LANCASTER, Pa. – The Ursinus College football team was picked fourth in the Centennial Conference preseason poll, announced Monday afternoon by the league office.
The Bears earned 58 points in the survey of coaches, leaving them just outside the top half of the projected standings.
Defending co-champion Johns Hopkins topped the poll with 79 points and seven first-place votes, while fellow co-champion Muhlenberg followed in second with 73 points and the final 3 first-place votes. Susquehanna was picked third with 66 points, followed by the Bears in fourth, and Franklin & Marshall plus Dickinson tied in fifth with 45 points apiece. Moravian was slotted in seventh with 29 points, McDaniel came in eighth with 25 points, while Gettysburg (21) and Juniata (9) rounded out the poll in ninth and 10th, respectively. This will be the final season for Susquehanna, Moravian, and Juniata before they depart the Centennial for the newly formed Landmark football conference in 2023.
Leading the way for head coach Pete Gallagher, in now his 21st season at the helm, are eight returners that were named to the All-Centennial team in 2021. Matthew Bevan (first team selection), Brandon Derby (honorable mention selection) return for fifth-year senior seasons and will look to continue to anchor the Bears offensive line. Octavious Carter also returns for a fifth season after earning a honorable mention selection in 2021 following setting career-highs in receiving yards, receptions, and touchdowns.
The Bears will showcase an experienced defense coming into the 2022 season as they return eight starters from last year. Junior Ryan Bodolus will seek to build off a dominant finish to his 2021 season that saw him rack up 10 sacks in the final five contests to earn All-Centennial second team honors. Senior Ethan Belville also earned a spot on the All-Centennial second team after ranking second on the team with five sacks and registered 41 total tackles (23 solo) and ranked fifth in the Centennial with 14 tackles for loss. Senior linebacker Brett Gross joined the duo on the All-Centennial second team and led the Bears while tying for fourth in the Centennial with 75 total tackles (33 solo). He recorded 3.5 tackles for loss and two interceptions as well for Ursinus.
Senior quarterback Jack Psenicska will take the reins of the Bears offense once again following a 2021 campaign that saw him rank third in the Centennial with 2,853 yards, third in yards per game with 259.4, third with a 58.6 completion percentage, and fourth with 24 touchdown passes. In addition to Carter, Psenicska will have some familiar targets to throw the ball to in All-Centennial selection tight end Billy Cook, fifth-year senior Zachary Throne, and seniors Kevin DePrince along with Nick Schnaars.
Senior kicker Dakota Wherrity will take aim at a few Bears kicking career records in 2022 after going 6-of-8 (75%) in field goal attempts with a long of 40 yards and 39-of-43 (91%) in extra points. Wherrity tied for the Centennial lead in field goal percentage and ranked third with 57 points.
The Bears will open their season on Friday, September 2nd against Alvernia at 7 p.m. It will be the second-straight year the two teams will clash to open their respective seasons as the Bears came out on top 42-6 at Patterson Field in 2021.