Camp Schedule

Villanova officially began preparations for the 2016 football season on Friday morning with a spirited workout on the Villanova Stadium turf. The team's preseason camp runs for three weeks leading up to the start of classes on Wednesday, August 24.

The Wildcats return 10 starters and 29 letterwinners from last year's team that went 6-5 overall and 5-3 in CAA play. Villanova is picked to finish fourth in the conference's preseason predicted order of finish. Senior defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon (Ambler, Pa.) has been named preseason first team All-CAA, in addition to earning STATS second team preseason All-American acclaim. As a junior last season, Kpassagnon led the team with 6.5 sacks to go with 33 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, two blocked kicks, one interception, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.

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. 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.

NOTES: Senior linebacker Austin Calitro and senior offensive lineman Nico D'Angelo will join Kpassagnon as tri-captains in 2016...Villanova had 90 players report to preseason camp ... Head coach Andy Talley enters his 32nd and final season as the Wildcat leader in 2016...Talley will retire following the season and will be replaced by longtime assistant Mark Ferrante...Talley enters the season with 249 career wins (221 Villanova victories) and is the winningest active coach in both FCS and FBS Football