This isn’t new for Delaware, but it is unique according to fourth-year Blue Hens coach Danny Rocco.

Under Rocco, Delaware opened its 2018 campaign with a conference contest against Rhode Island, and come Sept. 5 the Blue Hens are slated – assuming the college football calendar is played as planned – to do it for the second time in the last three seasons when they visit Bridgeforth Stadium to kick off this fall with a Colonial Athletic Association clash against James Madison.

“This might be one of those years when some of those historical, logical thoughts are not as valuable,” Rocco said. “Because the big thing for all of us is how we’re going to navigate our camps, progress our teams and get our teams ready for the opening date knowing that there’s a different system in place.”

JMU and Delaware last met two seasons ago in the first round of the FCS playoffs when the Dukes knocked off the Blue Hens, 20-6, in Harrisonburg. This year, the winner will jump out to an immediate lead in the CAA standings, though, as Rocco points out that hasn’t been his primary concern when thinking of the upcoming season.

He said he’s still trying to figure out what his squad’s preseason will look like due to the pandemic, but believes whenever he and his players begin to practice the natural urgency to start strong in league play will takeover.

The Dukes have never opened a season with a CAA game.

“A more veteran team might be more ready to play that opening conference game,” Rocco said, “because they already know what conference football is all about. So like when you have a team that’s a little more veteran team, has some good experience and those guys are coming back and are opening up with a conference game, they know exactly what that means whereas a younger team might not quite be able to equate the magnitude of that moment or sustain the energy that you need to have in a conference game. I think it’s true. I think that’s real and I’m sure there will be an awful lot of passion on both ends.”

Last year, Rocco and company finished 5-7. It’s the only losing season he’s ever had in his 14 years as a head coach – he held the same job previously with Liberty and Richmond – and he said he thinks Delaware is primed to bounce back in 2020.

“I’d really like to think we’re competing in November to get into the postseason,” he said.

There are more than a few reasons for his optimism, too, but none more important than the hope for quarterback stability the coach has sought since taking the job.

Redshirt junior Nolan Henderson started and thrived when he was healthy last fall, completing 56 percent of his throws for 933 yards and nine touchdowns compared to only one interception. The other Blue Hens signal-caller in 2019, Pat Kehoe, who has since graduated, threw eight interceptions.

Rocco said Henderson is Delaware’s no-doubt starter heading into the new season.

“Nolan is gifted, now,” Rocco said. “He’s got an accurate, strong arm and is a little bit of a gunslinger and the thing about Nolan that’s probably the x-factor is his ability to extend plays and his ability to make plays that are unconventional. So when you have a quarterback like that, the design of the play doesn’t always have to be perfect for it to be a productive play and we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to utilize that skillset for what we do with him this year.”

He said Henderson’s abilities fit in line with how quick-scoring CAA offenses have used quarterbacks in the recent past. Think Tom Flacco for Towson, or Ben DiNucci or Bryan Schor at JMU.

“This league has had some good quarterbacks,” Rocco said. “And I do feel like this year we’ll have a really good quarterback at Delaware.”

Beyond Henderson, the offense is expected to feature sophomore running back Will Knight, an All-CAA second-team selection last season, and senior DeJoun Lee. Knight led the conference and ranked third in all of FCS with 7.4 yards per carry as a redshirt freshman in 2019 — his first year with Delaware after transferring from Old Dominion. Rocco calls Knight a, “complete running back that provides a little bit of everything,” for the offense.

And those two, Knight and Lee, will run behind an offensive line with similar blocking tactics to that of recent JMU squads. This offseason, Rocco hired Madison alum and former Dukes offensive line coach Bryan Stinespring to coach Delaware’s offensive front.

On defense, Rocco likes the duo of safeties sophomore Noah Plack and junior Kedrick Whitehead, who highlight an entire returning secondary. After missing all of last year with injury, linebacker Colby Reeder, a fifth-year senior, is recovering nicely and expected to rejoin a group of returning starters, including junior Drew Nickels, at the position.

A year ago, Whitehead, Plack and Nickels were three of the team’s four leading tacklers and each of them had an interception as well. Reeder was the CAA Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2017.

“We did lose some defensive linemen, so we’ll be younger there,” Rocco said. “I don’t think we’ll be any less talented, but a little younger. And there’s another position where spring ball could’ve helped guys turn the corner. But I could see the D-Line being by committee and that it could look a little different week to week, but I think that we have enough talented guys to where we could have production and be successful.”

Rocco said the program’s goal is clear, though, and that’s to make a push for the postseason.

“We did it here our second season in 2018 and it was the first time Delaware had been to the playoffs since 2010,” he said. “And in 2017, we were left at the altar. We were the first team left out on the bubble that year, but to be back in the mix this November, I think would be very important as far as the future goes for our program.”