12 TEAMS - 12 DAYS: HOFSTRA PRIDE
12 TEAMS | 12 DAYS: HOFSTRA PRIDE
2009 CAA Football Media Guide: Hofstra Pride
Entering the 2008 season Hofstra Head Football Coach Dave Cohen was cautiously optimistic about his team’s outlook. Despite losing 24 players, including 14 starters, to graduation and having a relatively young, inexperienced team, the Pride mentor felt he had a talented mix of players on his squad to get through, arguably, the toughest schedule in school history.
While injuries are a part of the game of football, what Cohen and company went through in 2008, in regards to injuries, bordered on the unbelievable. Key injuries seemed to incapacitate starters all year long. Nowhere was that more evident than at quarterback where the Pride lost their starter Bryan Savage just prior to the start of the first game and later lost his replacement (Cory Christopher) near midseason.
Despite not practicing as he continued rehabilitation during spring drills, Christopher, who started seven games before going down, is listed as the front-runner for the starting job heading into the preseason. But Steve Probst, who played in six games and started five in 2008, was one who benefitted from being thrown into the lion’s den last year. Look for both to push for the starting job in 2009.
The Hofstra defense will return 26 players, including 18 lettermen and nine starters. But even with many starters returning, Cohen is anticipating key starting battles on defense during preseason camp.
The leadership of Hofstra’s defense lies in its linebackig unit led by senior All-America candidate Luke Bonus. The three-year starter earned All-CAA honors for the second time in his career last season but made his debut as a first team selection after leading the team with 96 tackles, 6.5 tackles for losses, 2.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. He ranked eighth in the CAA in tackles. While Bonus will man the middle for the Pride defense, he will have some experience around and behind him. Junior Said Gaida, who played in all 12 games and started four at one of the outside spots last year, was sixth in tackles with 50 stops and tallied 3.5 tackles for losses and 1.5 sacks and will back-up Bonus while bucking for a spot on the outside.