KEELING HUNTER LB | SR VS. LIU NOVEMBER 15, 2019 VILLANOVA, PA. | 7:00 P.M. 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: 7-3 / CAA: 4-3 DATE OPPONENT LOCATION TIME/RESULT RECAP Aug. 24 at Colgate Hamilton, N.Y. W, 34-14 Sept. 7 vs. Lehigh Villanova, Pa. W, 38-10 Sept. 14 at Bucknell Lewisburg, Pa. W, 45-10 Sept. 21 at Towson* Towson, Md. W, 52-45 OT Sept. 28 Maine* Villanova, Pa. W, 33-17 Oct. 5 at William & Mary* Williamsburg, Va. W, 35-28 Oct. 12 at James Madison* Harrisonburg, Va. L, 24-38 Oct. 26 vs. Stony Brook* Villanova, Pa. L, 35-36 Nov. 2 at New Hampshire* Durham, N.H. L, 20-28 Nov. 9 vs. Richmond* Villanova, Pa. W, 35-28 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 FROM THE PRESSBOX Villanova plays its first Friday night game in nine years tonight against Long Island. 48 ‘CATS TAKE BIG EAST HONORS Men’s cross country team and women’s sophomore Lydia Olivere win BIG EAST titles. LONG ISLAND GAME NOVEMBER 15 // 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 LONG ISLAND 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. ] FIRST TIME FOE: Villanova and LIU will be meeting for the first time when the two teams do battle on Friday night at Villanova Stadium. The teams are scheduled to play again at Long Island during the 2022 season. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: Villanova will be playing its first Friday night game in nine years when the Wildcats host LIU on Friday evening. The team’s last Friday night game came on Dec. 17, 2010, when the Wildcats lost at Eastern Washing- ton (41-31) in the semifinal round of the NCAA FCS playoffs. Villanova’s last home Friday night game came on Dec. 11, 2009, when the Wildcats defeated William & Mary by a score of 14-13 in the semifinal round of the NCAA playoffs. The team’s last home Friday night regular season game came on Oct. 12, 2001, with a 17-14 loss to New Haven. HOME STRETCH: The Wildcats are in a stretch of playing three straight home games to finish the regular season. The three-game homestand began last week with a 35-28 win over Richmond and will continue this week with a home date versus Long Island on Friday, Nov. 15. The Wildcats will close out the regular season on Nov. 23 by hosting the Delaware Blue Hens. Villanova is 3-1 at home this year. CAA HONORS: Two Wildcats were honored by the CAA for their play in last week’s win over Richmond. Senior linebacker Drew Wiley was named the CAA Defensive Player of the week, while junior Nowoola Awopteu earned the CAA Special Teams Player of the Week. Wiley led the Villanova defense in the win with five tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one forced fumble and an interception. Awopetu returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown. 100 YARD PLAYS: The 100-yard kickoff return by Nowoola Awopetu in last week’s game versus Richmond was the sev- enth play in program history of 100 yards or longer. RUNNING FOR 100: Villanova had two players go over the 100 yard rushing mark in last week’s win over Richmond. Freshman DeeWil Barlee led the ground attack with 18 carries for 114 yards and a touchdown, while junior quarterback Dan Smith had 14 rushes for 105 yards and two scores. This was Barlee’s second career 100-yard rushing game and it was the 11th of Smith’s career and first as a Villanova Wildcat. The last time Villanova had two 100-yard rushers in the same game was against Liberty in the second round of the NCAA playoffs on Dec. 6, 2014, when running back Kevin Monangai had 20 carries for 102 yards and quarterback John Robertson tallied 18 rushes for 100 yards. HOUSE CALL: Junior Nowoola Awopetu became the first Villanova player since 2010 to return a kickoff for a touch- down when he brought back the opening kickoff 100 yards for a score in last week’s win over Richmond. The last Wild- cat to score on a kickoff return was Angelo Babbaro who returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a score against Eastern Washington on Dec. 17, 2010, in the semifinal round of the NCAA playoffs. Awopetu now has three career touch- downs to his credit with all three coming against Richmond. In a game in 2018 at Richmond, Awopetu returned two inter- ceptions for touchdowns. VILLANOVA (7-3, 4-3 CAA) LIU (0-8, 0-7 NEC) Senior linebacker Drew Wiley was named the CAA Football Defensive Player of the Week after his performance in the win over Richmond. FROM THE PRESSBOX FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 15, 2019 | 7:00 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 90 727 8.1 3 64 121.2 DeeWil Barlee 96 535 5.6 5 78 59.4 Daniel Smith 69 324 4.7 9 36 32.4 PASSING CMP-ATT-INT PCT YDS TD AVG/G Daniel Smith 185-320-10 57.8 2,412 22 241.2 RECEIVING NO. YDS AVG TD LONG AVG/G Changa Hodge 44 681 15.5 6 77 68.1 Jaaron Hayek 39 553 14.2 6 37 61.4 Todd Summers 28 270 9.6 4 50 27.0 DEFENSE UA A TOT TFL-YDS SACKS-YDS Forrest Rhyne 40 49 89 12.5-63 6.5-46 Drew Wiley 36 21 57 15.0-58 5.5-41 Nowoola Awopetu 30 25 55 1.0-3 0.0-0 LONG ISLAND STATS LEADERS RUSHING ATT NET AVG TD LONG AVG/G Tom Marinan 67 159 2.4 0 16 19.9 J. DeBique 28 133 4.8 0 58 33.2 Ricky Conway 22 74 3.4 0 17 9.2 PASSING CMP-ATT-INT PCT YDS TD AVG/G Clay Beathard 94-182-6 51.3 1,071 4 153.0 Jacob Cheshire 10-19-3 52.6 81 0 27.0 RECEIVING NO. YDS AVG TD LONG AVG/G Jake Bofshever 30 338 11.3 1 38 42.2 Tosin Oyekanmi 13 218 16.8 0 50 36.3 Tim Marinan 13 109 8.4 0 30 13.6 DEFENSE UA A TOT TFL-YDS SACKS-YDS Jerome Brooks III 42 26 68 6.5-17 0.0-0 Liam McIntyre 30 26 56 6.0-24 1.0-10 Grant Ibeh 23 18 41 2.0-3 0.0-0 Here is a quick look at the top team statistics for the Wildcats and the Sharks. QUICK LOOK n TOTAL TOUCHDOWNS 4810 n RUSHING YARDS 1958452 n PASSING YARDS 25191161 30-19-1092411_IBC_Together_Villanova_8.625x11.125_4C_r0.indd 17/23/19 10:19 AMNext >