College Football Preview: West Chester Golden Rams

By Matt Leon

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The 2014 season was another successful one for the West Chester University football team. The Golden Rams went 11-2, advancing to the second round of the Division II NCAA Tournament.

West Chester has some big holes to fill here in 2015, but there is also a lot of talent returning and the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference's preseason poll has the Golden Rams picked to finish second in the Eastern Division.

The biggest question for West Chester will be at quarterback. Sean McCartney has moved on after capping his college career last season by finishing fifth in the voting for the Harlon Hill Award, the Division II version of the Heisman Trophy. Last year's back-up, Andrew Derr, looked to be in line to take over the starting gig, but an off-the-field issue has taken him out of the mix.

"Right now, (sophomore) Pat Moriarty is going to be the starter," West Chester head coach Bill Zwaan tells KYW Newsradio. "Pat hasn't played much, so he'll be inexperienced. He's a very good quarterback, he has a great arm, he can run. A lot of talent there, but of course, totally inexperienced as far as his playing time at the varsity level in college. So there will be some growing pains for sure."

Listen: Bill Zwaan with KYW's Matt Leon

But Zwaan says their ground game should be able to help take the pressure off Moriarty.

"We're really, really deep at running back," Zwaan says. "(Senior) Brandon Monk had (1296) yards last year. We've actually moved our backup running back, (senior) Eddie Elliot, out to wide receiver and that helps for depth out there. (Sophomore) Jarel Elder, (redshirt freshman) Mike Class, they're all really good running backs. So I really like that group of guys. Our offensive line's going to be good, but young. We only have two returning starters and one of them is hurt right now."

Zwaan says they also have a deep receiving corps with a lot of speed and talent and he is hopeful that a couple of the pass catchers will step to the forefront here in 2015.

The Golden Rams got some very bad news last week when it was determined that they wouldn't have the services of their All-America tight end Tim Brown, who has been ruled ineligible. Brown caught 17 touchdown passes in 2014.

"We'll probably cut back on how we use the tight end for sure," Zwaan says. "That means we'll do a little bit more with four wide receiver sets than with our normal, tight end/three wide receiver sets. So we're making some changes based on the fact that we're losing a really, really, great player."

On defense, Zwaan likes what he sees up front.

"Really strong front," Zwaan says. "Defensive line, strong, deep. (Senior) Andrew Cohen, one of the best defensive linemen to play here. He's a half a sack away from the school record, so we're expecting a big year out of him. (Junior) Byron Cooper, who's been hurt the last couple years, he looks really good at defensive end right now. Great pass rush skills and great speed coming off the edge."

West Chester will have some big shoes to fill at the inside linebacker position.

"That's going to be the toughest one because we had two great players, Ronell Williams and Mike Labor, playing for us for the last three years," Zwaan says. "(Junior) Ralph Reeves from North Penn will be one of the guys and Ralph's a real good football player, so I don't think we'll have much of a drop off with Ralph. The other position, we're kind of looking at two young guys there and we'll see how that shakes out."

In the secondary, Zwaan says he feels really good about a veteran group of safeties. At cornerback, West Chester is trying to replace one of the best defensive backs in recent program history in Al-Hajj Shabazz, who spent this summer with the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In 2013, West Chester advanced to the Division II national semifinals where they lost to a very talented Lenoir-Rhyne team. The Golden Rams get a chance for revenge on Thursday when they open the 2015 season against Lenior-Rhyne at John A. Farrell Stadium.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.