New London — Coast Guard Academy’s senior captains, Conner McGuire and Jake Monson, don’t remember being quite this outgoing when they were freshmen on the football team.

“They come right out of a training environment. They look up to the upper class cadets. That’s the standard here. Everything’s sort of new to them; they’re still shell-shocked from being yelled at (during Swab Summer) and stuff,” McGuire said Wednesday.

“These guys, a lot of them that came out — they went to (Naval Prep) last year — they showed their personalities right away. It wasn’t like talking to a normal fourth class.”

Coast Guard opens the season at home at 1:30 p.m. Saturday against the University of New England, a team the Bears defeated 16-0 last year in Biddeford, Maine.

Because Coast Guard has a smaller roster, listing just 58 players, the freshmen figure to contribute right away. There are seven freshmen listed on the Bears’ depth chart, including three backup offensive linemen and backup running back Jacob Hardy from La Canada, California.

Freshman Amr Baadani from Fairfax, Virginia, is projected as a starting kick returner, having averaged 125 all-purpose yards per game as a senior in high school as a returner and wide receiver.

The freshmen don’t just have personality. They have talent.

But their approach helps.

“It definitely helps on the football field,” McGuire said. “They want to go ask questions and learn. It’s just easier for them which makes it easier for us to help them. They’re a good group of guys. They’re skilled football players. I think definitely them reaching out and talking to us helps them adapt to what we’re doing here.

“I’m happy to play with them. I’m excited to play with them.”

Likewise, the freshmen can rely on Monson and McGuire should they have questions. Both captains have moved positions in their career and both missed their sophomore season due to COVID-19, with Coast Guard playing only rival Kings Point in 2020.

Monson, a 6-foot, 240-pound Southington grad who has been on the offensive and defensive lines for the Bears before settling back at left guard, will help protect sophomore quarterback Joey Armentrout as well as paving the way for running backs Spencer McMillion and Hardy.

The 6-3, 230-pound McGuire, formerly a linebacker, will start on the defensive line for the second straight season. He was third on the team last year with 56 tackles and had four tackles for a loss and two sacks. McGuire is a native of Duncannon, Pennsylvania.

“Both these guys have been leaders the way they carry themselves, the way they act,” Coast Guard third-year coach C.C. Grant said of the captains. “I think it’s a testament when you get voted a captain here because what we don’t get to see is the way they act up here (in the residence hall), but the other players do.

“When they vote you as a captain, you understand the privilege that these guys feel.”

Coast Guard finished 2-8 last season with seven straight losses, coming off the COVID-shortened season in 2020.

Monson describes this unit as “like how a football team should be.” He recalls his freshman season at Coast Guard, describing himself as a third-stringer with nothing to say.

“These guys, they’re getting the reps at practice, they have more of a say,” Monson said. “We’ve got to teach them more because there’s a higher chance they get out on the field. You got to have regular conversations with them, like football talks, instead of like, for me, I could have not learned a single thing and my team would have been all right my freshman year.”

Monson called this year’s preseason the most intense one in his four years at the academy.

“I’m not sure if it’s higher-paced play by the offense and that’s what’s causing it,” Monson said. “It’s just been faster, more physical, everything, all around.”

“It’s been a lot of fun,” McGuire said. “It’s gone fast but there’s also been this sort of underlying anticipation this whole time, like, ’UNE’s coming.’ We’re finally going to get to be back on the field together.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com