Pace Football (0-1, 0-0 NE-10) has undergone a dramatic change in the past year before they play their 2016 home opener this Friday against the 2015 Northeast-10 (NE-10) Champs Assumption College at Pace Stadium.

Football’s looking to build off of their successes and failures from the previous year with both returning players and fresh recruits.

Head Coach Andrew Rondeau, who’s entering his third year, believes that the team’s shown the most growth physically and mentally in the past year.

“It’s the maturity in which they go about their business,” Rondeau said. “We have guys who want to be here and they work at it every day and they understand what the expectations are. It’s not to say they’re perfect but they really get what they are trying to do.”

Running backs Michael Scotman, Delaney Wallace, and Jhalen Bien Aime have been the workhorses in the backfield for two years now and set the tone for the team’s running game.

Scotman and Wallace totaled 1,423 yards with seven touchdowns last year, while Bien Aime adds another dimension to the ground game looking explosive as ever coming back from a season ending injury last season.

“I’m comfortable being in a position where my coaches can lean on me and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure I hold guys accountable and people are doing things right and most importantly,” Scotman said.

The Setters welcome red-shirt junior quarterback Jason Habash feels like it’s his job to help everyone work together as one.

“There’s times when I’m going to be loud and when I need to pick people up, and times when I’m going to be quiet and focused and people are going to notice that,” said Habash, who transferred from Division I FBS San Jose State. “That’s how I’m going to lead and how we execute as an offense. It’s like a machine if one person’s not in it it’s not going to work.”

The team’s defense moved up in skill after moving ex-linebacker Kadeem Langhorne to defensive end. Langhorne’s physical and explosive style adapts well to the front four, according to Defensive Coordinator Damien Mincey.

“He has an understanding for the game and some things that you just can’t teach,” Mincey said. “He uses his quickness and explosive nature at defensive line and he’s a good player for us and will continue to be so.”

The defensive core is headed by linebackers Kenneth Riley and Matt Corrie as well as Micah Hunter, a veteran cornerback, who looks have strong 2016 season. Hunter lead the team in interceptions (3) and defensive TD’s (2) last year.

The defensive unit wants to bring the best out of their teammates and make sure they are all insync.

“Throughout the summer and fall camp we created something that is unique and we want to bring that together.” Hunter said. “When we have everyone on the same page things start to click more and it shows,”

The Setters season has already picked up after their 28-7 loss at Millersville University last Thursday. Pace hosts Assumption this Friday at 7:00 pm