PROJECTED RETURNING STARTERS: 8 (5 offense/3 defense)
OFFSEASON PRIORITIES: Experienced players are returning with the likes of quarterback Grant Breneman and defensive end Nick Wheeler, but the defending champ has to replace a lot of standouts across the lineup. Linebacker T.J. Holl, the Patriot League defensive player of the year, is departing as a graduate transfer to Louisville. Wide receiver is a position of need.
NOTABLE: Veterans on an offensive line are usually vital, and it's a position of strength with the Raiders, including the return of Jovaun Woolford, a 2017 all-league first-teamer who was lost to a knee injury in the first game last season. The Raiders are the only Patriot team to finish with a winning record in either of the last two seasons.BGA Daily had a look at what STATS had to say about Jacksonville and Marist, Dartmouth's other two nonconference opponents, HERE.
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Speaking of Jacksonville, the Dolphins have announced their 2019 schedule. (LINK) I'll tell you the nicknames of the opponents they are playing before and after Dartmouth and you tell me who they are:One game before Dartmouth Jacksonville is playing the Blue Hose.
One game after Dartmouth Jacksonville is playing the Gyrenes.
Give up?
The Blue Hose represent Presbyterian, which joined the FCS level in 2011. Maybe you got that one.
The Gyrenes represent Ave Maria, an NAIA school in Ave Maria, Florida and I'm guessing that one might have had you baffled unless you come from Florida.
Green Alert Take: Yup, Dartmouth has two degrees of separation from the Gyrenes and Blue Hose. Then again, it has two degrees of separation from the Falcons of Air Force, who will play host to Colgate on Aug. 31.
Green Alert Take II: The last time Jacksonville played an Ivy League team it defeated Penn, 34-31, in 2014. Of course, that wasn't exactly a powerhouse Penn team. The Quakers were 2-8 that fall with the onl wins over Columbia and Cornell.
