Change is an inevitable aspect of reality for any college football program.
Few teams at any NCAA division have likely dealt with quite as much of it as Carnegie Mellon in the run-up to its 2025 campaign.
Tartans coach Ryan Larsen’s program graduated 17 of 22 starters from its veteran 2024 team, which won its first NCAA playoff game since 2022 and fifth national postseason contest in school history.
To further complicate matters, Carnegie Mellon will also compete for the first time this season in NCAA Division III’s Centennial Conference after announcing its intention to leave the Presidents’ Athletic Conference last fall.
The Tartans had played as a football affiliate in the PAC since 2014.
“This is almost just, like, OK, we’re just different now,” said Larsen, now in his fourth season at Carnegie Mellon. “We’re new on offense. We’re new on defense. We’re just different, and that’s OK. It’s a new challenge for us as coaches, but I also think that as a coach that’s what should excite you, too.”
The considerable task of replacing some of the most accomplished players in Carnegie Mellon history is likewise an exciting prospect for the current crop of Tartans.
Carnegie Mellon, which finished second in the nation in total team defense with an average of 203.4 yards allowed per game, fostered its identity around stopping opposing offenses last fall en route to earning its third NCAA playoff bid in four seasons.
Linebackers Robert and Thomas Coury, Evan Roper and Moon product Logan Young led the veteran Tartans a year ago, while cornerback Adrian Williams, a Peters Township product, and safety Jacob Franze steadily patrolled their defense’s back end.
Only Franze returns from that group of players. Robert Coury finished his career a season ago with Carnegie Mellon records for most tackles and tackles for a loss all time.
“Our defenses the last couple of years have been some of the best in the country,” said senior kicker Justin Caputo, a South Fayette product who was named a preseason first-team All-American in 2025. “Honestly, it was some crazy people. They just motivated the rest of us. Coach Larsen, we do coach speeches every day to really talk about our culture, which is really just what we’re all about at this point.
“We really just buy into it.”
Likewise, the Tartans offense lost its top two playmakers in quarterback Ben Mills and workhorse running back Tre Vasiliadis.
Mills holds Tartans records in career passing yards, completions and touchdown passes, while Vasiliadis wrapped up a sensational career a season ago with 3,700 rushing yards and 31 touchdowns over his five-year tenure in Oakland.
“We love all those guys, but there’s a lot of guys that are seniors now and juniors that played behind those guys that are ready to go and ready to make big-time plays, which is why I’m excited. I know all my teammates and my coaches are excited, to see those guys,” said wide receiver Brendan McCullough, who is a Peters Township graduate. “They’ve been making plays and I’m excited for the whole world to see them in action. They’ve been waiting. They’ve waited their turn and they’re ready to go.”
And it may just be McCullough and the offense that will be shouldering the load if the Tartans are to return to the NCAA postseason.
After a breakout season a year ago, McCullough will be relied upon in 2025 to provide a spark for a new-look Carnegie Mellon offense.
The 6-foot, 185-pound junior caught 71 passes for 760 yards and nine touchdowns a season ago, his first as a full-time starter.
“He set the school record for receptions in a year last year as a sophomore and a lot of people don’t know it, but he played on a busted ankle the entire year and had surgery after the season,” Larsen said. “He’s a tough, tough, tough, tough, tough, tough kid. To be able to do that and have the production that he had, he’s definitely done a great job.
“That wide receiver room might be our most talented from top to bottom,” he added. “That room is bursting at the seams with talent and speed.”
Junior Reece Kolke returns as a complement to McCullough in the passing game. He caught 39 passes for 571 yards and eight touchdowns a season ago.
Larsen said he also expects wide receivers DJ Johnson, Chris Jaeb, Luca Cattita, Sam Cho and Carter Sheets to also make plays in the passing game this season.
Freshman wide receiver Nick McCullough — Brendan’s younger brother, who chose Carnegie Mellon after receiving 12 Division I offers during a sensational career at Peters Township — could also figure prominently into the Tartans offensive game plan.
“We are the leaders of the offense,” Brendan McCullough said. “Obviously, there are other leaders like Joey [McGinnis IV] and the quarterbacks and the line, but we’re the oldest group on the team, and we have the most experience. There’s some added pressure to that, but pressure is a privilege. I think we’re going to make a statement this year with our receiver room and I’m excited for that.”
And there may be several quarterbacks who end up orchestrating that passing attack.
McGinnis — a senior who has rushed for 29 touchdowns over his three-year career at Carnegie Mellon — is slated as the starting quarterback.
Larsen said sophomore Jackson Salters and junior Evan Rothenberg could also end up figuring prominently into the Tartans offensive attack under center.
“They’ve all got different things,” Larsen said. “Experience, arm talent, knowledge, they’ve all got these little things that are different. We are just kind of trying to figure out who is the best fit for that spot.”
Likewise, the Tartans are expecting to use several running backs in seniors Willem Bouma, Shadrak Agyei, junior Giacomo Valente and graduate student Jake Langdon — a transfer from Division I Columbia — to provide balance to the offense in the ground game.
Anchoring the offensive line will be second-year starting right tackle Charlie Katarincic, a Fox Chapel native who played high school football at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Conn., before playing a season at West Virginia.
Along with the 6-foot-4, 280-pound Katarincic, 6-foot-7, 281-pound senior left tackle Sam Alligood and senior left guard Andy Champe are set to provide a veteran presence on the Carnegie Mellon offensive line.
“I think we have a really, really tight-knit group in that room,” Katarincic said. “We have immense pride in moving the line of scrimmage and making the guys behind us look good. It’s a really unselfish group, which is a great quality of an offensive line. I absolutely think we have the ability to change a game this year.”
No. 18 Carnegie Mellon is set to open its season at 10 a.m. Saturday against the University of Chicago at Stagg Field in Chicago.
Katarincic said he and his teammates are excited to get back on the field after getting a taste of postseason success a year ago with an NCAA playoff victory against Centre and then a narrow loss to perennial national power Mount Union the following week.
“A playoff win, I don’t think, really makes anybody super happy,” Katarincic said. “I think it’s championships that do, so that remains the goal. I think last year helped a lot of us realize that was more attainable than we thought and that remains the goal this year.”
Washington & Jefferson, meanwhile, may have lost one of the nation’s top quarterbacks in Thomas Jefferson product Jake Pugh to graduation, but coach Mike Sirianni’s offense will be looking toward its ground game and a pair of sensational returning wide receivers to carry the load.
After splitting a share of the PAC regular-season title with Carnegie Mellon and Grove City a season ago, the Presidents dropped a heartbreaking NCAA playoff decision to Randolph-Macon after taking a two-score first-half lead.
W&J will be looking to get back to the postseason and more this time around.
Senior wide receiver Jacob Macosko, a Peters Township product, caught 83 passes for 1,230 yards and 14 touchdowns a season ago, while classmate John Peduzzi added 57 catches for 1,059 yards and 13 scores.
Senior running back Kobe Derosa is also returning this season. The Laurel product rushed for 427 yards and 10 scores a season ago.
The Presidents open their season at noon Saturday against Utica at Cameron Stadium in Washington.
For the second straight year Grove City also had its season end in heartbreak in 2024.
The Wolverines missed a potential game-tying field-goal attempt with nine seconds remaining in an NCAA second-round playoff loss to Johns Hopkins. A year earlier, a potential game-winning field-goal attempt by Grove City failed to sail through the uprights in a loss to eventual national champion Cortland.
Once again, the Wolverines will be looking toward one of the nation’s top defensive fronts to lead them back to the postseason.
Senior outside linebacker Ben Bladel, a Moon product, is a two-time All-American and already holds school records with 34 sacks and 59 tackles for a loss.
Inside linebackers Caleb Brubaker and Penn-Trafford graduate Jack Jollie will also continue to make an outsized impact.
Brubaker made a team-leading five interceptions a season ago, while also collecting a team-high 74 tackles with two forced fumbles and two defensive touchdowns.
Jollie added 68 tackles a season ago.
Grove City opens its season at noon Saturday against 2023 national champion Cortland at SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex in Cortland, N.Y.
Westminster will look to lean on one of the PAC’s most veteran quarterback-receiver duos in seniors Ty McGowan and Brite Cannon.
McGowan, a Moon graduate, passed for 1,563 yards and completed 67% of his passes, while also throwing for 10 touchdowns in 2024. He connected with Brite for 390 yards and two touchdowns.
The Titans opened their season Thursday night with a 12-8 loss to Marietta at Memorial Field inside Harold Burry Stadium in New Wilmington.
Waynesburg won three of its final five regular-season games in 2024 and will look to build upon that measure of success behind a trio of returning skill-position players on offense.
Senior running back Zayne Cawley rushed for 1,278 yards and nine touchdowns a year ago. He also caught 21 passes for 185 yards and a score.
Wide receiver Tyler Richmond, a Carmichaels product, caught 22 passes for a team-high 454 yards and three touchdowns in 2024, while Southmoreland graduate Isaac Trout chipped in 41 catches for 381 yards and three scores.
The Yellow Jackets open their season at 1 p.m. Saturday against No. 25 John Carroll at John F. Wiley Stadium in Waynesburg.
John is a copy editor and page designer at the Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at jsanta@unionprogress.com.