Familiarity in New Haven Will Ease Transition

Tecnically speaking, the New Haven Chargers have a first year head coach and are in their first year of NEC football.

Technically speaking.

The less-technical truth is that Head Coach Mark Powell is beginning his second year leading the squad after an interim year last season. His Chargers went 5-5 while competing well in several games against FCS opponents, including new rival Marist (the Chargers will play against Marist to open the season for the next seven years!)

At quarterback, A.J. Duffy returns. Duffy should figure in heavily when the all-NEC preseason team is announced. He’s a do-everything passer who will have a full season under his belt whenever the Chargers take the field under the lights in New Haven to open up the season. His prior stops were at Florida State and San Diego State.

Zaon Laney, one of the cover athletes for the NEC Blitz Football Preview in 2025, returns and will be expected to be among the league’s best running backs after redshirting in 2025. He’ll keep defenses from being able to simply defend against Duffy.

The defense should take a step forward with a second year in Coach Powell’s system.

The most interesting thing for the Chargers this year will be how rivalries begin to develop in league play. Central Connecticut State replaces SCSU as the big game on the schedule for the Chargers, but games against Marist, Stonehill, LIU, and Wagner will also be big games regionally. The Chargers are a perfect geographical fit.

Now, it’s just time to play football in league play.