Football: Culbreath to lead charge

The football team has finished 4-6 in each of the past two seasons, and now only the freshman class from the 2006 Ivy League championship team remains. Princeton returns boatloads of experience in the running game but relatively little in the passing game, and it will break in a new quarterback in sophomore Tommy Wornham.

“Our success offensively is going to be determined by how steep our quarterback’s learning curve is,” head coach Roger Hughes said.

A season ago, the Tigers led the league with averages of 168.1 yards per game, 4.6 yards per carry and 14 rushing touchdowns. Much of Princeton’s rushing came on the back of workhorse tailback Jordan Culbreath, who finished the season with a league-high 1,206 rushing yards, including 276 in the season finale against Dartmouth. Culbreath, now a senior, is an intelligent player with good speed and great cutting ability.

“We have a Ph.D. in football with Jordan Culbreath,” Hughes said. “When they say it’s not rocket science, well, with him it is, because he’s a rocket scientist.” (Culbreath is a mechanical and aerospace engineering major.)

This season, the running game will look to pick up where it left off. Culbreath and four offensive linemen — tackle and co-captain Mark Paski, center Andrew Hauser, guard Marc Daou and tackle J.P. Makrai — return for their senior seasons and appear poised to reassert the Tigers’ successful ground attack. Junior left guard Andrew Mills is the offensive line’s only new starter.

“We don’t have to worry about a lot of things with the offensive line,” offensive coordinator Dave Rackovan said. “They’ve all gotten better. They worked hard during the summer, and they’ve all gotten bigger. We are excited about that group.”

Junior fullback Matt Zimmerman also returns with a year of starting experience under his belt. Zimmerman will be backed up by junior Kenny Gunter, a former quarterback who missed all of 2008 with an injury.

Though Culbreath has proven himself to be the class of the Ivy League’s running backs, it is likely that he will have a lighter workload this year. Last season, Culbreath had 213 carries while all other Princeton running backs and fullbacks carried a combined 32 times. This season, Culbreath will be spelled by junior Meko McCray and a four-star recruit in freshman Akil Sharp.

“I think Meko McCray will be a good thing for Jordan, and we’ve got a nice freshman coming in who’s really looked sharp — and his name is Sharp,” Rackovan explained.

The running game will be particularly important for the Tigers this season, as their passing game is as untested as ever. They will field new starters at both wide receiver positions and at tight end. Junior Trey Peacock brings the most experience to the unit, having seen significant time as a reserve last season. Peacock, who will start at the “X” position, has posted 21 career receptions, including a game-winning 52-yard touchdown reception at Columbia last season. And at six feet, three inches and 210 pounds, he brings a combination of speed and size uncommon in the Ivy League. Having stayed on campus the last two summers to get in extra work, Peacock is poised for a breakout season.

Starting opposite Peacock will be junior Jeb Heavenrich, who is back to full health after missing all of 2008. Heavenrich is a bit smaller at 6’1”, 200 pounds, but he is a speed demon who will also return kicks for the Tigers. Junior Andrew Kerr and sophomores Jon Hibler and Tommy Stewart will also see time as wide receivers.

At tight end, junior Harry Flaherty will be the starter. Freshman Zack Glatter, ranked the fourth best tight end in Virginia by the recruiting website rivals.com, will provide depth at the position.

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There is no question what the most intriguing position on the offense unit — and the entire team for that matter — will be this season. For the first time in three years, Princeton will not field a senior at quarterback. Instead, the Tigers will begin the season with Wornham, a sophomore, at the helm.

Wornham stands at 6’2”, 200 pounds and comes to Princeton from the Bishop’s School in La Jolla, Calif. He saw action in three games as a freshman last season behind former quarterback Brian Anderson, completing two of nine passes for seven yards and rushing twice for five yards. When Anderson suffered a shoulder injury midway through the season, Wornham took the first-team reps in practice while Anderson continued to play in games.

In the spring, Wornham beat out quarterbacks Harrison Daniels and Drew Ellis, now sophomores, as well as Andrew Dixon, now a junior, for the starting position this season.

“Tommy came off a good spring and came back as the No. 1 quarterback,” Rackovan explained. “Tommy has all the skills that are necessary — he just needs the reps. We came back as a staff and decided we are going to give him those reps to make the job, so we decided a little bit earlier … going in that he is going to be the one, but that will be a dynamic situation.”

Hughes has a history of using multiple quarterbacks in a season, and it wouldn’t be unexpected for him to give Daniels a shot if Wornham struggles early on in the season.

“[Daniels] is not the same type of quarterback as Tommy,” Rackovan said. “Tommy has a stronger arm than Harrison and is more tuned into the passing game, whereas Harrison is a more multi-faceted type of kid. I think they complement each other very well, and the great thing about it is that they are very close friends. There’s no problem about who’s in and who’s out. We’re happy with their progress.”

If Princeton is going to buck its trend of 4-6 seasons and return to the top of the mountain, they will need steady play from the quarterback position. There’s no question that bulk of the work will likely be put on the running game. But opponents will anticipate this, and there will be times when the Tigers will need to make plays through the air if they want to compete with the league’s elite.