CASTLETON, Vt. — The Vermont State University Castleton (VTSU Castleton) football program is looking to go out with a bang in its final season in the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) as the Spartans continue to chase after the team's first league title.
The Spartans are equipped to get the task done when all units click in unison, with All-ECFC players returning in all three facets of the game. First Team defensive players Jordan Wright and Kevin McDonough return for the 2023 campaign, while First Team return specialist and 2022 All-American Caezar Williams will be back deep for the Spartans this season. Noah Crossman will handle all kicking duties once more after locking up First Team punter and Second Team kicker honors a season ago. All-ECFC Honorable Mentions Evan Smith and Mitchell Gunther highlight a pair of offensive returners.
Wright and McDonough were integral pieces of the front-seven last season, with McDonough leading the team with 88 tackles and Wright pacing the squad with six sacks. McDonough's tackle total also included 45 solo stops and 6.5 tackles for a loss, and he tied for the team lead with two interceptions. Wright finished with 50 total tackles with nearly 20% of those tackles resulting in negative yardage.
Other key defensive returners include Dawson Pierson, who had 26 tackles and an interception from the safety position, and a pair of interior linemen: Robert Guerin and Jacob Gonzalez. The two were frequently the opponent's backfield in 2022, with Guerin making 6.5 tackles for a loss and Gonzalez adding five.
Smith, a third-year signal caller for the Spartans, completed passes at an ECFC-best 64.2% rate in 2022 and tossed 17 touchdowns with only four interceptions. His 1,779 passing yards ranked him No. 2 in the league. His targets this season are familiar faces as his top two pass-catchers return in Jackson Brand and Williams. Brand caught a team-best 25 passes in 2022, turning those into 356 yards and five scores. He also had three rushing touchdowns. Williams—an electric return man—is also a weapon on the edge with 21 catches for 277 yards and two touchdowns to his name a season ago.
The rushing game will look different this season with new faces blocking on the offensive line, but a trio of backs return for Castleton after seeing carries last season. Devin Wollner, Josh Colegrove and Joel Davidson are the returning backs, with Wollner the most experienced of the group. The tough-to-tackle back had 75 carries for 377 yards last year and is averaging 5.0 yards per carry over his three-year career.
Crossman is one of the top kickers and punters in program history and has a chance to build on his legacy in 2023. He ranks second in field goals made and second in average yards per punt over his three-year career. He was the second-highest scoring kicker in the league in 2022 with 46 points on five field goals and 31 extra points. He had the longest average punt among each team's primary punter last season at 38 yards per attempt and landed 10 punts inside the 20-yard line with 12 punts resulting in a fair catch.
VTSU Castleton has bolstered its roster with more than 40 freshmen and a half-dozen transfers, helping fill slots left open from the 2022 graduates. The season begins on September 2 at Dave Wolk Stadium when the Spartans take to the freshly-laid turf of Dave Wolk Stadium at 1 p.m. against Plymouth State.
