Washington, D.C. ─ The Georgetown University football team held its final practice of the week at home before the 2007 season opens on Saturday, September 1 with a non-league game against Stony Brook University. The Hoyas and Seawolves will kick off the 2007 season on Saturday night at 6 p.m. at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium on Long Island.
The Hoyas practiced for two hours on Thursday morning and will depart for the game against Stony Brook on Friday morning. Live game action can be heard through the Georgetown Athletics website – www.guhoyas.com – with Chuck Timanus calling all of the action.
Georgetown starts its second year under the direction of Head Coach Kevin Kelly, who guided the team to a 2-9 overall record last season. The Hoyas, who were picked to finish seventh in the Patriot League this year, return 14 starters from last year’s team, including several key players on both sides of the ball.
“I think we’re more of a football team than we were at this point (last year),” Kelly said. “I think the kids know the expectations of everything we do now, and the bar has risen as far as how we practice, the tempo in practice what we do in the weight room, what we do in the meetings room, across campus…all those things affect the football team. I think that’s all starting to sink in and we’re all very excited about playing. We’ve had a really good camp and they worked extremely hard. The exciting thing about college football is that every year, every team is different and there is a different chemistry. This one has a much different chemistry than we did last year.”
Leading the way on the offensive side will be senior quarterback Matt Bassuener and fullback Kyle Van Fleet, the team’s offensive co-captains. Bassuener, who started the final seven games of the 2006 season, completed 68.9 percent of his passes last season for 1,359 yards and 15 touchdowns, while Van Fleet had 26 catches for 258 yards and two touchdowns.
They will be joined on the offensive side by the reigning Patriot League Rookie of the Year, sophomore slot Charlie Houghton. In winning last year’s Rookie of the Year award, Houghton became the first Georgetown player to win a major conference award since the Blue and Gray joined the Patriot League in 2001. He appeared in every game last season, but emerged as a major threat in the last four games of the year, when he carried the ball 67 times for 329 yards, an 82.3 per game average.š Houghton, who was named the league’s Rookie of the Week three times in the last four weeks of the season, finished the season with 81 carries for 415 yards, while catching 19 passes for 225 yards. One of Bassuener’s favorite targets last season, senior Brent Craft, will start at one wide receiver spot. Craft led the team with 48 catches for 447 yards, ranking second in the Patriot League with 4.36 receptions per game.
On the defensive side, the Hoyas return seven starters, led by defensive co-captains Nnamdi Obiako, who finished ninth on the team in tackles with 44 last season, and Stephen Smith, who will wear the prestigious No. 35 jersey this season. Also back on the defensive line are juniors Anthony DiTommaso and Ataefiok Etukeren. DiTommaso was 10th on the team with 29 tackles and was named the team’s Most Improved during the spring, while Etukeren finished seventh on the team in tackles (52), third in tackles-for-loss (6) and second in sacks (4). The defensive backfield will be led by senior Kevin Cherepski, the team’s top returning tackler with 61 stops.
This will be the fourth meeting between Georgetown and Stony Brook. The Hoyas lead the head-to-head series, 3-0, including a 7-0 win over the Seawolves last year at the Multi-Sport Field, giving Kelly his first win on the Hilltop.
“It’s ancient history,” Kelly said of last year’s game. “It gives the kids some confidence, having played them, but the only word of caution is that they are going to be a lot better. They’ve changed their philosophy and are in the process of moving to the Big South Conference. They’re going to be a lot better than they were last year and we’ve let the kids know that.”
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