The major summertime question about the Georgetown football team’s upcoming season has been this: Who will be the starting quarterback?
After a period of preseason uncertainty, Head Coach Bob Benson has selected junior Andrew Crawford to start in the position. “Andrew has been looking very good,” said Benson.
Last year, Crawford was selected to replace struggling quarterback Morgan Booth midseason and ran the Hoyas offense until suffering a season-ending broken clavicle against Fordham. He was replaced by 2003 graduate David Paulus.
In the four games he started, Crawford completed 21 of 45 passes and led the Hoyas to their first win of the season, over Fairfield.
“He has picked up his game a lot,” said senior wide receiver Luke McArdle.
Sophomore Keith Schroeder, considered the other top contender for the starting quarterback slot, will not rejoin the team this season. Crawford will receive backup from several first-years, including Alondzo Turner, a recruit out of Bladensburg High School in Capitol Heights, Md.
The team is captained by McArdle, inside linebacker Andrew Clarke, defensive back Matt Fronczke and fullback William Huisking, all seniors. Clarke led the Patriot League in tackles last season, with 119, and tackles in a single game, with 23 against Colgate-a Georgetown record. McArdle posted team-highs in catches (47), receiving yards (803), and touchdowns (7).
In memory of former Georgetown football player Joe Eacobacci (CAS ‘96), who was killed two years ago in the World Trade Center attack, the athletic department will select a notable senior athlete each year to wear No. 35, Eacobacci’s jersey number. Two-time team captain Fronczke is the first player selected to wear the jersey, and has been described by the Georgetown Athletic Department as “one of the top athletes in the history of the program.”
Other returning standouts include junior tailback John Sims, who was the team’s leading rusher last season with 369 yards on 121 carries.
Though the Patriot League’s preseason poll picked Georgetown to finish seventh of the conference’s eight teams, Benson is optimistic about the Hoyas’ chances in the fall.
“[We have] the mentality that we can beat everybody,” he said. He also noted that the Hoyas’ roster will include “by far the best offensive line we have ever had here.”
The Hoyas will have to be prepared for tough competition as they enter their third season in the Patriot League, one of the top Division I-AA conferences in the country. Last year’s Patriot League co-champions, Fordham and Colgate, are ranked first and second respectively in the I-AA preseason poll. Fordham lost in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championships last season, defeating No. 4 seed Northeastern in the first round.
Georgetown was 2-5 in the Patriot League last year, improving on a 0-6 showing in 2001, their first season in the conference. The Hoyas will hope to build on last year’s late-season success-the team won four of its last six games to finish 5-6 overall. Among those victories were Georgetown’s two conference wins, against Bucknell and Towson.
As part of their rigorous off-season training, members of the team had frequent scrimmages against D.C. neighbor Howard University, squaring off as often as once a week this summer despite the small number of Hoya players in the area.
“They would come out 50 strong, we were out there 15 strong,” said Fronczke.
Added McArdle, “we pretty much only lost one time.”
The Hoyas will open their season at home on Sept. 6 against Colgate at 1 p.m. on Harbin Field.
