Villanova Spring Practice begins Thursday

[Hoyadestroya85]

Schedule: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nova/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/SpringCalendar.pdf
The Keys to the Spring in my opinion are the battle at Running Back between Aaron Ball and Angelo Babbaro, Allowing Antwon Young to continue successfully rehab his knee, Try to find a spot in the offense that can fill the Gap left by Matt Sherry, and to work hard on developing our young defensive backs. We are good at Linebacker and the line especially our rush coming off the edge (just ask Flacco.)

[Keeper]

Cats have to be one of the CAA South co-favorites.
How serious is the Young knee injury?

If Sherry was the leading receiver as a tight end,
is that critical in a balanced offense?

Should be in great shape with entire O-line returning.

How soon for Nova schedule? Any rumors on playing Rutgers?

[Hoyadestroya85]

it's been released just not on our crappy athletics website

Our Captains are QB Antwon Young, DE Dave Dalessandro, and LB Darrel Young

8/30- @ West Virginia
9/13- Lehigh (Parents Weekend)
9/20- @ Penn
9/27- UR
10/4- @ W&M
10/18- @ URI
10/25- JMU (Homecoming)
11/1- @ Northeastern
11/8- UNH
11/15- Towson
11/22- @ UD

As for Young's knee injury i'm not quite sure.. he may be available by the end of spring practice or even the beginning.. even if he doesn't make it back we're in good hands at QB now that Whitney's had some time to learn the offense.

As for Sherry, he was an integral part of our Lineup, we have a tight end coming in but this guy was primarily a blocker in HS (for a running back who ran for something like 3,000 yards) but he supposedly can catch too, but he is nowhere near as athletic as Sherry, and we may switch to a 4 wide base offense, you never know.. because we have one good (big) receiver coming in, and 3 solid receivers already on the roster..

I'm Very excited about the O-Line, We have one big mule coming in that we can redshirt.. plus 2 of our O-Linemen from last year (LT, LG) were freshmen and it worked outgreat..

No Rutgers, after this season, we have Temple for the next several seasons

[Keeper]

That's a rough schedule leading up to the conference opener
vs Richmond at home, that game could be HUGE early on.

Probably better to keep the Sep 6 bye than fill it.

[Hoyadestroya85]

Yeah we have a ridiculous schedule.. luckily we have our two most difficult projected games at home..

[Umass74]

I was very impressed with Whitney during that four-overtime game with UMass.

He looked poised and athletic. I think the Villanova QB position will be in good hands in the future.

[D1scout]

I was very impressed with Whitney during that four-overtime game with UMass.

He looked poised and athletic. I think the Villanova QB position will be in good hands in the future.

Agreed! As I watched that game and I thought with Whitney and the O-line returning next year the Wildcats would be very tough.

I'm glad UMass doesn't have them on the regular season schedule. Maybe, UMass and Villa will meet in the Play-Offs?

[Hoyadestroya85]

We Can't forget that Young was Leading the CAA in Touchdown Passes when he got hurt.. I think we could be a force to be reckoned with, especially if UR has to adapt to a new system..

[ChickenMan]

Yeah we have a ridiculous schedule.. luckily we have our two most difficult projected games at home..



@West Virginia???

[Hoyadestroya85]

i meant FCS games.. i should have clarified.. If we lose by 25 at West Virginia it's a win in my book.. we did cover the spread against Maryland, so you never know

[HENJOHN]

Villanova looked like a very good football team at the end of the year. While Young was very good, I liked the Whitney played as well with his athleticsm and toughness. Their "D" looked very physical towards the latter part of the year. I beleive they are one of the favorites to be in the CAA Hunt this year.

[Hoyadestroya85]

Some coach (not sure who) said that our D was among the fastest they saw all season.. plus we are very unpredictable.. we could send as many as 8 at the QB or as little as 3 without changing the look of the defense very much because at least one of our safeties is always roaming (and near the line of scrimmage).. our defense is based very much on deception and is fairly good at stopping little scatbacks because of our speed but not that great at stopping big bruisers like Lattimore from Maryland...
I'd kinda like to see how we'd do against App state because of our speed...
JMU did pretty well so i'd like to see how well we would fair considering our defense has even more speed on the field than them with the extra linebacker...

[YoUDeeMan]

Some coach (not sure who) said that our D was among the fastest they saw all season.. plus we are very unpredictable.. we could send as many as 8 at the QB or as little as 3 without changing the look of the defense very much because at least one of our safeties is always roaming (and near the line of scrimmage).. our defense is based very much on deception and is fairly good at stopping little scatbacks because of our speed but not that great at stopping big bruisers like Lattimore from Maryland...
I'd kinda like to see how we'd do against App state because of our speed...
JMU did pretty well so i'd like to see how well we would fair considering our defense has even more speed on the field than them with the extra linebacker...

It wasn't JMU's defense that kept the score down.

It was JMU's offense. xnodx

[Hoyadestroya85]

Oh, so kinda like how the Villanova offense did on the UD defense?
but they still did a pretty good job nonetheless

[GannonFan]

nova will be an interesting team to look at next year, just to see if they are legit or not. A lot is being hyped over beating a Delaware team last year that had already booked a first round home game for the following week. But that was just one game. nova played well against UMass and Richmond, but still lost, and even when they won against inferior teams, Towson and Hofstra, those games were nail biters down to the end.

nova's going to be 2-1 after the OOC games (WVU is a loss and Lehigh and Penn are shadows of who they used to be 10 years ago so those are almost automatic W's). What happens from there is the question. nova looked baffled playing a JMU team that didn't do anything fancy on offense in that game (they almost went 5 plays in a row on a simple WR screen and nova didn't adjust all day) but then looked on fire playing later in the year. Offensively, nova doesn't lose a lot of people, but they do lose Sherry, Ridley, and Dicken. That's a load of production and some clutch play from the TE, WR, and RB spots. And this from an offense that wasn't very prolific to begin with. nova isn't going to sneak up on anyone this year, they've never played well in Williamsburg, and URI and NU are tough places to play due to the loud silence accompanying those venues. The jury is still out on whether nova can play when it matters.