PEMBROKE — Few football teams anywhere finished the 2023 season with as much momentum as UNC Pembroke.

The Braves earned dominant victories in each of their last four games, completing Mark Hall’s first season as head coach at 7-3 and giving them plenty to build on into 2024.

With the new season set to begin next Saturday, when Wingate visits Grace P. Johnson Stadium, UNCP will look to build off of Hall’s debut and turn it to an even more successful season.

“I think for us, there’s a lot more comfortability our staff, being here for two offseasons now, two recruiting classes, one season, with the way we finished (last season),” Hall said. “It was great to finish the way we did, but that doesn’t guarantee us anything this year, but I think the foundation of what our program is is set.”

“We haven’t let up,” senior defensive end Jamae Blank said. “We’ve got the foot on the gas, pedal to the metal; we’ve honestly carried it into the offseason and into fall camp, and we feel good about fall camp coming in and we feel good about this matchup (against Wingate).”

The Braves have been practicing for about two weeks now, and feel that those sessions have been strong and productive.

“I’m proud about is the competition we have, and every day we’re going good on good,” senior quarterback Colin Johnson said. “It’s really been like iron sharpens iron. … I think that’s good for us; in the season, obviously we’re going to face adversity sometime, so we’ve got to bounce back from it and just keep fighting.”

“Honestly, just the preparation, that’s what we’ve been focusing on,” Blank said. “The separation is in the preparation, and we’ve been focusing on trying to gel together, and who we are as a team, our identity.”

Entering the program’s final year in the Mountain East Conference — with Conference Carolinas set to sponsor football in 2025 — the Braves want to end their MEC tenure by winning the league.

“If we don’t go 11-0 and we don’t win a conference championship, we came up short,” Blank said. “That’s the goal right now. But we’ve got to focus on day one. (There’s) 11 championship rounds in this championship bout, and we’re just focusing on round one.”

For Hall, that means focusing on one game at a time, with the first test coming in next week’s opener.

“We’ve got a really good team, and we’re going to put ourselves in a position to win a lot of football games, so we’ve really just tried to emphasize the details and staying together and practicing hard and playing hard, and let the chips fall where they may,” Hall said. “For the last month, that’s all we’ve talked about is coming out here every day, getting better and doing what we’ve got to do to beat Wingate.”

Offense

UNCP scored 40.4 points per game in 2023, a school record, including a 68-point output in the season finale against Concord, a Braves single-game record.

With many of the key players from that unit back, the Braves offense should once again be potent this fall.

“We’re going to be a physical offense, for sure,” Johnson said. “We’re going to run the ball, we’re going to get our guys the ball in space, get our playmakers out there.”

Johnson passed for 1,885 yards and accounted for 31 touchdowns, 20 through the air and 11 rushing.

“He’s just a pro’s pro; he goes about his business so mature, he handles himself off the field great, he studies,” Hall said. “I don’t have to worry about that guy being prepared, he practices every day, and I expect him to have a huge season.”

“Obviously we’ve got guys that can make plays, so I don’t have to do everything myself,” Johnson said. “I’m just trying to get the ball in the best place, so I’m just working on making smart football plays.”

Sincere Baines, the 2023 MEC Freshman of the Year after rushing for nearly 800 yards and 11 touchdowns, and Ja’Quan Kelly lead the backfield, while Antonio Crim should also contribute in his return from injury.

“That’s going to be a strength of our offense. Sincere and Quan are special players,” Hall said. “(Crim) had a great offseason, he’s had a great camp, and so I think he’ll have a role in that backfield as well and he’s brought into that, so I think we’ve got three guys that we really believe in.”

E.J. Gatling and Diaz Alexander are key returners in the receiving corps, while Josiah Hayes is back at full strength after an injury-plagued 2023.

“We feel like we’ve vastly improved at receiver, with just speed and talent and playmaking and depth, so I think there’s going to be some names that get talked about soon with those guys,” Hall said.

At tight end, Hall expects Jayden Smith to make a big impact on the Braves’ offense this season.

“Jayden Smith is realistically one of our most valuable players,” Hall said. “He has gotten so much better this offseason, so I’m fired up for him.”

Four starters return on the offensive line, with Phillip Tonsel-White at center, Chris Russell and Jacob Perry at the guard positions and Hunter Turner at left tackle. While the right tackle position remains a question, Hall says a few players are competing well for that spot.

Defense

Defensively, the Braves allowed 18.9 points per game in 2023, including 28 total points over the four-game winning streak to end the season. Now, they’re looking to be even more aggressive on that side of the ball this fall.

“(There will be) a whole lot of flying around, a whole lot of click clack, a whole lot of pads popping,” Blank said. ‘We’re just being electric; that’s all it is, just electrifying energy.”

Blank, the 2023 MEC Defensive Player of the Year, had 12.5 sacks last season, a program record. He and fellow defensive end Malik McKinzie will be the leading returners on the defensive line, along with Cam Berry and freshman Tyquese Graham.

“Everything we do starts up front on both sides of the ball, and Coach (Colin) Neely does a great job with the defense and he coaches the D-line with Coach (Gilberto) Ortiz,” Hall said. “Having those two D-ends really makes it easy.”

Linebacker Evan VanMeter, in his fifth year in the Braves program, is one of the leaders on the defense. He’s joined in the linebacking corps by Jayden Nesbit, Virginia Tech transfer J.R. Walker and Mike Matthews.

“I think you’ll see those four guys, and then we have a group of freshman that we’ve brought in as well, that have competed and have really upped the athleticism in our group, and we’re certainly deeper and more athletic there than we were last year,” Hall said.

Caleb Hester and Justin Foreman are key returners in the secondary, while N.C. State transfer Darius Edmundson and Virginia transfer Carlo Thompson will make an immediate impact; Hall also expects freshman James Johnson to contribute.

“I think we’re going to have a deep group there as well, a lot of competition, a lot of depth,” Hall said.

Special teams

Kicker Ty Woods was 9-for-9 on field goals as a freshman, but has competition for placekicking duties for 2024.

“Ty Woods will certainly be in the mix in some form or fashion,” Hall said. “And then we have a couple of other kids that we either signed this year or last year. We feel really good, we’ve got four or five guys that can kick, punt, long snap. That’s been a competition.”

Hayes will be a dynamic part of the Braves’ special teams as a punt returner, while Baines will be the primary kick returner, though the team has several other options at each position as well.

“That was one of the big reasons why we wanted (Hayes); obviously we feel like he’s great at receiver, but his strength — I competed against Jo, our teams did, when he was at Elizabeth City, and … we saw firsthand how dynamic he is in the punt return game,” Hall said. ‘We’re going to make an emphasis and put Sincere back there as a kick returner. Last year he had some nice returns, and even though he’s our starting running back we’re going to put him back there and let him do what he does.”