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Thursday, August 8, 2024

Team News - Golden Rams Picked To Finish Fourth in 2024

The West Chester University Golden Rams were picked to finish fourth in the division by the conference coaches at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Football Virtual Media Day. Prior to last season, the Golden Rams were predicted to finish third and actually finished in fourth place behind Kutztown, East Stroudsburg and Shepherd. This is the lowest West Chester has appeared in the preseason list since 2012 when they were selected fourth behind Kutztown, Bloomsburg and LIU Post.

Predicted order with first place votes in parentheses:

Eastern Division
1. Kutztown (6)
2. Shepherd (1)
3. East Stroudsburg (1)
4. West Chester
5. Lock Haven
6. Millersville
7. Shippensburg
8. Bloomsburg


Wednesday, August 7, 2024

Player News - Seven Golden Rams Receive D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award

Seven West Chester Golden Ram players have received honors for their performance in the classroom for the 2023-24 academic year.

Recipients of the Division 2 Athletics Directors Association Academic Achievement Award are:
In order to be recognized, each player must have completed a minimum of four semesters of college work, have been an active member of an intercollegiate team during the past academic year, and have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.5.

Overall, 133 women and 43 men from West Chester University received recognition. The PSAC was the most represented conference in the country with 1,919 student-athletes honored.

National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics - 2023-24 Academic Achievement Awards

Monday, August 5, 2024

Team News - 2024 Roster Changes

With camp opening soon, it's worth taking a look at the latest changes to the roster.

Additions:

The only member of the 2024 unofficial recruiting class not to appear is Lackawanna transfer Roman Brown. Besides the recruiting class, other newcomers that appear on the roster are A.J. Sanders, Tristan Thomas, Collin Skeen and Troy Corson.

Sanders is a 6'2, 250lb defensive lineman who graduated from Cedar Cliff in 2022 and spent some time at Sussex Community College. Thomas may be familiar to Golden Ram basketball fans as the 6'9, 250lb forward from IMG Academy who played for Coach Damien Blair in the 2022-2023 season, although he was not listed on last year's roster. He is listed as a tight end for the football team.

Neither Corson, a 5'9, 175lb wide receiever from Wilson, nor Skeen, a 6'0, 195lb wide receiver who spent 2022 at Seton Hill, currently have a uniform number assigned. After his senior season in 2022, Corson was named the Defensive Back of the Year in Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 and was selected to the Pennsylvania Football Writers All-State Class 6A team on defense, and to the Class 6A PFN Coaches Select All-State Team as a receiver. Skeen was selected to the 2021 Class 4A PFN Coaches Select All-State Team as an offensive athlete.

Not currently appearing on the roster but having issued a commitment is Zaire McLaurin. In high school, the 6'1, 209lb safty was first team All-Catholic and third team All-City as a sophomore at LaSalle, then All-Public as a junior at Northeast. After his senior season in the spring of 2021, he was named Philadelphia Public League Player of the Year and committed to Central Michigan although he never signed with the Chippewas. McLaurin spent the 2021 season with Fort Scott Community College in Kansas and then appeared in ten games for the nearby Eastern University Eagles in 2023.

Departures:

The most notable departures from the roster are offensive tackle Quinton Derr and running back Trey Blair. Derr appeared in every game at WCU in 2019, 2021 and 2022 (2020 was cancelled due to COIVD) and started in 25 of those 34 games at offensive tackle. The team captain missed last season due to an injury. His #75 on the roster remains available. Although Blair spent three seasons at Temple before transferring to West Chester, 2021 was shown to be a redhsirt season with the Owls. Last year for the Purple and Gold, Blair played in just three games and had 18 carries for 158 yards and three touchdowns.

Other departures that appear to have playing eligibility left include offensive lineman Luke Stengel (31 games, two-year starter), defensive lineman Tom Burns (7 games, 11 tackles), defensive back Ben Marsico (2 games, 2 tackles), defensive back Alex Sciarrino (6 games, 1 tackle), freshman running back Grant Hoover, freshman offensive lineman Dylan Croner, freshman offensive lineman Chris Treshock, and freshman linebacker Kyle Schuman.

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Alumni News - Ayyub Dail Added to Golden Ram Coaching Staff

West Chester football is reporting that Golden Ram alumnus Ayyub Dail has been named defensive line coach. Dail spent four years at PSAC rival IUP which included 2018 when he did not play due to an injury and 2020 which was cancelled due to Covid-19. As a redshirt freshman in 2019, he registered 11 tackles in ten games and in 2021 he made nine tackles including a tackle for loss in the final game against the Golden Rams. After transferring to West Chester, he played in 22 games in his final two playing seasons, registering a total of 60 tackles including 11.5 tackles for loss. Dail earned second team All-PSAC East honors this past season.


Monday, July 15, 2024

Alumni News - James Groce Joins Monmouth Staff

Former Golden Ram defensive tackle James Groce has been named the defensive line coach for the Monmouth Hawks which is a member of the Coastal Athletic Association.

Prior to spending this past spring at Colgate, Groce spent six seasons at Marist. He started his collegiate coaching career at West Virginia State after coaching for one year at Concord High School in Wilmington, Delaware.

Groce graduated from West Chester in 2014 with a degree in kinesiology and exercise science.

Thursday, July 4, 2024

Team News - 20 Golden Rams Named PSAC Scholar-Athletes

Twenty players that were on the Golden Ram football roster last season have been named PSAC Scholar-Athletes for the 2023-2024 academic year. In order to qualify for the honor, athletes must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 or better. There were 4,037 athletes from all 18 PSAC institutions of which 266 represented West Chester University.

Representing the football team are:
* Student-athletes who were also recognized as a PSAC Scholar-Athlete for the 2022-2023 academic year.

^ Student-athletes who were also recognized as a PSAC Scholar-Athlete for the 2021-2022 academic year.


Friday, June 14, 2024

Event News - 2024 DFRC Blue-Gold All★Star Football Game

A future Golden Ram will be participating in the 68th Annual DFRC Blue-Gold All★Star Football Game to be held at 7:00 pm on June 21 at University of Delaware Stadium. Linebacker Brenn Scott of Cape Henlopen is slated to play for the Gold squad in the contest. Proceeds from the event benefit Delaware Foundation Reaching Citizens with Intellectual Disabilities.

Current Golden Rams who have participated in this contest are offensive linemen Jake Phipps and Pat Methlie.
Delaware Foundation Reaching Citizens - DFRC Blue-Gold All★Star Football Game

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Team News - 2024 WCU Football Schedule

Here are some comment's on this season's schedule:

  • In early April, Mercyhurst announced that it was transitioning to Division 1 and joining the Northeast Conference effective at the end of the 2023-2024 academic season. As a result, West Chester, which was scheduled to face the Lakers in the last week of the season, has only ten games on the schedule. More on that later.
  • With the exception of homecoming, all home home games will have a noon kickoff.
  • The Golden Rams will face two teams that qualified for the Division II playoffs last season: East Stroudsburg and PSAC champions Kutztown, which advanced to the national semi-finals. The Golden Bears appear in a couple of preseason top-ten lists.
  • The season-opening matchup against Bentley could be telling for WCU's season. West Chester has faced the Falcons in each of the past seven seasons and holds a 6-1 record during that span. The Golden Rams won handily in 2017 and 2018 and qualified for the playoffs as the fifth and third seed in the region respectively. In 2019, West Chester needed a late game miraculous comeback to take the win and managed to qualify for the postseason as the sixth seed. Since then, Bentley scored a 24-point victory in 2021 while West Chester squeezed out one-point wins in the past two seasons, and the Golden Rams finished 6-5, 7-4, and 6-5. A big win in the opener may mean playoffs, while a close win or a loss may mean a .500 season.
  • Back to the predicament of the ten-game schedule. In January, the NCAA approved a proposal to allow for a "week 0" to be played in Division II football, although teams are still only permitted to play a maximum of 11 games during the regular season. This provides schools some flexibility in their non-conference scheduling. For example, East Stroudsburg and Edinboro took their game originally scheduled for September 21 and moved it to August 29. As a result, East Stroudsburg is taking a bye on September 21, while Edinboro did some additional shuffling with Bloomsburg (both teams were scheduled to play Mercyhurst this season) and now has a bye on October 15.
  • So why doesn't West Chester just find an opponent for week 0 then? Well the PSAC schedule for the final week of the regular season, which is when the Golden Rams were set to face Mercyhurst, has a minor quirk to it. On the final week of the PSAC regular season, the top team in each division play each other for the PSAC championship. If West Chester were to play a game in week 0 and go on to win the PSAC East, they would have 12 games which eclipses the Division II maximum. So a week 0 game is not a viable option.
  • Since any game in the final week of the regular season i.e. November 16, needs to be provisional, the risk of potentially not playing that game could be shared with another school that may also only be available provisionally as well. The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association has a similar championship format to that of the PSAC - the division winners play each other for the conference championship - however, unlike the PSAC, the other CIAA teams in the conference do not play that week. West Chester should contact Bowie State and schedule a game on the final week of the regular season as long as neither team qualifies for their respective conference championship game. Besides being a fresh face, the Bulldogs are a quality opponent which qualified for the playoffs in five of the past eight seasons. And they are close enough to make same-day travel reasonable which is easier on the budget than a trip to Erie.

    Day
    Date
    Opponent
    Time
    Notes
    Saturday
    September 7
    12:00 pm
    Saturday
    September 14
    12:00 pm
    Saturday
    September 21
    12:00 pm
    Saturday
    September 28
    2:00 pm
    Saturday
    October 5
    12:00 pm
    Saturday
    October 12
    12:00 pm
    Saturday
    October 19
    6:05 pm
    East Stroudsburg's Homecoming
    Saturday
    October 26
    2:00 pm
    Homecoming/Family Weekend
    Saturday
    November 2
    12:00 pm
    Senior Day
    Saturday
    November 9
    12:00 pm
    Kutztown Senior Day

  • Sunday, June 9, 2024

    Event News - 2024 McDonald's Lehigh Valley All-Star Football Classic

    A future Golden Ram will be participating in the 2024 McDonald's Lehigh Valley All-Star Football Classic to be held at 7:30 pm on June 13 in Nazareth's Andrew Leh Stadium. Selected to play for the Red squad, which will be coached by Blaec Saeger of Pleasant Valley, will be defensive back Jelonie Rieara of Stroudsburg High School.

    Several former Golden Rams have particiapted in this contest including defensive end Zach Liggitt, offensive lineman Pat Ferry, and running back Eddie Elliott.

    Monday, June 3, 2024

    Event News - 2024 Phil Simms NJ All-Star Football Classic

    A pair of future Golden Rams will be participating in the Phil Simms New Jersey North/South All-Star Football Classic to be held at 5:00pm on Sunday June 9 in Alumni Stadium at Kean University.

    Linebacker Jayden Trace of Haddon Heights and offensive lineman Ryan Buchanan of Saint John Vianney will suit up for the South squad which will be coached by Steve Everette of Burlington Township. Also coaching for the South team is former Golden Ram All-American offensive lineman and current Cherry Hill East head coach Tyler Drob.

    Current Golden Ram wide receiver Darrell Brown participated in the contest last year.