Campbell's Brody Pinciaro (40) tries to elude ILM's Jackson Downs, left, during last year's quarterfinal loss to Inter-Lakes in Litchfield. (File phPhoto by Dan Attorri)

(Editor’s Note: This is part of The Telegraph’s annual Football Preview Tab Insert Section that will be found in this Sunday’s Telegraph print edition, complete with schedules, last year’s results, team photos, and much more)

LITCHFIELD – Take a look back through football history, and examine the era of the University of Michigan football in the 1920s.

Hello, single wing, with basically no quarterback.

Hello, Campbell High School football in 2026, a century later.

Scrap the idea of a traditional football, as the Cougars graduated Mikey Grace and really had no backup a year ago or developed a QB over the last couple of years. So Campbell coach Glen Costello had this old-time, ground and pound offense in mind if Grace, who threw a little, got hurt.

And now that he’s graduated, hello new offense.

“We’re going to go 1920s Michigan football,” Costello said. “With a fullback and blocking back.”

“The offensive line will be the strength of our football team,” said Costello, who is returning seven or eight on both sides of the ball from a team that was 6-3, losing three of its last four.

The key linemen: Seniors Caleb Vaillancourt and Christian Roy (both 6-4, 240), starting since their sophomore years. Senior Jude Smith and junior Colby Lavoie will be back, they’re both very athletic. And don’t forget the tight end, with seniors Evan Ducatelli and Sage Anctil doing the job. The Cougars are so good up front they were the smallest school in a Lineman Challenge at Manchester West over the summer and finished second behind Portsmouth.

And at fullback, Joel Ducatelli and Ethan Johnson will do the pounding so heralded back Brody Pinciaro, now a junior, doing the grounding.

“He’s got bigger, faster, stronger,” said Costello, as Pinciaro is up to 180, putting on 10-15 pounds of muscle. “If we can stay healthy, I would imagine he’s at least a 2,000-yard rusher.”

And Pinciaro can throw a pass or two. That Michigan offense used the halfback pass, and was unbalanced up front. Amazing.

Two new faces offensively are senior Tyler Breton and Calvin Yule (junior). They can carry the ball a handful of times as a wingback and can be targets for Pinciaro.

Defensively, the linemen just switch sides, while key linebackers are Anctil and Ethan Johnson, Lavoie and even Pinciaro. Ducatelli will get reps too.

“We have depth at linebacker,” Costello said.

In the secondary, Ben Raikey, a senior, will be at free safety after he was the Most Improved Cougar last year. Costello expects Division III will be more pass oriented than in the past.

Newcomer Eric Ngwa will help out on defense as well as a junior.

Up front, Costello will go with a couple of different looks. There’s the beef, and there’s also some quickness with some smaller players like senior Ben Robinson and junior Jackson Lucas.

“Hopefully we’ll have size and athleticism,” Costello said. “Our depth is going to be a question mark, but this senior class has played a lot of football over the years.”

The numbers are around 37. Costello normally likes to have around 40.

Campbell will be playing most of their games at night now as well, although the opener at home vs. Inter-Lakes – the team that ousted the Cougars in last year’s first round, a stunning result – will be at its traditional 11 a.m.time. But after a bye and two road games, the Cougars will rent lights for their remaining home games in October.

The Cougars season ended abruptly when Inter-Lakes came and knocked them off. How hungry is this team?

“I think last year was a very teachable moment for the program,” Costello said. “The expectations were very high and obviously we didn’t meet those expectations on multiple front.

“This senior class is very dialed in, wants to change and get back to old Campbell football.”

Perfect since it may mean turning back the clock.