A consensus All-American, he broke a slew of Fordham and Patriot League records, including most passing yards (4,891) and most touchdowns (56) in a season, plus career marks for completions (1,032) and passing yards (13,454). He was named the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year—for the third straight time—and in January, he was the runner-up for the Stats Perform Walter Payton Award, which honors the offensive player of the year in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).

Throughout his Fordham career, DeMorat demonstrated poise in the clutch. “I’ve always thought that I’ve had that ‘clutch gene,’” he told The Transfer Portal CFB earlier this month. “You trust in your teammates—they make great plays for me—and trust in the coaches. I love to be in those high-pressure situations. I feel like that’s when I play my best, throw my best balls.”

The Florida native, a communication and media studies major, added that he’s preparing for the 2023 NFL Draft, set for April 27 to 29. “I want to play in the NFL, so I’m going to train for that and see what happens. … It’s always been the goal, it’s always been the dream,” he said.

Watch the full interview:

But from the time he entered Fordham College at Rose Hill, the Pennsylvania native sought to put together a resume that would lead to a career in the pros. And what a resume it turned out to be, even with the missed time in his final season. Edmonds finished his Fordham career not only as the school’s all-time leader in rushing yards, touchdowns, and rushing touchdowns, but also as the Patriot League’s all-time leader in those categories as well.

Edmonds’ body of work didn’t go unnoticed; in April he was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the fourth round of the NFL draft. It’s the highest a Ram had been taken in the draft since 1943 and the first time a Fordham player had been drafted since the Cardinals took quarterback John Skelton in the fifth round in 2010.

As Edmonds tells it, his doubters only served to motivate him.

“Always being considered undersized, it just brings out a chip on your shoulder,” he said. “I think there’s no better feeling than proving people wrong. I love it. I take pride in it.”

At Fordham, the accolades piled up. As a freshman in 2014, he won the Jerry Rice Award as the top NCAA Football Championship Subdivision rookie. The following year, he was named the Patriot League’s offensive player of the year. And in his junior year, he was a consensus first-team All-American and finished fourth in the voting for the Walter Payton Award, given to the top offensive player in the NCAA FCS. He finished his career with 5,862 career rushing yards, the fifth most in NCAA FCS history.

Edmonds continued to impress even after his Fordham career ended: At the annual NFL Scouting Combine earlier this year, he finished first among all running backs in two of seven events, and third in another.

In 2014, Edmonds got big news just days before his first Fordham training camp: He learned he was going to be a father. Now a dad to 3-year-old daughter Avery, he sees similarities to that life-changing period as he embarks on his pro career. “I didn’t have a lot of schools that liked me coming out of high school, but Fordham absolutely loved me and believed in my talents,” he said. “And though I struggled my senior year with injuries, Arizona still loved me, and they made that apparent when I went down to visit them.”

Added Edmonds, “You only need one team to like you, just like you only need one college to like you. Everything so far has panned out. Now I’ve got to put in the work, and continue to make it pan out.”

—Joe DeLessio, FCLC ’06

Over six days at the combine, which will take place at Lucas Oil Stadium, players are tested both on the field and off, performing a series of drills, tests and interviews with more than 600 NFL personnel including head coaches, general managers and scouts.

For the entire list of invitees to the 2010 NFL Scouting Combine, click here.

Prior to the NFL Combine, Skelton will appear in the 2010 East-West Shrine Game, “America’s Premier College All-Star Football Game”, on January 23, 2010, at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando. He will be just the third player out of the Patriot League to appear in the game, joining Gordie Lockbaum (Holy Cross, 1987) and Adam Bergen (Lehigh, 2004).

Skelton wrapped up a record-shattering career for the Rams this fall, closing out the year completing 284 of 441 passes (64.4%) for 3,708 yards and 26 touchdowns. He set new school marks for completions and passing yards, breaking Kevin Eakin’s former school records of 247 completions for 3,072 yards set in 2003 as well as breaking Steve O’Hare’s completion percentage record of 63.1% set in 1997. Skelton led the NCAA FCS in passing yards/game (337.09) and was ranked second in total offense (348.18 yards/game), fourth in completions per game (25.82) and total passing yards and tenth in passing efficiency (149.95).

Skelton threw for over 300 yards eight times in eleven games this year, including four 400-yard games. He completed 20 of 27 passes for 420 yards and five touchdowns against Cornell on October 17th, breaking the school record of 413 passing yards set by Joe Moorhead in 1995 and coming up one shy of the school record for scoring passes of six, set by Kevin Eakin in 2003. Skelton then broke his own record two weeks later, completing 43 of 67 passes for 427 yards, all school records, against Holy Cross on October 31st. He finished one passing attempt shy of the NCAA FCS record for most pass attempts in a game without an interception, just missing the national mark of 68 set by Marshall’s Tony Petersen against Western Carolina in 1987 (Peterson completed 34). Skelton surpassed his own school record of 420 passing yards in a game while breaking Matt Georgia’s 1999 records of 36 completions and 65 attempts.

Over his career, Skelton completed 802 passes for 9,923 yards and 69 touchdowns, all school marks. He shattered Joe Moorhead’s career completions record of 518 while also surpassing Eakin’s career marks for passing yards (6,112) and touchdowns (45).

– Joe DiBari

It is the second honor that Skelton received this past spring. In May, he was named Honorable Mention Preseason All-American by the Consensus Draft Services for the second consecutive year.

Skelton was listed ninth among the senior quarterback prospects for 2009 by NFL.com’s Gil Brandt. University of Florida signal caller Tim Tebow was ranked first, followed by Colt McCoy of the University of Texas and Dan LeFevour of Central Michigan University.

Rounding out the top 10 were Jarrett Brown (West Virginia), Tim Hiller (Western Michigan), Zac Robinson (Oklahoma State), Toy Pike (Cincinnati), Juice Williams (Illinois), Skelton and Max Hall (BYU).

Skelton completed 228 of 372 passes last fall for 2,605 yards and 15 touchdowns, bringing his career totals to 518 completions for 6,215 yards and 43 touchdowns. He broke Kevin Eakin’s all-time Fordham record of 6,112 passing yards while tying Joe Moorhead’s mark for career completions.

Skelton is also just two passes shy of tying Eakin’s career record for touchdown passes while his 56.2 percent career completion percentage is fifth best in Fordham history.

Skelton has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 20 of the 23 games over the past two years, while recording 14 200-plus yard passing games, including three 300-plus yard games.

His 228 completions last fall rank Skelton fourth on the Fordham single season list, while his 2,605 passing yards are the sixth best total, just behind the 2,650 yards he threw for in 2007.

Fordham will open the 2009 season at 1 p.m. on Sept. 5, when the Rams travel to Kingston, R.I., to face the University of Rhode Island.

The Rams, undefeated in their previous five games, took the lead in the first quarter and never relinquished it, much to the delight of a standing-room-only crowd of 8,300 (Fordham’s largest crowd on the NCAA FCS level), at Coffey Field. Rams sophomore James Crockett sealed the Crusaders’ fate when he intercepted the ball at the Fordham 20 with 10 seconds left on the clock.

The Rams’ win put the team at 8-2 overall on the year, a perfect 5-0 in the Patriot League, while Holy Cross fall to 6-3 overall, 3-1 in the conference. The Rams also regained possession of the Ram-Crusader Cup after losing it to Holy Cross following last year’s loss. Fordham has now won six of the last seven match-ups with the Crusaders.

The game featured the top two offenses in the Patriot League but it turned into a defensive battle, thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Noel, which brought gusty winds to Jack Coffey Field.

“I told the TV guys during the week that it wouldn’t be a high scoring game,” said Fordham head coach Tom Masella. “We run very similar offenses and so our defenses are used to it. And it was also hard to throw the ball with the high winds today.”

The Rams countered the winds with a strong running game, led by senior running back Jonte Coven, who gained a career-high 167 yards on 29 carries, including a 61-yard touchdown run.

“We’ve been waiting for this moment for four years,” said Coven. “And now that it’s here it’s a phenomenal feeling.”

The Rams got on the board first, taking over for their first possession, following a Holy Cross punt, on their own 28. Four plays later, Coven turned the left side and raced 61 yards to the end zone and a 7-0 Fordham lead 2:22 into the contest.

Later in the quarter, Fordham took over on its own 28 following a punt and three straight runs by Xavier Martin netted 46 yards, putting the ball on the Holy Cross 26. On the next play, John Skelton found Cody Kritzer with a pass on the ten and Kritzer took it in for a 14-0 Ram lead with two seconds left in the first.

The Crusaders got on the board midway through the second quarter, covering 66 yards on five plays with Randolph hooking up with Ryan Maher on a short pass that Maher turned into a 30-yard scoring play with 7:43 remaining in the half.

The game would remain 14-7 until the Rams lined up to punt from midfield in the third quarter. Josh Jenkins attempted to field the punt on the Holy Cross four but he fumbled the ball into the end zone where Crockett fell on it for a 21-7 Fordham advantage with 4:18 left in the third.

Holy Cross answered immediately, covering 64 yards on six plays with Randolph finding McDermott in the front corner of the end zone to cut the Crusaders’ deficit back to seven, 21-14, with 2:32 left in the third.

The Rams took a 24-14 lead midway through the fourth quarter as Adam Danko connected on a 32-yard field goal with 6:30 remaining, capping a 13-play, 61-yard drive for the Rams that ate up 6:21 on the clock. Fordham converted on three third downs on the drive before it was halted on the Holy Cross 14.

Holy Cross responded quickly, moving 60 yards on seven plays with Dominic Randolph connecting with Brett McDermott on a two-yard scoring strike with 4:06 left to make it a 24-21 game. Randolph completed all six of his pass attempts on the drive for 51 yards and he rushed for the other nine.

Following the ensuing kickoff, the Rams took over on their own 21 with three straight Coven carries picking up nine yards as the Rams faced a fourth and one from their own 29. After a Holy Cross timeout, Skelton kept on a quarterback sneak, picking up two yards and a first down. On the next play, Coven took a handoff outside and fumbled, but the ball went out of bounds before Holy Cross could gain possession.

The Fordham drive stalled two plays later and the Rams punted the ball back to Holy Cross with 1:26 remaining and the Crusaders out of timeouts.

Randolph moved the Crusaders down to the Fordham 42, completing a big third and ten pass from the Holy Cross 45, before he had a pass picked off by Fordham’s James Crockett on the Fordham 20 with ten seconds left. It was just the sixth interception thrown by Randolph this year.

Crockett led the Fordham defense with seven tackles, four solo, including one for a loss and two pass deflections, while Earl Hudnell also came up with seven stops, four solo, including three for a loss.

The Rams will next be in action on Saturday, Nov. 17, as they close out the regular season with a Patriot League match-up against Bucknell on Jack Coffey Field at 1 p.m.