2024 Mount Union Football Preview

9/5/2024 10:41:00 AM | By: Written by Tim Rogers, Special to Mount Union Athletics

Depth and opportunity.

Depth is a beautiful thing if you are a football coach.

Opportunity is all you can ask for if you are a player.

Within the football program at the University of Mount Union, depth and opportunity loom.

It is a simple, but effective, mathematical equation when constructing a roster: Plenty of experience but just as much opportunity to become experienced.

Proof that it works: 34 Ohio Athletic Conference championships and 13 NCAA Division III National Championships.

You might say it is the State of the Union, or more precisely, the State of Mount Union under fifth-year head coach Geoff Dartt and his staff.

You want depth? The roster posted by the university lists 238 players with 35 seniors, 26 juniors, 35 sophomores, two graduate students and a whopping 140 freshman.

There are 63 players on the roster that played in at least six games last year when the Raiders went 11-1 but uncharacteristically lost in the second round of the NCAA playoffs. Nearly 30 players return from the two-deep chart of players who played in the final game.

You want opportunity? There are 20 new names of players who were not on the 2023 two-deep chart, indicating there are jobs to be won.

As usual, the 2024 Purple Raiders enter the season regarded as one of the best Division III teams in the country heading into Saturday's opener against Ferrum College in Ferrum, Va. They ae ranked second by Lindy's Sports Magazine, which has been around longer than artificial turf. They are ranked fifth by D3football.com, which is probably more accurate since it is solely devoted to Division III football with weekly national rankings.

As usual, rankings mean squat in Alliance.

There is no denying that Mount Union lost a significant number of skilled players to graduation and other endeavors.

Gone are such offensive talents as wide receivers, record-setting Wayne Ruby and Rayshaun Williams, record-setting quarterback Braxton Plunk, running back DeAndre Parker, tight end Chase Lawson and place-kicker/leading scorer Deaglan Camron.

On the other side of the ball, linebacker and leading tackler Mason McMillen, tackle and inspirational leader Duke Hill, cornerback Josh Jones and spur Ian Sexton are now alumni.

A great example of the Raiders' depth can be found along the offensive line. The entire starting offensive unit – All-American right tackle Ben Lilly, senior right guard Jarrett Burris, center Mason Fortner, junior left guard Kennedy Giovanni and senior left tackle Aiden Cange – returns. They average 6-2, 280 pounds. Lilly and Fortner are grad students. They played a combined 54 games in 2023.

As a former all-conference offensive lineman, Dartt appreciates their presence.

"Having all five back is a bonus and all five have developed into solid players," Dartt said. "The O-line might be one of the deepest groups we have on offense. We have about nine guys who can go in and perform. It's a good situation to have . . . good experience returning but guys who are coming on."

The most intriguing returnee is at quarterback where junior Noah Beaudrie is back after not playing football last year and projected to start Week 1 according to the two-deep. Beaudrie, 6-0, 190 pounds, was the backup to Plunk in 2022 and performed well. In 14 games the Michigan native, a dual threat, completed 21 of 29 passes for 242 yards and one touchdown against one interception. But his key statistic is that he was the team's third-leading rusher with 314 yards on 37 attempts, an average of 8.5 yards per carry.

Beaudrie's presence gives Mount an added option and that he will have the opportunity to carry the ball.

"We don't want to make wholesale changes of what we do on offense," Dartt said. "It's still 'Players, Formation, Plays.' But adding the element of the quarterback run can conflict some defenses. We want to have something in place where we can create more explosive plays when throwing the football down the field and create explosive plays running the ball as well."

Additionally, graduate quarterback TJ Deshields is an experienced signal caller.

Senior Tyler Echeverry has moved into the starting role at running back after rushing for 602 yards and 11 touchdowns and catching 20 passes for an additional 156 yards as the backup to DeAndre Parker.

Senior Darnell Williams, from Cleveland, is expected to see plenty of playing time and rightfully so.

"Darnell is probably our most explosive player and we'll have to get creative in getting him the ball," said Dartt.

Tyrell Sanders is the lone true returning starter wide out. He was the second option behind All-American Ruby and the 5-10, 180-pound senior from Indianapolis was the team's second-leading receiver last year with 27 receptions for 429 yards and five TD's.

Junior Nick Turner also has earned a promotion, starting at one of the system's three wide receiver spots. Turner caught 12 passes for 193 yards and two touchdowns in 2023 as the backup to the departed Rayshaun Williams.

Sanders and Turner, from Strongsville, combined for 39 receptions for 622 yards – a 16 yards-per-catch average - and seven touchdowns.

Floridian junior Jerry Cooper will start at the third wide-out spot after limited duty in 2023 and Twinsburg senior Tre Radford is expected to see significant playing time as the backup to Sanders.

The Mount defense, which held opponents to little more than eight points a game a season ago, is just as well-stocked as the offense, if not more so, as 16 of the team top 21 leading tacklers return, led by pre-season All-American Rossy Moore.

Moore (6-2, 225) was the team's second-leading tackler from the "bandit" position last year and has emerged as one of the unit's most valuable leaders. As a combination defensive end/linebacker he was in on 73 tackles – 23 behind the line of scrimmage -- and had a team-leading 11.5 sacks.

Senior safety John Roland has played in a team-leading 37 games and earned all-conference honors in 2023 after being in on 45 tackles – third on the team -- and intercepting three passes.
Senior tackle Von Factor is right behind with 35 games played. Factor was in on 43 tackles and had 12 for lost yardage as well as 7.5 sacks.

Junior Kaleb Brown returns at defensive end. His nine sacks and 13.5 tackles behind the line were second on the team behind Moore in both categories.

Junior Brandon Yanssens joins Roland at the safety spot and brings 27 games of experience to the secondary. Senior Johnny Papesh, from Aurora, has played in 30 career games.

Players such as senior linebacker Marcus Jackson, junior spur Weston Arthur, senior corner Tony Cook, junior tackle Brandon Bowden, senior nose tackle Garet Cramer, senior spur Ryan Poundstone, senior linebacker Caleb Rinard, and senior cornerback Ricky Buggs are valuable players and will make significant contributions.

Sophomore Ivan Maric, a transfer from Eastern Michigan and the abolished program at Notre Dame College, will handle the place-kicking duties and junior Mike Franklin, who averaged 36.9 yards, returns as the punter.

Turner and Tyler May will return punts while Darnell Williams and Echeverry will return kickoffs.

As is custom, the Raiders will have a bye-week following the Ferrum game and then things get serious as rival and second-ranked John Carroll makes its final OAC appearance at Kehres Stadium in Week 3.

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