Slippery Rock football vs Franklin Pierce: 3 things to watch as Rock open season with revamped offense
SLIPPERY ROCK — The streaks are on the line.
Slippery Rock University opens its 2025 football season at 6 p.m. Friday, facing Franklin Pierce at Sodexo Field in Rindge, N.H. The host Ravens are a member of the Northeast 10.
While this is the first-ever meeting between these teams, SRU will look to extend three lengthy winning streaks. The Rock have won 15 consecutive season openers, eight straight games against Northeast 10 opponents and 34 consecutive night games (starting time of 4 p.m. or later).
SRU enters the game ranked No. 4 in NCAA Division II. Franklin Pierce, which began its football program in 2019, has never played a team ranked among the top five.
“That ranking is based on last year,” Rock head coach Shawn Lutz said. “We lost so many starters from last season. We’re going into this game trying to figure out what our identity is going to be.”
1. Revamped Rock offense: SRU’s skilled players on offense from last year are gone, either from graduation or the transfer portal.
Anthony Vespo, a senior transfer from Northern State, has won the quarterback job. Slippery Rock High School graduate John Sabo, a sophomore for The Rock, joins Latrell Sutton, a transfer from Virginia Tech, as the starting wide receivers. Returnee Xander McClure steps in as the starting slot receiver with Butler graduate Ethan Trettel No. 2 on the depth chart.
“I know what we’ve lost, but I’m excited about the talent level at receiver and am anxious to see what they can do,” Lutz said.
JayJay Jordan, a speedster, heads a trio of running backs that includes Luke McCoy and Quentin Harrison.
“Collectively, that’s the best trio of backs we’ve ever had here,” Lutz said.
All-American Joe Cooper and Luke Pugliese return to anchor the offensive line.
“They know about our guys because most of us are back and they’ve got film,” seventh-year head coach Russell Gaskamp said. “Their lineup is unknown to us. We know about the caliber of their program, but we have nothing on them.”
2. Linebackers ready to roll: Returning Rock starting linebackers Jacob Snow and Teddy Gregory Jr., a junior and sophomore, respectively, will be in the lineup come Friday night. They’ve been banged up and missed half of preseason camp.
“Thank goodness, those guys are healthy and playing,” Lutz said. “There’s no better linebacker tandem in the region.”
Freeport graduate Ben Lane is starting at free safety with senior Michael Henwood — joining Snow, Vespo and Cooper as team captains — at strong safety. That pair anchors a solid secondary.
“We need to be strong back there because their quarterback is the one who makes them go,” Lutz said of the Ravens.
3. Ravens better than expected?: While Franklin Pierce is beginning only its seventh season of football, the Ravens are bringing back the NE-10 Offensive Player of the Year in junior quarterback Adrian Parker. He threw for 2,888 yards, 22 touchdowns and only seven interceptions in leading his team to a program-best 5-5 record (5-3 NE-10), in 2024.
Austyn Howe is a junior receiver who caught 48 passes for 675 yards a year ago. The Ravens’ top three running backs return, as well.
“In terms of skilled positions, we lost only one receiver from last year,” Gaskamp said. “We’re young and inexperienced in the offensive line, but we’re more athletic there than we’ve been.
“We’ve been gradually getting better. We built this team from the ground up. We didn’t want to go the transfer route. We wanted to develop our own players, and that’s beginning to pay off. Our league is wide open this year. If we stay healthy, we can make a run for it.”
The Ravens have lost 42 seniors over the past two years. Sophomore defensive back Damir Stone led the conference with four interceptions last season. But while the offense averaged 31 points per game, the defense surrendered an average of 26.
