In 2013, Towson football was on top of the world and playing for the FCS national title. Nine years later, Tigers fans are still waiting for a return to that prominence.

Just a single playoff appearance and no season with over seven wins has came of Towson’s magical run to a 13-win season nearly a decade ago, and as the Tigers took a bit of a step backward in 2021 with a four-win campaign, there’s a right to wonder if another deep postseason run for the program will ever come again.

However, with some intriguing additions across the field, the Tigers could be back in the forefront of competition in the CAA. Still, the word "could" carries a lot of weight in that sentence until it actually happens.

Here’s a look at what Towson football brings to the gridiron for this upcoming season as FloFootball previews every CAA football team ahead of this season’s kickoff:

2021 Season Review

The Rob Ambrose era at Towson has been full of peaks and valleys. Towson football’s 2021 season was no different.

After the program opted out entirely of the 2020 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tigers triumphantly returned to the field this past season with the likes of FBS San Diego State and FCS heavy hitters such as North Dakota State and James Madison on the docket for their return. But even with Towson projected in the league’s preseason poll before the season to finish seventh, two separate three-game losing streaks relegated the Tigers to being tied for ninth at year’s end.

The defense was rough, allowing the CAA’s second-highest point total per game at 28.6, but a general lack of explosiveness on offense (league-low 4.63 yards per play) and struggle to nail down a consistent quarterback — four different players threw at least 10 passes for Towson in 2021 — put a nail early in Towson’s hopes to qualify for its first FCS playoffs since 2018.

Graduate running back Jerry Howard Jr. (961 rushing yards) was a bright spot, but even he was largely powerless in helping the Tigers overcome their defensive shortcomings as they went 0-6 in games in which they allowed at least 28 points.

Offense

Towson needs a quarterback.

Tigers signal-callers combined to throw a league-high 15 interceptions a year ago and finished with the lowest team pass efficiency — a mark that combines several important passing statistics to determine the overall strength of a passing attack — rating in the conference.

Chris Ferguson (11 touchdowns, nine interceptions) took the bulk of the snaps in 2021, but his graduation means that the competition under center at Towson is especially wide-open. Redshirt sophomore Nathan Kent is the only returner that threw passes for Towson last year, going five for 10 for 61 yards and an interception, but the favored man for the job (based on prior accolades alone) is almost certainly UAB transfer Tyler Johnston III.

The 6-foot-2 grad transfer started 21 games in his career with the Blazers, throwing for 35 touchdown passes and helping take the UAB program, which was briefly on hiatus from 2015 to 2017, to two Conference USA titles as the starter in one of college football’s best recent feel-good stories.

Now, Johnston is at Towson, hoping to revitalize another program that less than a decade ago was playing for a national championship. Junior tailback Devin Matthews (274 rushing yards, eight touchdowns) will likely take many of his handoffs, though receiver is more of a question mark with the departure of prior leading pass-catcher Caleb Smith.

Returner and grad student Darian Street (24 receptions, 336 yards) could see an uptick in targets, but keep tabs on Norfolk State transfer Da’Kendall James (58 receptions, 752 yards, five touchdowns in 21 games with the Spartans) and his work, as well.

Defense

Though the offense does play a role in the statistic, Towson ranked at the bottom of the CAA in turnover margin (-6) as its seven interceptions ranked only ahead of Stony Brook league-wide.

Too often, the Tigers were subject to defensive breakdowns, and with its two All-CAA selections from this past year (safety S.J. Brown II and linebacker Christian Dixon) now gone from the program, Towson will need to find replacements — and fast — to prevent more of the same from happening. A pair of redshirt seniors in cornerback Charles Peeples (30 tackles) and redshirt senior Vinnie Shaffer (38 tackles, four sacks) should lead the line in terms of returning talent.

Never give up on a play......Charles Peeples with a strip fumble to get the ball back for Towson!#UnitedWeRoar | #NCAAFCS pic.twitter.com/YZlJI7NdJj

— Towson Football (@Towson_FB) October 23, 2021

But as Towson did at quarterback, it went to the transfer portal to find some immediate and experienced contributors. For instance, the Tigers pulled off one of the in-league transfers of the offseason in nabbing Stony Brook defensive lineman Makye Smith, who tallied 42 tackles with five sacks a year ago for the Seawolves to give the Towson D-line a CAA-proven force on the interior.

He’ll be joined by another new addition in the trenches in Shaheem Haltiwanger, a South Carolina State transfer that helped the Bulldogs win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference this past season and snag a Celebration Bowl title win over Deion Sanders’ Jackson State. But with no returning player on the roster having notched an interception for Towson this past season, however, the secondary appears to have some wrinkles to iron out as the season approaches — a position the Tigers don’t want to find themselves in against the many electric offenses of the CAA.

Wild Card

Though punter Shane McDonough and punt returner D’Ago Hunter were both All-CAA selections in 2021, there were many parts of the Tigers’ special teams unit last season that were really, really rough around the edges. Towson attempted a league-low eight field goals (making four), had the lowest average kickoff return yardage in the conference (33.1) and had the lowest net kickoff coverage yards (35.6) a year ago, making the kicking game more of an issue than an asset on many occasions for the Tigers.

However, there could be better days to come on the tee: UConn transfer Clayton Harris was 11-for-17 kicking in his two-year career with the Huskies, and though the overall 64.7% mark for his career isn’t an eye-popping number, the rate is comparable to the senior season in 2019 of former Tigers kicker Aidan O’Neill — Towson and the CAA’s all-time leader in converted field goals.

McDonough’s transfer to NC State in the offseason complicates things in the punting game, however, with no other player having booted a punt for the program since 2018. Any of the four listed punters on the roster could handle the duties (including Harris and returning kicker Keegan Vaughan), but new Australian punter Riley Williams — a product of the ProKick Australia academy that’s produced numerous pro kickers from the Land Down Under — could see some action, too.

Game to Watch: vs. New Hampshire, 4 p.m. (ET) Sept. 24

Considering that the usually mighty New Hampshire had a major down year in 2021, Towson’s 26-14 defeat to the Wildcats in Week 2 of 2021 likely had the Tigers feeling a bit disappointed at the outcome — and it didn’t help that the result came immediately before the gauntlet of North Dakota State and San Diego State back-to-back.

Towson gets its FBS opponent for the season (West Virginia) before the New Hampshire game this time, and considering that UNH has a new outright head coach in Rick Santos for the first time since 1999, there’s definitely a bit of an adjustment period on the horizon for the program. How the Tigers perform in their CAA opener against the Wildcats at home could be a bit of a hint of what’s to come in the conference season ahead, especially if Towson’s quarterback issues are resolved and some of the defensive kinks are worked out.