(Left to Right): Head Coach
Jason Houghtaling, LB
Cam Gill, QB
Christian Alexander-Stevens
Photo by Adrienne Terzuoli
2019 Schedule / 2019 Roster
East Rutherford, NJ – Reigning Northeast Conference (NEC) Defensive Player of the Year
Cam Gill, along with fellow linebacker
Santoni Graham, defensive lineman
Chris Williams and punter
Eric Silvester were selected to the 27-man, 2019 Preseason All-NEC Team, while the Seahawks were picked fourth in the preseason poll, as chosen by the conference's head coaches, the league office announced at #NECFB Social Media Day today at MetLife Stadium.
Defending NEC champion Duquesne was a unanimous pick as league's preseason favorite with seven first-place votes. Sacred Heart, which picked up one first-place ballot, was chosen second, with Central Connecticut checking in at third. Following fourth-place Wagner is Bryant, which found itself in fifth place when the survey results were tallied, followed by Saint Francis U, Robert Morris, and first-year football member, LIU.
Cam Gill
Senior outside linebacker
Cam Gill is coming off a breakout 2018 season that saw him earn All-America honors by STATS FCS (2
nd Team) and the Associated Press (3
rd Team) in addition to garnering Defensive Player of the Year honors by both the ECAC and the NEC, was one of 25 finalists for the Buck Buchanan Award, given annually to FCS football's defensive player of the year.
In addition to copping 2019 NEC Preseason honors, Gill has also been named to the 2019 Hero Sports Preseason All-American team.
The 6-1, 230-pound Douglasville, GA native was a virtually unblockable defensive force throughout the season. In the Seahawks' 41-7 season-ending win at Robert Morris, Gill seemingly spent the entire afternoon in the Colonials' backfield, recording 5.5 tackles for loss, for 24 yards, including a forced fumble. Among those 5.5 TFL's were 2.5 sacks that went for a combined 18 yards of loss, which helped contribute to RMU finishing with a net nine yards of rushing.
In the win at RMU, Gill came within one half-tackle of matching the DI FCS single-game season high in tackles-for-loss and notched his third NEC Defensive Player of the Week Award after totaling 11 tackles, on his way to moving into fifth place on the NEC's all-time list of single-season tackles-for-loss leaders (24.5).
Overall, Gill was Wagner's second-leading tackler with 61, which included 13.5 sacks for minus 76 yards in losses.
Santoni Graham
Like Gill, fifth-year senior inside linebacker
Santoni Graham was a 2018 First-Team All-NEC choice as the ball-hawking Arlington, VA native was far and away the team leader in tackles with 99 (No. 3 in the NEC), 57 of which were of the solo variety. The crunching 6-1, 225-pound Graham added eight tackles for loss (minus 22 yards), two sacks (minus 10 yards), two fumble recoveries, one forced fumble, and one interception.
One of Wagner's five team captains in 2018, Graham registered a staggering four double-digit tackle games on the season, headlined by a career-high 11 stops (8 solo) at FBS member Syracuse on September 8. He also recorded 10-tackle performances vs. Bowie State (8/30) Sacred Heart (9/22), and Bryant (11/10) and had nine-tackle efforts vs. Montana State (9/15, Monmouth (9/29), and Duquesne (11/3).
A model of consistency all season, Graham also recorded a trio of eight-tackle games one seven-tackle effort, the latter being his "lowest" output of the season. All told, the Arlington, VA native had seven or more tackles in all 11 games, and eight or more in 10 of 11 games and will enter his final season as a Seahawk with 237 career tackles to his credit.
Chris Williams
While perhaps the most unsung among the Seahawk's All-NEC honorees a year ago, Brooklyn, NY's
Chris Williams' important contributions up front did not escape the attention of the league's coaches who recognized his vast talent by voting him to the All-NEC Second Team.
The rock-solid 6-2, 295-pound run-stuffing force responded to the tutoring of the Seahawks' first-year defensive line coach, and former seven-year NFL standout,
Terrance Knighton, throughout the 2018 season, and is looking for even bigger and better things as a senior in 2019.
A starter in all 11 games, Williams was credited with 25 tackles on the season, including 14 solo hits, with a sack vs. Monmouth (9/29) in addition to 11 assisted stops. For the year, Williams, who starred at Lafayette High School before arriving on Grymes Hill, recorded three or more tackles in six different games, highlighted by a career-high five-tackle effort at Central Connecticut (10/27). In this game, he also came up with one of his two blocked kicks on the year, with this one being returned 36 yards for a touchdown by fellow D-lineman
Charbel Dabire.
Eric Silvester
Coming off a season that saw him average 39.4 yards per punt, which tied for second in the NEC, is junior kicker
Eric Silvester. That 39.8-yard average was buoyed was buoyed by a career-long 68-yard launch at Bryant (11/10), which was preceded the previous week by a 62-yard missile vs. Duquesne (11/3). Silvester's powerful left leg also allowed Wagner to finish third in the NEC in net punting average at 38.8 yards per clip.
For the season, the Lincolndale, NY native had 10 punts that traveled 50 yards or more, 18 punts downed inside the 20-yard line, while his hang time forced 10 fair catches on the year.
While being recognized on the Preseason All-NEC team for his punting exploits, Silvester was also one of the league top placekickers a year ago where he converted on 10-of-13 field goal attempts (76.9 percent), including 5-of-5 accuracy from 30-39 yards. He also averaged 51.0 yards on 60 kickoffs per kickoff, eight of which went for eight touchbacks.
The 2019 Seahawks, under the direction of fifth-year head coach
Jason Houghtaling, open the season on Thursday, August 29 vs. FBS member UConn in a 6:00 p.m. start.
#NECFB
Preseason Poll Results
