2018 Roster and Coaching Staff  |  2018 Schedule

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University head football coach Shawn Lutz has announced The Rock's 90-man roster and two coaching additions prior to the team reporting for preseason camp Aug. 8.
 
The preseason roster includes a number of previously unannounced players that either joined the program during the spring semester or have transferred in this summer, including three from major Division I programs.
 
The coaching staff remains largely intact and will feature the same full-time staff as the last two seasons. The only additions to the staff for the 2018 season include former SRU graduate assistant Jon McCune returning to coach the tight ends and former Penn State quarterback Billy Fessler joining the staff as a graduate assistant and running backs coach. Former SRU standout Joe Phillips will also take on an expanded role in working with the defensive line in 2018 in his second year on the staff.
 
"We're excited to welcome Jon back and to welcome Billy to SRU," said Lutz. "These guys are going to be a great addition to an already strong staff. Jon is an SRU alum and is very familiar with the standards we hold our program to and Billy is coming from one of the biggest football programs in the country and has a lot of experience with understanding an offense."
 
In addition to the new coaches, Lutz officially announced a number of new players that have signed at SRU since National Signing Day back in February. Included in that list of new players are three transfer students from NCAA Division I "Power Five" programs that were all at least three-star recruits coming out of high school. Those three players are slot receiver Eric Glover-Williams and tight end A.J. Alexander from The Ohio State University and offensive lineman Tony Pilato from the University of Pittsburgh.
 
Glover-Williams, who was a four-star recruit out of Canton McKinley High School in Canton, Ohio, appeared in 20 games for the Buckeyes and saw time on both sides of the ball as a defensive back and a slot receiver. Alexander, a three-star recruit out of Lake Braddock High School in Burke, Virginia, was on track to be the starting tight end at Ohio State entering the 2017 season before an injury sidelined him for the year. Pilato, a 6-foot-5, 320-pound three-star offensive lineman from Hempfield, Pennsylvania, appeared in 12 games for the Panthers last season. All three have two years of eligibility remaining.
 
"We're excited about all three of these guys and we think they can come in and compete for starting jobs," said Lutz. "They'll have to work for their spots just like everyone else, but the potential is certainly there for all three of them to have major roles on our team this fall. We think Eric can be a dynamic playmaker in the slot and in the return game for us. We believe A.J. can provide a big mismatch lining up as a tight end or in the slot and we think Tony can compete for one of our starting tackle positions. When you add in Wes Hills at the running back position, we think we could have four significant Division I impact transfers right there just on the offensive side of the ball."
 
Hills, a transfer from the University of Delaware that was announced back in February, was a two-time team captain with the Blue Hens that averaged more than eight yards per carry in his last season at Delaware.
 
"We haven't had a big, powerful, physical running back that could really change a game the last couple years and Wes certainly fits that mold," said Lutz.
 
Slippery Rock also added another quarterback to the roster this offseason in Valdosta State transfer Roland Rivers, who threw for more than 1,300 yards and and 13 touchdowns and ran for 301 yards and three scores in just eight appearances in 2016 for the Division II Blazers. Rivers previously worked with SRU offensive coordinator Justin Roper, who came to The Rock after serving as the quarterback coach at Valdosta.
 
"Roland is a guy that has experience at this level and has great size at 6-2 and 235 pounds," said Lutz. "We'll give him a chance to come in and compete at the quarterback position, which should make our whole group get stronger. We really like our QBs now with Roland joining Andrew Koester, Taylor King and Kameron Patterson."
 
Another offensive addition that came back in the spring but was never announced is slot receiver Jermaine Wynn Jr., a transfer from Alderson Broaddus that led the Division II Battlers in receiving last year with 562 yards and six touchdowns in just eight games.
 
"We lost a lot of talent at the skill positions, especially the receiver positions," said Lutz. "Jermaine is an explosive guy with the ball in his hands. We think he can make an impact on offense for sure, but we're also really excited about his potential in the return game."
 
The additions on the offensive side of the ball come after SRU lost nine of its 12 starters from a 2017 offense that was among the highest flying in the nation. The Rock led the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference in passing and put up 40.2 points per game. The only returning starters on the offensive side of the ball are linemen Steve Gaviglia (All-PSAC) and Chris Larsen and slot receiver Mike Merhaut.
 
"We really believe some of these additions on offense could make us as skilled or potentially even more skilled than we were last year," said Lutz. "But, that's an unknown right now until we put the pieces together in camp. What we do know, is that our defense has to be better and we think we've made a lot of strides on that front."
 
The Rock defense lost just two starters in the offseason, but one of those was the best lineman in the history of Division II football. To soften the blow of losing Marcus Martin, SRU will lean on the fact that a total of 11 players return this season that started games last year on the defensive side of the ball.
 
The Rock will also welcome three players expected to make a significant impact in transfer lineman Jeff Marx from the U.S. Naval Academy, transfer linebacker Brad Zaffram from Lackawanna College and the return from injury of Wilford Clark, who missed the 2017 season.
 
"We didn't stop the run last year and it cost us," said Lutz. "We have to be better against the run this year. Jeff is probably the strongest guy we have ever had in our football program from a pure strength standpoint. He is a big, physical run stuffer. Getting Wilford back on the interior of the line should help significantly. When you pair those guys with Zach Bader and Tim Soave inside and Trey Blandford and Chad Kuhn outside, we think our line can be a major strength this year. And Brad gives us something we didn't have last year in an experienced linebacker that sees the whole field and reads the play very well. We started basically all freshmen at linebacker last year, so we think we'll see a big swing in the productivity of that whole unit with the additional experience."
 
Slippery Rock will report for preseason camp Aug. 8 and will officially open the 2018 season at home Sept. 1 against Kentucky State University with a 1 p.m. kickoff. The complete 2018 roster and schedule are linked at the top of this page.
 
 
 
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