Cohen Contemplates His First Season Coaching the Pride
By: Leonard Skoros ...continued
What are your thoughts on the 2006 season?
D.C.: We are excited about the season. Of course, seven away games and four home games will be difficult. More difficult will be replacing some of the great players that have just graduated. Marques Colston, Willie Colon, Devale Ellis, Stephen Bowen, Tom McHugh, Dan Garay, Cole Haley, Ed Greene and Brandon Sebald - five of those guys were in NFL mini-camps or on NFL rosters right now. So it will be a young team and we will try to bring them along and get them going in the right direction. We do have some proven standouts returning that I am excited about. On the offensive line captain Jed Prisby and Chris Durkin are guys we can build around. Anton Clarkson is a proven talent at quarterback, while we have two quality running backs in Terry Crenshaw and Kareem Huggins. On the defensive line Shemiah LeGrande is a seasoned tackle. Gian Villante and Chris Sebald are veterans that have played a lot for us at linebacker. David Darby is one of our captains and a fine player at safety. Rob Zarrilli is a standout at place kicker and Chris Hanley returns to handle kickoff and punting duties.
I am also interested to see the development of our young players at the start of preseason camp.
Two games that standout on the schedule are against I-A Marshall and your old team Delaware. What are your thoughts on those games?
D.C.: We were looking for an 11h game when I first got hired and Marshall had an opening. This is a great opportunity to get exposure and a measuring stick for our program. It will be a great environment for the kids to play in with 50,000 people there and a great college football atmosphere.
Playing Delaware will be another game with great atmosphere and a big crowd. I believe it is their homecoming but other than the fact that I coached there, it is just another game. I am more concerned about Hofstra then I am about the opponent we play. But it will still be a great environment and a great day of college football.
Anything else that you would like to say to the Hofstra alumni and the fans of Pride football?
D.C.: One of my biggest goals is unifying Hofstra Football past and present. I know there have been different eras and different coaches, but one of the things we are trying to do is just bring everyone together and have a product that everyone is proud of. We are hoping that between homecoming and different alumni functions we can be one unified group.
The team will be an exciting product to watch with the enthusiasm, hustle and resiliency the players will show and that will be something that all Hofstra alumni can be proud of.
The other thing I'd like to express is that this past semester we had 28 student-athletes earn a 3.0 or better grade point average and, as a staff, we are going to do a good job of graduating the players and making sure they go to class and perform as well in the classroom as they do on the field.