After winning just one game a year ago and going winless in NEC play, Stonehill is looking to return to the form it entered the conference with back in 2022.
Head coach Eli Gardner – entering his 10th year at the helm of the program – took part in an NEC Media Week interview on Friday to talk about the Skyhawks. Here’s everything he had to say:
On being eligible for an FCS playoff berth starting in 2025
“Obviously, it’s a great opportunity – not only for our program – but all of our student athletes to have something…you know, truly meaningful to work towards and to try to achieve throughout their season. I think it just gives a lot more hope to all of our programs knowing they could earn an NCAA bid, right? And to win their conference championship and continue to play football, for us into November and into December hopefully. I think everyone’s excited about it. We’re very fortunate to have that opportunity to expedite that process and hats off to our administration and our staff for opting in to do that, but also executing everything that had to happen at a very expedited rate for us to be able to earn that bid this season. We’re very excited.”
On what he learned from last year’s rough season
“I think it really started for us right after the season. Obviously, we had a really tough year and I think internally we kind of knew we were going to be pretty young going into the season. I think due to an elevated number of injuries, we became really young really fast. A lot of our guys got their first meaningful college football experience this past fall. I think what really kind of helped us turn the corner, was as soon as the offseason started in December, we didn’t have a ton of guys hop into the transfer portal and decide this wasn’t the right fit. I think our guys are bought into what we’re doing here and how we’re trying to do it. They know what the possibilities are here at Stonehill and they chose to be here for the right reasons. So, I think it started there. We had an awesome offseason. We only graduated 13 seniors from last year’s team, so we had 89 guys on the roster for spring practice, which is by far the most I’ve ever had here…we had an awesome offseason in the weight room and on the practice field. Obviously, we changed some things personnel wise and obviously, guys developed. For us, we just have to keep fighting to be the best version of ourselves so we’re more prepared for a new experience come fall.”
On what he’s most excited about heading into 2025
“I’m most excited just to see the growth our guys have already displayed. When you see young people achieve, that’s probably the most rewarding thing you experience as a coach. To see where some of the guys were in the fall last year and then after a year of growth and development, that’ll be the most exciting thing for us to see as coaches. Just to know we are a better version of ourselves than we were heading into this point last year. I think our leadership is better. This senior class is going to be the first class that has played four years of Division 1 football for us. We have some awesome football players, but even better people in this class and I think the leadership throughout that class has really permeated down throughout our roster. So, that’s what kind of leaves us with the most excitement going into the fall. Both our leading rushers from last year are returning. Jarel Washington is coming back to do a grad year which is great. Zavion Woodard is going to be a senior this year. So, those guys have a ton of experience, have played a ton of snaps and had a lot of success. Obviously, we want to keep getting better there. It’s not just on them.
“The guys up front…we return almost everybody on the offensive line and I think that’s where we saw the most development in the weight room and in the spring practice season, just in terms of growth and development. Guys getting bigger, guys getting stronger. We had some young guys playing in there coupled with some guys who played a couple snaps for us in previous years. We graduated Eric Meslin who was a captain for us, but really outside of him, we bring a ton of guys back. We’re excited about some of the experience we gained from last year. It really starts up front with those guys and we know that. Josh Troiano who played the last six games of the year at center for us had an awesome spring. He did a really good job last year. Nick Tinkham has played a lot of football for us at the tackle position already. Then, we’ve got a lot of guys who have played college snaps throughout that two deep. So, it’ll be some good competition and I think we’ll have some really good depth there we haven’t had in a couple years.”
On the expectations for the defense
“They’re high. I would say…I have a lot of trouble talking about our depth at D-line without smiling. It’s probably the deepest and most talented position group on our roster or that we’ve ever had here. There’s a lot of guys that have played meaningful football for us and done it at a high level. So, we have really a two or three deep of guys that we feel really comfortable with guys playing however many snaps they need to play. It’ll be important that we try to find ways that feed into their talents, but also keeping guys fresh and keeping them healthy throughout the course of a season or a game is important because that’s a strength now. We don’t want it to not become one in game 11 or game 12, right? We had some really young guys playing some football for us at the second level. Charlie Battaglia and Caden Henritzy started a lot of the games for us as freshman. Obviously, Charlie got a lot of notoriety and well-deserved, he made a ton of plays for us. He’s continued to develop this offseason, Caden as well. We’ve got some guys in that two deep that have played some good ball for us too. So, excited there. We’ve got some more upperclassmen on the back end than we did. Mo Sede obviously had a great year last year, him returning for his senior year is huge. Jahnez Williams missed most of last season with an injury. He had been a two-year starter for us prior to last year. Having two seniors out at the corner position with some great depth behind them is going to be interesting for us. It allows us to do some different things. Then, Jordan Irvine who was a captain for us last year, senior safety returning this year is huge too. Definitely have some high expectations on defense and deservedly so. Those guys have played ball now. They know what’s expected of them and they’ve developed nicely. Now, we gotta put it on film here in the fall.”
On the schedule
“I think the things that stand out to us is…1. there’s no weeks off with this schedule. We play a really strong out-of-conference schedule this year. We play two Ivy League opponents. We host Penn and we will travel to Yale in October. We’ll play a CAA team in Maine. We’re playing a Patriot League team in Lafayette and obviously traveling down for a familiar opponent in Sacred Heart. So, then we get to league play and there’s no weekends off there. Anybody can beat anybody in this league every single weekend, The most important thing for us is getting better every week, staying healthy throughout the season. I really like the way the schedule sets up right now where we play six games, have a bye week and then play six games. That’s advantageous for us. We should be able to take advantage of that hopefully. We have a really good blend of tough out-of-conference and obviously, with our in-season schedule or in-conference schedule, there’s no easy weekends there. I think it’s good. We’ve got a couple great home games and a couple unique away games. Traveling out to Mercyhurst for the first time. Going back to Pittsburgh to play Duquesne out there. There’s definitely a really good blend with our schedule.”
On what he’s most proud of over the last 10 years
“For me, it really starts in 2009. I wasn’t an assistant here for seven years before I became the head coach. I’m actually leaning closer to two decades. But, it’s a good thing. It’s a rarity in our profession and I’m really proud of that because I’ve been able to be part of something that’s bigger than me for a really long time. I think the way that we invest in our student athletes here, the way I’ve been able to invest in being a part of one place, one community for a long period of time is a microcosm of that. I’m really excited to see the growth of where our program has come. Obviously, there’s tangible things like when you look at facilities and stuff like that. But, the cool thing in this transition to D1 has been the added energy this has brought back to our alumni base and our fans and connecting more and more with those guys who have been a part of Stonehill football when we weren’t Division 1, we were just starting out. We had a grass field and we were trying to figure out if we’re a club team or a D3 team 45 years ago. So, that’s been really cool. It’s been really humbling and I think it’s really unique to see what the future holds for us as we continue to develop our infrastructure here and continue to challenge ourselves with who we play. Hopefully, the best is still yet to come.”