Delaware is FCS/CAA outcast but 2024 football season still important for Blue Hens

The Coastal Athletic Association announces its preseason football coaches’ poll Wednesday morning.

The University of Delaware will not be included.

Ineligibility for the CAA title and NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs is the price Delaware must pay in 2024 because of its imminent 2025 climb to the Football Bowl Subdivision when it enters Conference USA.

There’s a reason for that. Delaware now has roughly 75 scholarship players on the roster. That’s 12 more than FCS teams are allowed, though still 10 fewer than the Blue Hens may have as an FBS team.

Though Delaware will play a CAA schedule in 2024, starting with what is actually a nonconference game against new league member Bryant Aug. 29 at Delaware Stadium, the Blue Hens are basically banished.

That means the Hens’ traditional preseason goals – a league title and postseason berth, which Delaware has earned three of the last four seasons – have vanished.

FINAL FCS FLING: Kickoff times for 2024 Delaware football games

Putting down foundation for FBS

But Delaware still has much to play for this season, said coach Ryan Carty. How Delaware does in the present, Carty insisted, will greatly impact how the Hens handle their future challenges, which will be significant.

Preseason practice starts Tuesday morning.

“Continuing to be successful and have momentum going in to your first season, I think, is important,” Carty said. “It's important for your fan base. It's important for your donors. It's important for recruits.

“A lot of the questions that I've been asked [about moving to FBS in 2025), I keep coming back to it and I mean this: This is an important year, 2024, on the football field. It’s important for this year and for the future.”

Better lately, but not good enough

Delaware does enter with some competitive momentum.

It made the NCAA playoffs in Carty’s first two seasons, 2022 and 2023. Those were Delaware’s first-back-to-back postseason appearances since 2003-04, when Carty was Delaware’s back-up quarterback.

An 8-5 record in 2022 and 10-4 mark in 2023 were Delaware’s winningest seasons since 2010. Delaware also reached the 2021 spring FCS semifinals under former coach Danny Rocco, making it three postseason berths in four years.

But Delaware was blasted in round-of-16 playoffs games at South Dakota State in 2022 and Montana in 2023 . It also failed to win pivotal CAA games while tying for sixth place in 2022 and fourth place in 2023, showing there is significant need and room for improvement.

In addition to Bryant, Delaware will face Penn and Sacred Heart in nonconference games. In CAA games that will count in the standings for its foes but not for Delaware, the Hens face North Carolina A&T, Monmouth, Richmond and Villanova away and Maine, Albany, Rhode Island and Campbell at home. Richmond, Albany and perennial Nemesis Villanova appear particularly imposing.

“I think it can help propel you into success,” Carty said of what a strong 2024 would do. “People want to be part of a successful group. And saying that you're going to be successful is different than being successful.”

Veteran cast returns

Delaware enters 2024 with a proven offense that features three quarterbacks with starting experience – Ryan O'Connor, Zach Marker, who is ready to go despite a knee injury against Villanova that required surgery, and Nick Minicucci. They’ll benefit from an older, experienced offensive line and the return of 939-yard rusher Marcus Yarns.

On defense, Delaware has some important holes to fill but has also has a veteran nucleus featuring nose guard Keyshawn Hunter, defensive lineman Jack Hall, linebackers Dillon Trainer and Ty Davis and cornerback Tyron Herring.

With an eye on its 2025 ascent to FBS, Delaware has already secured nine verbal commitments from Class of 2025 high school recruits – quarterback Eric Archield, linebacker Julius Puryear and defensive back Jalen Ross from Florida, tight end Jackson Bowman from New Jersey, defensive back A.J. Graham from North Carolina, Pennsylvania running back Jared Porter, Georgia defensive lineman Micah Pryor, Virginia defensive back Noah Jefferson and Maryland defensive back Nasir Eatmon.

The transition to big-time football is about to begin and Carty views 2024 as a critical launch pad.

“The more we can continue the progress that we've made, and the foundation of success that we've laid here, if we can continue that and just keep climbing,” Carty said.

“Not just continue it but grow it. I think that can help propel us into the next part of it. It'll help us maintain what we already have, such as the cultural aspects of the program. But then also kind of separate us as we're moving our way into something else.”

Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware is FCS/CAA outcast but 2024 football season still important for Blue Hens