‘We’ve got some players’

Salem CC coach Accorsi welcomes nearly 100 players – with more expected – to the first day of the Mighty Oaks’ first preseason camp

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Jay Accorsi stood in front of the room eagerly awaiting his chance to address his players for the first time and as he watched them file in and take their seats he couldn’t help but crack a smile.

He had spoken to them individually over the last 10 months as he put together Salem CC’s first football team in school history, but this was the first time he had them together as a group. The head coach and his staff checked in 95 players Monday on the first day of the Mighty Oaks’ first preseason camp.

“It was an athletic looking group,” Accorsi said. “You meet them and you talk to them and you watch film and you do an open house and all that, but when they were in the room walking around in between meetings just my impression is we’re going to be pretty athletic. I was looking around, like, man, we’ve got some players.

“We’ve got a lot of impressive young men, I’m very excited. We had some people in and they came over and said the guys are nice, they’re polite, they’re very well spoken. Those things matter to me. Those were kind of the foundation of what we want to build with this team, not just football players, but good young men who want to work hard in a lot of different things. I’m looking around like I think we’ll be competitive.”

The Mighty Oaks had anticipated an initial group of 118 players. Experience has taught Accorsi not everybody was going to make it that first day for various reasons. Some who didn’t show Monday are expected to arrive Tuesday. And there were even some surprises among those who did.

“Pretty much what I thought it would be,” Accorsi said. “But the nice part is a couple guys showed up that I didn’t know, and there were a couple other guys we were in contact with today that we’re working on that will be pleasant additions. I told you it’s going to be a very fluid situation, but we had like 94 or 95, which I’m ecstatic about.

“I know when (president) Mike Gorman talked to the team this morning he was really excited to see that many in there ready to go. It was a great day, it really was.”

Monday was the first of three administration days to open camp and Accorsi said they accomplished everything they planned to do on Day One. In addition to checking in, the players went through an orientation that included presentations from Gorman, athletics director Bob Hughes and other administrators, a nutritionist and the coaches. They broke out in meetings with their position coaches and got in a little more football than the head coach anticipated.

“It was good to start to do football things for a change instead of all the necessary things that have to be done,” Accorsi said.

The Mighty Oaks are expected to hit the field for the first time Thursday and go in full pads for the first time the following Thursday. They have a scrimmage scheduled for Aug. 21 at Montclair and open their inaugural season Aug. 29 against Hudson Valley at Pennsville High School. The ticketing process went live through Pennsville’s electronic ticketing app earlier today.

“You want to try to do all the team building things, which are really important, and it was really cool to see them meet other players and sit and have lunch and laugh, all the socialization things you just don’t think about that you plan for,” Accorsi said of the first day. “That was just really cool today.

“That’s probably the thing I missed the most when I decided to retire and wanted to come back and do this, just being around young men and having them talk about football but then laugh and joke and have a good time. It was a lot of fun and it was great to see. I’m going to imagine if you asked any of them they had a great day. That’s all I really want out of today. They had a great experience and that they want to come back and be here tomorrow, which I think will be the case.”