VILLANOVA FOOTBALL VILLANOVA STADIUM SAT. | APR. 17 | 1:00PM DELAWARE PRESENTED BY SENIOR FORREST RHYNE LINEBACKER2021 VILLANOVA FOOTBALL Table of Contents 2 n WWW.VILLANOVA.COM VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY STAFF EDITOR Dean Kenefick ASSISTANT EDITOR David Berman CONTRIBUTORS Mike Sheridan Michelle Ruel VILLANOVA SPORTS PROPERTIES GENERAL MANAGER Drew Young SENIOR DIRECTOR, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Kevin Levy SENIOR MANAGER, PARTNER SERVICES Danielle Durocher VILLANOVA SPORTS PROPERTIES DEPARTMENT OF ATHLETICS 800 Lancaster Avenue Villanova, PA 19085 (610) 519-6613 ADVERTISING INFORMATION Drew Young drew.young@foxsports.net (610) 519-6613 COVER DESIGN & LAYOUT PROVATIONS GROUP Jai Giffin, Jamie Barker 711 Millpond Rd. Lexington, KY 40514 (859) 514-0533 DATE OPPONENT LOCATION TIME/RESULT RECAP Mar. 6 at Stony Brook* Hamilton, N.Y. W, 16-13 Mar. 13 vs. Rhode Island* Villanova, Pa. L, 37-40 (OT) Mar. 27 at New Hampshire* Villanova, Pa. canceled Apr. 3 at Maine* Orono, Maine W, 44-17 Apr. 10 at Albany* Albany, N.Y. canceled Apr. 17 Delaware* Villanova, Pa. 1:00 p.m. ALL HOME GAMES ARE PLAYED AT VILLANOVA STADIUM. *CAA • All games times are EST and subject to change. 2020 VILLANOVA FOOTBALL SCHEDULE OVERALL: 2-1 / CAA: 2-1 FEATURES 6 THE DELAWARE GAME The Battle of the Blue rivalry between Villanova and Delaware continues this afternoon. 48 SPOTLIGHT: SWIMMING & DIVING Women’s Swimming & Diving wins 8th straight BIG EAST title. continued on page 4 DELAWARE GAME APRIL 17 | VILLANOVA, PA. VILLANOVA STADIUM VS. VILLANOVA DELAWAREExclusive Provider of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training to Villanova Athletics #Bounceback2it novacare.com We’re here for you, in-center and virtually via telerehab! Movement2021 VILLANOVA FOOTBALL Table of Contents 4 n WWW.VILLANOVA.COM GAME STATISTICS COMPARISON 8 VILLANOVA ROSTER 10 DELAWARE ROSTER 12 TODAY’S GAME DEPTH CHART 14 HEAD COACH MARK FERRANTE 16 ASSISTANT COACHES 22 MEET THE WILDCATS 30 VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY 36 PRESIDENT REV. PETER DONOHUE, O.S.A. 38 ATHLETICS DIRECTOR MARK JACKSON 40 VILLANOVA STADIUM 43 KNOW THE LIMITS 44 VILLANOVA ON THE AIR 45 CAA CONFERENCE 50 PAYTON AWARD WINNERS 52 HONORS AWARDS 54 ALL-AMERICANS 57 WILDCATS IN THE PROS 59 MILESTONES IN VILLANOVA HISTORY 60 RETIRED JERSEYS 64 CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS 67 YEARLY STATISTICAL LEADERS 68 2021 VILLANOVA FOOTBALL Gameday Notes 6 n WWW.VILLANOVA.COM BATTLE OF THE BLUE: The annual rivalry game between Villanova and Delaware has been billed as the “Battle of the Blue” since 2007. This year will be the 14th edition of the series, with the winner being presented with the Battle of the Blue Trophy. The Wildcats have won 12 of the 13 games in the “Battle of the Blue” series, including eight straight wins over the Blue Hens. SERIES TIDBITS: Villanova leads the all-time series against Delaware 31-21-1 and have won 13 of the last 14 games between the teams in a stretch that began with the 2006 season. During the 14-game stretch, the Wildcats have averaged 30.8 points per game and given up just 18.7 points per contest to the Blue Hens. Seven of the 13 recent victories have come by a margin of two touchdowns are more. EACH AND EVERY YEAR: Villanova and Delaware have met on the football field every year since 1988 when the two schools became conference rivals. Villanova is 20-12 in regular season conference matchups against Delaware. HISTORICALLY SPEAKING: Villanova has played more games (53) and tallied more victories (31) versus Delaware than against any other opponent it has ever faced. The second-most games the Wildcats have played one team is 45 meetings versus Boston College, while the second-highest win total against a single opponent is 24 wins against Richmond. FAMILARITY: Villanova offensive line coach Sean Devine will face his former team on Saturday. Devine is in his fourth year with the Wildcats after spending the previous four seasons (2013-16) at Delaware as the team’s offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. LONG LAYOFF: Saturday’s contest against Delaware will be just Villanova’s second game in the last 14 days and third in the last 35 days. Villanova’s last outing came in a 44-17 win at Maine on April 3. After a scheduled bye week on March 20, the Wildcats home game against New Hampshire on March 27 and the road game at Albany on April 10 was cancelled due to COVID issues within the New Hampshire program and Albany opting out of the remainder of the spring sea- son. FOUR SCORES: In Villanova’s last game at Maine on April 3, run- ning back Justin Covington tallied nine carries for 82 yards and a career-high four touchdowns. For his efforts, he was named the CAA Offensive Player of the Week. In three spring games, Covington has 26 carries for 233 yards (9.0 avg.) and six touchdowns. CENTURY MARK RUSHER: For the sixth time in his career, senior running back Justin Covington registered a 100-yard rushing game when he carried 12 times for 141 yards and two touchdowns versus Rhode Island on March 13. Covington was in the midst of one of best seasons ever by a Villanova running back before suf- fering a season ending injury in week six of the 2019 season. At the time of the injury, Covington was leading the FCS in rushing with 727 yards. He had topped the 100-yard mark in five straight games to open the year while averaging 8.1 yards per carry and 121.2 yards per game. Despite having missed the last 6.5 games in 2019, Covington still ranked fifth in the final CAA statistics with his 727 rushing yards. RHYNE RETURNS: After missing the first two games of the spring seasons due to injury, linebacker Forrest Rhyne returned to the line-up in fine fashion on April 3 at Maine. Rhyne was named the CAA Defensive Player of the Week for his performance at Maine when he tallied eight total tackles, including four solo stops and four assisted tackles. In his first year as a starter in 2019, Rhyne had a breakout campaign leading the team and ranking fifth in the CAA with 116 tackles (57 solo, 59 assisted) on the season, including a team-high 6.5 sacks. Rhyne also ranked second on the squad with 14.5 tackles for loss and recorded seven double-digit tackle games on the year. He became the team’s first player to top 100 tackles since Ed Shockley in 2017. For his efforts in 2019 he was named first team All-CAA. For his efforts in a win at Maine on April 3, linebacker Forrest Rhyne was named the CAA Defensive Player of the Week. VS. SATURDAY | APRIL 17, 2021 | 1:00 P.M. | VILLANOVA, PA. VILLANOVA (2-1)DELAWARE (4-0)© 2 0 20 T he C oc a- C ol a C om p an y. TASTES BETTER TOGETHER2021 VILLANOVA FOOTBALL Game Statistics Comparisons 8 n WWW.VILLANOVA.COM VILLANOVA STATS LEADERS Rushing Att Net Avg TD Long AVG/G Justin Covington 17 151 8.9 2 76 75.5 Daniel Smith 13 120 9.2 1 43 60.0 Jalen Jackson 19 78 4.1 2 27 39.0 Passing Cmp-Att-Int Pct Yds TD Avg/G Daniel Smith 28-58-1 48.2 358 1 179.0 Connor Watkins 5-5-0 1.000 63 0 31.5 Receiving No. Yds Avg TD Long AVG/G Rayjoun Pringle 10 179 17.9 1 49 89.5 Jaaron Hayek 8 73 9.1 0 16 36.5 TD Ayo-Durojaiye 2 33 16.5 0 33 16.5 Defense UA A Tot TFL-Yds Sacks-Yds Jalen Goodman 14 3 17 0.0-0 0.0-0 Nowoola Awopetu 10 4 14 1.0-4 0.5-3 Qwahsin Townsel 8 4 12 2.0-7 0.5-4 DELAWARE STATS LEADERS Rushing Att Net Avg TD Long AVG/G Dejoun Lee 58 450 7.8 5 74 112.5 Khory Spruill 48 215 4.5 0 51 53.7 Nolan Henderson 33 81 2.5 2 12 20.2 Passing Cmp-Att-Int Pct Yds TD Avg/G Nolan Henderson 62-92-2 67.3 718 7 179.5 Zach Gwynn 3-7-0 42.8 26 0 8.6 Receiving No. Yds Avg TD Long AVG/G Thyrick Pitts 17 264 15.5 3 37 66.0 Gene Coleman II 16 151 9.4 1 22 37.7 Dejourn Lee 8 60 7.5 0 41 15.0 Defense UA A Tot TFL-Yds Sacks-Yds Randall Harris 8 1 9 1.0-11 1.0-11 Zedane Williams 5 4 9 2.5-5 0.0-0 Gunner Gibson 4 3 7 2.5-11 1.5-9 Here is a quick look at the top team statistics for Villanova and Delaware. QUICK LOOK nn PASSING YARDS nn PASSING YARDS 617744 nn RUSHING YARDS 642856 nn TOTAL TOUCHDOWNS 1217 Next >