Stetson at Sacred Heart
Kickoff: Saturday, September 2, 6:05 pm ET from Campus Field in Fairfield, Connecticut
Match Up: Hatters (4-7 in 2016) vs Pioneers (6-6 in 2016)
Last Meeting: Sacred Heart defeated Stetson 18-14 in the 2016 season-opener in DeLand
Head Coaches
Stetson: Roger Hughes (14th season overall, fifth season at Stetson)
Sacred Heart: Mark Nofri (6th season overall, all at Sacred Heart)
Stetson Notebook:
- After and exceptionally difficult week, the Stetson Hatters are ready to focus on football. The Hatters will open the 2017 season against the same opponent they faced in the 2016 opener.
- The loss to Sacred Heart last year snapped a three-game win streak in season-openers and was the first season-opening loss for the Hatters since restarting the football program. Stetson is 29-21-2 all-time in season-opening games.
- Prior to facing the Pioneers on Saturday, the Hatters will take in some sights in New York City, visiting the Freedom Tower and 9/11 Memorial, Wall Street and Battery Park.
- The Hatters will have no fewer than four, and perhaps five, first-time starters on the defensive side of the ball, and potentially eight first-time starters on offense.
- One of the first-time starters on offense is junior QB Colin McGovern, who missed the entire 2016 season after suffering an injury in the first practice session last fall.Â
- Backup quarterbacks Cole Martin (1) and Nick Andreas (3) both made starts during the 2016 season, which saw Stetson use five players at QB.
- Among the expected first-time starters on offense are four true freshmen and one redshirt freshman. The defensive side will have a pair of redshirt freshmen making their first starts.
- Two things Stetson has not yet done in four seasons is return a kickoff or a punt that wasn't blocked for a touchdown.
- Stetson has returned three blocked punts for touchdowns and one blocked field goal in four seasons.
- The Hatters are 4-6 in games decided by a touchdown or less (7 points) since restarting the program in 2013.
- The Hatters have won more games away from home (8) than at home (6) since the start of the 2013 season.
- Almost half of the players on the Stetson squad to open the season came from the state of Florida (50). In addition to the Sunshine State the Hatters hail from 17 other states and one US Territory. Behind Florida, Georgia (18) and California (5) are the most represented states on the roster.
- The Hatters have five captains for the 2017 season: LB Jeb Boudreaux, RB Arkee Brown, DE Jeff Fallabel, DB Dre Long and QB Colin McGovern.
- Junior tight end Donald Parham led the Hatters in last season's game against Sacred Heart with 72 receiving yards and had Stetson's only receiving touchdown of the game (22 yards).
- Stetson has one member from the state of Connecticut, senior linebacker Jake Bartha who is from Colchester.
- This marks the first game for Stetson in which no players from the original team in 2012 are on the roster.
- For the first time since restarting the program, the entire Stetson schedule consists of NCAA Division I opponents.
- Stetson is looking to finish over .500 for the first time since the program restarted. The Hatters' best record was 5-6 during the 2014 season.
On Sacred Heart
"My big concern is with Sacred Heart's experience. We are not going to be able to rattle them because they all know what they are doing. Any time you play the first game of the year you have to get used to the speed of the game. The game is just faster and you cannot simulate it in practice no matter what you do. The second thing is that Sacred Heart has a very productive quarterback, they spread it out and run a no huddle offense. You have to be able to weather the storm, get used to the speed and get used to the speed at which they play the game. Hopefully, you don't give up a lot of points as you are doing that.
"The other thing is that Sacred Heart has a couple of new coordinators and we don't know exactly what they are going to be doing. So, not only is the speed of the game going to be an adjustment, the schemes they are going to be using we don't have on film. We have to figure out what they are doing, schematically, while our kids are adjusting to their speed at the same time. This is going to be a huge game of adjustments.
"There is nothing comfortable about starting freshmen against redshirt seniors. The thing that I know is that I really like their middle linebacker, C.J. Parvelus. He really had a great year last year and I believe he is their leading returning tackler. He is special because he does a great job of running plays down, a great job of fitting in blitzes and he is really patient with his blitz. He figures out where the offensive line is taking the defensive line and he is really quick in getting into an unblocked gap. We are going to have to content with him. Kevin Barry played against us last year because I believe their leading tackler was suspended for that game last year. He was a solid linebacker as well. We are very concerned about the guys who are going to be lined up against us because they are very high quality kids."
On the Hatters' Offensive Development
"Offensively, because we are so young, we are trying to find that person to be the leader.
Colin McGovern is a natural leader and the other players gravitate toward him and play hard for him but Colin has not played in a college game yet. He got injured in our very first practice last year with a dislocated hip and missed the entire year. At practice he has played very well and the team has responded very well, but he hasn't had any bullets flying at him yet. It is a different story when that starts happening. I really like what he has done to this point. In the offensive line we are trying to figure things out. We are starting a freshman, two sophomores and two juniors. That is a place where we are trying to cultivate a good leader and I think our center, Jimmy McCammon, is stepping up into that role, but he is a little unproven because he hasn't played the center position before."
"Defensively, we were ranked in the top four in most categories in our league, and had some national rankings, but one of the reasons we were able to do that is we had a three-time All-American named
Donald Payne. He is now playing for the Ravens and was a pretty good player. Last year we started to play much better team defense. If you look at the stats, Donald led the nation in tackles his sophomore year because he had to make all the tackles because he wasn't getting consistent help. He was a great person to cover up for us. Last year, we played much better team defense and we had a linebacker named
Jeb Boudreaux who led our team and our league in tackles. Donald's numbers went down as the defense improved. "With him out of the lineup, we are going to have to play very good team defense. Our secondary is very young, we are starting a redshirt freshman at corner named
JJ Henderson. We have a new starter at dawg safety in
Conrad Fonseca and
Reggie Gantt is going to make his first start at the other dawg. Our strength will be in the defensive line because we have the most experience there, and then
Jeb Boudreaux at linebacker. He has been very strong. The other outside linebacker,
Colby Duncan, has been another outstanding player for us. Jeb took his spot last year, but Colby will have his chance again this year on the other side."
On Dealing With the Death of a Player
"The initial thought after Nick's passing, other than talking to his parents and telling the team, was do we play this game or do we not. Literally, that thought passed within five minutes. We came to the realization that we have to play this game. We know Nick would want us to play this game and, after talking with his mother, she told me that we have to play this game. She said that Nick would want us to carry on. Then she asked if it would be OK if they bury Nick in his uniform. That was a no-brainer.
"Coaching is so much more than Xs and Os. People don't understand all you have to do as a head coach. Last year I had to tell a young man that his father had passed away, right at this time of year. We all went to the funeral as a team. Those things that you do, you are like a father-figure to them, and I treat them like they are my sons. I lost a son and our players feel like they lost a brother.
"You can't believe how excited Nick was for this game. It was going to be his first time on the field and he was ultra competitive. He had a little edge to him like you like in a player. He was always playing to the final echo of the whistle so that he could get that extra little nudge in there. He just wanted to let you know that he was going to find a way to beat you. He had a huge, infectious, smile.
"This is going to be a very emotional game for me because I have to try to hide my emotions from the team and be the strong one. I am a pretty passionate guy myself and somewhat emotional – some might say extremely emotional – so that is going to be a unique challenge that I will have to deal with as the game goes on.
"This game is a big thing for us because it will be a big release for all of us. It will be the ultimate symbol of life going on and getting back to normalcy and the best way to honor the loved one that we lost. In the game of life, a football game is not a big deal. In our minds, the game can and likely will be a very big deal. I and anxious to see how we respond when the lights go on and the bullets start flying. Everyone has a plan until the first punch is thrown. We'll have to see how we respond because we will be battling our emotions and we will be battling a very good Sacred Heart team with a lot of experience. We have two fronts that we have to try to cover and we'll see if we have enough tanks to cover both fronts.
"I also want to express how appreciative Stetson Athletics, the Stetson football team and Stetson University in general is of Sacred Heart's response and empathy toward our situation."
On the 2017 Hatters
"I am really anxious to see how we do this weekend. For a lot of reasons I wish this deal with Nick hadn't happened. This group of kids is really excited to play and they believe that they can win every game. The work ethic they showed the summer was higher than ever. The thing that is crucial to find out is how we handle adversity and weather the storm. This is a game of runs and momentum and it will be about how we handle that. The thing is that we have made things very competitive on both sides of the ball in practice. We set the one offense against the two defense and the two offense against the one defense at the end of practice every day as if it is the last four minutes of the game. The guys have really gotten up and competed in those situations.
"I like the chemistry of this team. I love the leadership of this team. I have worked really hard to develop that leadership, and I am anxious to see how we respond to adversity. We have had some periods of time where our youth has shown, but we have also had periods of time the defense was kicking our butts. I would call for five up-downs and then all of a sudden the offense starts clicking and moving the ball down the field. This team has fun playing football and I have let them have fun playing football. It is probably the most football instinctual team we have had. A lot is going to come down to how Colin plays and if he plays like he has, we are going to have a shot."
