Season Review

[fearthephoenix]

Elon Football Season Recap:

(6-5; 6-2 in CAA)

at Wake Forest L 17-37
at Gardner-Webb L 27-34
A&T W 27-3
at Campbell W 28-24
William & Mary W 14-6
NCCU L 23-34
at Villanova L 0-21
Monmouth W 28-26
at Delaware W 33-27
at Richmond L 24-38
Hampton W 51-14

What a rollercoaster season. As disappointing as 6-5 is, there were a few surprises as I thought it would be much worse of a season.

Offense:

To me, I will always be lost at the complete lack of offense we had in the beginning of the season. Brayboy, Bonner, Dalton, and Miller were rarely utilized early on and could have been a lethal group to help balance the run if used in the beginning of the season. If Matthew returns with the crew we are scheduled to have returning, this could be a lethal offense in the CAA, only if Folmar decides to develop the offense. Jaylen is great, but after Campbell, he was a ghost of himself and it took us weeks to truly develop a throwing game. Additionally, the offensive line was a little disappointing as well. There was a three or four week stretch that they simply could not move any defense off the line of scrimmage or work up to the linebackers.

This offseason has to be on beefing up the OL, getting stronger by stop only doing Instagram content in the weight room, and developing the QB position. I hear Matthew has one more year of eligibility, so he would have to apply for the last year. If he gets it, there is a need to maximize this offseason. There is too much firepower on this side of the ball and this only happens if every player stays. I feel confident that a few players will definitely leave after the season, but I hope it is not the keys to the offense (Brayboy, Dalton, Hampton, Miller).

Folmar likely returns based on the output of the last few games, but it is put up or shut up next year for him, in my opinion. If Matthew returns and most of the other players come back, there is no excuse to have any game where the offensive output is as bad as it was sometimes. He is the QB coach, this is his offense, so it is all on his shoulders.

Defense:

I was really upset about the offense at times, but the defense was truly confusing in the second half of the season. After the Campbell game, William and Mary ran all over us and we simply made no adjustments to teams after that. So many busted plays and the inability to tackle at the LoS, along with no being able to stop the QB run, was what did us in. I am extremely excited about our LB core and Defensive Backfield, but we need more beef on the DL in order to wreck havoc. I think Edwards can coach well, but the inability to adjust and adapt to the offenses, was a huge glaring error. He needs to get the defense together next season as well.

Special Teams:

Berkowitz and Romeneck are both formidable and had both high and low moments this season. If there is one coach on this staff that I have no questions about, it is Coach Noll.

Etc.:

I like using the fake punts, but it became predictable. The fourth down calls showed aggressiveness, but just bad playcalling and poor execution, especially the 4th down run play at Richmond. I am really worried about the transfer portal, as I do not know how the players feel about the program. There were some key names that left after a Playoff season, so what happens after not making it?

Overall, I really hope to see the AD take strides in creating a stronger culture here. I had a chance to meet Jenn and I will take her all day long over Blank and his boys that recently retired. I have accepted that the University will never fully embrace athletics, so I just want to see Strawley try to make it work in some way, where we are competitive in all sports and winning CAA titles.

I do not think Trisciani is anywhere near the "hot seat", but I think both coordinators should be. If the offensive line is beefed up, the offense can have the firepower we have seen towards the back half of the season, and the defense can stop the run like they did yesterday, I like the opportunities for next season.

Sorry for the rant and if you have made it this far, I appreciate it. Hope to break the curse in 2024.

Go Phoenix.

[phawkes]

Good lead-off, fear.  Some responses:

1.  I had no idea Downing had any eligibility left.  If so, that's a double-edged sword for us.  It would be great to have him back, if we're able to keep some of the weapons he had around him this year.  This will only help us, however, if the staff addresses the QB position long-term.  Sure, we may continue to be able to exploit the portal, but we shouldn't count on it.  We've got to address this in recruiting and in development (Lankford still may be a project that could work out).

2.  I feel that practically every other issue you raised is a coaching issue.  We're clearly a thorn in the flesh of the conference elite, but we won't crack the upper echelon until these issues are addressed seriously and intensely by Trisciani and crew.  I like the staff, the coordinators, all of them, but they have room to grow, and I don't see any reason not to allow them that room.  That means time and introspection.

3.  I may be dreaming, but I'd like to see the Phoenix retain some players as GAs or assistants, for continuity and for culture-building.  Specifically, Bo Sanders and Marvin Pearson, if they don't go pro, might grow into very effective coaches.

Personally, I hope A&T and Stony Brook turn their programs around.  I fully expect A&T to rebound, as they've had a solid program in the past.  Stony Brook has many disadvantages, don't know what their future might hold.  Maine had a bad year, but I'm not worried about them; it hasn't been that long since they won the conference, and they're always a tough card.  It looks like the conference will continue to become more competitive.  Campbell was a good addition.  Hampton improved from 2022 to 2023 and will continue to find its way in the conference.  Monmouth has a great coach and a strong football culture, or so it seems.  I guess we get Bryant next year, not sure how they will affect competitiveness.

We survived some trying years (2011-2016), and it always feels like we're on the brink of falling back (spring 2021), but we've now had three straight winning seasons and one playoff appearance.  Let's hope Trisciani's winning percentage keeps growing.

Go, Phoenix!

[eu96]

Great recap by both. I have to say, this is the first I’m hearing about Downing having eligibility left. Tony certainly sounded like his college days were over during his on-field interview. So I look forward to learning more about this.
A&T and Hampton are going to have big problems competing in this league. It’s sad, but it’s true. They will never be able to match the resources of the other football league members. Furthermore, a colleague of mine is an Aggie fan, and let’s just say the move to the CAA, along with the loss of traditional games against other HBSU, has universally been hated. I would expect A&T to leave the league within a could of seasons. Can’t speak for Hampton, but they really weren’t that competitive this year either

[phawkes]

Finally! Downing wins Offensive Player of the Week! Next up, Comeback Player of the Year? I can't imagine anyone else deserving it more. Talk about overcoming adversity.

Also, Tyson gets Rookie of the Week! A great career ahead of him, hopefully still at Elon.

Go, Phoenix!

[epx]

Great analyses FTP and phawkes. 96, I hope you're wrong about A&T. I see them as an excellent addition to the CAA, especially for us! I pretty much agree with everything that's been said, so I'll keep this relatively short; just a few additional points:

Jenn Strawley - Maybe the best Elon Athletics hire in our D1 era. If you haven't met her you need to do so. She's very approachable and very direct. IMO, she was worth the last 2-3 years of Blank so we could get her at the right time. If we don't see improvement, (in several areas pretty soon), we'll know Blank wasn't the problem.

Downing - I hope you're correct about his having more eligibility, and that he'll spend it here. Frankly, I would easily stand him up along side McKay in his ability to run this offense based on his performance at the end of the season. Took a little while, but if he continues to improve the way he has every week since the first of the season, this could be huge.

The Portal - I'm worried about Brayboy, Miller, Curtain, Denis, Tyson, Powell II and Patierno. There could be others, but these are the ones who's loss would hurt the most IMO. I honestly think these guys need to think twice about entering the portal. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence and they could wind up like Yurk and others that didn't play much, even more so this year versus last.

OL/RB/WR - Literally ALL of our starting and back up O Linemen have eligibility for next year. If they all return, with more effort in learning run blocking, the only thing that will be able to stop us is play calling. Bonner, Hendrick and Da Silva are all out of eligibility, but if everyone that has eligibility returns, WOW!!

D - I'm more concerned here than anywhere else. Potential portal losses and graduation will no doubt hurt us here. We're losing a ton of leadership in Pearson and Sanders. Chuck Nnaeto and Jake Louro will need to step up as leaders along with Powell, Tyson and Curtain if they don't go in the portal.

Coaching - I feel pretty good here. The two areas about which I am most concerned is #1 Quarterback development, (if Downing doesn't return). After watching Lankford in 2022 camp, I was completely convinced he would be the CAA All Conference 1st team QB at the end of the 2023 season. That obviously didn't happen. It appears that he regressed from that 2022 camp. I'm afraid we're going to be searching the portal to find another suitable QB for next season. #2 We had the opportunity several times this year to run up the score and let the Offense have some fun like we did last week against Hampton. I would almost bet that had we averaged higher PPG, the Playoff Committee would've had a hard time keeping us out of the mix with the 6-2 conference record. Instead there were a couple of games, Campbell and UD to mention two, that we almost lost because we slowed the game down too soon. I really despise having a score of 27-28 at the half then finishing the game with 30 or 34. What's wrong with kicking the sh!t out of our opponent?

Anyway, I really enjoyed the 2023 season with the exception of the losses to GW and UR. Both of which I felt we should have won, (especially UR. How in the world did we come out flat in a game that meant so much?) Hopefully all the cards fall the right way and we come back stronger than ever for 2024.

As always, Go Phoenix!!