SENIOR DANIEL SMITH QUARTERBACK VILLANOVA FOOTBALL VILLANOVA STADIUM SAT. | MAR. 13 | 1:00PM RHODE ISLAND PRESENTED BY2021 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. 1:00 p.m. Mar. 27 at New Hampshire* Villanova, Pa. 1:00 p.m. Apr. 3 at Maine* Orono, Maine Noon Apr. 10 at Albany* Albany, N.Y. 1:00 p.m. 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: 1-0 / CAA: 1-0 FEATURES 6 THE RHODE ISLAND GAME VIllanova kicks off its home schedule today against Rhode Island. 48 SPOTLIGHT: LACROSSE Villanova picks up second conference win defeating Providence, 11-8. continued on page 4 RHODE ISLAND GAME MARCH 13 | VILLANOVA, PA. VILLANOVA STADIUM VS. VILLANOVA RHODE ISLANDExclusive 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 RHODE ISLAND 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 HOME OPENER: Villanova will open the home portion of its schedule on Saturday, March 13, when the Rhode Island Rams visit Villanova Stadium. The Wildcats are 26-8 (.765) in home openers since becoming a FCS member in 1985, including wins in seven of its last eight home openers. BACK AT HOME: The Wildcats will play a football game at Villanova Stadium for the first time in 468 days when the Rhode Island Rams come to town on Saturday aftenoon. Prior to this Saturday’s game, the last home date for Villanova was a 55-33 win over Delaware on Nov. 23, 2019. IT’S BEEN A WHILE: Villanova and Rhode Island will meet in a CAA contest for the first time since Nov. 11, 2017, when the two teams square off on Saturday afternoon. In the last meeting, the Rams earned a 20-6 victory in a game played in Kingston, R.I. CONTROLLING THE SERIES: Villanova leads the all-time series with Rhode Island by a 19-4 margin, and 12 of the last 13 victories have come by double digits. The teams met for the first time during the 1988 season when the Wildcats tallied a 20-14 victory. Villanova dominated the series from the beginning winning 12 of the first 13 games in the series. In the last meeting between the schools, Rhode Island tallied a 20-6 win during the 2017 campaign. FAMILIAR FACE: Rhode Island head coach Jim Fleming is in his seventh year leading the Rams, and he is a former Villanova assistant coach. Fleming was the Wildcats Defensive Coordinator in 1998-99, and was part of a coaching staff that helped guide the team to a 13-9 record in those two seasons. BREAKOUT PERFORMANCE: Sophomore wide receiver Rayjoun Pringle turned in the best game of his young career last Saturday at Stony Brook with a career-high nine catches for a career-best 171 yards and his first career score that came on a 49-yard catch. As a freshman during the 2019 fall season, Pringle played in eight games and had five catches for 32 yards. CAA HONORS: For his efforts in last week’s win at Stony Brook when he tallied nine receptions for 171 yards and a touch- down, sophomore wideout Rayjoun Pringle was named the CAA Offensive Player of the Week. BIG PLAY BENFORD: Junior corner Christian Benford had a strong start to his season at Stony Brook last week. In addition to tallying three solo tackles, Benford recorded an interception in the red zone that helped end a Stony Brook scoring drive. Benford also had a 30-yard kickoff return off a Stony Brook on sides kick late in the fourth quarter. The return went to the Stony Brook 15-yard line that helped seal the win for the Wildcats. Benford, who was the 2018 CAA Defensive Rookie of the Year, tallied 31 tackles and an interception during the 2019 season. OWN WORST ENEMY: In Saturday’s win at Stony Brook the Wildcats were penalized 16 times for 154 yards. The school record for the most penalties in a game is 19 versus Holy Cross on Oct. 24, 1970. During the fall 2019 campaign, Villanova was credited with 69 penalties for 611 yards for an average of 4.9 penalties per game. ACTING DEFESNIVE: Villanova received a strong defensive effort in last week’s 16-13 win at Stony Brook. The Wildcats held the Seawolves to just 243 yards of total offense (143 passing; 100 rush- ing). The most impressive defensive stat of the game was Villanova forcing Stony Brook to 0-for-7 on third down. WHERE TO WATCH AND LISTEN: Saturday’s game will air on FloFootball. Fans can watch the game across all screens by down- loading the FloSports app on iOS, Roku or Apple TV 4. Special pricing for CAA fans is available at flosports.tv/caa. All six Villanova Football games will be carried on WWDB-AM 860. Rayjoun Pringle caught nine passes for 171 yards (both career highs) against Stony Brook last Saturday. VS. SATURDAY | MARCH 13, 2021 | 1:00 P.M. | VILLANOVA, PA. VILLANOVA (1-0)RHODE ISLAND (0-0)© 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 DeeWil Barlee 11 49 4.5 0 20 4.5 Jalen Jackson 8 18 2.3 1 8 2.3 Daniel Smith 3 10 3.3 0 10 3.3 Passing Cmp-Att-Int Pct Yds TD Avg/G Daniel Smith 17-32-0 53.1 253 1 253.0 Connor Watkins 4-4-0 1.000 52 0 52.0 Receiving No. Yds Avg TD Long AVG/G Rayjoun Pringle 9 171 19.0 1 49 19.0 Jaaron Hayek 5 39 7.8 0 14 7.8 TD Ayo-Durojaiye 1 33 33.0 0 33 33.0 Defense UA A Tot TFL-Yds Sacks-Yds Nowoola Awopetu 4 2 6 1.0-4 0.5-3 Garrett Zobel 2 3 5 1.0-1 0.0-0 Denzel Williams 2 2 4 0.0-0 0.0-0 RHODE ISLAND STATS LEADERS (2019 FINAL) Rushing Att Net Avg TD Long AVG/G xx Bryant 116 493 4.3 4 34 61.6 Naim Jones 106 493 4.7 3 60 54.7 Matt Pires 15 117 7.8 0 66 9.7 Passing Cmp-Att-Int Pct Yds TD Avg/G Vito Priore 271-455-12 59.5 3,268 22 272.3 Receiving No. Yds Avg TD Long AVG/G A Parker 81 1,224 15.1 9 38 102.0 Isaiah Coulter 72 1,039 14.4 8 61 86.5 Ahmere Dorsey 43 605 14.0 4 63 50.4 Defense UA A Tot TFL-Yds Sacks-Yds B. Javier-Castillo 51 57 108 12.0-35 3.5-17 Rashod Dickerson 47 26 73 2.0-3 0.0-0 Jake Fire 30 43 73 3.5-6 0.0-0 Here is a quick look at the top team statistics for the Wildcats and the Rams. QUICK LOOK nn PASSING YARDS nn PASSING YARDS 3050 nn RUSHING YARDS 990 nn TOTAL TOUCHDOWNS 10 Next >