CALIFORNIA DREAMING: Princeton University quarterback Blake Stenstrom fires a pass in action last fall. Senior star Stenstrom, a second-team All-Ivy League selection in 2022 after passing for 2,742 yards and 16 touchdowns, will be looking to get his final campaign off to a good start when Princeton plays at the University of San Diego on September 16 in its season opener. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

After roaring out to an 8-0 start last fall, the Princeton University football team faltered down the stretch, losing nail biters to Yale and Penn in its final two games to see its Ivy League title hopes dashed.

Looking ahead to the 2023 campaign which starts when the Tigers play at the University of San Diego on September 16, Princeton head coach Bob Surace doesn’t see any hangover from that staggering finish.

“You want to respect and learn and grow from those things but we are not carrying anything over,” said Surace, who has guided Princeton to a 35-5 mark and two Ivy crowns over the last four seasons. “We are not carrying the first eight games or the last two, what we do today is so important.”

Senior quarterback Blake Stenstrom acknowledges that the sour taste left from the 24-20 loss at Yale and the 20-19 setback to Penn in the season finale helped motivate the Tigers as they prepared for the upcoming season.

“That was definitely a tough finish, guys came into the off-season ready to attack it,” said Stenstrom, who is one of the team’s four captains along with Liam Johnson, Ozzie Nicholas, and Jalen Travis. “There was definitely an edge about our spring ball and winter training. It is something that motivates us to come back. We definitely focus on the new year, but there is some unfinished business and we want to go take care of that this year. That is our goal.”

Noting that a roster swelled with seniors over the last two years due to players taking time away from school as they worked around COVID cancellations, this year’s squad is much younger.

“This is a new team and the focus is how are we going to be and how are we going to approach lifts and meetings and now practices,” said Surace. “I think we had 84 seniors combined the last two years which made for great development for the young guys but it makes for a little more inexperience. As coaches, it is a really an enjoyable piece to see where we can get them to everyday. They are seeing something new and making changes.”

Surace has enjoyed seeing Stenstrom loosening up in his second year as a starter.

“Every quarterback has different personalities. Blake is so focused, so serious, so cerebral where for a guy like [John] Lovett, everything was emotional,” said Surace of Stenstrom, who passed for 2,742 yards and 16 touchdowns last fall as he earned second-team All-Ivy honors after winning a preseason battle for the starting job. “I think when you are in that competition period, there is a stress and sometimes you try to force things to be the flash guy instead of just making the right play. Now it is making the right play all of the time. He is also having fun. He rolled out of the pocket a couple of days ago and one of the receivers scrambled up the field and got open and he throws it and he walks off like Steph Curry hitting a game winner. I am starting to see this side of him that he is enjoying himself.”

Although the Tigers are losing two of the best receivers in program history, Andrei Iosivas (66 receptions for 943 yards and 7 touchdowns in 2022) and Dylan Classi (61 receptions for 915 yards and 4 touchdowns) to graduation, Surace likes what he is seeing from such returners as junior A.J. Barber (28 receptions for 245 yards and 1 touchdown), senior Jo Jo Hawkins (19 receptions for 130 yards and 1 touchdown), junior Matthew Mahoney, junior Luke Colella, senior Anthony Bland, junior Tamatoa Falatea, and junior Jalen Geer.

“A.J. and JoJo both played last year, they were somewhat splitting time and then JoJo had an injury and A.J. kind of took that over,” said Surace.

“With the Catapult, the fitness vest that they wear, the speed is incredible with what they are doing. They are cutting down on mistakes, that is the hard part with inexperience. In high school and lower levels of football, they are not quite as challenged on their splits and the formations. It is not just beating a guy over you, there are so many subtle things they have to know. They have been awesome.”

At running back, the trio of junior Jiggie Carr (120 yards rushing for 1 touchdown), junior John Volker (96 yards rushing for 2 touchdowns), and sophomore Dareion Murphy should give the Tigers a productive rushing attack.

“They have been phenomenal, our speed at the position is great,” said Surace. “I thought we had some depth last year, but John got hurt in the opener and tried to come back and re-injured it at Harvard. Jiggie had an injury early in the year; he was healthy later and was able to get where he was productive in the role. Murphy was like most freshman, physically he had to put on strength. He put on 20 pounds of strength, he is like a new man.”

The offensive line is being led by mammoth 6’9, 315-pound senior left tackle Travis, a second-team All-Ivy selection last fall who has been named to the 2024 Senior Bowl Watchlist and the East-West Shrine Bowl 1000 list.

“In junior year he starts but he suffered an injury midway through and played through it but it caused him to miss the spring,” said Surace, whose offensive line should also include senior center Blake Feigenspan, junior gaurd Tommy Matheson, senior guard Nick Hilliard, junior tackle Will Reed, and sophomore tackle Cooper Koers. “His upside is through the roof, he has been been primarily a right tackle with Henry [Byrd] on the left but now he is going to play left tackle.”

The Tiger defense had a lot of upside with talent at each level.

“We have seen the young guys grown and get stronger, we are seeing that right now on the d-line,” said Surace, whose defensive line includes junior Ryan Ives, junior Collin Taylor, senior Jack DelGarbino, and sophomore Bakari Edwards, among others. “The back end speed is making it like really compelling. Our QB and receiving group had been ahead of our defensive backs but now it is so competitive in those drills.”

The strength of the defense will be in the middle with a trio of senior linebackers, senior Liam Johnson, the reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, Ozzie Nicholas, and Will Perez.

“They are like coaches on the field with the way they communicate,” said Surace. “There are times when we see something in camp that we weren’t prepared for, the offense comes out in a different formation and Liam, Ozzie and Will can get them lined up.

The Tiger secondary is stocked with several superb performers in junior Payton Tally, junior Jalen Newman, junior Mason Armstead, and sophomore Nasir Hill.

“Payton is healthy, he played great before having an injury in the middle of the year last year,” said Surace. “Jalen and Mason are terrific, those were three corners last year, we are moving Mason around a little bit. Nasir is playing well. I feel like they are flying to the ball. You are completing a pass in a window and you have to be on time or it is getting broken up.”

Looking ahead to the opener at San Diego (0-2), Surace knows that the Tigers will need to play well to overcome the Toreros.

“They are historically winning that conference (Pioneer Football League); they have won playoff games, it is going to be a challenge,” said Surace. “They are going to have a couple of games and two weeks of practice on us. We can’t have the practice that is not good because you are behind. Our leaders really instill that mentality into the team.”

Stenstrom, for his part, is looking forward to the trip and the challenge.

“Team trips are awesome, we want to Florida last year (to play at Stetson) and that was fun,” said Stenstrom, noting that his grandparents live in the San Diego area. “I think traveling with the team and having that experience is a great opportunity. We are playing an out-of-conference opponent who we haven’t played that much before so it is exciting.”

Surace sees the journey to California as a bonding experience.

“We like to do a road trip like that every couple of years,” said Surace. “I think it is great. There is a team chemistry that happens on those trips which is really nice right out the gates.”

In order for the Tigers to have a good trip, the young squad will need to overcome the mistakes that come with playing a bunch of new faces.

“When you leave camp, you want to see a team that has come together,” said Surace. “It is an inexperienced team and you are going to live with a false start or a defensive offsides early in camp. We need to do a really good job where we put them in all of the situations where we correct them. It is making sure on my end that we have prepared them for as many of these situations as possible. They are going to make some mistakes physically but you want to make sure that you have that growth of teaching.”

Stenstrom has been seeing that growth and knows that it has to continue throughout the fall in order for the Tigers to reach their goals.

“I think it is consistency in preparation, they guys seem to be bought into the process of studying their plays,” said Stenstrom. “They are locked into meetings and all of the different things in that regard. It is also endurance; the Ivy League season is 10 games only but it is 10 weeks with no bye week. It goes quick but it hits you every single week and you need to be prepared to endure that and take the same approach every single week. I think we have all of the talent on the team to accomplish our ultimate goal. It is just being bought in and having that endurance throughout the season.”