Football is back in Durham.
Thursday night, Wildcat Stadium will be rocking when Monmouth visits for the 2022 season opener. This isn’t just your ordinary opener either, as a new era begins for the Wildcats.
After hanging up the whistle to enjoy retirement following his illustrious career, Sean McDonnell hands the reigns over to Ricky Santos. Santos is of course well versed in what it takes to lead the program, having played at an elite level during his time and also taking over for McDonnell during his health scare a few years ago.
When Santos filled in for McDonnell in 2019, the Wildcats went 5-0 at home and also knocked off two different nationally ranked opponents. In season openers, UNH is 13-9 the past 22 seasons, with a 15-2 record in the past 17 home opening games.
While some may be underestimating the Wildcats, two of the most important pieces to the puzzle are back for 2022. In 2019, Max Brosmer started 10 games as a true freshman under center, but he was hurt last year. Brosmer is now back at QB for UNH while stud running back Dylan Laube is also back for his junior season. Laube was ranked fourth in all purpose yards a year ago (147.4) and is also an elite kick returner. Big plays on offense could (and should) be a calling card of the program this year.
UNH’s best receiver is Brian Espanet, who returns as one of the captains of the Wildcats for his senior year. Espanet led UNH in receptions in both 2019 and 2021. Fellow senior Sean Coyne and junior tight end Kyle Lepkowski will be two more big time weapons at Brosmer’s disposal this year as well.
Defensively, senior Pat Flynn is the team’s iron man. Flynn will be making is 35th straight start on Thursday night, while his 34 straight games mean he’s played in every single game for the Wildcats the last four years. There is a good balance of young and old all around the defensive side of the ball – beginning with sophomore All American Josiah Silver – and the depth – particularly at linebacker – should help UNH stay fresh early on in the year. Of course, graduate Pop Bush is also back and ready to lead the secondary as well. Bush is one of the elite DB’s not just in the CAA, but in all of FCS football.
Espanet, Niko Kvietkus (DT), Bush and Flynn will lead the team as captains. All four guys have shown their ability to lead on and off the field throughout their careers (both high school and college), which means the Wildcats should be in good hands.
After Monmouth, UNH will head to Albany, come back home to face North Carolina Central and then visit Towson to close out the first month of the season. With a new look and feel to the CAA now that James Madison is leaving, it feels like along with URI and Maine, there’s plenty of opportunity for the local teams in the CAA – particularly UNH and URI – to make some serious noise this season.