By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
Picked 11
th in last year's preseason poll, William & Mary surprised the Colonial Athletic Association by winning six games and finishing tied for fourth in the standings. The Tribe pulled arguably the biggest upset in conference play with a
31-18 win at No. 4 Villanova.
But word has gotten out. No one will be caught off guard this year.
Coming off its first winning season since 2015,
the Tribe was picked fifth in the CAA preseason poll by the conference's coaches and media relations directors. W&M received two first-place votes, its most since being tabbed as the Colonial favorite in 2011.
All of which means … what?
"I mean, that's great," W&M coach
Mike London said. "But it's where you end. It's not what they call you. It's what you answer to."
Villanova, last season's co-champion, was the No. 1 pick in the 13-team standings. Delaware was second, followed by Rhode Island and Richmond.
Individually, lineman
Nate Lynn was named the CAA's defensive preseason player of the year. Lynn, last season's sack leader in the CAA, is the Tribe's first preseason POY on defense since Mike Reilly in 2014.
Joining Lynn on the All-CAA team were running back
Bronson Yoder and cornerback
Ryan Poole. It was the first time W&M had three players selected since 2016.
The buzz is understandable. Offensively, the Tribe returns seven rushers who combined for 2,209 yards and 17 touchdowns last season. Combined, Yoder,
Donavyn Lester and
Malachi Imoh averaged 5.5 yards a carry. The Tribe led the CAA, and was 17
th nationally, with 205.3 rushing yards a game.
While there's no shortage of backs, the Tribe lost some experience on the offensive line.
Dan Evers,
Ryan Ripley and
Andrew Trainer started a combined 28 games last season. The most experienced linemen returning are tackle
Colby Sorsdal (33 career starts) and guard/tackle
Marcus Crowell (11).
"I'm taking more of a leadership role this year," said Sorsdal, a team captain who started as a true freshman in 2018. "I have a lot of playing experience and I hope to share that knowledge with the younger guys coming in. It's hard to do what we did last year, but that's our expectation.
"For us, anything short of the best is not OK. I'm taking a lot of younger guys under my wing, and I hope we achieve what we did last year."
Leading the offense, the Tribe returns two quarterbacks who between them have started 24 of W&M's last 26 games — junior
Hollis Mathis and sophomore
Darius Wilson. Mathis missed most of last season with an injury, and Wilson emerged as the CAA Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Defensively, the Tribe returns eight of its nine leading tacklers from last season. That includes linebacker
Trey Watkins, who was W&M's leading tackler in each of the last two full seasons. It includes Poole, who was second on the team last fall with 59 tackles and broke up 14 passes.
It includes defensive end
Carl Fowler, who has started 27 games and is the only player in program history to be a three-time captain. And it includes Lynn, who was an Associated Press and Stats Perform FCS first-team All-American last fall.
"I think the sky's the limit returning as much as experience as we are," Fowler said. "It's not just guys who have been around the program for a long time. (They've) gotten significant snaps, played full seasons and had leadership positions.
"We've got a really solid core and we've brought in some young guys who are going to help out the old fellas get by. I think as a unit, we're primed for success right now."
London is excited with this team's mix of talent and experience. And he's proud to say his players improved during the offseason.
"Almost all of our players were here during the summer, which is outstanding," he said. "We had our evaluations toward the beginning of training camp, and the evaluation was that this might be one of the fastest teams we've had.
"I think team speed overall will allow us to do some things.
Malachi Imoh,
Donavyn Lester and
Bronson Yoder, those guys can run and stretch the field. I think there's an element of our team that got better, and that's overall team speed."
In each of London's two full seasons at William & Mary, the program has taken a clear step. In 2019, the Tribe won three of its last four games — including an overtime thriller at Richmond for the Capital Cup —to finish 5-6. In '21, W&M posted its first winning season since 2015.
Can the Tribe take another this season?
"We want to win, and that's always the expectation," Sorsdal said. "Six-and-five, that's great and all, but we want to win it all. Anything short of that is not our expectation."
