GAME DAY LINKS --
McKENDREE vs. NORTHERN MICHIGAN -- Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018, 1 p.m.
Leemon Field -- Lebanon, Ill.
WATCH LIVE (Bearcat Sports Network)
LIVE STATS

NORTHERN MICHIGAN VIDEO PREVIEW WITH COACH MIKE BABCOCK

(LEBANON, Ill., Aug. 31)--The McKendree University football team will begin its 2018 season Saturday afternoon at home with a non-conference match-up against Northern Michigan University. Kickoff at Leemon Field is set for 1 p.m. Saturday's game can be seen live on the Bearcat Sports Network at www.glvcsn.com/mckendree, beginning with the pre-game show at 12:45 p.m. Joe Zydlo will have the play-by-play call. 

Head coach Mike Babcock begins his sixth season on the sidelines for McKendree. Babcock is already the second-winning coach in program history with 32 victories in his first five years. He is just the second head football coach for the Bearcats since McKendree returned to the gridiron back in 1996. Carl Poelker guided the Bearcats from the first game of the 1996 season until his retirement after the 2012 season. 

McKendree enters the new season after posting a 7-4 overall record and a 5-2 mark in Great Lakes Valley Conference play a year ago. The Bearcats have 15 returning starters, including eight on the offensive side of the ball. Senior quarterback Reece Metcalf (Mount Carmel, IL/Mount Carmel) returns after throwing for 1,902 yards and 13 touchdowns with just four interceptions in 293 pass attempts. Also returning on offense are Metcalf's two top targets in 2017 -- senior wide receivers Jalyn Williams (Carbondale, IL/Carbondale) (45 catches, 596 yards, four touchdowns) and Josh Revay (Livermore, CA/Granada) (32 catches, 449 yards, four touchdowns). 

Defensively, junior linebacker Ricco Gipson is the Bearcats' leading returning tackler from last season. He was third on the squad with 74 tackles in just seven contests. Junior defensive back Blake Benoist (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt West) registered 53 tackles with three interceptions in his second year as a starter in the McKendree secondary. As a team, the Bearcats led the GLVC with 18 interceptions and led all NCAA Division II programs with eight defensive touchdowns in 2017. 

Junior punter Monte Wolke (Sigel, IL/Cumberland) averaged 40.5 yards per punt, with 23 of his 59 kicks landing inside the opponents' 20-yard line. Sophomore kicker Josh Lazaro (Bradley, IL/Bradley-Bourbonnais) finished strong in his rookie campaign with 10 field goals in 15 tries to tie a Bearcat freshman record. 

Saturday's meeting against Northern Michigan will be the first on the gridiron between the Bearcats and Wildcats. It will also open up a string of four straight non-conference games to open up the 2018 campaign for McKendree. The Bearcats will head east next weekend to face Kentucky State University. 

ABOUT NORTHERN MICHIGAN
The Wildcats went 1-9 last season and 1-8 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference a year ago. Head coach Kyle Nystrom enters his second year at the helm of the NMU program and has 17 returning starters on a young squad. Sophomore quarterback Ryan Johnson made an immediate impact as a freshman in 2017, throwing for 1,581 yards with nine touchdowns. Junior wide receiver Ryan Knight had 31 grabs for 453 yards and a team-high five touchdowns. 

Senior Jake Mayon rushed for a team-leading 1,377 yards with eight touchdowns in 2017. Mayon averaged a whopping 6.5 yards per carry on 211 attempts. 

Returning to lead the Wildcats' defense is junior defensive back Troy Mayon, who registered 79 tackles and three fumble recoveries. Junior cornerback Nick Barnes also shined in the Northern Michigan secondary with 15 pass break-ups.