR Safety Cole Hartert (5’10 175) SR LB Mykie Brown (6′ 215) SR LB Dom Sceski (6′ 180) JR LB Julian Nadachowski (6′ 215) JR DL Dom Sassi (5’9 215) SR DL Eric Impriano (6′ 205) SR DL Cole Gruver (5’10 180)

Special Team Starters Returning: (2) SR Kicker Ryan Hannum, SR Punter Pat Kinsella

Key Newcomers: (14) SR LB George Tzanakis (5’10 180) SR WR Devante Harris (6’1 185) SR DT Mike Weber (6’1 230) JR OL Connor McMurrough (6’2 240) JR DL Phillip Hurt (6’2 215) JR WR Brandon Deshields (5’9 155) JR RB Brandon Holz (5’11 180) SR QB Nolan Benke (5’10 175) JR QB Chandler England (5’11 180) Soph Safety Nate Ferro (5’9 160) Soph RB Mason Hager (5’9 175) Soph RB Mario Pantalone (5’9 160) Soph LB Jimmy Overstreet (5’10 175) Soph WR Brandon McWilliams (5’9 160)

D1 (FBS & FCS) Prospects: Troy Brown (WR)

2015 Outlook: Although we do have a lot of players who got valuable time back for next year, we still have some big shoes to fill. We lost the All-Time leading passer in Oxford History in Dan Green, who was second team All Ches-Mont the last two years, the heartbeat of our defense in Mike Williams, who was second team all Ches-Mont at strong safety, and fourth leading WR in the Ches-Mont and First Team All League player in Connor Hilaman. Last year we were decimated with injuries early on to some key guys and we are excited to have a bunch of them back and healthy. Because of those injuries, we had a lot of young guys get time last year which should be beneficial moving forward. We have had a tremendous off-season thus far but will need to continue to improve and get bigger and stronger in the weight room through the summer to compete in the Ches Mont.

Offense: There will be an open competition at QB to run our pistol option offense. At the conclusion of spring ball, the competition is between Senior Nolan Benke (Honorable Mention All League at CB) and Junior Chandler England. Both did some good things through spring practice. We return the two main cogs in the backfield with Tim Davis and Brandon Holz both coming back and get pretty much the entire starting offensive line back as well. The starters from last year will really be pushed by some younger guys who are getting bigger and better in the weight room. They are the key to our offensive success. We want to be a team that pounds the ball to set up our athletes on the outside and we need to do a much better job of establishing the run this year. We are also deep at WR and excited about the group of athletes that will put on the field on the outside.

Defense: The defense returns 9 starters from last year. We were extremely young on that side of the ball last year and although we showed flashes in some games, we were not consistent. We are looking for our returning starters to really step up after a great off-season in the weight room. Through spring ball, we have been much further ahead with our defensive installs then where we were last year at this time.

Special Team: We return a weapon in punter Pat Kinsella (coming back from a season ending week four injury last year) and also return our starting K Ryan Hannum.

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