By Dylan Butler
It has been quite a while since a National Football League scout has been seen at DaSilva Memorial Field on the campus of St. John’s University. While guys like Anthony Zito and Christian Soto received tryouts after their Red Storm careers, it has been more than a decade since a scout has come to the Jamaica campus.
But one by one over the last couple of weeks they’ve come, the New York Jets, the Chicago Bears and the Denver Broncos, to see Allistair Sebastien, St. John’s senior cornerback and the cornerstone of the Red Storm defense this year.
“He has excellent size for the position of corner,” said St. John’s head coach Bob Ricca, in his 24th year at the helm. “He’s fairly strong. He has it all, speed, quickness — power, if you want to say it in one word, which is what the game is today.”
The 6-foot, 180-pound Sebastien is going to be expected to lead a relatively young group on the defense. He said while there are many inexperienced players, the expectations of the defense — which was ranked second in the country among Division 1-AA non-scholarship programs — are always high.
“I feel pretty good about the defensive backfield and the defense as a whole just has to hold things up from last year,” said Sebastien, who missed last season with a fractured ankle injury. “Nobody on defense wants to be the guy who drops off.”
Joining Sebastien in the defensive backfield is longtime teammate Jamal Lambert, also a senior cornerback. The two have been playing football together for almost eight years, both playing high school ball at Roosevelt on Long Island.
“At this level you don’t get that many real good corners,” Ricca said. “Most of the time the better athletes in high school play offense. You look at all your major college and pro teams the guys they have playing corner are guys who are quarterbacks and receivers along the line.”
Ricca was also expecting Shawn Oliver, a 6-foot-1, 240-pound defensive end, who was selected to the Northeast Conference preseason all-conference team, to anchor the defensive line. But Oliver, who was second on the team in sacks last year, may not play at all. With less financial funding available for him as a graduate student, Ricca said Oliver’s main concern right now is trying to get money for graduate school.
While Oliver will be sorely missed, Ricca said Joe Maietta, a 6-foot-2, 275-pound sophomore defensive end, has been superb in training camp.
“He’s been unstoppable up front,” said Ricca, whose team went 5-6 last year, 2-6 in the NEC. “He’s another kid who was a big kid last year and who is now a big man. He’s matured.”
Leading the linebacker core is senior Chris Posillico, a 6-foot, 210-pounder from Bay Shore, Long Island, a “physical, hard-nosed type of kid,” Ricca said. Ricca has also been impressed with the play of Whitestone resident Frank Rullo, a 6-foot, 200-pound sophomore who played at St. Francis Prep, Bobby Rosenberg, a 5-foot-10, 215-pound sophomore from Sarasota, Fla. and Chinedu “Chi Chi” Momah, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound outside linebacker from Greenlawn, Long Island.
“Is he going to be Josiah? No, we’re not going to insinuate that, but Chi Chi is going to get better as the year goes on,” Ricca said.
On offense, Ricca is looking for sophomore running back Derek Jones to carry an even more inexperienced group.
Jones averaged 5.3 yards a carry for the Red Storm last year, before going down with a season-ending knee injury. The 5-foot-8, 200-pounder from Pittsfield, Mass. is completely healthy and will be relied upon the lead the backfield, which will be without sophomore Matt McGuire, who is out for the year following shoulder surgery.
“I had a good off-season and I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in,” Jones said. “I’m comfortable with the new offense coach has designed. Matt will be a big loss, but we have to step up on offense.”
With the regular season opener at Albany less than two weeks away, Ricca is still unsure of who the starting quarterback will be, as sophomore Matt Millheiser and freshmen Kyle Lauver and Marc Saracino are all vying for the starting job.
“Millheiser has a little bit of a nudge right now because he has the background and the experience with the system and the players,” Ricca said. “But right now it’s a pack.
“All three are fairly mobile, all three have pretty good arm strength. We don’t have to adjust philosophically what we would do on offense if one does rise to the occasion,” the coach added. “No matter who’s in there, you’re going to see us running sprint outs and bootlegs and things like that to keep the quarterback active.”
With James Morton academically ineligible, junior Anthony Muniz, who averaged 11.2 yards per reception last year, will be the main target at wide receiver. Ricca said he is also impressed with the play of Alex Otero, a converted fullback, at tight end.
“Alex is developing into a real fine pass catcher and he’s an excellent blocker,” Ricca said. “We’re really pleased with what he’s done up front on the line.”
St. John’s, picked to finish seventh in the preseason NEC coaches poll, opens up the season at Albany Sept. 8. After playing at St. Francis (Pa.) Sept. 15, the Red Storm opens its home slate Sept. 21 against Stony Brook.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at TimesLedgr@aol.com or call 229-0300.
