For the last month the Stetson Hatters have beat on each other in the sweltering Florida heat to get as prepared as possible for one moment in time – Game Time!
That time for the 2015 Hatters is here. Stetson will open the 2015 season on Saturday evening at Spec Martin Memorial when the Warriors of Webber International (1-0) visits. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
The game will mark a milestone for Hatters football, becoming the first Stetson game to be broadcast on ESPN3 to a world-wide audience. Evan Weston will provide the play-by-play call of the game with Tyler Murray, who also serves as the “Voice of the Daytona Tortugas” providing commentary. Aaron Berlin will be the sideline reporter.
In addition to the television broadcast of the game, fans can also listen on the Stetson Radio Network on WSBB 1230 AM in New Smyrna Beach and AM 1490 in DeLand as well as the debut on CBS Radio AM 810 in Orlando. The broadcast team for the 2015 season will be Luke Mauro, who also handled the radio call for men's basketball in 2014-15, and Pete Blais.
Hatters coach Roger Hughes expressed the excitement and anticipation of his club as they look forward to kickoff.
“You are excited for the game day to be here, finally,” Hughes said. “After 29 practices you are tired of hitting each other and you want to find out what you can, and can't do. Until you start playing other people, your weaknesses, and strengths, really don't get exposed. It will be great to see if we are good where we think we are good. There is always the concern of how they are going to perform under the lights.”
While there is excitement for the start of the new season, there are also concerns. Saturday's opponent, Webber International, is chief among those concerns. The Warriors come into the game ranked 24th in the nation in NAIA, have already played and posted a 48-21 road victory over Arizona Christian and in the process rolled up 30 first downs and 446 yards rushing.
“Game pressure is always different than any other kind of pressure you can have,” Hughes said. “You can't simulate the speed of the game. Webber has already had a game, so they have experienced that game speed. My concern is our ability to adjust to how fast thing happen, how quickly we can adjust to things as the game goes on.”
The Warriors primarily operate a ground-based attack on offense – they attempted just eight passes last week – but show a variety of options in the way they attack.
“If you attack them, you still have to be assignment sound,” Hughes said. “You can't just come in there with your hair on fire and not still understand who has the quarterback, who has the dive and who has the pitch. The nice thing is that we run some option as well, so our defense has seen it. They run a very good, power version of the option with some big backs.”
The Starting Five
For 23 games over two seasons, the Hatters have had five players start every game. That group includes quarterback Ryan Tentler, offensive lineman Patrick Fogarty, linebacker David Lazear and defensive backs Ryan Powers and Chris Atkins. Four of the five are in good shape to start the new season, but Atkins is questionable after having missed most of training camp with a leg injury.
“It is going to be a game-time decision,” Hughes said. “We'll just have to see how he feels. I think he will be available, if we need him, but it may not be prudent for him to play much. We need to allow him to heel up and think about the season over the long haul. But it will be a game-time decision.”
Freshmen Starters
It is certain that at least two true freshmen will get the starting nod on Saturday night. Offensive lineman Jim McCammon will play in place of injured Sean Gannon at right guard and Hunter Matirne outlasted several other players to earn the start at nose tackle. A third freshman, Jackie Jay Johnson, who is a DeLand High product, will likely join that duo if Atkins is unable to start.
“He has played very well in fall camp and has shown maturity beyond his years,” Hughes said of Johnson. “The good thing is that he played at DeLand High, so he has been in the stadium, he has played there, and he has been on playoff teams. He has had the pressure that comes with playing Florida high school football. I am confident he will respond, but I am sure there will be to ebbs and flows during the game.”
Backed Into a Corner
If Johnson gets the start at corner, it will give the Hatters two first-time starters at the position, although the other got plenty of experience last year. Sophomore Eric Martin will start at the corner opposite of Atkins or Johnson in place of junior Glenn Adesoji, who may be out for the year.
The backups will include sophomore Chancellor Jackson and junior Dre Long, who moved to the position in the spring after playing receiver and running back during his first two seasons.
Man in the Middle
On the Stetson defense, the middle linebacker has a tremendous amount of responsibility for getting the defensive calls out to the other players on the field. That job has belonged to senior Ignacio Madrid for the last two years but, after missing much of camp following a concussion, fellow senior Dylan Wydronkowski will get the call to start in the opener.
Wydronkowski made his only career start last year against Marist while Madrid has started 21 of 23 games over two seasons.
“Dylan Wydronkowski has done a great job,” Hughes said. “Nacho has been nicked up and, even though he is available, we wanted to reward Dylan for the great job he has done.”
The Payne Train
The numbers from 2014 are mind-boggling – 185 total tackles, 19 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, four interceptions. The result was almost unanimous All-America honors for Donald Payne.
Entering 2015, the pressure to live up to all of the preseason hype for Payne is tremendous.
“We have had conversations with him about that,” Hughes said. “Anyone who is picked as a preseason All-American, or preseason player of the year, is going to feel that. Hopefully he doesn't press and continues to play within the defense. Our team feeds off his big plays and, when he makes a big play, it seems like it elevates the rest of the defense. He is a little uncanny because any time you see us make a big play, it is usually him making it.”
Payne will be opening the season with a heavy heart after one of his best friends from Georgia – Christopher Starks – was killed in a tragic shooting on the Savannah State University campus less than 10 days ago.
Keys to Success
Each week during the season Coach Hughes has some points of emphasis for his team going into every game. Usually there are three keys, but for the season opener he has four.
- Win the turnover battle. “We were minus five last year,” Hughes said. “Even though we generated 22 turnovers, we gave up 27. We have to hang on to the ball and generate turnovers.”
- Play great, swarming, defense. “We have to make them one-dimensional by stopping the run.”
- Special teams. “I have told the team that we need someone on special teams to make an unbelievably great play. We want people to fear our special teams. We have to have great effort there to create short fields.”
- Have a very opportunistic offense, one that takes advantage of every short field. “Our goal is to score points every time we cross the 50, and we have to be able to take advantage of those opportunities when they are there. If we do those four things, then we will be OK.”
Pregame Festivities
- Hatter Village will feature a live radio broadcast “HOG Live From Hatter Village” hosted by Burns from the “Crash and Burns” morning show on 95.7 FM The HOG!
- Hatter Village will also feature a huge 20-by-20 inflatable game of Wipe Out.
Game Promotions
- Fans will have a chance to get a variety of free items when they enter Spec Martin Stadium for the game. Among the items available will be Hatters trucker hats, presented by Coca-Cola. There will also be free posters featuring the Hatters' All-American Donald Payne, with rosters and game information on the back. The 2015-16 debut issue of Hatters Extra Magazine will also be free at all stadium entrances.
- The game is also the first Stetson "Blackout" game. Wear black to the game.
- Little Caesar's will conduct the “Hot and Ready Hatter Challenge at halftime, where three contestants will kick for a chance to win one free pizza per week for the rest of 2015.
Ticket Information
- Tickets will be on sale at both the north and south box offices at Spec Martin stadium. Ticket sales begin two hours prior to kickoff with prices starting as low as $20. Gates open 90 minutes prior to game time.
