2022 Season Preview: Northwestern Trojans

Brandon Stockdale July 18, 2022 @ 05:00 PM

Despite the challenges that COVID-19 has brought across the board over the last two years, Northwestern has made a deep run in the playoffs and came two games away from a state title appearance, finishing 11-2 in 2021. But for Northwestern coach Page Wofford, this is his first real summer since he took over as head coach in the summer of 2019. “The program has developed the past few years into something the school, school district and the city of Rock Hill can be proud of,” Wofford said. The biggest question Northwestern will have to answer is at quarterback. Will Mattison is off at Gardner Webb University. Greer Hopkins appears to be the tentative starter – and he’ll have a strong starring cast to back him up. The majority of the offensive line returns which includes left guard [player_tooltip player_id="202764" first="Marcus" last="Macon"], right guard Luigi Rizzon, right tackle Vance Ventry. The leader of the Trojan offensive line is left tackle [player_tooltip player_id="89343" first="Jordan" last="Knox"], who committed to Northwestern University over the summer. At the skill positions, running back [player_tooltip player_id="265222" first="Turbo" last="Richard"] (cover picture above) returns for his junior season after rushing for 1054 yards and 8 touchdowns averaging 6.1 yards per carry in 2021. Wide receiver [player_tooltip player_id="146372" first="Elijah" last="Caldwell"] is considered one of the top wide receivers in the state in the 2023 class and will be a home run threat any time he catches the ball in 2022. He had 77 receptions for 1247 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2021. He committed to play for Neal Brown and the West Virginia Mountaineers over the summer. On defense, the Trojans should be strong again up front with Jeremiah McDowell (12.5 tackles and 5 TFLs for loss in 2021) and Joe Grant (4 tackles and 3 TFLs in 2021) on the defensive line. A duo of linebackers return with DJ Jackson (36 tackles and 9.5 TFLs in 2021) and Tre Wilmore (18 tackles and 4 TFLs). The one thing to watch will be who will step up in the secondary as the Trojans graduated a number of seniors from the 2021 team. The schedule will shift for Northwestern as they move from 5A to 4A in 2022 with games against Lancaster, Indian Land, York, South Pointe and Catawba Ridge. The non-region schedule is headlined with a rematch of last year’s playoff game against Gaffney at District 3 Stadium on Sept. 16. “We look forward to displaying our hard work to the rest of the state this season.”