2023 Outlook
The 2023 season kickoff is just around the corner and surprisingly the Hornets are still facing a lot of doubters and haters even on the heels of a BSC three peat title run. The Hornets were picked 10th in the FCS in the Stats Perform preseason poll and picked to finish 3rd in the BSC in the coaches poll and 4th in the media poll. Our undefeated regular season and a playoff win apparently don’t mean much to the FCS world…which is fine by me as it has worked out well for the Hornets these past four years.
Following the departure of Head Coach Troy Taylor and subsequent promotion of Andy Thompson into the vacant role, the majority of the coaching staff was retained and the coaching staff was able to stave off a mass exodus of talent to the portal during the upheaval.
Offensively the Hornets return a lot of key components from the prolific offense of a season ago, but have some critical departures to backfill as well. All eyes will be on the QB battle between incoming transfer Carson Camp and Kaiden Bennett and the approach of Associate Head Coach Bobby Fresquez with personnel and play calling now that he holds the keys to the offense. The QBs will have a plethora of weapons to go to as TE Marshel Martin (FCS All- American, BSC 1st Team) returns along with WRs Jared Gipson, Parker Clayton, Devin Gandy, and Chris Miller who all got starts and significant playing time last season.
Up front, the anchor of the Hornet offense will be an OL that returns 4 starters from a season ago. The OL is led by Jackson Slater (FCS All-American, BSC 1st Team) and also returns Troy Stiefel, Nathan Mejia, and Ivan Garza. OL Kaden Richardson or Kenndel Riley will likely round out the starting front. In the backfield, RB Marcus Fulcher (BSC 1st Team) will step into the primary role and have a chance to showcase his playmaking abilities.
I’ve voiced my opinions on the Hornet offense in other threads, and upon further review there is no reason to change that opinion. Sound QB play that takes care of the ball and gets the ball into the hands of the playmakers on the roster should be more than enough to keep this offense performing at a high level.
The Hornet defense has plenty of room to improve from a season ago. While the Hornets did well in keeping points off the board, opposing offenses were able to move the ball well. LB Armon Bailey (FCS All-American, BSC 1st Team) will lead the Hornet defense with Brock Mather beside him. The secondary is led by returning starter CB Caleb Nelson (BSC 1st Team) with incoming transfer Jason Oliver vying for the CB spot on the other side. FS/SS’s Cameron Broussard, Eian Moore, and Gavin Davis-Smith all saw starting action last season. At NB, Jace O’Hara, Darien Pollard will be battling for the starting role. O’Hara has the most experience of the group.
On the DL, the Hornets return size and depth on the interior. At DT starters Jett Stanley and Tyler Hardeman return with plenty of depth behind them. At DE, both starter spots are open for grabs as Leke Fashola is the returner from last year's depth chart while DeShawn Lynch saw a lot of action as well.
Special teams returns P Cal McGough and LS AJ Campos and landed a highly touted recruit in K Nick Clegg. There are big shoes to fill at place kicker but bringing in the top kicking recruit from Arizona should quell concerns in the kicking game.
The 2023 Schedule is a soft one compared to recent years. The Hornets have favorable non-conference opponents that are D1 counters and a well placed week 6 bye. The roughest stretch is back to back road games at a rebuilding Stanford and a super hyped Idaho in weeks 3 and 4. We’ll know if there are any kinks in the armor early in the season.
Every game on the schedule is winnable and anything less than 8 wins and a playoff appearance is failure. There are only a few FCS games in which I wavered on picking a Hornet win (MSU & Montucky). But the fact of the matter is our 24-1 record against BSC opponents since ‘19 means that the BSC is ours until proven otherwise.
My prediction is 10-1 (8-0 BSC) en route to our 4th straight BSC title.
Week by week breakdown will be posted sometime before the first game.
Stingers Up!
The 2023 season kickoff is just around the corner and surprisingly the Hornets are still facing a lot of doubters and haters even on the heels of a BSC three peat title run. The Hornets were picked 10th in the FCS in the Stats Perform preseason poll and picked to finish 3rd in the BSC in the coaches poll and 4th in the media poll. Our undefeated regular season and a playoff win apparently don’t mean much to the FCS world…which is fine by me as it has worked out well for the Hornets these past four years.
Following the departure of Head Coach Troy Taylor and subsequent promotion of Andy Thompson into the vacant role, the majority of the coaching staff was retained and the coaching staff was able to stave off a mass exodus of talent to the portal during the upheaval.
Offensively the Hornets return a lot of key components from the prolific offense of a season ago, but have some critical departures to backfill as well. All eyes will be on the QB battle between incoming transfer Carson Camp and Kaiden Bennett and the approach of Associate Head Coach Bobby Fresquez with personnel and play calling now that he holds the keys to the offense. The QBs will have a plethora of weapons to go to as TE Marshel Martin (FCS All- American, BSC 1st Team) returns along with WRs Jared Gipson, Parker Clayton, Devin Gandy, and Chris Miller who all got starts and significant playing time last season.
Up front, the anchor of the Hornet offense will be an OL that returns 4 starters from a season ago. The OL is led by Jackson Slater (FCS All-American, BSC 1st Team) and also returns Troy Stiefel, Nathan Mejia, and Ivan Garza. OL Kaden Richardson or Kenndel Riley will likely round out the starting front. In the backfield, RB Marcus Fulcher (BSC 1st Team) will step into the primary role and have a chance to showcase his playmaking abilities.
I’ve voiced my opinions on the Hornet offense in other threads, and upon further review there is no reason to change that opinion. Sound QB play that takes care of the ball and gets the ball into the hands of the playmakers on the roster should be more than enough to keep this offense performing at a high level.
The Hornet defense has plenty of room to improve from a season ago. While the Hornets did well in keeping points off the board, opposing offenses were able to move the ball well. LB Armon Bailey (FCS All-American, BSC 1st Team) will lead the Hornet defense with Brock Mather beside him. The secondary is led by returning starter CB Caleb Nelson (BSC 1st Team) with incoming transfer Jason Oliver vying for the CB spot on the other side. FS/SS’s Cameron Broussard, Eian Moore, and Gavin Davis-Smith all saw starting action last season. At NB, Jace O’Hara, Darien Pollard will be battling for the starting role. O’Hara has the most experience of the group.
On the DL, the Hornets return size and depth on the interior. At DT starters Jett Stanley and Tyler Hardeman return with plenty of depth behind them. At DE, both starter spots are open for grabs as Leke Fashola is the returner from last year's depth chart while DeShawn Lynch saw a lot of action as well.
Special teams returns P Cal McGough and LS AJ Campos and landed a highly touted recruit in K Nick Clegg. There are big shoes to fill at place kicker but bringing in the top kicking recruit from Arizona should quell concerns in the kicking game.
The 2023 Schedule is a soft one compared to recent years. The Hornets have favorable non-conference opponents that are D1 counters and a well placed week 6 bye. The roughest stretch is back to back road games at a rebuilding Stanford and a super hyped Idaho in weeks 3 and 4. We’ll know if there are any kinks in the armor early in the season.
Every game on the schedule is winnable and anything less than 8 wins and a playoff appearance is failure. There are only a few FCS games in which I wavered on picking a Hornet win (MSU & Montucky). But the fact of the matter is our 24-1 record against BSC opponents since ‘19 means that the BSC is ours until proven otherwise.
My prediction is 10-1 (8-0 BSC) en route to our 4th straight BSC title.
Week by week breakdown will be posted sometime before the first game.
Stingers Up!