2019 Wagner Seahawks Football Wagner (0-0, 0-0) at UConn (0-0, 0-0 AAC) Thursday, August 29 , 2019 7:00 PM Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field (40,000) / East Hartford, CT Wagner-UConn Scene-Setter Wagner At a Glance East Hartford, CT - The Wagner College Seahawks, under the Location: ............................................Staten Island, NY direction of fifth-year head coach Jason Houghtaling (Ho-tail— President: Dr. Joel W. Martin (Birmingham-Southern, 1979) ing), open the 2019 season with a stern test opposite FBS foe Athletics Director: ................................. Walt Hameline and AAC member, UConn, on the road this Thursday, August Head Football Coach: ......................Jason Houghtaling 29 with a 7:00 p.m. kickoff set in a game that can be seen live Record at Wagner: ................................. 15-29/4th year Play-by-Play: Doug Sherman on ESPN 3. Overall Record: .................................................... Same Color Analyst: Tyoka Jackson Director: Christian Ackerknecht Media Relations: .......................................John Beisser 88th Season of Seahawk Football Producer: Rick Willenzik Beisser Office Phone: ..........................(718) 390-3227 Thursday’s season opener at UConn kicks off the 88th season of Beisser Email:[email protected] intercollegiate football at Wagner College. In the 88 season-opening games, the Seahawks’ all-time record is 46-40-2. In four season openers under Coach Houghtaling, the Seahawks are 3-1 and have won three straight. All-Time Series Wagner and UConn, whose campus are separated by 163 miles, will be facing one another for the first time ever. In fact, the Seahawks have never faced an opponent that competes in the AAC. UConn Marks 10th Time Seahawks will Face an FBS Foe WAGNER COLLEGE The matchup at UConn marks the 10th time that Wagner will face an FBS foe, having played at least one Location: Staten Island, NY opponent from college football’s highest division in each of the last eight seasons. The closest the Seahawks Nickname: Seahawks have come to knocking off an FBS foe was in their first-ever meeting against an 85-scholarship opponent Enrollment: 2,000 when the 2012 Seahawks dropped a hard-fought 7-3 contest at FAU in Boca Raton. That 2012 Wagner team Founded: 1883 opened the season 0-3, before reeling off nine straight wins en route to the program’s first-ever Northeast Conference (NEC) championship an ensuing NCAA FCS first-round playoff win over Colgate. University of Connectiut Location: Storrs, CT Nickname: Huskies Enrollment: 23,978 Founded: 1881 2019 Schedule7:00 PM (ESPN 3) at UConn August 29 6:00 PM East Stroudsburg 6:00 PM September 7 at Stony Brook 6:00 PM September 14 at FAU Head Coach Jason Houghtaling on Wagner’s Philosophy of Playing FBS Opponents September 21 12:00 PM “When we talk about our program, our number one goal, each and every year, from an athletic LIU* 6:00 PM (Homecoming) September 28 Monmouth standpoint is to win the Northeast Conference. And then our second goal always is to give our student- October 5 12:00 PM Robert Morris* 1:00 PM athletes the best experience we can possibly give them throughout their four or five-year careers. October 19 at Duquesne* October 26 12:00 PM Central Connecticut* 12:00 PM “Playing FBS teams is a lot of a fun. It’s competitive obviously and obviously for the school there’s a little bit November 2 at Sacred Heart* 12:00 PM of a financial reward. All in all, it’s just a great experience for our guys to play up, to play competition that is November 9 at Saint Francis U* supposed to be better, and have better players and all that stuff everyone talks about. But, at the end of the November 16 12:00 PM Bryant* day, it’s the game of football. It’s 11 guys on the field for each team at one point. It’s a scoreboard, it’s a ball November 23 and it’s a field. Everyone wants to compete, and loves to compete. So, it’s a lot of fun every year.” Bold - Home Games / * - NEC Game All Times EST. “The toughest thing I guess is just the speed, playing against guys who are, on paper, supposed to be a lot faster, bigger and stronger and all those things. I think if you can execute your game plan against a team that has a little bit more team speed, than obviously that prepares you for your conference competition. I think back to 2012 when we played FAU at FAU. Although we got beat, I think that actually gave us some confidence. Then, in 2014, our other NEC (regular season) championship season, we played FIU at FIU. And I think, other than turning the football over, we did a lot of nice things against them.” “When this game is over, then, on Friday, we’ll take a look at the film, analyze the game closely from a fundamental standpoint, what we did right, what we did wrong for 24 hours and then move on. I think it’s a positive all around, not matter how you slice it.” New Faces on Coaching Staff Roster Features Six Student-Athletes who have Transferred in from FBS Programs The Wagner coaching staff will feature five assistants in their first season with In addition to the major core of players on the Seahawk roster who starred in the Seahawks, including both coordinators. Associate Head Coach/Defensive the high school ranks immediately before arriving on Grymes Hill, the majority coordinator Del Smith is no stranger to Wagner having served the 2006 and of whom hail from New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, the 2019 roster 2007 seasons as linebackers coach under former longtime Wagner head coach, also features six players who began their careers in FBS programs. and current athletic director, Walt Hameline. Prior to his second tour of duty on Staten Island, Smith spent the last three seasons as head coach of his alma Former FBS Players on Seahawk Roster mater, West Virginia Wesleyan. The Seahawks’ new offensive coordinator, Lee Name Cl. Pos. HT WT FBS School Hull, is also a former head coach, having spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons as the Christian Alexander-Stevens Gr. QB 6-3 225 FIU head man at Morgan State. Prior to his tenure there, he patrolled the sidelines Gunner Daniel Jr. LS 5-10 190 Ball State as a longtime assistant at Maryland, Oregon and his alma mater, Holy Cross. Noah Ellison Jr. WR 6-2 200 Old Dominion Ike Ogwuegbu Sr. RB 5-9 205 Maryland 2019 Seahawk Offense to Feature FBS Transfer at Quarterback Jordan Porter Jr. DB 6-0 210 Eastern Michigan Wagner fifth-year head coach Jason Houghtaling has handed over the keys to Justice Stewart 5th WR 6-1 180 Rutgers the Seahawk offense to 6-3, 225-pound graduate student and FIU transfer Christian Alexander-Stevens. The ninth-leading Quick Look Back at 2018 passer in Florida high school history, the strong-armed and While Wagner was 4-7 overall a year ago, the Seahawks stormed to the finish mobile Alexander-Stevens earned Offensive MVP honors line, winning their final two games, both on the road, by a combined score of in leading FIU to a 35-32 victory over Toledo in the 2018 93-43. A 52-36 win at Bryant in the season’s penultimate game was followed Bahamas Bowl. In this contest, he completed 17-of-26 passes by a 41-7 victory at Robert Morris, which allowed Wagner to even its Northeast for 209 yards and one touchdown while rushing for 83 yards Conference (NEC) record at 3-3 and a fourth-place league finish. The Seahawks in the win over the MAC Champion Rockets, while stepping also lost to graduation air of seniors, tight end Chris Woodard and offensive Alexander-Stevens in for 2018 Conference USA Newcomer of the Year, James lineman Brady Hudik, who were among the 47 student-athletes named to the Morgan, who was sidelined by injury. Alexander-Stevens prestigious FCS ADA Academic All-Star Team. will have a talented but young cast around him as the Seahawk return just three offensive starters in guards Chris Gangarossa and Tyler Piekarz and wide No More Flyin’ Ryan receiver Joshua DeCambre. Wagner has a good one at tight end in senior Adam In 2019, opposing defenses will no longer have to game plan Giordano who is coming off a 14-catch season and now carries 255 pounds on against dynamic consensus All-American RB Ryan Fulse, who his 6’4” frame. in 2018 ranked second in all of FCS football with 1,705 yards rushing while ranking No. 1 in in all-purpose yardage (177.36 Defense Boasts Six Returning Starters Headed by All- yards per game). The 5-10, 195-pound Floridian was named American Gill, All-NEC Performers Graham and Williams First-Team All-American by the FCS Stats, the Associated Press Fulse First-year defensive coordinator Del Smith inherits or a core and the Walter Camp Football Foundation. Additionally, he of six returning starters, five whom are in the front seven. was a finalist for the prestigious Walter Payton Award, regarded as the Heisman Leading the way is senior consensus All-American outside Trophy of the FCS, emblematic of the nation’s top offensive player, and received linebacker Cam Gill, the 2018 ECAC and NEC Defensive Player First-Team honors by the ECAC and the Northeast Conference (NEC). One of of the Year, along with All-NEC inside linebacker Santoni Wagner’s five team captains in 2018, Fulse’s 1,705rushing yards for the season were good for second place on the all-time Seahawk single-season rushing list, Gill Graham.