The 2012 Stony Brook Seawolves football team represented Stony Brook University in the 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season as a member of the Big South Conference. The team was coached by Chuck Priore and played its home games at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium in Stony Brook, New York. This was their final season as a member of the Big South as they will join the Colonial Athletic Association in 2013. They finished the season 10–3, 5–1 in Big South play to share the conference championship with Coastal Carolina and Liberty. They received an at-large bid into the FCS Playoffs, their second straight playoff appearance, where they defeated Villanova in the first round before falling in the second round to Montana State.
Before the season
Losses Injured QB Michael Coulter who started for half of the 2011 season, top running back Brock Jackolski, WR Matt Brevi who amounted to 31 receptions for 616 yards and seven touchdowns in the 2011 season, CB Donald Porter are among the graduates of the program. Jackolski was notable for playing a crucial role together with Miguel Maysonet in Stony Brook's powerful running offense, 16th in FCS history with 6,394 all-purpose yards
Recruitment Among 2012 Recruits is Marcus Coker who previously played for FBS Big Ten team Iowa rushing for more than 2,000 yards and 18 touchdown in two seasons. He was second in the Big Ten in rushing and earned second-team all-conference honors. The program also added Adrian Coxson who previously played for FBS Maryland. A third recruit from the Big Ten Minnesota, Leston Simpson, is transferring for the upcoming 2012 season. A second incoming transfer from the University of Maryland, Avery Graham, was announced late April with two years of eligibility left A third incoming transfer, Graham Ball, was announced from New Mexico Military Institute, where he led the Western States Football League in points (88). He went 58 of 62 on extra points and made 10 field goals, earning second team All-WSFL honors.
Note: This list is incomplete
Spring Stony Brook scheduled the annual spring game for April 22 concluding the spring training period. The Defensive team defeated the Offense, 39-13, in a modified scoring game.
Honors In early May Kyle Essington, Miguel Maysonet, and Marcus Coker were announced to be in the CFPA preseason watch list. In late June, 2012 Beyond College Sports Madness selected Miguel Maysonet, Jaware Dudley, and Kyle Essington were selected to Preseason All-America teams. In July, Maysonet was announced to be part of the 20 members Walter Payton Award watch list. The award is presented to the top offensive player in Football Championship Subdivision. Miguel Maysonet was announced to be the Big South 2012 preseason offensive player of the year, while another six players made it to the All-Conference preseason team.
Rankings and polls Stony Brook was ranked 24th in Lindy's College Football Preview Magazine FCS Preseason Poll released in mid-July, the only team from the Big South in the poll. College Sporting News ranked Stony Brook as top 16 in the nation in their preseason poll. The Seawolves were ranked nine among FCS teams by the "Phil Steele's College Football Review" magazine. College Sports Madness ranked the Seawolves 22nd in their preseason preview. Stony Brook was positioned 11th in the College Sports Journal Preseason Top-25 Poll.
Stony Brook was selected as the favorite in the Big South's preseason poll, as voted by the league's head coaches and media panel. The Seawolves amounted to fifteen of eighteen first-place votes with 123 total points. Stony Brook was ranked as the top 17 team in the FCS Coaches Poll
Roster 2012 Stony Brook Seawolves Roster Quarterbacks (QB) Ryan Andersen, So Pat D'Amato, Fr Kyle Essington, Sr Craig Geoghan, Jr Carlos Hernandez, Fr Lyle Negron, Jr Victor Spinelli, Jr
Running backs (RB) Peace Edafe, Jr Miguel Maysonet, Sr Kedar Hunter, Rs Fr Davon Lawrence, So Marcus Coker, Jr Jamie Williams, Rs Fr
Fullbacks (FB) Chris Fenelon, Sr Matt Faiella, Jr Chris Makulik, Fr Anthony Stanish, Fr
Wide receivers (WR) Myles Campbell, Jr Adrian Coxson, So Angelo DeShields, Fr Kevin Famulari, Sr Jordan Gush, Sr Steve Marino, Fr Chris McMillan, Jr Major Mobley, Jr Kevin Norrell, Sr Nick Vitale, Fr Nick Wagner, Fr Devante Wheeler, FrTight ends (TE) Brett Arce, Sr Nick Buckshaw, Rs Fr Elias Martinez, Jr Tanner Nehls, So David Shukri, Sr
Offensive linemen (OL) Michael Bamiro, Jr Omar Boothe, Rs Fr Joe Danaker, Sr Fernando Diaz, Jr Scott Hernandez, Jr Gerald Hubshman, Rs Fr Ryan Julien, Fr Mike Lisi, So Eric Mauler, Sr Karim Mohamed, Rs Fr Joe Pierre-Louis, Fr Cody Precht, So William Ruland, Rs Fr Steven Watts, Jr Mike White, Fr Defensive linemen (DL) Dante Allen, Rs Fr Dimetrius Bernard, Jr Bryce Brantley, Sr Janna Chukumerije, Jr Jonathan Coats, Sr Connor Davis, Fr Kevin Hauter, So Dylan Joslin, Rs Fr Masengo Kabongo, Sr Victor Ochi, Rs Fr Leston Simpson, Jr Junior Solice, Jr Aaron Thompson, Fr Andres Trujillo, Jr
Defensive end (DE) Dimitry Russ, Rs Fr
Linebackers (LB) Casey Callahan, Jr Jawara Dudley, Jr Reginald Fracklin, 33 Nick Iorio, So Jeremy Leggiero, Rs Fr Austen Moccia, Fr Dan Mulrooney, Sr Grant Nakwaasah, Jr Adam Nowak, Jr Julian Quintin, Rs Fr Christian Ricard, So Rich Vitale, SrDefensive backs (DB) Davonte Anderson, Jr Naim Cheeseboro, Rs Fr Avery Graham, Jr A.B. Granger, Fr Taj Johnson, Jr Deshawn Lindsay, Fr Winston Longdon, Jr Sheldon Armstrong, Jr Ivan May, Jr Greg Melendez, Sr Cedrick Moore, Sr Vincent Polo, Jr Dominick Reyes, Sr A.J. Valentine, Jr Jaheem Woods, Fr
Cornerback (CB) Lois Murray, Rs Fr
Kicker/Punters (K/P) Graham Ball K, So Przemyslaw Popek K, Fr Luke Allen K/P, Jr Wesley Skiffington K/P, Sr Ben Solis K/P, FrCoaching staff Chuck Priore, Head coach Jeff Behrman, Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks Rob Neviaser, Defensive coordinator/defensive line Carlton Goff, Wide receivers/recruiting coordinator Lyle Hemphill, Defensive backs coach Bobby McIntyre, Inside linebackers coach Mark Murray, Offensive line Tony Thompson, Tight ends coach Jon Woods, Offensive line coach Patrick Hatch, Running backs coach Tyler Santucci, Graduate assistant/defensive line Arin West, Graduate assistant/defensive backs Michael Derice, Director of football operations Marianne Laurel, Administrative assistant Joe Maggio, Video Coordinator Mary Tavornik, Head football athletic trainer David Van Dyke, Director of speed, strength and conditioning Kim Wodiska, Football academic advisor Enzo Zucconi, Equipment Manager
Classes key: Fr – Freshman; first-year player So – Sophomore; second-year player Jr – Junior; third-year player Sr – Senior; fourth-year player Bold – Team captain Italics – Left team during the season. RS – Previously used a redshirt. – Redshirt during 2012 season – Injured for entire or majority of season and is eligible for a medical redshirt.
Roster
Broadcasting All games were broadcast on the radio by 90.1 MHz WUSB FM on the Long Island and Southern Connecticut region. An online feed will be available at wusb.fm. In addition, all Seawolves away game were broadcast nationally on ESPN3, the game against Army will be broadcast nationally on CBSN, SNY and TWCS will carry the Syracuse matchup while MASN will carry the matchup against Liberty
Schedule
Game summaries
Central Connecticut
Recap: Stony Brook opened their 2012 season at home for the first time since the 2008 season in front of 6,094 fans against the Central Connecticut Blue Devils resuming the old CCSU-SBU rivalry that existed while Stony Brook participated in the NEC. After a couple of non-scoring exchanges early in the first quarter, Stony Brook capitalized on a failed drive by Central Connecticut ending on the CCSU 4. It was followed by four-yard rush by Marcus Coker to take an early 7–0 lead. After another three-and-done by Central Connecticut the Seawolves responded with a quick offensive drive. Kevin Norrell received an eighty-nine-yard pass from Essington for another touchdown to extend the lead to 14-0 five minutes into the quarter. CCSU followed with a short non-scoring drive resulting in a punt at SBU 16. Stony Brook responded with another strong drive, this time by running back Miguel Maysonet who rushed for 89 yards to put the Seawolves ahead by 20 followed by another successful kick by transfer Graham Ball as the Seawolves took a commanding lead into the second quarter.
Momentum switched in Central Connecticut's favor early in the second quarter as they capitalized on their first drive with a 37-yard field goal. Stony Brook's next drive ended with an interception and CCSU followed by another Central Connecticut touchdown to cut Stony Brook's lead to 21-10. On the very next drive Stony Brook's offense responded with another touchdown with Maysonet receiving a 29-yard pass by Essington to take an 18-point lead into the second half.
The third quarter was all Stony Brook with the dual-punch of Maysonet and Coker accounting for most of the offensive yardage. Stony Brook took a commanding 42–10 lead into the fourth quarter. Both teams traded touchdowns in the fourth quarter resulting in a 49–17 win by Stony Brook opening their season with a victory for the first time since facing Colgate back in 2008's home opener.
A good offensive performance by Stony Brook totaled 489 total yards against CCSU 216 total yardage. The running game accounted for 301 yards with Miguel Maysonet rushing for 171 and Coker for 75 in his first game at Stony Brook. The Seawolves dominated the passing game (171 vs 64) and had better third-down efficiency. Central Connecticut possessed the ball 32:29 of the game.
Coach Priore commented on the game saying “It was a good win in a good atmosphere. I thought our defense played really fast early on. Overall, we played our brand of football”. Maysonet commented on the 84-yard run saying “(Mike) Lisi made a nice block, and as I saw the defender coming at me, I leaped over him. I kind of got tired at the end, but Adrian Coxson helped me into the end zone”. Quarterback Essington also commented on the powerful dual-back system saying “Having guys like Miguel and Marcus (Coker) really relieves a lot of pressure on myself. We have a lot of returners and playmakers, so my job is to get the ball to them and let them make plays”.
Series: Stony Brook leads 8-3
Pace
Stony Brook rebooted their historical series against Pace, a series last played in 1998 when the Seawolves initiated their transition to Division I. The Seawolves came out strong in front of 4,194 fans at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium scoring on every drive in the first quarter taking a commanding 28-0 (Wesley Skiffington converting all the PATs) lead into the second quarter with over 179 yards of offense. Stony Brook outmatched their Division II opponent throughout the second quarter scoring on every drive to take a forty-two point lead into the locker room and shutting out Pace's offense for the entire first half.
Despite the heavy rain that poured during the halftime period, the game continued and the Stony Brook offense scored at will throughout the quarter adding twenty-one points to their lead. Both teams exchanged touchdowns in the final quarter for an eventual 77–7 defeat of Division II Pace Setters. Stony Brook extended their series lead to 11–2 against a historical New York metropolitan area rival. Stony Brook amounted to 693 yards of offense (504 rushing yards against 104 from Pace. J.Williams and D.Lawrence led Stony Brook's rushing offense while Maysonet and Coker had limited production in the game.