Kean football team remains confident despite rocky start

Kean University’s football team has had a bit of a rocky start. The team lost three out of the first five games. However, neither Head Coach Daniel Garrett nor linebacker Dante Capozzoli are shaken by this.

“We hang our hat on doing the right thing,” Garrett said. “Right now the right thing is continuing to work hard and focus on getting better. Focus on doing your job and focus on the little things.”

Despite the team losing three out of their first five games, there are still plenty of games left for them to redeem themselves. They are staying the course and working very hard to continue to get better each week.

Garrett has asked the team to maintain three things: “competitive excellence, competitive pressure, and competitive spirit.” Multitasking can be a difficult task, especially for football players already being students.

Coach Daniel Garrett. Photo Courtesy of Kean Athletics.

“No one wants to be where we are record wise,” Garrett said. “We do have a tight knit group of young men who believe in our program. I am extremely proud to be their head coach because they continue to do the right things on and off the field as student-athletes.”

Garrett went on to say that there are quite a few things the team can control. Some examples being, “your hustle, your speed, your drive, and your effort.” However, not everything can be controlled.

“We can’t go back and change the first 4-5 games, but we can learn from them and continue to get better,” Garrett said. “Failure is only fatal if we choose not to learn from it.”

Losing might not be taken so lightly in football, but Garrett is incredibly determined to stay in the fight this season.

Dante Capozzoli was recently named NJAC Defensive Player of the Week. According to Kean Athletics, he was awarded the title for having the “most tackles by an NJAC player in a contest this season during the Cougars’ season-opening defeat to Springfield.”

Dante Capozzoli. Photo Courtesy of Kean Athletics

“We are taking things one week at a time and coming off a big shutout win against William Paterson was huge for us,” Capozzoli said.“We work hard every week no matter what our record is.”