SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University football team begins the 2024 season as a member of the CAA Football Conference. This will be the fourth conference that the Black and Gold have joined in five years.

The Bulldogs are coming off a 6-5 campaign in 2023, during which they went 4-2 in their final season in the Big South OVC. Bryant will have a new look this season, as 53 players from last year's team departed, and the Bulldogs added 64 new players and 24 via the transfer portal.
 
Offense: Bryant averaged 383 yards of total offense last year and averaged 31.2 ppg, which is top-five in DI program history. Bryant will have to replace its starting quarterback as well as its top receiver, top tight end, and three starting offensive linemen.

Quarterbacks: This season, the Bulldogs will be led by graduate transfer quarterback Jarrett Guest, who previously played five seasons at Coastal Carolina. Guest posted 696 yards and seven touchdowns in six games with the Chanticleers last season. He will be joined by Ridge Docekal, Brennan Myer, Jaden Keefner, and Stefano Luis. Docekal completed 10-of-14 passes for 40 yards and a touchdown in five games last season.

Running Backs: Fabrice Mukendi and Ryan Clark return for a fourth and fifth season respectively. The duo combined for 530 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. Mukendi led the team last season in rushing yards (400), and Clark led the way with six rushing TDs. They will be accompanied by returners Isaiah Schmidtke, Trenton Jackson, Ethan O'Brien, and Emmanuel Laracuente. Transfers Kaedric Cobbs, Dylan Kedzior, and Dylan Gurule will be joined by freshmen Markiel Cockrell and Santino Harper.
Kedzior comes to Smithfield after spending last season at Buffalo. He was a JUCO All-American at Hutchinson Community College, rushing for 1,090 yards and 11 TDs in 2022. Cobbs is a UTSA transfer that appeared in 28 games.

Wide Receivers: The wideouts last season collectively hauled in 19 TDs and tallied over 2,000+ receiving yards. The room also saw four 300+ yard receivers. The wide receivers will be led by returners Landon Ruggieri and Gary Cooper. They're joined by Javin Dames, Tristen Riley, Keylijah Williams, Aldrich Doe, John Lee Honorat, Jake Croke, Connor Lennon, Zachary Powell, Darian Thomson, Braxton Bartz, Sterling Anderson, Jase Hannigan, Jake Harrington, Alfredo Perez, and transfers Drew Montez and Keegan Wilburn.
Ruggieri will look for a bounce-back season after he battled injuries in 2023. He posted 65 catches for 986 yards and six TDs in 2022. Cooper enters his fourth season with the Bulldogs with 32 catches for 386 yards and five scores.
Montez and Wilburn both bring a great deal of experience to the group. Montez was a standout at Western Colorado last year, catching 47 passes for 584 yards and six TDs. Wilburn was a All-MAC First Team Specialist at Ohio in 2022, averaging 24 yards per return.

Tight Ends: Last season the TE room hauled in nine of the 29 passing TDs. All three starting tight ends last season caught a TD and tallied over 100 yards receiving. Marc Taglieri Jr., Levi Wilkins, and Bailey Lash return and our accompanied by Koby Keenan, Maximus Nosler, Jaylin Ballew, Thomas Berger, and transfer Carter Neuman.
Taglieri has the most experience of the group, posting 13 catches for 165 yards and two TDs in 20 career games.

Offensive Line: The O-line enjoyed another their third consecutive season of helping the offense average 300+ yards of total offense. The trenches will be led by Jeff Woods, Andrew Berkey, and Anthony Perez, who are joined by Kieran Bill, David Postell, Nickolas Molina, Matthew Rau and Ryan Piersza. Vincenzo Verdi, Jimmy Marini, Sam Swan, Wyatt Whalen, Jayden Hazelwood, Joseph Flaccavento, Philip D'Alleva and transfers Jon Fagley, Brayden Staggs, and Kale Hauserman round out the group.

Defense: The defense was a corner stone in 2023 producing a turnover margin of 1.18, which ranked third in the country. The Bulldogs recorded a turnover in every game last season, posted 26 sacks and held opponents to a sub 50% 3^rd down conversion rate.

Defensive Line: The D-Line is anchored by Michael Otty, who received pre-season All-CAA honors and made the Big-South OVC Second Team last season. In 2023, the D-line posted 20 sacks as a collective and caused seven turnovers.  Otty is accompanied by Nick Porada, Eric Dukes, Ahmed Muhammad, Maximus Villar, Beau Shugarts, Toby Brown Jr., Jack Buttine, Ryan Bushnell, Nick Bulsbury, Hollis Dirstine, Amin Abbassi, Nathan LaPlante, Lucian DePino, Zach Taylor, Nick Monahan, Gustavo Bravo, and transfers Xavier Belton, Nathan Voorhis, Anthony Schettino, and Gideon Bedada.

Linebackers: Devon Anderson, Ben Silver, and Nicholas Alvarado return after combining for 63 tackles, and 7.5 TFLs. They're joined by Andre Smith, Drake Lusk, Cole Nilles, Joshua Smith, Michael Fileppo, Owen Howlett, Brendan Flanagan, Brayden Larimer, Ryan Geary and transfers Lonnie Rice, CeeDee Doby, and Steve Lubischer.
Silver has collected 15.0 TFLs and 5.5 sacks in 27 career games, while Alvarado posted 40.0 tackles in his first season in Smithfield.
Nilles was a standout at St. Joseph's Prep, earning Catholic League Defensive Player of the Year honors. Rice comes to Smithfield as a transfer from Western Kentucky.

Defensive Backs: The secondary produced 10 interceptions and five fumbles last fall for Bryant. Chris Yates, Avery Dixon, Eddie Jackson III, Collin Elliott, Olatunde Mkparu, and Sean Hunt return. The group also includes Kareem Dinzey, Kaden Hamilton, Brayden Sales, Elijah Brown, Shae Terry, Azarel Juste, Darrell A Mitchell-Jackson, Michael Nwaogwugwu, Dedric Walker, Noah Bisrat, Ezra Carter, Jake Davis, Caleb Parsons-Gomes, Malachi Steele, Givanni Flaccavento, Samuel Isiguzo, Chase Aston, Elijah Infante, Leuma Pua'auli, Amari Wharwood and transfers Marcel Anderson, Jude Umunuakwe, and Dorian Helm.
Yates finished third on the team with 54.0 tackles a season ago, while Elliott posted 33.0 tackles, and Mparu posted 30.0 stops.

Special Teams: Jimmy O'Brien returns as the captain of the special teams and the team's primary punter and holder. He is joined by Lucas Bisazza, Rollin Hughes, Bryce Soli, Noah Shintaffer-Hamilton, Liam Shintaffer-Hamilton, Sean Cowie, Clark (Jacob) Miller, and transfer Sean O'Neil.
O'Brien averaged 38.64 yards per punt and put nine of his 22 punts inside the opponent's 20.

The Black and Gold begin the 2024 season on the road at the University of Delaware on Thursday with a 7:00 pm kick-off.