Towson Travels to College Park for Week 1 Matchup with Terps.
Tiger football is back! The 2023 season is looking to be an interesting one under first year head coach Peter Shinnick. Shinnick comes to Towson from the University of Western Florida where he won a Division II National Championship in 2019. He is the son of former Baltimore Colt linebacker Don Shinnick, who was part of the 1958 NFL championship team. This full circle moment is pretty cool considering the name of the stadium is Johnny Unitas stadium.
The team is looking to be heavily lead by a lot of Seniors and Graduate transfers. Some of the returning players Jesus Gibbs, D’Ago Hunter, and Robert Javier. 3 guys who have garnered a lot of attention over the past season and will look to have an immediate impact on the season.
Offensively the Tigers could go one of 3 routs at the QB position. Gone is last years starter Tyrell Pigrome, who graduated and now will most likely be down to Nathan Kent, Sean Brown and or Zack Johnson. Kent played sparingly for the Tigers last year and Johnson and Brown transferred from Liberty and Maryland respectively. The Tigers have some experience at running back with both D’Ago Hunter and Devin Matthews returning. They also add to that experience with Tyrell Greene, who is a Baltimore native and played 2 years of college football at Fullerton College. As a sophomore he rushed for over 1200 yards and 8 touchdowns. The wide receivers have some experience and depth as well with D’Kendall James, Zay Perkins and Daniel Thompson. They feature another Baltimore native in WR Rishon Holmes. On top of that they have 3 transfers in Cee Chosen, Matthew Akuchie and Sam Reynolds. Malik Jackson returns at TE to give the Tigers a lot of experience on the offensive side of the ball
Defensively the Tigers have a decent number of guy’s returning from last year. Guys like Charles Peeples, Dorian Davis, Sean Tucker, Robert Javier and Shafeek Smith will be relied on in that secondary to make plays. The group also includes 5 college transfers who will add some more experience to that secondary. The DL is made up of a majority of transfers and does not feature many underclassmen. Jesus Gibbs is the one to watch in this group and having him back will be crucial for the Tigers.
The Tiger kick off their season opener against against a very talented University of Maryland team in College Park. The Terps are a team on the rise as Mike Locksley has taken the Terps back to relevance in the Big 10. Offensively they have a ton of weapons and experience. Tulia Tagovailoa is one of the more underrated quarterbacks in the Big 10 and owns most of the major passing records in Maryland football history. The offense has lost 2 big pieces in Rakim Jarrett and Dontay Demus Jr, both of which has a huge hand in the offense last year. Jeshaun Jones returns to give them some veteran leadership and is incredibly talented. They have brought in some transfers in Tyrese Chambers and local Montgomery County product and former WVU WR Kaden Prather. As a WVU fan I am very high on Prather and should make an immediate impact for them. Roman Hemby might just be one of the best running backs in college football and he dominated as a Freshman. They return Antwain Littleton who is a heavier back and can do a lot of damage.
Defensively the Terps have some transfers up from on the DL Quashon Fuller and Jordan Phillips. They return a lot of their linebackers: Jaishawn Barham, Roman Hyppolite and Fa’Najae Gotay. They lost 2 of their CB’s to the draft in Deonte Banks and Jakorian Bennett. They do have Tarheeb Still back which will give the Terps plenty of defensive experience come this season.
The Tigers will need to bring their A-game and look to cash in on every opportunity they can. They will also need up to make sure they can steal a few possessions from the Terps to keep up pace. Looking forward to a new season and GO TIGERS!
