Madia's Preseason All-CAA Football Team

There were future pros lost to graduation and other standouts who decided to transfer to the FBS, but the league isn’t shy on talent heading into its unconventional spring campaign. There are returning starting quarterbacks for nine of the 11 teams participating this spring, and seven defenders who racked up 100 tackles or more last season are back, too.

For a closer look at the best players in the league, the Daily News-Record presents its Preseason All-CAA Football squad.

QB – Daniel Smith, Sr., Villanova

The slight nod goes to Smith here over Albany’s Jeff Undercuffler. Smith, the former Campbell transfer, thrived in his first season with the Wildcats when he threw for 3,274 yards, rushed for 457 and accounted for 47 total touchdowns in 2019 while stabilizing Villanova’s offense and leading VU to the FCS postseason.

RB – Percy Agyei-Obese, Sr., James Madison

RB – Karl Mofor, Sr., Albany

Albany coach Greg Gattuso calls Mofor his program’s ‘rock’ and Mofor is as reliable at the position as any player in the conference having posted 2,441 rushing yards and 21 scores on the ground to go along with 70 catches for 622 yards and four touchdowns in his career. James Madison’s Agyei-Obese is the lead back in an ultra-deep group of running backs for the Dukes. Agyei-Obese rushed for 1,216 yards and 19 touchdowns – the fifth-most in all of FCS – last season.

WR – Jaaron Hayek, So., Villanova

WR – Andre Miller, Sr., Maine

WR – Kortez Weeks, Sr., Elon

The nine wide receivers to earn first-, second- or third-team All-CAA honors from the league in 2019 have all graduated or transferred from their respective programs, leaving a new set of pass catchers to emerge as the conference’s best. As a freshman, Hayek was a top target of Smith, hauling in eight touchdown grabs, and there’s no reason to think the chemistry between the quarterback and wide receiver shouldn’t be better because they’ve had more than a year to enhance it. Miller might’ve been forgotten playing behind ex-Maine receivers Earnest Edwards and Jaquan Blair, but Miller averaged better than 18 yards per catch last season. Weeks has tallied at least 43 receptions in each of his three previous seasons with Elon.

TE – LJ Wesneski, Sr., Albany

He didn’t have a ton of catches, but one third of his grabs went for touchdowns making the 6-foot-3 Wesneski a can’t-miss target of Undercuffler. He had seven receiving touchdowns in 2019.

AP – Dylan Laube, So., New Hampshire

In his first season with New Hampshire, Laube impressed and proved he could carry the ball, catch it and return it in a jack-of-all-trades role. He racked up 1,372 all-purpose yards and could help UNH in that capacity again.

OL – Kofi Appiah, Sr., Villanova

OL – Tim Coleman, Sr., Richmond

OL – Patrick Flynn, Jr., New Hampshire

OL – Liam Fornadel, Sr., James Madison

OL – Truvell Wilson, Sr., James Madison

Fornadel is the name to know here. He’s the anchor of the Dukes’ powerful rushing attack at right tackle. And at 6-foot-4, 310 pounds, Fornadel has NFL aspirations and after starting the last 31 games for JMU, there’s no reason to think he can’t reach that goal. His teammate Wilson, a former Division II transfer, blossomed last season. Coleman is to Richmond what Fornadel is to JMU. Coleman has started the last 23 games for the Spiders.

DL – Tristen Cox, Sr., Elon

DL – Mike Greene, Sr., James Madison

DL – Sam Kamara, Sr., Stony Brook

DL – Kobie Turner, Jr., Richmond

Turner was extremely productive as a sophomore, compiling 71 tackles to go along with 14.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks for Richmond. He’s as talented of an edge player in the FCS as any and should only be quicker and stronger as a junior. Greene, JMU’s best defender, is sliding from defensive tackle to defensive end. Cox doesn’t post huge numbers, but as Elon’s nose tackle, he’s extremely effective in keeping offensive lineman off of Phoenix linebackers. Kamara played in the first five games of 2019 before suffering a season-ending injury, but he has 21 tackles for loss and 13 sacks in his Stony Brook career.

LB – Ty Dressler, Sr., Richmond

LB – Levi Metheney, Sr., Albany

LB – Forrest Rhyne, Sr., Villanova

This was the toughest position to sort through, considering Maine’s Deshawn Stevens, New Hampshire’s Oleh Manzyk and Richmond’s Tristan Wheeler all have legit cases to be heard about being the top linebacker in the conference even though they didn’t make this list. That's because Metheney is a menace in the middle of Albany’s defense for totaling 120 tackles including a CAA-best 63 solo take downs in 2019. Dressler had 104 tackles last season and has immense trust from Richmond coach Russ Huesman. Rhyne made 116 tackles in addition to 14.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks as a junior.

DB – Augie Contressa, Sr., Stony Brook

DB – Wayne Davis, Sr., James Madison

DB – Evan Horn, Sr., New Hampshire

DB – T.J. Morrison, Sr., Stony Brook

DB – Kedrick Whitehead, Jr., Delaware

New Hampshire safety Horn is probably the best defensive back in the conference, with 170 tackles, 11 interceptions and 27 pass breakups already recorded in his career. After exploring the transfer portal briefly this offseason, he returned to UNH and gave the Wildcats’ defense a boost. Stony Brook’s duo of Contressa and Morrison provide the Seawolves a pair of defensive backs capable of covering against the pass and against the run. Whitehead had 102 tackles in 2019. And Davis’ value comes in the form of versatility. He’s moving from the hybrid safety/linebacker position to the traditional strong safety position for this season.

K – Ethan Ratke, Sr., James Madison

Ratke holds JMU career records for field goals (58) and scoring (319), and converted a game-winning kick in the postseason earlier in his time with the Dukes. He could close in on the FCS record for career field goals (75) either this spring or fall.

P – Nathan Fondacaro, Jr., Villanova

Fondacaro averaged better than 43 yards per punt in 2019 and landed 15 of his 43 attempts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.

RET – Aaron Dykes, So., Richmond

In 2019, Dykes returned two kickoffs for touchdowns, leaving him as the obvious option for the best return man in the CAA entering the spring season.