2018 WEBER STATE FOOTBALL 2017 Big Sky Conference Champions #WeAreWeber • WeberStateSports.com • @weberstatefb GAME 1 Weber State at Utah Thu., Aug. 30, 2018 • 6:07 p.m. • Salt Lake City, UT • Rice-Eccles Stadium TV: Pac-12 Networks | Radio: 1430 KLO | Live stats: WeberStateSports.com Series: Utah leads 4-0 | Streak: Utah 4 wins | Last game: 9/07/13 - Utah 70-7 HEAD COACHES THE GAME • Weber State kicks off the 2018 season when Wildcats head to Salt Lake City to take on Jay Hill the University of Utah Thursday at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Record at Weber State ........26-23 (5th season) • Thursday’s game will kickoff at 6 p.m. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks Big Sky record ..........................................20-12 with Roxy Bernstein, Anthony Herron and Lewis Johnson on the call. • Radio broadcast will be on 1430 KLO radio and kloradio.com with Steve Klauke and for- Kyle Whittingham mer Wildcat head coach and athletic director Jerry Graybeal on the call. Record at Utah ............... 111-56 (14th season) • Live stats will be at WeberStateSports.com. Overall record ........................................... same OPENING DRIVE WEBER STATE COACHING STAFF • Weber State begins its 57th season of Division I football. The Wildcats are coming off their best season in school history in 2017, winning the Big Sky title, a school record 11 wins and Associate Head Coach / OL ...........Brent Myers the highest ranking in school history. Offensive Coordinator / WR ...... Dave Schramm • Weber State is ranked eighth in the nation in the FCS preseason polls, the highest pre- Defensive Line .................................. Kite Afeaki season ranking in school history. The Wildcats were picked second in the Big Sky Confer- Quarterbacks ......................................Kelly Bills ence preseason polls. Secondary ...........................................Joe Dale • The Wildcats have five players returning from last season that earned All-America honors last year and 10 players returning that earned Big Sky All-Conference honors. Outside Linebackers ..........................Grant Duff • Head coach Jay Hill returns for his fifth season as head coach of the Wildcats. The former Running backs .........................Quinton Ganther Utah player and coach is 26-23 in his four seasons at Weber State. Tight Ends .................................. Alfred Pupunu • Weber State has eight coaches that played and/or coached at Utah. Special Teams Coodinator / LB’s. ..Colton Swan • This will be the fifth meeting between the two schools and the first since 2013. Utah is 4-0 Graduate Assistant / CB’s ................ Ryan Milus all-time against the Wildcats. Director of Football Operations....Derrick Luken GENERAL INFORMATION Location .........................................Ogden, Utah Founded ........................ 1889 (Four-year 1962) Enrollement ............................................ 27,946 Nickname..............................................Wildcats School colors ..........................Purple and White Affiliation ........................ NCAA Division I (FCS) WEBER STATE WILDCATS UTAH UTES Conference ............................................Big Sky (0-0, 0-0 BIG SKY) (0-0, 0-0 PAC-12) Stadium .................... Stewart Stadium (17,500) Playing Surface .................................. Field Turf Date Opponent Score/Time Date Opponent Score/Time Aug. 30 at Utah 6 p.m. Aug. 30 WEBER STATE 6 p.m. Interim President .....................Dr. Norm Tarbox Sept. 8 at Cal Poly 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at Northern Illinois 5:30 p.m. Athletic Director ..............................Jerry Bovee Sept. 15 South Dakota 6 p.m. Sept. 15 *Washington 8 p.m. Associate A.D./SWA ......................Amy Crosbie Sept. 22 *Northern Colorado 6 p.m. Sept. 29 *at Washington State TBA Website ..........................WeberStateSports.com Oct. 6 *at Northern Arizona 3:30 p.m. Oct. 6 *at Stanford TBA Oct. 13 *Eastern Washington 4 p.m. Oct. 12 *Arizona 8 p.m. ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS Oct. 20 *Montana State 12:30 p.m. Oct. 20 *USC TBA Oct. 27 *at North Dakota 1 p.m. Oct. 26 *at UCLA 8:30 p.m. Nov. 2 *Sacramento State 12 p.m. Nov. 3 *at Arizona State TBA Director of Athletic Comm. (FB contact) Paul Grua Nov. 10 *at Southern Utah 5 p.m. Nov. 10 *Oregon TBA Office phone ..............................(801) 626-7414 Nov. 17 *at Idaho State 2:30 p.m. Nov. 17 *at Colorado TBA Cell phone .................................(801) 452-3811 Nov. 24 BYU TBA All times are Mountain [email protected] *Big Sky Conference game All times are Mountain. *Pac-12 Conference game Game 1 • Weber State at Utah • Aug. 30, 2018 • 6 p.m. • Rice-Eccles Stadium • Salt Lake City, UT 1 WILDCATS COMING OFF ALL-TIME BEST SEASON TEAM INFORMATION Weber State is coming off a record-setting season in 2017, its best year in school 2017 record .......................................................11-3 history. The Wildcats won a school-record 11 games in 2017. WSU also won the Big 2017 Big Sky record/finish.........................7-1 / 1st Sky Conference title with a 7-1 conference record. Weber State won two games in the Lettermen Returning ...........................................45 FCS Playoffs for the first time in school history. The Wildcats lost to defending national Starters Returning (O/D/SP) ............... 16 (7 / 2 / 2) champion James Madison 31-28 in the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs. Weber State also finished the season ranked fifth in the nation, the highest ranking in school history. Weber State had a school-record eight All-Americans last season. Cornerback Taron TEAM HISTORY Johnson was named the Big Sky Defensive MVP and was the only player drafted in First year (four-year and Division I............... .1962 the NFL Draft, taken in the fourth round by the Buffalo Bills. Tight end Andrew Vollert All-time record............................. .292-317-3 (.480) (Arizona Cardinals) and defensive lineman McKay Murphy (LA Rams) are both in NFL All-time Big Sky record............... .176-199-2 (.466) camps after graduating from Weber State last season. Big Sky Titles ......................5 / ‘65, ‘68, ‘87, ‘08, ‘17 FCS Playoffs ................6 / ‘87, ‘91, ‘08, ‘09, ‘16, ‘17 HIGHEST PRESEASON RANKING IN SCHOOL HISTORY After its historic season, Weber State has its highest preseason ranking in school WEBER STATE FOOTBALL HISTORY history. The Wildcats are ranked eighth in the nation in the FCS STATS poll and the AFCA FCS Coaches poll. Weber State began playing Division I football in WEBER STATE PICKED SECOND IN BIG SKY PRESEASON POLLS 1962 and one year later, became a charter member of Weber State was selected to finish second in the Big Sky Conference preseason the Big Sky Conference. WSU has captured three Big coaches and media polls. Eastern Washington was picked first in both polls, with the Sky titles and advanced to the FCS Playoffs five times Wildcats second. It’s the highest preseason ranking since 2009. in school history, including last year. Weber State’s list of legendary head coaches includes Sark Arsla- FIVE RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS nian, Mike Price, Dave Arslanian and Ron McBride. The Wildcats have five players returning from last season that earned All-America The ‘Cats have had 51 players earn All-American honors last year. Senior running back and special teams player Brady May, senior honors and have had 37 players drafted in the NFL. offensive tackle Iosua Opeta, sophomore running back and kick returner Rashid Sha- Former WSU quarterback Jamie Martin won the 1991 heed, senior linebacker LeGrand Toia and sophomore kicker Trey Tuttle all earned Walter Payton Trophy and then had a long career in All-America honors last season. They are also all preseason All-America selections. the NFL. Several other Wildcats have also played in the NFL, including Paul McQuistan who won a Super 10 RETURNING ALL-CONFERENCE PERFORMERS Bowl ring in 2015 with the Seattle Seahawks. In addition, WSU had 10 players returning that earned All-Big Sky Conference hon- ors last season. In addition to the five All-Americans, five others earned all-conference honors. Junior defensive end Jonah Williams, senior linebacker Landon Stice and se- BROADCAST INFORMATION nior safety Jordan Preator all earned second-team All-Big Sky honors last year. Senior running back Treshawn Garrett earned third team honors and offensive lineman Tyler Downs earned honorable mention honors. Every Weber State football and men’s basketball game will air live on KLO radio 1430 AM. Each game COACHING STAFF will also be streamed at kloradio.com and Weberstate- Jay Hill returns for his fifth season at the helm of the Wildcats. He has a 26-23 over- Sports.com. all record and is 20-12 in Big Sky play. Hill will also serve as defensive coordinator for Steve Klauke, the 2016 Utah the Wildcats for the second-straight season. Hill led Weber State to its record-setting Sportscaster of the Year, is in his third season last year and was named the Utah Sports Coach of the Year at the Governor’s season as voice of the Wildcats and State of Sport Award. Over the last three seasons, Hill has guided the Wildcats to a will call all football and men’s basketball 24-13 record and is 18-6 in Big Sky play. game for the Wildcats. Klauke is a three- Dave Schramm joined Weber State this season as the new offensive coordinator. time Utah Sportscaster of the Year and Schramm has coached for 25 years and has been offensive coordinator at Utah and is also the voice of the Salt Lake Bees, Fresno State. which he has done for the last 22 years. Associate head coach Brent Myers returns for his fifth season at Weber State coach- Klauke will be joined on football ing the offensive line. Also returning are assistant coaches Kite Afeaki (defensive line), broadcasts this season by former Weber Kelly Bills (quarterbacks), Grant Duff (outside linebackers), Quinton Ganther (running backs), Al Pupunu (tight ends) and Colton Swan (special teams, linebackers). Joining State head coach and athletic director the Wildcats as a new assistant coach with the safeties is Joe Dale. Ryan Milus (cor- Jerry Graybeal.