Charles Nailen/The Hoya Junior John Sims will be one of three Hoyas battling for the starting running back next season. Sims was second on the team with 568 rush yards in 2003.

The 2003 campaign for the Georgetown football team may not have been an improvement on last year in terms of standings, but in all other categories it was a success.

The Hoyas tied with Holy Cross for last place in the Patriot League at 1-6, with a 4-8 record overall. A season earlier, Georgetown was 5-6 (2-5 Patriot), but was hurting offensively.

“I think we improved on everything,” Benson said. “We are definitely taking major steps ahead. We just have to keep working hard and paying attention to detail.”

The biggest progress came in terms of Georgetown’s running game. In 2002, opponents nearly doubled the Hoyas’ rushing yardage, gaining 1,615 yards to Georgetown’s 814. But in 2003, Georgetown outgained its opponents on the ground, 1,813 to 1,791.

Sophomore Marcus Slayton was on pace to break 1,000 yards, but was sidelined with an ankle injury after the Towson game, in which he ran for just 25 yards. Slayton became the first Hoya rusher to surpass the century mark in single game yards since the team joined the Patriot League in 2000, going for 106 yards at Holy Cross, 130 yards against Stony Brook and 109 yards at Cornell.

Junior John Sims proved Georgetown’s depth at tailback, taking Slayton’s place and running for a club record 268 yards against Davidson in Week 11. Freshman quarterback Alondzo Turner, sophomore running back Kim Sarin and senior fullback William Huisking rounded out the team’s top five rushers, netting 355, 245 and 96 yards on the season, respectively.

“Good things are going on offensively. We’ve got three solid running backs,” Benson said of Slayton, Sims and Sarin. “All of them will compete for the starting role.”

With playing experience under their belts, Benson said that Turner and junior Drew Crawford and will be the frontrunners for the starting quarterback position, which will be up for grabs this spring. “We want to try to name a starting quarterback at the end of the spring, though, if we have to, we can still switch between [Turner and Crawford].”

As was the case prior to this season, freshmen Keith Allan and David Fajgenbaum will have an equal shot at the quarterback role. But Crawford’s pocket poise gives him an instant advantage, while Turner offers the constant threat to run. Though he showed shades of brilliance completing deep passes to senior wide receiver Walter Bowser and sophomore tight end Glenn Castergine against Fordham, Turner still has learning to do – particularly when under pressure and on the run.

Georgetown tallied 37 touchdown receptions in 2003, though 19 of those were scored by seniors. Of those, senior wide receiver Luke cArdle led the way with 13, leaving a huge hole in the team’s scoring. With Bowser, this season’s other starter, departing, sophomore Dominique Saunders, juniors Craig Agnello and Janiero Wooten will most likely lead the way in offensive output in 2004.

McArdle set a Georgetown record with 1,118 receiving yards on the season, surpassing the mark set by current Assistant Coach Gharun Hester in 1999. He also set new record in season all-purpose yards (2,031) and finished his career third in receiving (2,462). His efforts earned him All-Patriot League first team honors, making cArdle the first Hoya ever to be named to the conference’s first team.

The Hoya offense improved its red zone numbers substantially in 2003, leading to many closer contests. The margin of victory in each of Georgetown’s eight losses this year was just 11.8 points – nearly half of the 23.3-point spread the team averaged the previous season.

A strong defensive front contributed to the Hoyas’ increased competitiveness. The three leading defenders – senior strong safety Matt Fronczke and senior linebackers William Skultety and Andrew Clarke – combined for 271 tackles, 24 tackles for loss, four sacks, four interceptions and five fumble recoveries.

Fronczke and sophomore defensive end Michael Ononibaku were named to the All-Patriot League second team. Ononibaku stepped up to play a significant role in just his second year with the team, recording eight sacks and 14 tackles for loss. The two were the Hoyas’ third- and fourth-leading tacklers.

Aside from Ononibaku, junior defensive back Byron Anderson and freshman defensive end Alex Buzbee will also play important roles in the club’s future. Anderson led the team with three interceptions, and Buzbee, who earned Patriot League Freshman of the Week accolades during the week of Nov. 10, tallied five sacks on the year.

Benson said he will focus on offensive and defensive linemen in his recruiting and that he is eagerly anticipating the completion of the Multi-Sport Facility to help in that process.

Despite having the smallest facility among Patriot League teams, attendance numbers increased this year by more than 400 people per game – an average of 1,675 for each of six home contests. But the Hoyas still want those numbers to improve and expect to achieve that with the completion of the Multi-Sport Facility.

“We have to get it built,” Benson said. “We cannot win the league without that stadium.”

Under a revised plan, the 4,500-person capacity facility will be constructed in two parts, with the grandstands, the field, the press box and the lights comprising the first portion. That portion is slated to be complete in time for the 2005-06 academic year.

All returning players will continue a weightlifting regimen through the offseason. The spring season will last four weeks, from mid-March to mid-April, culminating with the annual spring scrimmage on April 18.

The coaches, meanwhile, will spend much of the next two months meeting with recruits. Four visiting weekends are scheduled in January, and a final list of Class of 2008 recruits is expected by late March.

The Hoyas open the 2004 season at home against St. Francis on Sept. 4.