Villanova Is All Plugged In to Its California Connection

“I think he’s a visionary.”

DeLonne Kelly, who played football at El Dorado High, is talking about Andy Talley, his coach at Villanova. Visionary?

“This team was basically made up of players from Pennsylvania and New Jersey,” Kelly said. “He got a clue. He said, ‘What about California?’ ”

And so Kelly is part of Villanova’s California connection. Nineteen players from California are on the Wildcats’ 90-man roster. And while six are from Ohio and five from Florida, there are 10 from Orange County.

The connection is working. Villanova is the top-ranked Division I-AA program in the country and goes into Saturday’s first-round playoff game against 16th-ranked Colgate as the top-seeded team.

Between Kelly, San Clemente’s Chris Boden and Santa Margarita’s Brian Finneran, Villanova has had an Atlantic 10 Conference offensive or defensive player of the week six times this year.

Finneran was named Tuesday as the conference’s offensive player of the year and Boden was a first-team conference selection.

Kelly, a sophomore free safety, is leading the team with three interceptions. Boden, a sophomore, shattered the school’s single-season record with 36 touchdown passes; he tied it, with 24, in only six games. Finneran, a senior All-American with 75 catches for 17 touchdowns, is sixth nationally in scoring (112 points), seventh in receiving yards per game (104.6) and ninth in receptions per game (6.8).

Many high school players go across the country to colleges only to return for various reasons to attend a local community college.

However, Stan Bennett, a freshman right guard from Santa Margarita, said having some of the local guys on the Villanova team with him prevented him from getting homesick, which allowed him to concentrate on football and break into the starting lineup right away.

Not only did the county players cite the value of the education offered at Villanova, but nearly all also said they had a real appreciation for the cultural diversity they were exposed to and the school’s proximity to Philadelphia (12 miles east of campus).

The weather? The recruiting trips were in January at Talley’s behest so they could experience weather at its worst.

“There are four different seasons. As soon as October hits, it’s really quite beautiful,” said Boden, who had never been west of Colorado. “But the cold weather, it only takes a year to get used to. I absolutely love it back here.”

And Talley, the coach, loves having him and the other West Coast players.

“We see probably 3,000 videotapes a year, and we recruit in a lot of areas,” Talley said. “When you look at film out of Orange County, we kept saying, ‘Wow, these guys are very athletic.’ ”

About five years ago, Talley dispatched then-defensive coordinator Dan Fidler to California for six weeks to learn all he could about the state’s prep talent. As a result and general rule, Villanova looks first at Los Angeles and its surrounding area, then north to the Catholic schools in the Bay Area.

Talley said he has been criticized for not sticking with local players, but defended his tact by saying studies showed football participation in Pennsylvania high schools had dropped by 40% over the last 10 years.

“That’s basically been the average over the whole Northeast,” Talley said. “We felt we had to stretch nationally, and we have very good academics, so we need guys who have good grades too. It was getting tougher in the Northeast because there were less kids.

“I decided to roll the dice in California and see if we could attract some interest.”

The Finneran twins were the first big-name players from California whom Talley recruited, he said. They chose Villanova because it was one of the few schools that would take them as a package. Brian, the starter, and Brad, his backup, have combined for 114 receptions, 1,735 yards and 22 touchdowns this year.

Villanova is 11-0, unbeaten for the first time in history. The Wildcats rose from unranked to No. 1 by defeating No. 4 Delaware, 35-25, No. 22 James Madison, 22-17, and No. 25 Richmond, 40-29.

“It’s not Pac-10 football, but would probably be similar to Big Sky or Big West,” Talley said. “We felt that if [players] weren’t taken by Pac-10 schools, they would end up in a junior college. We have the ability to offer a full scholarship where they could get a good education and play high-powered football.”

The county’s players have met with varying degrees of success.

Brendan McGraw, a standout running back at Laguna Hills High, played one season at Villanova, then decided to return home. He plays for Saddleback College and helped the Gauchos go undefeated last year and win the national championship.

Talley said McGraw’s dissatisfaction at Villanova came from not playing right away.

McGraw said it wasn’t that simple, that he expected to redshirt his first season. Instead, he said his expectations of the program weren’t fulfilled, and when the three coaches who recruited him left for other schools, it made his decision easy.

“I don’t know if some of the coaches who came in had my best interests in their thoughts,” McGraw said. “Maybe I saw a lot of the negative things that go along with a losing season. Maybe if I had gone two years before or two years later, everything would have been fine. I enjoyed the school.”

McGraw refused to get specific or talk negatively of the program. El Toro’s Murle Sango, a Times Orange County first-team player last year, still chose Villanova after speaking to McGraw.

Though Brad Finneran has succeeded when given the opportunity, he said it has been frustrating not developing at the same rate as his brother.

“I tell myself that I could be doing the same thing he’s doing, but I’m not, and wondering why,” said Brad, whose 39 receptions for 584 yards is third on the team. He has five touchdowns. “The toughest part is that I know I have the ability to do that and I take longer to find myself,” Finneran said.

When Massachusetts double-teamed Brian Finneran and Josh Dolbin, Brad Finneran caught 11 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns in a 49-27 victory.

Boden has been a smashing success. He has completed 231 of 346 passes (67%), thrown 36 touchdowns with only four interceptions, and been conference offensive player of the week three times. He became the first Villanova quarterback to pass for 400 yards in a game, and is averaging 279.9. At one point, he threw five touchdown passes in three consecutive games. He holds five school records.

“Boden is an incredible find,” Talley said. “He’s a Division I quarterback, flat out.”

Said Boden: “I didn’t think I would have the type of year I’m having, but I have confidence in my abilities and confidence in the talent around me. You can just throw the ball somewhere near the receivers and they’ll pull it down. You don’t have to make a perfect throw.”

Waiting in the wings are Sango, a redshirt freshman, and Steve Ward (Servite) who, despite only two catches, has been a competent second-team player.

“Ward’s a lot like Finneran, actually faster, and has terrific hands,” Talley said. “We think he’s going to be a game-breaker.”

Talley said he expects Sango to develop into a big-play receiver and redshirt freshman tight end Brian Koupal (El Toro) to work himself into next year’s lineup as well.

Junior right tackle Mitch McCrimmon (Capistrano Valley) is the only returning starter on the offensive line. Bennett (6-5, 255) is the first true freshman to start on the line for Talley, who is in his 13th season.

“I want to play in the NFL and thought this would be a good place to come and get a lot of playing time,” said McCrimmon (6-5, 300), a third-team all-conference selection. “I think it has helped me. That was part of the thought process, along with the academics.”

Costa Mesa’s Bryan Luxembourger, a fourth-year junior who came in with the Finnerans and McCrimmon, hasn’t developed as a player the way he hoped. Shoulder and knee surgeries, and a lung infection that kept him indoors for two months, stifled his progress.

He played quite a bit as a backup as a freshman, lost his time on special teams as a sophomore, and now is the starting nickel linebacker and is again getting time on special teams.

But he’s been invaluable in the recruiting process, “a pied piper,” said Talley.

“Ever since I’ve been here, I thought it was a great school. If you get out of here with a degree, you’re going to be pretty much set,” Luxembourger said. “That’s what I tell [recruits]. That’s pretty much my role on the team.”