Thursday's season opener at UConn kicks off the 88th season of intercollegiate football at Wagner College. In the 88 season-opening games, the Seahawks' all-time record is 46-40-2. In four season openers under Coach Houghtaling, the Seahawks are 3-1 and have won three straight.
All-Time Series
Wagner and UConn, whose campus are separated by 163 miles, will be facing one another for the first time ever. In fact, the Seahawks have never faced an opponent that competes in the AAC.
UConn Marks 10th Time Seahawks will Face an FBS Foe
The matchup at UConn marks the 10th time that Wagner will face an FBS foe, having played at least one opponent from college football's highest division in each of the last eight seasons. The closest the Seahawks have come to knocking off an FBS foe was in their first-ever meeting against an 85-scholarship opponent when the 2012 Seahawks dropped a hard-fought 7-3 contest at FAU in Boca Raton. That 2012 Wagner team opened the season 0-3, before reeling off nine straight wins en route to the program's first-ever Northeast Conference (NEC) championship an ensuing NCAA FCS first-round playoff win over Colgate.
Head Coach Jason Houghtaling on Wagner's Philosophy of Playing FBS Opponents
"When we talk about our program, our number one goal, each and every year, from an athletic standpoint is to win the Northeast Conference. And then our second goal always is to give our student-athletes the best experience we can possibly give them throughout their four or five-year careers.
"Playing FBS teams is a lot of a fun. It's competitive obviously and obviously for the school there's a little bit of a financial reward. All in all, it's just a great experience for our guys to play up, to play competition that is supposed to be better, and have better players and all that stuff everyone talks about. But, at the end of the day, it's the game of football. It's 11 guys on the field for each team at one point. It's a scoreboard, it's a ball and it's a field. Everyone wants to compete, and loves to compete. So, it's a lot of fun every year."
"The toughest thing I guess is just the speed, playing against guys who are, on paper, supposed to be a lot faster, bigger and stronger and all those things. I think if you can execute your game plan against a team that has a little bit more team speed, than obviously that prepares you for your conference competition. I think back to 2012 when we played FAU at FAU. Although we got beat, I think that actually gave us some confidence. Then, in 2014, our other NEC (regular season) championship season, we played FIU at FIU. And I think, other than turning the football over, we did a lot of nice things against them."
"When this game is over, then, on Friday, we'll take a look at the film, analyze the game closely from a fundamental standpoint, what we did right, what we did wrong for 24 hours and then move on. I think it's a positive all around, not matter how you slice it."
Seahawks To Face Two FBS Foes for Third Time
In 2019, Wagner will face a pair of FBS opponents for the third time in program history. In 2015, the Seahawks played at Rice and at BYU while in 2016 the Green & White traveled to UMass and Boston College). In addition to UConn, Wagner's other FBS contest is a September 23 test at Florida Atlantic (FAU).
New Faces on Coaching Staff
The Wagner coaching staff will feature five assistants in their first season with the Seahawks, including both coordinators. Associate Head Coach/Defensive coordinator
Del Smith is no stranger to Wagner having served the 2006 and 2007 seasons as linebackers coach under former longtime Wagner head coach, and current athletic director,
Walt Hameline. Prior to his second tour of duty on State Island, Smith spent the last three seasons as head coach of his alma mater, West Virginia Wesleyan. The Seahawks' new offensive coordinator, lee Hull, is also a former head coach, having spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons as the head man at Morgan State. Prior to his tenure there, he patrolled the sidelines as a longtime assistant at Maryland, Oregon and his alma mater, Holy Cross.
2019 Seahawk Offense to Feature FBS Transfer at Quarterback
Wagner fifth-year head coach
Jason Houghtaling has handed over the keys to the Seahawk offense to 6-3, 225-pound graduate student and FIU transfer
Christian Alexander-Stevens. The ninth-leading passer in Florida high school history, the strong-armed and mobile Alexander-Stevens earned Offensive MVP honors in leading FIU to a 35-32 victory over Toledo in the 2018 Bahamas Bowl. In this contest, he completed 17-of-26 passes for 209 yards and one touchdown while rushing for 83 yards in the win over the MAC Champion Rockets, while stepping in for 2018 Conference USA Newcomer of the Year, James Morgan, who was sidelined by injury. Alexander-Stevens will have a talented but young cast around him as the Seahawk return just three offensive starters in guards
Chris Gangarossa and
Tyler Piekarz and wide receiver
Joshua DeCambre. Wagner has a good one at tight end in senior
Adam Giordano, a 2019 All-NEC Preseason pick who is coming off a 14-catch season and now carries 255 pounds on his 6'4" frame.
Defense Boasts Six Returning Starters Headed by All-American Gill, All-NEC Performers Graham and Williams
First-year defensive coordinator
Del Smith inherits or a core of six returning starters, five whom are in the front seven. Leading the way is senior consensus All-American outside linebacker
Cam Gill, the 2018 ECAC and NEC Defensive Player of the Year, along with All-NEC inside linebacker
Santoni Graham. Not to be overlooked is sturdy, 300-pound senior nose tackle and another All-NEC player in
Chris Williams. Other returning starters for the Seahawks include fifth-year senior defensive end
Tevaughn Grant, fifth-year senior defensive tackle
Julian McCleod and senior cornerback
Myron Morris, who had three interceptions in 2018. Morris doubles as a dangerous kick returner.
Silvester a Proven Special Teams Commodity
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, who was named to the 2019 All-NEC Preseason Team. 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.
Wagner Roster Features Six Student-Athletes who have Transferred in from FBS Programs
In addition to the major core of players on the Seahawk roster who starred in the high school ranks immediately before arriving on Grymes Hill, the majority of whom hail from New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, the 2019 roster also features six players who began their careers in FBS programs.
Former FBS Players on Seahawk Roster
Name Cl. Pos. HT WT Hometown/High School/Previous School
Christian Alexander-Stevens Gr. QB 6-3 225 Lakeland, FL / Lakeland Christian School / FIU
Gunner Daniel Jr. LS 5-10 190 Marysville, OH / Marysville / Ball State
Noah Ellison Jr. WR 6-2 200 Sicklerville, NJ / Timber Creek / Old Dominion
Ikechukwu Ogwuegbu Sr. RB 5-9 205 Hyattsville, MD / Northwestern HS / Maryland
Jordan Porter Jr. DB 6-0 210 Colleyville, TX / Texas Heritage / Eastern Michigan
Justice Stewart 5th WR 6-1 180 Union, NJ / Union / Rutgers
Quick Look Back at 2018
While Wagner was 4-7 overall a year ago, the Seahawks stormed to the finish line, winning their final two games, both on the road, by a combined score of 93-43. A 52-36 win at Bryant in the season's penultimate game was followed by a 41-7 victory at Robert Morris, which allowed Wagner to even its Northeast Conference (NEC) record at 3-3 and a fourth-place league finish.
No More Flyin' Ryan
In 2019, opposing defenses will no longer have to game plan against dynamic consensus All-American RB
Ryan Fulse, who in 2018 ranked second in all of FCS football with 1,705 yards rushing while ranking No. 1 in in all-purpose yardage (177.36 yards per game). The 5-10, 195-pound Floridian was named First-Team All-American by the FCS Stats, the Associated Press and the Walter Camp Football Foundation. Additionally, he was a finalist for the prestigious Walter Payton Award, regarded as the Heisman Trophy of the FCS, emblematic of the nation's top offensive player, and received First-Team honors by the ECAC and the Northeast Conference (NEC). One of Wagner's five team captains in 2018, Fulse's 1,705rushing yards for the season were good for second place on the all-time Seahawk single-season rushing list, and tops in Wagner's Division I era.
Wagner vs. Schools from the Nutmeg State
Including NEC rivals, Central Connecticut and Sacred Heart, the Seahawks in their history have faced just two other Nutmeg-based schools in Western Connecticut St. and New Haven. Against these four opponents, Wagner is a combined 30-23 (.567).
Wagner All-Time vs. Opponents from the State of Connecticut
Central Connecticut State 16-13
Sacred Heart 10-10
Western Connecticut St. 3-0
New Haven 1-0
30-23 (.567)
Four Seahawks With Connecticut Ties
On Wagner's 120-plus man roster, just six student-athletes have ties to Connecticut.
Name Cl. Pos. HT WT Hometown/High School/Previous School
Ian Britt So. RB 5-8 190 Springfield, MA/KingswoodOxford
Gabriel Bryan Fr. WR 6-0 180 Windsor, CT/ Windsor HS
BJ Buckle Sr. DL 5-11 270 New Canaan, CT / St. Luke's
Javeon Ensley Jr. DB 6-2 185 Plainfield, NJ/Hudson Catholic/New Haven/ASA
Thomas Kutchma Fr. OL 6-4 295 Stony Brook, NY/Ward-Melville/St. Thomas More Prep
Lincoln McGarrity Jr. TE 6-5 230 Syracuse, NY / CBA / Kent School
Did You Know?
Last Time a Wagner Team Faced a UConn Team in any Sport, Seahawk Men's Basketball Stunned No. 18 Huskies in 2016 Season Opener
The last time that a Wagner team competed against UConn in any sport was on November 11, 2016 when the Seahawks shocked the Huskies 67-58 at Gampel Pavilion in what was the season opener for both teams.
Redshirt senior forward Mike Aaman tossed in 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds to tie junior guard Romone Saunders for team-high scoring honors and Wagner held 18th-ranked UConn to 36 percent shooting en route to the near wire-to-wire win.
The only lead of the game for the Huskies was 2-0 with 19:23 left in the first half. Wagner handed the Huskies their first loss in a home opener at Gampel as UConn came in 27-0 in such games.
"This is huge. This is huge for the program, this is huge for the kids. I'm ridiculously excited for our guys," said Seahawk fifth-year head coach
Bashir Mason. "We had a game plan, these guys stuck to it and they deserved to win. This is unbelievable for our program. We knew coming in that we could not run up and down the floor with UConn. They're long and athletic, they're really talented. We wanted to control the pace of the game, we wanted to take care of the ball. And I told our guys in order for us to win, we're going to have to step up and make some shots and I thought we were able to do that.
"Absolutely, this is an upset," Mason added. "UConn is the 18th-ranked team in the country. Probably nobody in the world thought that we would win the game, except myself, my players and our small, little school up on the hill. This is great for us."
"This is one of the biggest wins in history," said Aaman. "The win in the NIT was big, but this was against a ranked team to start out our season, so it was a very big win for us."
This marked the third win for Wagner over a ranked opponent since becoming a Division I men's basketball program back in 1976. The last time the Seahawks had knocked off a Top-25 foe was on December 23, 2011 when the Green & White, coached by current UConnn head coach Dan Hurley, earned a 59-54 victory at No. 11 Pitt. Mason also had a hand in that win, as he was an assistant coach at the time for the Seahawks. Prior to that, Wagner bested 15th-ranked Alabama 86-74 on November 24, 1978.
