Bryant Football Set to Open 2019 Season at Stony Brook Thursday Night
GoLocalProv Sports Team
Bryant Football Set to Open 2019 Season at Stony Brook Thursday Night
The Bryant Bulldogs football team is set to open its 2019 season on Thursday night when they visit the Stony Brook Seawolves on Long Island.
The game will mark the head coaching debut of Chris Merritt.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTMerritt was named the fourth head coach in program history back in December.
“I want to say how honored and humbled I am to be named the head football coach at Bryant University. It is my number one goal at Bryant University for every young man in our program to expect to win,” said Merritt during his introductory press conference.
The Bulldogs are coming off a 2018 campaign in which they went 6-5 overall and 2-3 in the Northeast Conference (NEC)
Kick-off is set for 7 p.m.
Bryant vs Stony Brook
The Bulldogs and Seawolves are meeting for the fifth time in program history.
Stony Brook leads the all-time series 3-1 after beating Bryant 50-21 last season.
Bryant’s only win in the series came in August of 2014.
Bryant Offense
On the offensive side of the ball, the Bulldogs bring back their leading receiver from last season in Vincent Nisivocca.
Last season, Nisivoccia finished fourth in the NEC in receptions per game (4.5) and receiving yards per game (62.8), and was fifth in all-purpose yards per game (123.0).
Cranston’s Chris Hindle is expected to make his second career start at quarterback for Bryant after winning the job over the summer.
Hindle is a redshirt sophomore.
Lining up behind Hindle will be junior running back Alfred Dorbor.
Last season, Dorbor rushed for 390 yards and seven touchdowns on 86 carries.
Bryant’s Defense
The Bulldogs defense will be led by seniors Tomas Wright, Robert Brown, Jesse Nemerowicz and Eulogio Portugal.
Wright was a First Team All-NEC selection after posting a program-record 12.5 sacks a season ago.
Nemerowicz enters his senior season ranked third among active FCS players averaging 8.5 tackles per game.
He is 75 tackles short of becoming the first player in program history with 300 career stops.
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