ELON, N.C. – Explosive. Dynamic. Aggressive.
Elon University football head coach Tony Trisciani believes that with a focus on playing its game, the Phoenix has what it takes to compete in the CAA.
"I'm excited about seeing our guys play," Trisciani said. "A lot of work has been put into this since last January. We had a good, highly competitive fall camp. We're tired of banging on each other and ready to hit a different colored jersey."
Elon's aggressive defense will be bolstered by redshirt junior defensive back Caleb Curtain, whose four interceptions and 80 tackles led the team last season. Curtain was named first team All-CAA and second team FCS All-American for his 2023 campaign.
Curtain has earned a bevy of preseason awards, including CAA Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and preseason all-conference, FCS preseason second team All-American, and Stats Perform and Phil Steele first team preseason All-American. Curtain has also been nominated for several awards, including the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team as well as the William V. Campbell Trophy, given to the college football player with the best combination of academics, on-field production and community service.
"Caleb is a very good leader," Trisciani said. "He's not very vocal, but he's followable. He has winning habits. He models the behavior that we want, he's mature, he's smart."
Paired with Curtain at safety is likely to be North Carolina Central University transfer redshirt senior Khalil Baker, 2022 MEAC Defensive Player of the Year. Baker and Curtain were both ranked among the top-10 returning safeties in FCS by FCS Central.
"Defensively, it's all about the ball. We've done a great job when it comes to takeaways, being a top-20 team in the country when it comes to taking the ball away, and we play aggressive," Trisciani said. "Making it difficult and uncomfortable for the quarterback is important to us, so we're aggressive from a pressure standpoint."
On offense and special teams, redshirt senior Chandler Brayboy is poised to make an immediate impact for the Phoenix. Named CAA Preseason All-Conference and second team All-CAA at both wide receiver and kick returner as well as Phil Steele Preseason First Team All-CAA as a special teamer, Brayboy is in line for an essential role for Elon this season.
Brayboy led the team with 589 receiving yards in 2023 and ranked second with 30 catches, also notching four receiving touchdowns and a rushing touchdown. He also made his mark on "we-fence," as Trisciani refers to special teams, returning 16 kicks for 430 yards with a long of 56.
"Chandler is an explosive player. He's talented. He's been highly productive for us in his career," Trisciani said. "We have to get the ball in No. 4's hands. We need to make sure that he gets touches. He can change a game, and he can do it on offense and he can do it on special teams."
Throwing to Brayboy will be redshirt senior quarterback Matthew Downing, back for his second season at Elon and seventh season in college football. Downing ranked No. 4 in FCS in yards per completion at 15.3 and No. 8 in yards per pass attempt at 8.9, and was a CAA preseason All-Conference honorable mention.
"To have him back for year two with us and another year in our system and the same system for him is big. He's smart, he's got arm talent, he moves well now too, another year after coming off an injury from Louisiana Tech," Trisciani said. "So he's not the same quarterback he was last year. He's a year older, a year better, another year in our system."
Though the Phoenix has yet to take the field, Trisciani was impressed with what he saw during the team's preseason camp.
"Sometimes you get into camp and it's a mess. You got the pre-snap penalties, the turnovers, it's just bad football," Trisciani said. "We didn't have much of that this fall camp, it was clean football. We've got a good feel for who we are, and our focus in preseason was to get better at being us."
The Phoenix opens the season on the road at the Duke Blue Devils, marking its third straight season opener against a Power Four opponent (Wake Forest 2023, Vanderbilt 2022). Elon will travel back to Durham in week two to match up against North Carolina Central University before a four-game homestand.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW:
STEEL CURTAIN
Caleb Curtain has received numerous preseason accolades ahead of the 2024 season – both from the CAA and nationally. Curtain was named to the Buck Buchanan preseason watch list, given to the best defensive player in FCS Football. In addition, he was selected as the CAA Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and named the top returning safety in the CAA by HeroSports. In 2023, Curtain finished with four interceptions, 80 total tackles and 10 pass deflections.
DOWN(ING) & DISTANCE
Matthew Downing returns to the Phoenix for his swan song season as a CAA preseason All-Conference honorable mention. The redshirt senior finished his 2023 campaign with an impressive 1,915 passing yards and 19 touchdowns.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Elon will play nine out of 12 games in the state of North Carolina this season. Beginning with road matchups at Duke and North Carolina Central, the Phoenix will host the following four games at Rhodes Stadium, where it has lost only one game in the last two years. Elon will also host Campbell and Maine and end its regular season on the road against North Carolina A&T.
'Rising Phoenix' is a student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on X (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Chase Strawser at cstrawser@elon.edu.
--ELON--
