JUSTIN COVINGTON | JR VS. LEHIGH SEPTEMBER 7, 2019 VILLANOVA, PA. | 6:00 P.M. GAME PRESENTED BY 2019 GAMEDAY [VILLANOVA, PA. ] VILLANOVA STADIUM VILLANOVA.COM 3 2019 FOOTBALL TABLE OF CONTENTS @NovaFootball 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, Bob Slater 851 Corporate Drive, Suite 100 Lexington, KY 40503 (859) 514-0533 www.provationsgroup.com 2019 VILLANOVA FOOTBALL SCHEDULE OVERALL: 1-0 / CAA: 0-0 DATE OPPONENT LOCATION TIME/RESULT RECAP Aug. 24 at Colgate Hamilton, N.Y. W, 34-14 Sept. 7 vs. Lehigh Villanova, Pa. 6:00 p.m. Sept. 14 at Bucknell Lewisburg, Pa. 6:00 p.m. Sept. 21 at Towson* Towson, Md. 6:00 p.m. Sept. 28 Maine* Villanova, Pa. 3:30 p.m. Oct. 5 at William & Mary* Williamsburg, Va. 3:30 p.m. Oct. 12 at James Madison* Harrisonburg, Va. 1:30 p.m. Oct. 26 vs. Stony Brook* Villanova, Pa. 3:30 p.m. Nov. 2 at New Hampshire* Durham, N.H. 1:00 p.m. Nov. 9 vs. Richmond* Villanova, Pa. 1:00 p.m. Nov. 15 vs. Long Island Villanova, Pa. 7:00 p.m. Nov. 23 vs. Delaware* Villanova, Pa. 1:00 p.m. ALL HOME GAMES ARE PLAYED AT VILLANOVA STADIUM. All games times are EST and subject to change. FEATURES 6 LEHIGH GAME PREVIEW VIllanova kicks off its home schedule tonight against Lehigh. 48 SPOTLIGHT: MEN’S BASKETBALL Jeremiah Robinson-Earl’s first summer as a Wildcat has been a whirlwind. LEHIGH GAME SEPTEMBER 7 // VILLANOVA, PA. VILLANOVA STADIUM continued on page 32019 FOOTBALL 2019 GAMEDAY VILLANOVA STADIUM [VILLANOVA, PA. ] TABLE OF CONTENTS VILLANOVA.COM 4 GAME STATISTICS COMPARISON 8 VILLANOVA ROSTER 10 LEHIGH ROSTER 12 TODAY’S GAME DEPTH CHART 14 HEAD COACH MARK FERRANTE 16 ASSISTANT COACHES 22 MEET THE WILDCATS 30 VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY 38 PRESIDENT REV. PETER DONOHUE, O.S.A. 40 ATHLETICS DIRECTOR MARK JACKSON 41 VILLANOVA STADIUM 43 VILLANOVA ON THE AIR 45 KNOW THE LIMITS 46 CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS 50 CAA CONFERENCE 52 PAYTON AWARD WINNERS 54 HONORS AWARDS 56 ALL-AMERICANS 59 WILDCATS IN THE PROS 61 MILESTONES IN VILLANOVA HISTORY 62 RETIRED JERSEYS 65 YEARLY STATISTICAL LEADERS 69 CONTENTS 6 VILLANOVA.COM HEADLINE 2019 GAMEDAY VILLANOVA STADIUM [VILLANOVA, PA. ] The No. 24 Villanova Wildcats will open the home portion of their schedule tonight when they play host to the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. The Wildcats enter play with a 1-0 record, while Lehigh is 0-1 on the young season. Villanova tallied a 34-14 win at Colgate in the season opener on August 24. Lehigh fell at home to St. Francis (Pa.) last Saturday by a score of 14-13. The Wildcats have gone 26-8 in home openers since becoming a FCS program in 1985, including winning six of the last seven. Saturday will be the 16th all-time meeting between Villanova and Lehigh (Villanova leads 10-5) with the Wildcats having won the last seven match-ups over the Mountain Hawks. Lehigh’s last win in the series came in 2006 by a score of 31-28 in a game played at Villanova Stadium. Tonight’s meeting with Lehigh will be the second of three straight games versus an opponent from the Patriot League for Villanova. The Wildcats are 33-4 against teams from the Patriot League since becoming a FCS member in 1985. Vil- lanova enters play tonight riding a nine-game winning streak against a team from the Patriot league. The Wildcats last loss to a Patriot League opponent came at Fordham in 2013 (27-24). In the season opener on August 24, Villanova tallied an impressive 34-14 win at No. 13 Colgate. The offense put up 444 total yards and the defense gained a pair of turnovers which turned into 14 points. Sophomore running back Jalen Jackson caught an 18-yard touchdown pass less than a min- ute into the second quarter and junior corner Jaquan Amos returned an interception 27 yards just over a minute later to put the Wildcats in front 14-0 with 13:16 left before halftime and the Wildcats never looked back. Daniel Smith was sen- sational in his Villanova debut completing 14-of-29 for 205 yards and three touchdowns to go with seven carries for 37 yards and a score. Junior running back Justin Covington led the Wildcat ground game with 19 carries for 134 yards, while Jackson added 11 rushes for 64 yards. For his efforts in the win, Amos was named both the FCS Stats National Defensive Player of the Week and the CAA Defensive Player of the Week after registering seven tackles, a fumble recovery and the interception that was returned 27 yards for a touchdown. Lehigh dropped its season opener last Saturday with a 14-13 home setback to Saint Francis (Pa.). After the Red Flash took a 14-13, with 1:17 to play in the fourth quarter, Lehigh drove down the field to set-up a potential game-winning 40-yard field goal. However, after an apparent game-winning field goal by Austin Henning was nullified by a Saint Francis timeout, Henning’s second attempt missed as time expired. Villanova will hit the road next week and play at Bucknell, while Lehigh will travel to UC Davis. VILLANOVA (1-0, 0-0 CAA) LEHIGH (0-1, 0-0 PATRIOT) Daniel Smith threw three touchdowns in his Villanova debut to help the Wildcats to a 34-14 win at Colgate. GAMEDAY PREVIEW SATURDAY | SEPTEMBER 7, 2019 | 6:00 P.M. VILLANOVA, PA. VS.8 VILLANOVA.COM 2019 FOOTBALL 2019 GAMEDAY VILLANOVA STADIUM [VILLANOVA, PA. ] GAME STATISTICS COMPARISONS VILLANOVA STATS LEADERS RUSHING ATT NET AVG TD LONG AVG/G Justin Covington 19 134 7.1 0 23 134.0 Jalen Jackson 11 64 5.8 0 20 64.0 Daniel Smith 7 37 5.3 1 18 37.0 PASSING CMP-ATT-INT PCT YDS TD AVG/G Daniel Smith 14-29-0 65.2 205 3 205.0 RECEIVING NO. YDS AVG TD LONG AVG/G Simon Bingelis 3 58 19.3 0 36 19.3 Changa Hodge 1 45 45.0 1 45 45.0 Jevon Jones 2 25 12.5 0 13 12.5 DEFENSE UA A TOT TFL-YDS SACKS-YDS Forrest Rhyne 5 3 8 2.0-8 1.0-6 Keeling Hunter 4 3 7 0.0-0 0.0-0 Jaquan Amos 4 2 6 0.0-0 0.0-0 LEHIGH STATS LEADERS RUSHING ATT NET AVG TD LONG AVG/G Rashawn Allen 14 22 1.6 0 22 22.0 Peter Lucas 1 1 1.0 0 1 1.0 Nate Hope 1 -2 -2.0 0 0 -2.0 PASSING CMP-ATT-INT PCT YDS TD AVG/G Tyler Monaco 21-51-1 41.1 270 0 270.0 RECEIVING NO. YDS AVG TD LONG AVG/G Devon Bibbens 6 73 12.1 0 29 73.0 Jorge Portorreal 6 66 11.0 0 26 66.0 Austin Dambach 3 64 21.3 0 30 64.0 DEFENSE UA A TOT TFL-YDS SACKS-YDS Keith Woetzel 8 1 9 2.5-5 1.0-4 Pete Haffner 8 1 9 0.0-0 0.0-0 Davis Maxie 4 1 5 0.5-1 0.0-0 Here is a quick look at the top team statistics for the Wildcats and the Mountain Hawks. QUICK LOOK n TOTAL TOUCHDOWNS 41 n RUSHING YARDS 23911 n PASSING YARDS 205270 30-19-1092411_IBC_Together_Villanova_8.625x11.125_4C_r0.indd 17/23/19 10:19 AMNext >