2025 Spring Football Roster  |  2025 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.
 
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 offense will score points traditionally, while the defense will score points in a number of different scenarios (6 pts for a touchdown, 3 pts for a takeaway or forcing a three-and-out, 2 pts for a sack, 1 pt for a forced punt or a missed field goal).
 
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.
 
2024 RECAP
Slippery Rock finished the 2024 season ranked No. 3 in the Division II national rankings after reaching the national semifinals and closing the year with a 12-2 record. The Rock won the 2024 Super Region One title and led for more than three quarters of the national semifinals before falling to eventual national champion Ferris State 48-38 on the road in the semifinals. SRU enters the 2025 season with the second longest active playoff streak in the country and will be looking to reach the NCAA Playoffs for the seventh straight year. The Rock have been ranked in every national poll since the final poll of the 2018 season.  
 
COACHING STAFF CHANGES
Slippery Rock will welcome two new coaches to the sidelines Friday with the addition of wide receivers coach Jalen Jackson and running backs coach Ron Butschle. Jackson comes to Slippery Rock after spending last year as a graduate assistant at Delta State University in Mississippi, where he worked with the receivers. Butschle joins the SRU staff with more than 30 years of experience at the high school level, where he coached at both Sto-Rox and Seneca Valley High Schools.
 
MID-YEAR TRANSFERS WILL PLAY
Slippery Rock will dress all but one of its mid-year transfer students that joined the program in January. Those transfers include quarterback Anthony Vespo, who brings veteran leadership to the SRU QB room after previously serving as team captain at Northern State University. Other offensive transfers that will dress in the game include TE Nas Jones (Bloomsburg), who redshirted last year after earning first team All-PSAC East honors in 2023, and a trio of offensive linemen in Prestin Hawkins (Jireh Prep), Donovan Randle (Blinn) and Dominic Clifford (Pace). The defensive transfers suiting up include DL Brett Kwoka, an All-PSAC East transfer from Shepherd, along with DB Anthony Smith (Frostburg State), DB Michael Dahn (Wheeling), LB Samuel Knipe (Albany) and LB Tyler Cain (West Virginia).
 
ONE ALL-AMERICAN RETURNING
Slippery Rock returns one of its six players that picked up an All-America honor last fall in the form of left tackle Joe Cooper, who earned first team All-PSAC honors before being named to the second team All-America squads for the Associated Press and the Division II Conference Commissioner's Association.
 
ALL-PSAC PLAYERS BACK
The Rock return just two of their 11 All-PSAC players from the fall with Cooper and linebacker Jacob Snow returning to the squad. Snow tallied 54 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery last fall while also missing two games.
 
OFFENSIVE STARTERS RETURNING
Slippery Rock expects to be dynamic on offense again in 2025 and returns both of its top outside receivers in Mike Solomon and Logan Ramper, who both finished with eight TD grabs and more than 700 receiving yards last spring. Ramper was unstoppable late in the year, going for more than 120 yards in three of SRU's four playoff games and grabbing six TD catches in the last three playoff games. Despite missing four games and playing just nine full games, Ramper grabbed 42 passes for 748 yards. Solomon went for a season-high 130 yards in the national semifinals and finished with 56 catches for 786 yards in his first season at SRU. Xander McClure (14 catches, 187 yards, 1 TD) also returners in the receiving corps.
 
Slippery Rock graduated two of the top running backs in the region in Idris Lawrence and Chris D'Or, which will make way for JayJay Jordan and Quentin Harrison to step up entering 2025. Jordan played some in the slot and as a kick returner last year, but is expected to move into the starting running back role in 2025 while splitting carries with the bigger downhill back Harrison. They both averaged more than four yards per carry on limited touches last fall. Fellow returner Luke McCoy will also get touches in the backfield.
 
The Rock return starting offensive lineman Luke Pugliese, who started every game at right guard last year, in addition to All-American left tackle Joe Cooper.
 
DEFENSIVE STARTERS RETURNING
Slippery Rock returns six players from the fall that started more than half of the team's games, including safety Michael Henwood, who was the leading returning tackler with 72 stops to go along with a team-high three interceptions. Linemen Trever Valenti and John Brown both return after combining for 66 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks last year. SRU also welcomes back Brian Young Jr., who earned the starting defensive end job last year in camp but was injured in week one and missed the 2024 season. The Rock also welcome back starting linebackers Jacob Snow and Teddy Gregory Jr., who combined for 111 tackles and 8.5 tackles for loss in 2024, as well as cornerback Kanye Thompson, who had 25 tackles and one blocked kick.
 
NEW QB UNDER CENTER
Slippery Rock will have a new QB under center in week one next fall after the graduation of two-time Harlon Hill Trophy finalist Brayden Long. The Rock have a handful of returning quarterbacks competing for the role and also brought in senior transfer Anthony Vespo from Northern State to compete for the job. Former All-Ohio standout DaOne Owens has had a strong spring camp after redshirting his freshman season in the fall. David Bahm spent the 2024 season as the primary backup behind Long, where he split the role with transfer Demeatric Crenshaw. All three of those QBs are back this spring and expected to get reps in the spring game, along with Vespo and fellow returners Brad Hoffman and Ben Moore in what continues to be an open competition.
 
SPECIALISTS
Slippery Rock will have a new look on special teams in 2025 with kicker and punter Mason Yohn not returning, opening the door for a new kicker. That role could be filled by a newcomer as the incoming class will compete with returners Blake Nicholas, Kevin Roberts and Cory Butts for kicking and punting duties.
 
RECAP FROM THE GAME
A recap from the spring game, including statistical highlights, will be posted to www.RockAthletics.com Friday night.
 
2025 SCHEDULE
Slippery Rock will open the 2025 season on the road at the University of New Haven Thursday evening, Sept. 4 after hosting the Chargers twice in 2024, once to open the season and once in the opening round of the playoffs. The Rock will then return home for three straight night games Sept. 13 against Shepherd University, Sept. 20 against Shippensburg University and Sept. 27 against California (Pa.) with a rematch of the 2024 Super Region One title game set to open the PSAC West divisional schedule. SRU travels to Gannon Oct. 4 and Seton Hill Oct. 11 before hosting IUP on Homecoming Oct. 18. The Rock will have a bye week Oct. 25 before hosting Clarion Nov. 1 on Senior Day. The PSAC West slate ends Nov. 8 at Edinboro with the final regular season game set for Nov. 15 either at Bloomsburg or in the PSAC Championship.
 
SPECIAL EVENTS
Sept. 13 at 6 p.m. – Slippery Rock VillageFest and Hall of Fame Game
Sept. 20 at 6 p.m. – Salute to Military and First Responders Game
Oct. 18 at 1 p.m. – Homecoming
Nov. 1 at 1 p.m. – Senior Day
 
2025 TICKET AND PARKING INFO
Slippery Rock is working on finalizing ticketing and parking info and will announce that information in the coming weeks.
 
 
 


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