Elon Opens CAA Football Play at #8 William & Mary

ELON, N.C. – The fourth week of the season brings the Elon University football team to conference play as the Phoenix opens up CAA Football action at eighth-ranked William & Mary at 7 p.m. on Saturday night.

GAME NOTES

Fans unable to attend the game can listen to the game on WSML 104.5 FM and 1200 AM or at elonphoenix.com as David Hibbard and Taylor Durham will have the call. The radio broadcast will start at 6:00 p.m. Fans can also listen to all Elon football games via the TuneIn Radio app. This app is free to download to your smartphone.

The game will be televised by Comcast SportsNet with Scott Jackson and Brad Jackson providing the call.

A video stream of the game will be available through TribeAthletics.TV.

ELON VS. WILLIAM & MARY
Elon and William & Mary have played just twice, both coming since the Phoenix became a member of CAA Football for the 2014 season. Elon has dropped both contests to the Tribe. The first meeting was a 17-7 contest in Williamsburg in 2014.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
The Phoenix football squad elected two captains for the 2015 season. Serving as captain for the second year in a row is senior linebacker John Silas (Powder Springs, Ga.). He will be joined by first-year captain, junior offensive lineman Ikenna Nwokeji (Randolph, Mass.).

Each week the Phoenix will also name a game-week captain. The list of those captains is below:

• Gardner-Webb– LB Warren Messer (Garner, N.C.)
• at Charlotte – RB Brandon Gentry (Monroe, N.C.)
• Fayetteville State – DL Nick Groll (Armonk, N.Y.)
• at William & Mary – DB Malcolm Galloway (Norcross, Ga.)

ONLY 3
Elon held Fayetteville State to just a first quarter field goal in a 26-3 victory over the Broncos. The three points allowed by the Phoenix were the fewest surrendered by the program since blanking Davidson 56-0 to open the 2009 campaign. Elon played 81 games in between the Davidson and Fayetteville State contests.

GOOD DEFENSIVE STARTS
In each of the past two games (at Charlotte, vs. Fayetteville State) Elon’s defense did not allow a first down in the first quarter. The Phoenix limited the 49ers to just 24 yards over the first 15 minutes, while the Broncos managed just 26 yards. In game one against Gardner-Webb, the Phoenix allowed 51 yards.

WE HAIL FROM
Elon’s 2016 roster sports 96 players total, including 46 from the state of North Carolina. The Phoenix roster also has players from 15 other states and Washington, D.C. – Alabama (1), Connecticut (2), Delaware (1), Florida (4), Georgia (11), Indiana (2), Massachusetts (3), New Jersey (7), New York (3), Ohio (2), Pennsylvania (1), South Carolina (3), Virginia (7), Washington (1), Wisconsin (1) and the District of Columbia (1).

YOUNG BIRDS
The 2016 edition of the Phoenix is a young one. The 96-player roster includes 31 true freshmen, 17 red-shirt freshmen and 21 sophomores. That means that nearly 72 percent of the squad are players competing in either their first or second season of collegiate games. Only nine seniors are on this year’s team.