SALISBURY, Md. - The 22nd-ranked Salisbury University football team begins the 2022 season under the lights at Sea Gull Stadium on Friday, Sept. 2 against the Albright Lions. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Following the game, a laser light show display will take place in celebration of the new athletic season and the completion of the
$75 million "We Are SU" Capital Campaign. The laser show display is presented by the SU Foundation and sponsored by M&T Bank.
The Series: Salisbury leads the overall series against Albright, 7-3, with Salisbury having the upper hand in the past three contests. The Sea Gulls and the Lions have played in eight season openers, including the last five seasons.
Last time against Albright: Salisbury rolled to a 56-14 road victory at Albright in the 2021 season opener. Salisbury recorded 589 yards of total offense, 505 of which came in the run game. Jack Lanham went 4-for-5 through the air with 79 yards and a touchdown. Lanham also ran for 76 yards. Joey Bildstein led the way with 14 totes with 136 yards and two touchdowns. Sean Carroll and Casey Counts tied for a team-high in tackles with seven. A.J. Butler made five stops.
PAC 14 Partnership: For the fall season, Salisbury football and field hockey home games will be aired on PAC 14, the public access channel that serves the City of Salisbury and Wicomico County. PAC 14 will coordinate coverage with the Sea Gull Sports Network (SGSN) to bring live and tape-delayed games in Salisbury and the surrounding area. PAC 14 is available to over 30,000 households on Xfinity, other cable providers and the PAC 14 digital channels.
National Rankings: Salisbury received national love from preseason polls. Salisbury was slotted 22nd in the D3football.com Preseason Poll. The Sea Gulls were the highest-ranked team in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) in the D3football.com Poll.
The Captains: Salisbury will have four captains to lead the flock in 2022. Seniors Connor Lugo, Chris Kallighan and Hunter Cleaver as well as junior Casey Counts were announced as team captains before the start of preseason camp.
Building with non-conference games: Since joining the NJAC in 2015, Salisbury has a 6-3 record in non-conference games.
Under the Lights: Salisbury is playing in its first home night game in front of fans since the 2018 season. Since joining the NJAC in 2015, Salisbury has a 7-3 record in night games and enters Friday's contest on a five-game win streak.
All-NJAC Returners: The squad returns six of the 18 All-NJAC selections from a season ago, led by All-NJAC First Team superback Joey Bildstein. The Sea Gulls also return second-team selections Connor Lugo, Hunter Cleaver, Casey Counts and Aaron Jahnke along with honorable mention pick A.J. Butler.
Built on the Run: The notorious triple option offense, Salisbury pushed its streak of top-10 rushing offenses in the nation in 2021 to 10 straight years. The Salisbury offense finished third in the nation in rushing offense in 2021 with a 324.3 yards per game average. The Sea Gulls also ranked 17th in the country in passing efficiency (163.45) and 34th in Division III in total offense with a unit that averaged 433.3 yards per game. Joey Bildstein led the NJAC in rushing with 779 yards on 125 attempts. He tallied seven touchdowns and averaged 6.2 yards per carry.
Among the Greats: Salisbury head coach Sherman Wood ranks in the top-20 of active coaches in wins, regardless of NCAA Division. Entering 2022, Coach Wood has totaled 185 victories as head coach with stints at Bowie State and SU, which is more victories than other notable coaches with 20-plus years of experience such as Kirk Ferentz at Iowa and Frank Solich at Ohio.
Scouting Albright: Under first-year head coach Isaac Collins, Albright is looking to improve on back-to-back two wins season after going 2-8 in 2021.
The Lions return three of their six All-Middle Atlantic Conference Second Team performers from 2021. Junior running back Isaiah Shockley, senior offensive lineman Jeff Joseph and senior linebacker Daniel Vital.
Shockley led the Lions in rushing yards with 634 on 117 carries and three touchdowns.
Vital paced the MAC with 123 total tackles (47 solo) and averaged 12.3 tackles per game. He led the Lions with 1.5 sacks on the season and earned one breakup and one quarterback hurry.
Joseph started in all ten games for the Lions last season at left guard.
Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with the New Jersey Athletic Conference for football, Coastal Lacrosse Conference for men's lacrosse and the Metropolitan Swimming and Diving Conference for men's and women's swimming. With over 500 student-athletes in 21 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, and dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on-and-off the field. The Sea Gulls have celebrated 22 team national championships, 24 individual national champions, 189 conference championships and 43 Academic All-Americans.
To learn more about the tradition of excellence with Sea Gull Athletics, visit www.SUSeaGulls.com or on social media @SUSeaGulls.
