Delaware Valley College Hoping For Another Big Year In MAC

By Matt Leon

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- The Aggies of Delaware Valley College have emerged as a top-notch Division III college football program over the past decade or so. In 2012, the Aggies overcame an 0-2 start to finish 8-3, beating Muhlenberg in the ECAC South Atlantic Bowl to cap the campaign.

Head coach Jim Clements is hoping that this training camp will be the first step towards a successful 2013.

"It's been interesting," Clements tells KYW Newsradio. "Depth-wise, a lot of guys getting hurt or banged-up. But we're working hard, we're working through it. Kids have a great attitude, we're really excited to get the season rolling here."

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The story with the Aggies has to begin with junior quarterback Aaron Wilmer. A George Washington High School product, Wilmer threw for 2,087 yards and 16 touchdowns last season. He complimented that with 639 yards rushing and another nine scores.

"This will be Aaron's third year with the system and picking up and being able to do and expand more on it year after year," Clements says. "But it takes more than just Aaron. The other 10 guys around have to be able to expand with the system as well. But it's great, we know what Aaron does well and we know where he is working to improve on other parts of his game."

Clements says he needs the group protecting Wilmer to come together.

"We graduated three starters last year from our offensive line, an All-American, all-conference guys," Clements says. "There's some new faces there. If those guys can tighten it up and continue to work and grow together, offensive line, they've got to gel. You've got to find five and they've got to gel. If they can gel and become a good unit, I think offensively, we've got the weapons to make defenses really defend the whole field."

As for the other side of the football.

"I feel like at linebacker we've got a lot of good depth where our first through third are pretty close, which is important," Clements says. "We've got a lot of new faces in the defensive backfield that are working real hard trying to get it down mentally, here."

The Aggies will get a good feel for just how good they are right out of the gate as they open the season against another top-rate Division III program in Rowan University.

"Rowan's a legitimate team," Clements says. "They are a top-25 caliber team, they were a playoff team last year. They've got a lot of good kids back, Coach (Jay) Accorsi does a great job with those guys. It will be a physical test and we will know where we stand right away."

That Delaware Valley College/Rowan game is set for Saturday, September 7th, in Doylestown.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.