Gulls picked as NJAC preseason favorites

PITMAN, N.J. (Salisbury University Athletics) – The 25th-ranked Salisbury University football team was picked to win the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC), according to the results of the annual preseason coaches poll released on Monday.

Salisbury collected six of the possible seven first-place votes. CNU was predicted to finish second in the poll followed by Rowan, who collected the final first-place vote, in third. Kean, followed the dark-horse selection TCNJ, Montclair State and William Paterson rounded out the preseason poll.

The Sea Gulls, who heads into the season as the 25h-ranked team in the D3football.com national preseason poll, enter the 2023 season as the four-time defending NJAC Champions. The Sea Gulls also begin the season on a 21-game conference win streak.

The team returns seven of the league-high 13 All-NJAC selections from the 2022 season. On the offensive side of the ball, the Sea Gulls will be led by a pair of first-team selections, superback Joey Bildstein and offensive lineman Tony Mason. Bildstein returns after leading the NJAC in rushing last season (112.5 yards per game) and putting up the second-most all-purpose yards (112.8 yards per game) in the conference. Mason, who helped led Salisbury as the league’s top offense at 33.3 points per game. Slot Jaden Davis, an honorable mention all-conference pick last year, adds solid rushing numbers after recording 50.4 yards per game last year to rank seventh in the NJAC.

The strong Sea Gull defense will be paced by junior safety Caleb Brubaker, who was a D3football.com All-American Second Team selection last season and was honored as a Preseason All-American First Team pick by D3football.com earlier in August. He led the NJAC with seven picks with a return for a touchdown. He also posted five pass breakups, which added to his seven interceptions ranked him third in the NJAC in passes defended. He also registered 6.2 tackles per game to rank 12th in the conference.

Brubaker is joined by All-NJAC First Team junior linebacker Jimmy Celentano who ranked in the top 10 in tackles (7.4 tackles per game) last year and had posted three sacks. Three-time all-conference honoree senior Casey Counts also returns. The linebacker had five sacks last year and nine total tackles for loss to rank among the best in the NJAC.

Two-time all-conference defensive back and return specialist A.J. Butler returns to help the defense and the punt return squad. He ranked first in punt returns last year, returning 11 for 127 yards (11.5 yards per return). On the defense, he added three interceptions and two pass breakups.

Salisbury will open the 2023 season on the road on Saturday, Sept. 2 against the Washington & Lee Generals. The home schedule opens with a Top 25 matchup on Saturday, Sept. 16 against in-state rival and 18th-ranked Johns Hopkins.