WORCESTER – After winning a second straight Patriot League title in a season unlike any other, the Crusaders are well aware of the expectations and target on their back this season.

On Tuesday morning, the team met with the media, posed for a team photo in the historic Fitton Field stands and then took positional group photos and tossed footballs around on the pristine grass.

There was a 10-year olds playing a pickup game at recess feel to it, an appreciation for being back on the field as a team and preparing for a push to three-peat as a group instead of six feet away from one another.

“I think it’s been really, really good,” said head coach Bob Chesney. “I think getting back together here, our guys getting a chance to compete again, put the pads on again – I know it was a short time ago that we did it – but there are a lot of voids due to graduation, so watching these next guys step up have been pretty impressive. Because the season was so near, I think everything is pretty fresh in their minds. The effort’s been phenomenal, the intensity’s been phenomenal, they’re doing a really good job of taking care of one another.”

The Crusaders will go a while without being in pads, but since they had to practice that way for the majority of the short spring season and last fall before the season was canceled, it shouldn’t be much of an issue.

“We now have to go through now seven practices I believe with helmets only,” explained Chesney. “It poses a bit of an issue as far as contact and what you can get done, but that’s sort of an NFL approach in a way and they’re doing a really good job with it. One positive from Covid is that’s how we practiced the whole entire fall we only had helmets on I believe…our guys are handling it very well.”

Actually having a legitimate offseason and ways to build chemistry the right way has been quite refreshing for everyone involved with the program.

“You’re coming up a little bit short on the chemistry because it’s built over time,” Chesney said of Zoom calls and everything else the Crusaders couldn’t do last year. “You’re just not spending enough time together through that spring season. Whenever we had meetings it was all virtual, in the locker room it was 15 guys at a time, the busses it was five or six different busses, there’s just no way to really come together.

“This in person, for real, you just can’t put a price on it,”

Normally, guys may not be thrilled about camp because of how hard it may be, but that wasn’t the case this season.

“I was saying yesterday, not too many teams can say they’re looking forward to a fall camp, but I can definitely say this squad, this year, we’re so excited to come back,” said senior linebacker Liam Anderson. “Just to get into the grind a little bit, put the pads back on and grind it out on that field…it’s great to be back. Being out here all summer has made a huge difference, you can already see it in practice…everything looks great”

“When you’re able to get outside of football and just kind of be regular college students or play video games with friends, it takes the team chemistry to another level and creates a brotherhood,” added junior linebacker Jacob Dobbs. “Just having that this year I think is going to help us more so on the field than it would last year. Last year with Covid stuff you couldn’t do that kind of stuff.”

Dobbs said the go-to game is usually NCAA Football 14’ when the boys are competing off the field. With the new NIL rules, what would he think if EA Sports decided to put FCS teams in the game?

“That was a dream of mine growing up,” he said. “Obviously, any little kid playing football has played that video game. If they had the opportunity to be in it I definitely think they would want to be in it, so I hope they put FCS teams in there so I get to be in it.”

One guy who would almost certainly make some noise in a video game would be sophomore quarterback Matt Sluka, who burst on the scene last year for the Crusaders. Sluka talked about how valuable the spring season was for his development rather than just a regular camp.

“That’s made a huge difference,” Sluka said of the game experience coming into this camp. “I think that’s probably helped the most out of anything else. Just knowing the speed, the speed of playing college football is definitely different than high school. Having the game exposure I had in the spring allowed me to mentally prepare as well as physically prepare for the season coming up.”

Senior running back Peter Oliver also talked about how important the games in the spring were for this season.

“In the spring, regularly we’ll just have 15 practices and get a scrimmage in and that’s it,” he said. “Now, having four games under our belts…it’s definitely a different feeling than spring ball.”

Oliver also pointed out the fact that two different classes of players have never experienced a real camp or a legitimate football season in Worcester.

“It’s so different,” added Oliver. “There’s two classes right now who have never experienced a camp, who still have not experienced what it’s like to be at Holy Cross. I think they’re seeing what it it’s actually like and seeing what we went through…well not went through, but enjoyed and what we were happy to do.”

There is a great mix of both young and old on Chesney’s roster this season and while most coaches would ignore the noise, Chesney is embracing the expectations that he and his staff have earned and so are many of his veteran players.

“We’re going to listen to everyone talk about three-peat, talk about about being No. 1 in the conference, we’re going to listen to all of those things, but we’re not going to get emotionally involved or attached to that whatsoever,” he said.

“That’s not the validation we’re looking for. We’re looking to get through the season intact, one game at a time and put our best product on the field.”