During the first five games of the season, the Red Foxes have shown that this team is very different from the one we saw last year under head coach Mike Willis. Strong performance after strong performance made even Marist’s losses statements as to the strength of this team.
The last non-conference matchup on their schedule, against the University of Pennsylvania, was supposed to further prove that this Marist team can challenge anybody.
The result? The worst performance that we’ve seen from the Red Foxes all year. While the team played without some of their stars, like redshirt junior quarterback Sonny Mannino, there is no refuting that the Red Foxes got simply outmatched by Penn. With that said, there are some positive takeaways in this road matchup against this strong Ivy League opponent.
Despite the end result being a loss, TJ Weyl’s offense got on the board first, catalyzed by a huge completion from freshman quarterback Will O’Dell (No. 18). On third-and-3, the Quakers lined up in a one-high defense.
One high looks are nice because they allow defenses to stack the box, but it often leaves defenses susceptible to the deep shot. O’Dell knows this, and instead of aiming to just move the chains, he floats the ball to the perfect spot down the sideline to redshirt senior Reed Shumpert (No. 15). The ball is placed in the perfect spot where Shumpert could catch it, but junior two-way defensive back and receiver Jayden Drayton (No. 12) couldn’t make a play on it.
O’Dell made the right read, with the one high safety not being able to play a ball on the sideline, and he followed it up with a perfect touch pass, which Shumpert caught.
After the defense forced a turnover on downs on the Quakers’ last drive, their defense really struggled to stop the Ivy League’s leading passer, senior Liam O’Brien (No. 2), who had 335 yards on the day.
On this third-down attempt, defensive coordinator Mike Horan tries a unique approach, showing a five-man pressure pre-snap, but two men dropping back post-snap to create just a three-man rush. Doing this can make a quarterback predetermine that he has to get the ball out quickly, and one of the defenders dropping back after showing blitz can get in the way of the pass.
That isn’t what happens here, though. O’Brien quickly recognizes the sim pressure and realizes he has just three men rushing him. Because of this, he takes his time, and with the Red Foxes running zone, he just has to wait for a receiver to find open space. This is exactly what senior wide receiver Davis Ellis (No. 3) does as he turns his snag route upfield after a freshman safety Chase Hatton (No. 21) creeps upfield and leaves space behind him.
Horan’s disguised defensive front got punished brutally by O’Brien and Ellis, who gained a huge chunk of yardage on this play.
In the late third quarter, the Red Fox offense found itself behind the sticks due to an offensive pass interference call. In such a desperate time, Weyl dialed up one of his favorite passing concepts that can gain stable amounts of yardage while also having explosive play potential: mesh. Mesh is a man coverage beater in which two players from opposite sides of the field run in-breakers to create a natural pick between defenders as they run across – redshirt freshman wide receiver Lance Martinez scored a touchdown on this exact concept last week.
While most of the defense drops back far to prevent a first down, Drayton stays on Shumpert’s hip, going under the pick from graduate student Irene Ngabonziza (No. 2) and getting a hand in to prevent the catch.
If Drayton didn’t follow Shumpert and allowed him to catch O’Dell’s pass in the flat, which was open because of the rest of the Quakers’ defense dropping back to protect the sticks, Shumpert could’ve easily turned upfield and made a solid gain. Instead, Drayton quickly recognized the pass concept and made a play.
Down three possessions in the fourth quarter, on the road, without their star quarterback, it is easy for a team to give up. The Red Foxes stayed remarkably strong, and this trick play from the offense reflects the endless fight that Weyl and the offense put up.
On this play, Weyl sent redshirt Freshman Jeremy Decaro (No. 26) in motion behind the quarterback for a swing pass as the running back, graduate student Tristan Shannon (No. 22), blocked for him. Protecting Decaro is important to prevent him from getting it, as he, yes, the freshman receiver, threw the ball.
On first and down, the defense is expecting this to just be an attempt for Decaro, an explosive player in space, to gain some yardage in space and set them up for second and medium. Instead, Decaro stays put and throws it downfield to a wide-open man, redshirt junior wide receiver Santino Correa (No. 0).
Correa is left wide open because freshmen defensive backs Ezra Fearon (No. 39) and Brock Cornell (No. 22) got caught with their eyes in the backfield and started heading downfield to rally and tackle Decaro. By the time they realized he was throwing, it was too late. Correa was open enough for Decaro to sail it 25 yards over to him.
The Red Foxes lost this game, and after the first quarter, it was never really a contest. There was a lot of bad, but the fight they showed offensively on the road, despite Mannino being out, is a valid reason for optimism.
Being a non-conference game, this loss frankly doesn’t mean an overwhelming amount; it was simply a chance to show what they have against a higher-profile, Ivy League team. As they head into their Week 8 matchup against PFL rival Morehead State, it is crucial that this team builds off the beatdown they took against the Quakers.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo
Photos via Michael Lacroix-Fralish
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