Rock football spring game set for Friday night - Slippery Rock University Athletics (2024)

Football 4/18/2024 10:15:00 AM Jon Holtz, Athletic Communication

The nationally ranked Slippery Rock football team will host its annual Green vs. White Spring Game Friday night at 6 p.m. Parking and admission are free for the game.

2024 Spring Football Roster | 2024 Schedule

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The nationally ranked Slippery Rock University football team will wrap up its spring practice schedule Friday evening with the annual Green vs. White Spring Game at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

LIVE STATS
A live statistical feed for the game will be available HERE.

FREE ADMISSION
Parking and admission to the game is free for all fans. There will be no concessions provided.

GAME FORMAT
The game will be played as the offense vs. the defense with the offense wearing white jerseys and the defense wearing green jerseys. The defense will be awarded 17 points at the start of each half. The offense will score points traditionally and will start with zero points.

Quarterbacks and specialists will wear black jerseys to indicate no-contact.

The game will feature four 10-minute quarters with a running clock in the second half. The clock will stop for timeouts, changes of possession, touchdowns and field goal attempts.

All punts will be fair caught and opening kickoff possessions will start at the offense's 35-yard line.

2023 RECAP
Slippery Rock won a fifth straight Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division title in 2023 and reached the NCAA Playoffs for the fifth straight season before finishing with a 12-2 overall record for its eighth 10-win season in program history. The Rock own the second-longest active playoff streak in Division II and wrapped up their 14th straight winning season last fall, the ninth-best active streak in the country. SRU finished the season ranked No. 10 in the final Division II national poll and was one of only 12 teams in the country to be ranked in every poll released in 2023. Slippery Rock has been nationally ranked in every poll released since the final poll in 2018.

COACHING STAFF CHANGES
Friday will mark the public debut of Joe Marella as offensive coordinator after Marella moved into that role this offseason. He previously served as wide receivers coach, pass game coordinator and special teams coordinator over the last three years on the SRU staff. Marella replaces Drew Moulton, who was the offensive coordinator for the last two fall seasons and left SRU to accept a Division I position at Western Michigan. SRU will also welcome new wide receivers coach Chris Parry for his first public appearance in the role. Parry previously worked with wide receivers at Thiel College and the University of Pittsburgh.

MID-YEAR TRANSFERS WILL PLAY
Slippery Rock will dress all of its mid-year transfer additions for the game, giving fans a first look at a number of players that are expected to have a significant impact in the fall. Those players include tight end Nassir Jones (Bloomsburg), defensive back Davion Daniels (Bowling Green), offensive lineman Jeff Bonnette (Cal Pa.), offensive lineman Anthony Jackson (Gannon), offensive lineman Julian Sams (Kent State), wide receiver Mike Solomon (Notre Dame, Ohio), defensive end Todd Hill (Pitt), offensive lineman Marcus Futrell (UNC Charlotte), wide receiver Latrell Sutton (Virginia Tech) and running back Josiah Jordan (Wilkes).

ALL-AMERICANS RETURNING
Slippery Rock returns four players that earned at least one All-America honor last year, headlined by quarterback Brayden Long. The PSAC and Super Region One Offensive Player of the Year in 2023, Long finished fifth in the national voting for the Harlon Hill Trophy as the top Division II player in the country. He returns for his senior season after throwing for 3,808 yards with 35 touchdowns and just six interceptions in 2023. The Rock return a pair of All-Americans in the secondary in safety Eddie Faulkner IV and cornerback Josh Stokes. Stokes led the PSAC with 16 pass breakups while grabbing five picks and finishing third on the roster in total tackles (83). Faulkner was fourth on the roster with 63 total tackles while leading the team with 4.5 sacks and three forced fumbles. SRU also welcomes back tight end Kam Kruzelyak, who was third on the team with 46 receptions for 465 yards and four touchdowns last fall.

ALL-PSAC PLAYERS BACK
In addition to the All-Americans mentioned above, Slippery Rock also returns All-PSAC offensive tackle Joe Cooper and All-PSAC defensive tackle Munchie Johnson. Cooper started every game at right tackle last year and helped the offense put up 573 points (40.9 per game) and 6,529 total yards (466.4 per game). Johnson started every game in the interior of the defensive line and finished with 63 total tackles and 12.0 tackles for loss to lead the defensive linemen.

RECAP FROM THE GAME
A recap from the spring game, including statistical highlights, will be posted to www.RockAthletics.com Friday night.

2024 SCHEDULE
Slippery Rock will open the 2024 season with back-to-back games against teams that made the NCAA Playoffs in 2023. The Rock will host Northeast-10 Conference champion New Haven Sept. 7 at 1 p.m. to open the season before traveling to PSAC East rival Shepherd in week two. The fall schedule with tentative times can be seen HERE.

2024 TICKET AND PARKING INFO
Slippery Rock is working on finalizing ticketing and parking info and hopes to announce that information with links to purchase season tickets and parking passes in the next few weeks.

To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on 'X' (formerly Twitter,@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics) and Instagram (RockAthletics).