Spring Football Quick Facts

EAST STROUDSBURG – East Stroudsburg University will hold its annual spring football game on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Eiler-Martin Stadium as head coach Denny Douds and the Warriors wrap up their 15 practice sessions that began preparations for the 2010 season.

The 2009 campaign ended with an 8-4 record and ESU's fourth appearance in the NCAA Division II Playoffs. Douds, who enters his 37th season as head coach with a PSAC-record 226 career wins, guided a team that had 43 true or redshirt freshmen on the 80-man roster.

The result is a seasoned squad that returns 15 starters, eight on offense and seven on defense, and will have veterans at nearly every position.

Linebacker Matt Freed brings multiple All-America honors into his senior year, earning first team mention from Daktronics (sports information directors) and third team status on the Associated Press Little All-America team each of the last two years.

Freed was also named the Daktronics Super Region One Defensive Player of the Year after a junior season that included 132 tackles, 18 tackles for a loss and 10 sacks on a unit that ranked in the top 10 in Division II in red zone defense, fourth down defense and takeaways during the regular season.

He will spearhead a linebacking corps that returns its top five players from last season, along with senior Mark Kalo (75 tackles) on the outside and redshirt junior Taylor Cave (76 tackles), sophomore Mike Bergey (70) and senior Kevin Schafer (38 tackles in seven starts) on the inside.

The Warriors' starting cornerbacks also return in senior David Castillo, who has made 28 straight starts, and redshirt junior Shawnte Carroll, who set an ESU record with four interceptions against Slippery Rock and tied an NCAA Division II record with three in the fourth quarter.

Redshirt junior defensive tackle Rudy Cerami also returns on the defensive line. Departed starters include defensive ends Jeff Case and Matthew Faas, tackle Keith Galinsky and safety Nicholas Artinger, who led the PSAC with seven interceptions.

ESU should click again offensively with eight starters back from a group that was second in the PSAC in total offense (405.3 yards per game), third in passing (270.5 ypg) and fifth in scoring (29.3 ppg) a year ago.

At quarterback, redshirt senior Matt Marshall has made 14 career starts and had one of the top seasons in school history last year. He completed 60 percent of his passes for 2,938 yards and 26 touchdowns and put up 3,251 yards of total offense, including 360 yards (301 passing, 59 rushing) against Edinboro in the first round of the NCAA playoffs.

A pair of veteran receivers also return in redshirt seniors Ed Kiser (43 catches, 805 yards, 6 touchdowns) and Jeff Giglio (38-603-3), who had a run of three straight 100-yard games before being limited by injury late in the year.

Redshirt sophomore Jordan Hallman (29-359-6) and true sophomore Bryan Ogden (26-367-2) also contributed to the passing attack. Sam Shuman, who had 2,043 yards receiving in his four years, is the only one of Marshall's top five receivers who does not return for 2010.

In the backfield, Kendrick Williams and Eric Deery stepped up as true freshmen after Zach Krise (384 rushing yards in the first three games) went down with a serious injury in the Warriors' 21-20 win at West Chester.

Williams ran for 436 yards (4.4 yards per carry) and caught 12 passes for 245 yards in seven games after seeing his first career action in the fourth quarter against West Chester. Deery added 277 yards (5.4 per carry), including 100-yard games against Cheyney and Millersville.

The offensive line will miss first team All-PSAC left tackle Morgan Thomas, who started 42 career games at three positions up front, but returns its other four starters. Redshirt junior Dan Caffrey is a two-year starter at center and redshirt junior Zach Sarginger (right guard) and redshirt sophomores Seve Rivers (left guard) and Wrenton Wright II (right tackle) were all first-year starters a year ago.

ESU will open the 2010 season at Pace University in New York City before a four-game stretch against perennial PSAC challengers IUP, California, West Chester and Bloomsburg. The Warriors will also travel to Edinboro in the final week of the season for a rematch of the Fighting Scots' 31-16 win at Eiler-Martin Stadium in the NCAA Playoffs.


2010 ESU Football Schedule

September
4 - at Pace
11 - IUP
18 - at California
25 - *WEST CHESTER (Family Weekend)

October
2 - *at Bloomsburg
9 - *KUTZTOWN (Homecoming)
16 - *at C.W. Post
23 - *at Millersville
30 - *CHEYNEY

November
6 - *SHIPPENSBURG
13 - at Edinboro