Full Game Notes (PDF)

CAL U (0-0) @ SAINT ANSELM (0-0)
• When: Friday, Sept. 6, 2019
• Where: Manchester, N.H.
• Stadium: Grappone Stadium (4,500)
• Kickoff: 6 p.m.
• Live Video: CUTVSports1 (YouTube) I Stretch Internet (SAC Feed)
• Live Radio: WCAL (91.9 FM)
• Live Stats: Click HERE

SERIES BREAKDOWN
• All-Time Series: First Meeting

NOTES
• Cal U opens the 2019 campaign on Friday evening when it travels to face Saint Anselm in New Hampshire. The Vulcans have won 12 of their last 15 season-openers despite a 28-23 loss last year at then-nationally-ranked Ohio Dominican.
 
• Cal U missed the NCAA Playoffs last year for the first time under head coach Gary Dunn. The Vulcans return 17 starters from last year, highlighted by six All-PSAC West selections. Quarterback Noah Mitchell again will direct the offense after being named the PSAC West Freshman of the Year in 2018. Senior running back Nelson Brown accounted for 22 touchdowns, while the Vulcans return a pair of All-PSAC West honorees at wide receiver. The defense will be anchored by First-Team All-American Lamont McPhatter II, who led the nation in interception return yards last year.
 
• The Vulcans and Hawks are meeting for the first time. Cal U has faced current members of the NE-10 Conference a combined nine times, including twice in the NCAA Playoffs since 2007.

• With experience at all NCAA levels, Joe Adam enters his fourth season as head coach at Saint Anselm. He has posted a 4-26 mark with the Hawks following a two-year stint as the offensive line coach at Syracuse. Adam spent eight seasons at Elmhurst (Ill.) and served as head coach in 2013. Additionally, he won a pair of national titles while a member of the coaching staff at Grand Valley State.

• Following back-to-back, one-win campaigns, Saint Anselm was chosen eighth in the preseason NE-10 Conference poll. The Hawks return an experienced quarterback in fifth-year senior Eric Fairweather. He led the NE-10 last season with over 22 completions per game and also ranked third in the league in both passing yards and total offense per game. A dual-threat, Fairweather has rushed for over 1,800 yards and 22 touchdowns in his career. Sophomore Christian Matthews-Byrd returns after leading the team with 359 rushing yards last season. He was named to the NE-10 All-Rookie Team after accounting for over 280 yards over the last three weeks of the year. Saint Anselm features a pair of senior wide receivers in Shawn Donovan and Nicholas Fiorillo that combined for over 50 catches and 500 receiving yards last season. Defensively, the Hawks ranked among the top five in the NE-10 in both TFL and sacks per game in 2018. An All-NE-10 Second-Team selection, junior defensive back Ryan Sullivan led the team with 104 tackles after recording double-digit tackles in five games. Linebacker CJ Miller ranked second on the Hawks with both 94 stops and 9.5 TFL while receiving All-NE-10 Third-Team honors. Sullivan and Miller finished second and third, respectively, in the NE-10 in tackles last season. Saint Anselm returns a veteran punter in junior Joey Cody, who finished second in the league with an average of 38.2 yards per punt and posted a season-long punt of 60 yards in the last week of the year.
 
• The PSAC and NE-10 will both feature new teams in the league this year. The PSAC welcomes Shepherd to the conference in 2019 after being a regional powerhouse in the MEC. With the addition, the PSAC will once again feature a balanced 16-team league. Meanwhile, the NE-10 replaced departing members LIU Post (now LIU) and Merrimack, both of which moved to FCS, with Franklin Pierce.
 
• The Vulcans were picked to finish second in the preseason PSAC West poll for the third-straight year. Cal U won seven of its last nine games after opening the season with back-to-back road losses by a combined eight points. Meanwhile, the Hawks were chosen eighth in the NE-10 poll after winning one game in consecutive years. Saint Anselm has won more than two games only twice in the last decade.
 
• Cal U will be making its first-ever trip to New Hampshire this weekend, as the program will be facing a NE-10 program for the first time since the 2017 NCAA Playoffs. Overall, the Vulcans hold a 2-5 record against current NE-10 football programs. Cal U will be making its longest road trip at 629 miles since playing at Northwest Missouri State (897 miles) in the 2009 NCAA Semifinals.
 
• Cal U boasts four former players on NFL active rosters following the end of training camp. Rontez Miles enters his seventh year with the New York Jets, while Erik Harris begins his third season with Oakland. Eric Kush starts his initial year with Cleveland, while CJ Goodwin made the active roster with Dallas.
 
• Senior defensive back Lamont McPhatter II returns after being a consensus First-Team All-American in 2018. He led the country with 198 interception return yards and scored multiple defensive touchdowns. McPhatter, who was the only defensive back in the nation nominated for the Harlon Hill Trophy last year, ranked third on the team with 63 tackles after making at least five stops in eight games.
 
• Following one of the best freshman seasons in school history, quarterback Noah Mitchell returns for his second year as a starter. He ranked second in the PSAC with 2,759 passing yards and finished fifth with 19 passing touchdowns. Mitchell, who was named PSAC West Freshman of the Year, recorded three games with at least 300 passing yards and totaled at least one touchdown pass in all but one of his 11 starts.
 
• Senior running back Nelson Brown made an instant impact in his first season with the Vulcans in 2018. He led the PSAC and ranked fourth in the country with 22 total touchdowns while finishing fourth in the league with 1,201 rushing yards. Brown eclipsed the 100-yard mark five times and scored multiple touchdowns in eight games, including five games with three rushing touchdowns.
 
• The Vulcans will feature a new set of linebackers this season. Redshirt senior Julian Cox returns after suffering a season-ending injury in the Week 1 last year and junior Dylan Boytos made his first career start last season. Sophomore Israel Xavier played in all 11 games with Saint Francis during the 2017 campaign and redshirt freshman Noah Dillow was a first-team all-state honoree at the scholastic level.
 
• Cal U will be anchored by a veteran trio on the offensive line in junior Brenden Badstibner, senior Christian DiGalbo and junior Eric Hudanick. Badstibner has started all 23 games over the last two seasons at left guard, while Hudanick has made a combined 21 career starts at left and right tackle. DiGalbo earned All-PSAC West Second-Team status in 2018 in his first year as a starter at center.
 
• Junior Stephon Brown and sophomore Gerald Brown - no relation - will help anchor the defensive line after making a combined 16 starts in 2018. Gerald Brown finished with 46 tackles while earning nine starts as a true freshman. He collected at least three stops in nine games and recorded a career-high 3.0 TFL at Shippensburg. Stephon Brown tallied 26 tackles last season and has made 10 career starts.
 
• The Vulcans will start the year with a true freshman at both kicker and punter, a first for both positions in over a decade. Cal U has used only four primary kickers since the 2009 season. Meanwhile, the program will be utilizing a true punter for the first time since 2014, as the role has been mainly handled by quarterbacks in recent years.
 
• Senior Jordan Dandridge and junior Tyson Hill return at wide receiver after both were All-PSAC West honorees last season. Hill posted a breakout campaign in 2018, finishing fourth in the league with over 900 receiving yards on 61 catches. He made at least five receptions in eight games in his first season as a starter. A sixth-year senior, Dandridge missed over a month due to injury and still totaled nearly 550 receiving yards.