July 26, 2016
BALTIMORE, Md. - CAA Football held its annual preseason Media Day on Tuesday morning at M&T Bank Stadium and announced the results of its preseason poll of league head coaches and media members. Villanova was picked to finish fourth in the league this season, while senior defensive lineman Tanoh Kpassagnon (Ambler, Pa.) was named to the 2016 CAA Football Preseason All-Conference Team. The annual Media Day event marks an unofficial beginning of sorts to the 2016 season. The Wildcats kick off their preseason camp on August 5 and open the season on September 3 at Pittsburgh.
Villanova is coming off a 6-5 campaign in 2015 which marked its 14th winning season in the last 17 years. There are 10 starters returning for the Wildcats from last year's squad, including five on both sides of the ball. Kpassagnon headlines what is expected to be a strong Villanova defensive squad. He led the team with 6.5 sacks in 2015 and finished the year with 9.5 total tackles for loss. Kpassagnon tallied 33 tackles overall and added two blocked kicks, one interception, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. He earned first team All-CAA Football honors following the season.
The parity of CAA Football was evident in the close voting for the predicted order of finish in the 2016 standings. Richmond earned 19 of 24 possible first place votes and topped the poll with 283 points, while William & Mary received one first place vote and came in second with 250 points. James Madison (209) and Villanova (197) followed, with New Hampshire in fifth (186) earning three first place votes. The rest of the poll included Towson (180), Delaware (171), Stony Brook (111), Maine (107, one first place vote), Elon (72), Albany (69) and Rhode Island (37).
Kpassagnon, senior linebacker Austin Calitro (Danbury, Conn.) and senior offensive lineman Nico D'Angelo (Margate, N.J.) have been named tri-captains for the Wildcats this season. Calitro comes off a year in which he led the team with 90 tackles, including 11.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. He also had three forced fumbles, four pass breakups and an interception. Senior cornerback Jason Ceneus (New Rochelle, N.Y.) and junior Malik Reaves (Jacksonville, Fla.) are also returning all-conference players on the Villanova defense.
Sophomore quarterback Zach Bednarczyk (Wallington, N.J.) will begin his first full season as the Wildcats starter under center. He was thrust into the starting role early in the 2015 campaign and wound up being named the CAA Football Co-Offensive Rookie of the Year. Bednarczyk threw for 1,396 yards and 10 touchdowns while completing 58.1 percent of his passes last season. He was also the team's leading rusher with 515 yards and five scores on the ground.
In addition to being picked as the preseason league favorite, Richmond had both the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year in junior quarterback Kyle Lauletta and senior safety David Jones.
Following the season opener at Pittsburgh on September 3, the Wildcats will play their home opener on September 10 against Lehigh. Other home games on the 2016 schedule include dates with Towson (September 17), Rhode Island (October 8), Albany (October 22) and James Madison (November 12).
The game at Pittsburgh will be broadcast live on ESPN3 and Villanova will also have three of its league games televised. The September 17 home game against Towson and the road game at Richmond on October 15 each air on Comcast SportsNet and various NBC Sports regional networks, while the October 8 home game against Rhode Island will be broadcast by the American Sports Network.
