With a big squad, quality across the board and an open road ahead, Rams looking for big things in Carr’s third season as head coach
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
SALEM – Kemp Carr says he hasn’t heard the expectations. He may be the only one. His players sure have and they’re jumping on them like a loose ball in the end zone.
With all the team movement and reshuffling that has taken place in South Jersey Group I and the talent the Rams have assembled, there is strong talk about this team that just two years ago was winless winning a South Jersey Group 1 championship and even a state crown.
The head coach may not have heard all that, but the Rams aren’t backing away from any of it.
| SALEM RAMS |
| Aug. 29 – at Ironton (Ohio), 1 p.m. |
| Sept. 5 – Paulsboro, noon |
| Sept. 12 – Audubon, noon |
| Sept. 18 – at Schalick, 6 p.m. |
| Sept. 26 – Overbrook, noon |
| Oct. 3 – Woodstown, noon |
| Oct. 9 – at Clayton, 6 p.m. |
| Oct. 10 – at Burlington City, 6 p.m. |
| Oct. 23 – at Pennsville, 6 p.m. |
“Do I believe in it?” Carr said. “My goal ultimately has always been (that). I’ve been doing this for a very long time. If anybody comes in here thinking you’re going to be 0-10, I give up, then I should be in a different business. If anybody thought we were going to be 6-5, I should be in a different business.
“Every year we come in here with a plan, and that’s at the end of the day to be playing in December. That’s always the plan. It ain’t about this year, it ain’t about next year and it ain’t about last year. It’s about 2026-2027 football season. Being in front of us, we have one common goal, and that’s to be 14-0. I don’t believe in expectations. I believe in results and reality. We’re just trying to win one game at a time and we’re trying to layer it.
“I don’t deal with expectations. I’m a reality guy, and the only way you can get there is you’ve got to stack the wins and you’ve got to be playing better than everybody else when it comes to the end of the season. That’s always going to my motto. We have a motto here – our standard is our standard, we don’t deviate from our standard. Our standard is were going to outwork everybody and hopefully the ball bounces our way.”
The reality is the Rams were a lot better in Carr’s second season last year than his winless first one and they’re looking for even more this year – a lot more.
“We’re not ducking any of the expectations,” junior defensive end Tony Merendino said. “I think the expectations when we came over here were very high. We have a bunch of guys who are all ready, we’re hungry for that win, hungry for that state championship. The main mission, that’s what were in for.”
“That’s the goal, nothing else; we want to to go to Rutgers,” running back Isiah Santiago said. “We know there’s a lot on the table right now, so we just have to really put all in.”
The Rams’ confidence is rooted in part in the players’ commitment during the off-season, so much so they were sending Carr videos of their workouts on his summertime trip overseas to confirm they were doing the work.
They have the depth and experience to be the dominant team in the revamped WJFL Diamond Division, and when it comes to Group 1 overall, they don’t have Glassboro to contend with this year. Their battles, at least in the division, are expected to be with Schalick and Paulsboro. The key is staying healthy, staying together and reducing senseless penalties that stifled them at times
“We’re excited for this year,” RB-DB Cashmir Parsley said. “Coming off of last season with a second-round loss (to Glassboro), I feel we should go farther into the playoffs and go to the championship and win and do way better than last year. The work ethic is way different from last year. We work harder this year, everybody’s positive, practice is just different than last year.
“We’re gonna go all the way.,” he added confidently.
Carr welcomed 37 returning players among the 48 he has in camp, the largest group in his three seasons at the helm, and depth across the board.
They have 10 down linemen, six linebackers, four safeties and five corners on a “Blue Storm” defense that held three of its last four opponents last season to a touchdown or less. There are eight linemen, 10 receivers (six slot, four outside), three running backs and two quarterbacks in an offense even faster than the one that put up 30 points or more in four of their six wins. There are 18 juniors and 11 seniors.
The coach called it “on paper, the most quality team I’ve had.”
Ev-ver.
“It’s the deepest we’ve been and they’ve matched some of the other teams’ mindset, leadership,” he said. “It ain’t about the (captain’s) C on your chest, It’s about the quality of work you put in for people who are willing to follow it. I’ve had good teams ending great because they outworked people and I had great teams only be good because they thought they were great.”
“We should be amazing, actually,” Santiago said.
To guide them through, Carr has assembled a “great” staff of 11 assistants, including the program’s first paid female assistant, Operations Coordinator Destiny LeFlore.
Desmund Thomas, a strong-armed quarterback who transferred from Georgia last year, brings his cannon back to the offense in 2026. The Michael Vick play-alike threw for 1,226 yards and 13 touchdowns last year, while rushing for 329 yards and four scores. He’s surrounded by a corps of speedy receivers and protected by a line anchored by first-team Diamond Division returnees Wyatt Irvine and Abdur Jenkins and a trimmed-up 330-pounder Jeremiah Robinson.
The defense will be bolstered by the addition of Merendino. He is nearly back to full form after tearing an ACL while playing for Woodstown last season. He should give the Rams the dynamic outside presence Temple signee Antoine Rogers provided last year while setting the single-season school record for sacks.
“I’m feeling great, feel my play style coming back,” Merendino said. “Ever since I tore my ACL on October 14 of my sophomore year (at Woodbury) I felt like I wouldn’t be coming back the same, but now that I was blessed with a new opportunity to come here, I believe ever since I started my recovery I can become this newer, stronger version of myself.”
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