SPRING FOOTBALL A WEEK AWAY
SMITHFIELD, R.I. - It's time to put the helmets back on. Spring football is finally here.
With winter on its way out the door, the Bryant University football team has been hard at work in the weight room during the last couple of months and are just days away from the first official spring practice.
Eighth-year coach Marty Fine will welcome back 76 letterwinners and 17 starters from last year's team that posted a 7-4 record and earned a fourth-place finish in the Northeast Conference when the team holds its first practice on Sunday, March 20.
The Bulldogs will conduct 14 practices, culminating in the annual Black & Gold Spring Game on Saturday, April 16. The game will kickoff at 12 p.m. and will follow with a BBQ lunch immediately after.
For Bryant, the 2011 campaign will mark the school's fourth year competing at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision level and the final season of the mandatory four-year transition process to full-time Division I status. The Bulldogs will become eligible for the NCAA playoffs beginning in the fall of 2012.
The Bulldogs return three All-Northeast Conference performers and welcome back six starters on defense and six more on offense, including starting quarterback Mike Croce (Waterbury, Conn.) and running back Jordan Brown (Glastonbury, Conn.).
As a junior, Croce started all 11 games for the Bulldogs, completing 143-of-251 passes (57 percent) for 1,780 yards and 13 touchdowns. He threw for a career-high 314 yards and two touchdowns against Duquesne and will play a critical role in running the Bulldog offense this fall.
But he'll have plenty of help with the return Brown in the backfield. The speedy tailback had a breakout sophomore season in 2010, rushing for 1,410 yards and 15 touchdowns to earn First Team All-Northeast Conference and All-New England honors. Brown ran for more than 100 yards in all but one game last season, including a career-best 200 yards in a win over Albany at home.
On defense, the Bulldogs return all-conference cornerback Samad Wagstaff (New Rochelle, N.Y.). Wagstaff, who will be a senior this season, was fourth on the team with 45 tackles a year ago and led the way with four interceptions – three of which were returned for touchdowns.
The 2011 season kicks off September 3 when the Bulldogs travel to Orono, Maine for the program's first-ever matchup against the University of Maine. The 2011 schedule features six home games with AIC (Sept. 10), Wagner (Sept. 24), Stonehill (Oct. 8), Monmouth (Oct. 15), Saint Francis (PA) (Nov. 12) and Central Connecticut (Nov. 19) visiting Bulldog Stadium, where Bryant went 6-1 last year and is 22-6 since the 2006 season.
For ticket information on the Black & Gold Spring Game and 2011 season tickets, please contact Ruth NiCastro (rnicastr@bryant.edu).