GREENSBORO, N.C. – Guilford College head football coach Chris Rusiewicz named four team captains for the 2016 season Wednesday. The group features three All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference selections in Hunter Hoots (Winston-Salem, N.C./North Davidson), Wes Johnson (Wilmington, N.C./Laney) and Karl Roberts (Charlotte, N.C./North Mecklenburg) and two dean’s list students in Johnson and Greg Mello (Southern Pines, N.C./Pinecrest). All four students are rising seniors.
Hoots, a 6-1, 230-pound linebacker, earned his second First Team All-ODAC honor in 2015. He tallied a team-high 84 tackles last season, which ranked fifth in the ODAC. His club-best 8.4 tackles per game was also fifth in the league. Hoots made 4.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. He registered a career-high 15 stops against Shenandoah, helping Guilford to a 55-38 home win and registered double-digit tackles against Catholic (10) and Hampden-Sydney College (11). He was a third-team D3 Football.com All-South Region selection in 2014 and was selected to Guilford’s Student-Athlete Honor Roll that fall.
Johnson, a two-time All-ODAC selection as an offensive lineman, returns to Guilford next fall to complete his NCAA eligibility after missing 2015 due to injury. He will serve his second season as team captain. Johnson has appeared in 30 games over three seasons for the Quakers with 29 starts. In 2013 he was featured on an offensive line that helped Guilford record a 1,000-yard rusher for the first time since 1994 and blocked for one of the nation’s most prolific passing attacks in 2014. Johnson is a dean’s list student and earned Academic All-ODAC honors in 2013-14.
Mello, a 5-8, 220-pound defensive lineman, has proven himself as a model student, athlete, and leader on Guilford’s campus over the previous three years. He appeared in nine games in 2014 and recorded 10 total tackles, .5 sacks and recovered one fumble. A year prior, he was selected as the Quakers’ Scout Team Player of the Year. Mello was an Academic All-ODAC selection in 2013-14 and is a dean’s list student. He serves as a peer educator on-campus.
Roberts, a 5-10, 180-pound safety, earned Second Team All-ODAC honors in 2015. He finished fourth on the Quakers’ defense and 25th in the ODAC with a career-high 58 tackles (34 solo), including 1.5 for loss. His three fumble recoveries on the year tied for the league lead and rank 10th in Division III. He set a career high with 15 stops (11 solo) and broke up two passes against Shenandoah. Roberts also tallied 10 stops against Randolph-Macon. The rising senior is a two-time member of Guilford’s Student-Athlete Honor Roll.
Coach Chris Rusiewicz’s Quakers (9-1, 6-1 ODAC) set at least 29 Guilford records in the best football season in school history last fall. The team’s nine wins and six league victories both set school standards. Rusiewicz could return as many as 17 starters in 2016.