The Match-Up: Lafayette football embarks on its 138th season on Saturday when the Leopards travel to William and Mary for a 6 p.m. kick-off. The teams have played four times in the series which began in 2012, and are scheduled to meet annually through 2022, with the series rotating venues. 

Coming Back: Lafayette returns 15 starters, seven on offense and eight on defense, along with two special teams starters. Of those 15 returners, four were 2018 All-Patriot League selections and 2019 Preseason All-Patriot League honorees in seniors Jake Marotti (OL), Nick Pearson (WR) and Yasir Thomas (S) and sophomore Malik Hamm (DE). Lafayette brings back 43 letterwinners. 

For Openers: Saturday's season opener is the earliest beginning to a season since the program was established in 1882. The previous early starts both came on Sept. 1 in 2007 and 2018.
    The Leopards opened in early October until the turn of the 20th century, in late September until 1970, and traditionally began the season on the second Saturday in September until 2002. Since 2002, Lafayette has opened on Sept. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12 and 13. 
    The Leopards dropped their 2018 season opener at Sacred Heart, losing 35-6. The last season-opening win came in 2016, a 24-10 decision at Central Connecticut State. All-time, the Leopards are 86-48-3 in openers.

Road Trip: The 250-mile jaunt to Williamsburg, Va. is the longest trip of the Leopards' seven-game road slate that takes them to Monmouth in week two, Albany in week four, Princeton in week six, Georgetown in week seven, Holy Cross in week 10 and Lehigh in week 12.

An Even Dozen: Lafayette will play 12 regular-season games in 2019, marking the first season since 2002 with a dozen on the regular-season ledger. 
    Lafayette played 12 games in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2013 following Patriot League titles and NCAA Playoff berths. 

Year Three In The Garrett Era: John Garrett is in his third season as the Lafayette head coach. Garrett took over the coaching reins on Dec. 21, 2016 and has guided Lafayette to a pair of 3-8 campaigns. Lafayette registered a third-place conference finish in 2017 (3-3) and a fourth-place finish in 2018 (2-4). Garrett has more than 25 years of coaching experience at the NFL, NCAA FBS and NCAA FCS levels. Offensive coordinator stints at Richmond and Oregon State preceded his hiring.

Who's The Signal Caller?: Junior Sean O'Malley is battling with classmate Cole Northrup and freshman Keegan Shoemaker to be under center for week one. O'Malley has started 22 games in his first two seasons on College Hill, while Northrup saw limited action (four games) as a sophomore. Shoemaker was a First-Team All-District selection, throwing for 4,336 and 39 touchdowns during his high school career.

The O Line: The offensive line, which returns starters Jake Marotti, Gavin Barclay and John Burk and part-time starter Joe Grundhoffer, led the Patriot League in fewest sacks allowed (1.4 sacks per game) and fewest tackles for loss allowed (5.5 TFL per game). The group, under third-year coach Christian Pace, will have to overcome the loss of All-Patriot League selection Kevin Zataveski to graduation. 

Carrying the Ball: In order for the Lafayette offense to turn the corner in 2019, the Leopards are going to need to be able to balance the pass with a strong running game under running backs coach Wali Lundy. Juniors Selwyn Simpson and J.J. Younger have the most experience at the position. Simpson led the team in rushing as a rookie in 2017 and was second behind graduated senior CJ Amill last season, carrying 85 times for 352 yards and three touchdowns.

Tight Ends: Sophomores Steven Stilianos and Zadok Scott will see significant time at tight end after combining to play in 11 games last season. Junior Jake Taggart started the first four games of 2018 before injury slowed him. He will be joined by senior Demetrius Breedlove who is making the move from defensive line and senior Ryan Monteyne who will also step in a fullback.

The D Line: The Leopards' defensive line looks to be one of the deepest positional groupings led by reigning Patriot League Rookie of the Year Malik Hamm who was fourth on the team with 58 tackles led the squad with 15.0 TFL and 8.5 sacks. Junior Harrison Greenhill turned in an outstanding season in his first on College Hill, making 44 stops with 6 TFL and 2 sacks. Sophomore Ian Grayson and Colin Hurlbrink saw significant action last season with Grayson starting the first four at the nose before injury, and Hurlbrink playing the final six games contests. Senior Ryan Barnett played all 11 contests and is vying for significant time on the line along with several newcomers.

Linebackers: The linebacking corps grew in size significantly as first-year defensive coordinator Manny Rojas looks to move the Leopards from a 4-3 to a 3-4 alignment. Junior Major Jordan returns to lead the group, coming off a season in which he started every game and finished third on the team in tackles. Classmate Ryan Dickens is expected to hold down a starting spot along with senior Jack Lamb who has 24 career games under his belt. Senior Keith Earle, who started 10 games at defensive end in 2018, and sophomore Billy Shaeffer, who saw time in all 11 also joining the mix along with several talented freshmen. 

The Secondary: The Leopard defensive backs have a mixture of veterans in seniors CB Eric Mitchell, S Yasir Thomas (the leader of the group) and DB Tre Jordan who have combined to play 84 games and inexperience in junior Otis Thrasher and sophomores CB Jordan Anderson, S Tessema Haskins, FS Romeo Wykle and CB Caleb Burr and Joe Egan who have a combined 38 games played. Mitchell and Thomas are both former All-Patriot League honorees in the unit coached by Doug McFadden, the longest-tenured Leopard coach.

The Specialists: Junior Jeffrey Kordenbrock returns as the team's placekicker, but is being challenged by freshman Ryan O'Hara for the kicking and punting duties. Kordenbrock made 7-of-11 field-goal attempts in 2019 made Sophomore Ed Rogowski will reprise his role as long snapper while Sean O'Malley begins his second season as the team's holder. Greg Frantz takes over at the ST Coordinator.
Return Game: Lafayette led the Patriot League and was 30th in the NCAA in kick return yardage, averaging 22.5 yards per kick return while J.J. Younger (28.4 ypr) led the team and the Patriot League in yards per return, despite missing three games. Younger's career-long return was 95 yards vs. Monmouth (9/15) his first career touchdown and the fifth-longest return in school history.
    On punts, Younger and freshman Joe Gillette are vying for time following the graduation of CJ Amill. 

Breaking Through in 2019: When the team returned for its winter workouts, head coach John Garrett gathered the team in the locker room and introduced the theme of "Break Through" for the 2019 season. 
    "I've challenged the guys that this is the year that we have to break through and win some of those close games and win some of those moments in the game that can go either way. You have to break through mentally and break through physically."
    "We've undertaken this mentality to become a team that consistently competes for championships. That has been the challenge and motivation every time we step out on the field."

Fending Off the Flags: In 2018, the Leopards ranked fourth in the nation for fewest penalties per game (4.27) and fifth for fewest penalties (11) and 12th for fewest penalty yards (433).

Home Game: Four Leopards are playing in their home state (commonwealth) on Saturday at William and Mary. Sophomores Steven Stilianos (Hayes), Joshua Roberts (Virginia Beach) and Matthew Fiume (Ashburn) join freshman K.J. Rodgers (Richmond) are all Virginia natives. Stilianos, who went to Christchurch School, is from Hayes, Va. just 17 miles from the Williamsburg campus and grew up attending William & Mary football games. 

Familiar Faces: John Garrett will face two of his former assistant coaches in Gordie Sammis and Josh Zidenberg on Saturday. Sammis spent 2017-18 as the Leopards' offensive line coach while Zidenberg mentored the running backs in 2017. Garrett and W&M coach Mike London also worked on the Virginia staff together with Garrett coaching wide receivers and London the defensive line.

Pearson's Possessions: The Lafayette offense is expecting big things from senior WR Nick Pearson. In his junior season of 2018, Pearson finished fifth in the Patriot League in receiving yards (592) and receiving yards per game (53.8) and eighth in receptions per game (3.7). Against Georgetown he made 10 catches for 140 yards, (both career highs) and versus Monmouth (9/7) in week three he had five catches for 106 yards.
    He also has shown his ability to run, scoring on a five-yard scamper vs. Monmouth while racking up 23 rushing yards at Bucknell (10/20). He scored on a three-yard run against Holy Cross (11/3). In the 2017 season finale at Lehigh, Pearson carried the ball six times for 95 yards. 

Sophomore Up Front: Sophomore DE Malik Hamm secured Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors and All-Patriot League Second-Team status in 2018 while also achieving Hero Sports Freshman All-America status. The Baltimore, Md. native started nine of 11 games at defensive end, finishing fourth on the team in tackles (58) while leading the team in tackles for loss (15) and sacks (8.5). Hamm ranked second in the Patriot League and 18th in FCS in sacks (0.77 per game), and third in the Patriot League and 30th in the FCS in tackles for loss (1.4 tackles for loss per game).

1 if By Land, 2 of By Sea, 38 if By Air: Junior WR Quinn Revere had a breakout season in 2018, finishing with 38 catches for 336 yards and two touchdowns. He reeled in a career-high 10 receptions vs. Central Connecticut State, totalling 86 yards as one of eight receivers used by QB Sean O'Malley. Revere finished second on the team in receptions and ninth in the Patriot League with 3.5 per game.

Opponent: William and Mary is coming off a 4-6 overall mark and a 3-4 clip in CAA play. The Tribe faced five teams in 2018 which were ranked in the FBS (Virginia Tech) or FCS Top 25 (JMU, Colgate, Towson, Maine).
    William & Mary has a new coach, Mike London, who took over for Jimmye Laycock who retired after 39 seasons at W&M. London was formerly an assistant coach under Laycock, later led Richmond to a national title in 2008 and was ACC Coach of the Year at Virginia in 2011. He was the head coach at Howard the last two seasons.
    London hasn't announced his starting QB, as grad transfer Kilton Anderson, junior Ted Hefter and freshman Hollis Mathis are battling to call the plays. Anderson was a starter in parts of the last two seasons at Coastal Carolina and as a redshirt freshman at Fresno State in 2015. The Tribe averaged 186 passing yards to just 55 on the ground in 2018. 
    Senior safety Isaiah Laster returns to the fold after leading the team with four picks in 2018 to go along with 65 tackles.