In short, Harvard’s got its work cut out for it. Although it has the benefit of returning a strong group of rising seniors on offense, including Gordon and fellow All-Ivy honorees Chris Lorditch, Brent Osborne, and Nicolai Schwarzkopf, and is bringing back plenty of starters on defense, the other top Ivy squads are coming back as strong as ever.

Like the Crimson, Brown and Penn have graduated several key players. The Bears’ fearsome wide receiver duo of Bobby Sewall and Buddy Farnham is gone, as is the Quakers’ formidable linebacker, Jake Lewko.

All three signed NFL contracts on Monday (as did James Williams, who inked a deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers).

But both Brown and Penn are bringing back their quarterbacks. Kyle Newhall-Caballero separated himself from the pack of Ivy signal-callers last season, earning first-team All-Ivy honors for the Bears, and if Quaker Keiffer Garton can stay healthy, he has the potential to be one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in the league.

Princeton and Cornell have new coaches at the helm as they look to climb the Ivy ladder. Yale coach Tom Williams will be hell-bent on proving that he belongs in New Haven after a risky gamble cost the Bulldogs The Game last season. Dartmouth’s young team—including Nick Schweiger, a first-team All-Ivy running back—will benefit from an added year of experience, and Columbia is bringing back a trio of All-Ivy athletes.

As of now, it’s anybody’s title.

Football fans will have to wait until September to see how it all shakes out. But for Winters, Hatch, and the rest of the Harvard football team, the battle has already begun.

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kdleist@fas.harvard.edu.