By Allen Lessels
NEFJ Correspondent
DURHAM – Maybe, Duncan Moreland figured, that was enough.
Certainly, it would have been a nice way to go out.
Moreland, a senior defensive back out of Beverly, Mass., helped the University of New Hampshire football team rally to four straight wins to end the regular season last fall, lifting the Wildcats back into the FCS playoffs. His brother Owen is also a freshman linebacker at Elon.
UNH fell to Tennessee-Martin in the first round of the 24-team tournament, but still closed things out with an 8-5 overall record and a 6-2 mark in the Coastal Athletic Association, good enough to leave them in a three-way tie for third place with Delaware and Villanova.
Moreland, slowed early last season by health issues but going strong at the end, had one more year of eligibility remaining, but considered passing on it.
“I wasn’t too sure I was coming back,” Moreland said. “I had two or three weeks to really think about it and talked with my family and, I don’t know, I thought I would have regretted it in 20, 30 years if I didn’t come back.”
So back he is and there Moreland was on the field in Wildcat Stadium on Wednesday, now a UNH graduate student and taking part in one final preseason UNH Media Day.
He joins fellow grad student and safety Brendan Tighe of Lowell, Mass., defensive end Zach Garron of Bedford, N.H., tight end Colby Ramshaw of Londonderry, N.H. and offensive guard Dylan Maciulewicz of Erie, Pa., as captains of the 2025 Wildcats.
The captains and a smattering of other veterans are going to have to bring along a very young and inexperienced team, including several transfers, that has the usual UNH expectations of competing for a CAA championship and gaining a berth in the FCS tournament, said head coach Rick Santos.
“We’ve got to lean on the guys who have been here,” Santos said. “Like a Duncan Moreland, who was hurt at the beginning part of last year and in the last month came on and I think led the CAA in forced fumbles (he tied for the league lead with three). He just has a knack. He’s always around the ball. He’s very instinctual and is a phenomenal tackler. He’s got to step up for us. Brendan Tighe, too, who is coming off a knee injury and is almost fully cleared.”
Tighe is the only returning starter UNH has on defense.
Moreland was a captain in both football and basketball at Beverly High and was the Boston Globe’s Will McDonough Male Athlete of the Year in 2020 after collecting 1,000 all-purpose yards in football and scoring 1,000 points in basketball and also excelling in track & field.
There’s plenty of playing time available.
“A lot of spots have opened up,” Moreland said. “I think there a lot of young players who will step up and fill some big shoes of the players we’ve lost. This has been the most competitive offseason and summer we’ve had so far. I see our whole defense making some big steps each day. We’re making the right calls and everybody is working their butt off.”
For one more season, the field, strength and conditioning room and film room and classrooms, are Moreland’s office.
If he had left football behind?
“I’d probably be working a 9 to 5, on the phone selling insurance, something like that,” Moreland said with a laugh.
That can wait a few more months.
The Crusaders for the home opener
The Wildcats open the season Saturday, Aug. 30 at 6 p.m. at North Carolina Central. They play their home opener Saturday, Sept. 6 at 6 p.m. against Holy Cross. UNH plays its FBS game at Ball State on Saturday, Sept. 13 at 2 p.m.
The Wildcats close out the non-conference portion of their schedule at Dartmouth on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 1 p.m.
The league opener is against UAlbany on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 1 p.m. in Wildcat Stadium.
Quarterback competition
Matt Vezza, a 6-foot and 201-pound sophomore, and Brooks Bentley, a 6-foot-3 and 210-pound junior transfer from Division 2 Wingate, are competing for the starting job at quarterback.
“They both add a different element,” Santos said. “Matty’s extremely athletic and can do some things with his legs. Brooks does a phenomenal job seeing the field and getting the ball out of his hands and can throw it all over. Both are really good players. I don’t think we’re naming a starter any time soon. We might even go into the first week and expect both of those guys to play.”
Coaching them up
Along with filling the depth chart with new players, Santos has had to adjust his staff as well – including with a couple of new coordinators – and is happy with the way things have come together.
Garrett Gillick, the defensive coordinator the last few years and Drew Belcher, the co-offensive coordinator the past couple, are both now on the football staff at the University of Massachusetts.
Ed Borden was co-offensive coordinator with Belcher last year and is in the same role this year with Ryan Wilson, who also coaches the offensive line.
Santos, Borden and Wilson will lead the way in developing game plans and Borden will call the plays on game day with Santos adding his input.
Scott James, who returned to the UNH staff last year after several seasons helping turn Holy Cross into a regional power, takes over as defensive coordinator and associate head coach.
By Rick Wilson
By Allen Lessels