ABOUT THE GAME

• Millersville returns to Chryst Field at Biemesderfer Stadium for the first time since November of 2019 on Thursday night to play American International in the 2021 season opener. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
• Millersville has won six season openers since 2000 and three of those wins have come against NE10 opponents. Millersville is 6-7 all-time against NE10 opponents with four wins coming against American International (1992-95), one against Assumption (2010) and two against Pace (2016, 2019). Thursday marks the ninth time since 2008 that Millersville has opened its season against an NE-10 opponent. 
•  Millersville is 52-62-9 all-time in season openers and 16-9-2 in openers played at home. Millersville has played its opener at home six times since 2012, winning two of those games, beating W.Va. Wesleyan 41-17 in 2012 and Pace 28-7 in 2016. 
• Millersville has become accustomed to opening on Thursday nights. Millersville has opened on a Thursday in six of the last seven seasons, including five consecutive home openers. Millersville is 2-3 in Thursday night home openers since 2014. Overall, Millersville has played eight Thursday night games in the last six seasons, going 3-5 with two consecutive wins. 
• Millersville is 40-29 all-time in night games and has had some recent success under the lights. The Marauders have won at least one night game in each of the last four seasons with an overall record of 4-5. 

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

• Millersville is a much different team than the one that last played a game in November 2019. Three offensive starters and seven defensive starters return, and just 19 players on the roster have played a snap for the Marauders previously. Only eight players on the roster have senior eligibility.
• J.C. Morgan enters his fourth year and third season as the leader of the program, and his stamp has certainly been put on the team with 87 players having joined the roster since his arrival in the spring of 2018. Because of the lost 2020, there are 62 true freshmen, redshirt freshmen and sophomores recruited by Morgan who have yet to see the field.
• Millersville fans will learn some new names Thursday night. Fifteen of the 22 spots on the offensive depth chart are filled by players who have yet to play at a game for the Marauders. Eleven of those spots are filled by either a redshirt freshman or true freshman. Wide receiver Hakim Melvin and left guard Logan Fleegal are redshirt freshmen listed as starters, and right tackle Claude Vangelus is a true freshman listed as the starter.
• The defensive side is a little more familiar with nine veterans. Among those returners are 2019 All-PSAC East selections Isaiah Onuschak (linebacker) and Tyler Patron-Penn (cornerback). The defense returns its three leading tacklers in Onuschak, Christian Martir and Steve Sweeney, and its top two sack artists in Onuschak (7.0 sacks) and Chase Alisauckas (3.0 sacks).
• Millersville is hoping that the new additions can spark on offense that finished last in the PSAC in scoring (12.5), total offense (241.9) and rushing (54.9) while leading the league in sacks allowed (46). The defense fared better but still ranked 14th in the PSAC in rushing and passing defense. Millersville's 2019 season was played with statistically the toughest strength of schedule in all of Division II. Millersville played four nationally-ranked teams. 
   

SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS

• Kristofer Kulver takes over the program as the interim head coach after Art Wilkins led AIC from 1997-2019. Kulver earned a bachelor's degree from AIC in 2007 and a master's degree in 2010, and has been on staff since 2013. He was elevated to assistant head coach and defensive coordinator in 2015.
• The Yellow Jackets recently voted five team captains into place: senior offensive lineman David Brown, senior running back Samad Davila, junior quarterback Jayson DeMild, senior defensive lineman Isiah Tolbert and senior linebacker Jaysen Thompson.
• Tolbert is the reigning NE10 Defensive Lineman of the Year and a Don Hansen All-America selection in 2019. That season, he piled up seven sacks and 18 tackles for loss to go with 71 total tackles. Thompson, an All-NE10 Second Team pick in 2019, was the team leader in tackles with 83.
• DeMild returns after starting 10 games at quarterback in 2019. He's a threat to run, having rushed for seven touchdowns and 397 yards before sacks. DeMild did throw more interceptions (10) than touchdowns (9) and completed 45.97 percent of his passes.
• Davila is the team's leading returning rusher and receiver. He was second on the team in carries (107), but proved a big-play threat, averaging 6.0 yards per carry with a team-high eight rushing touchdowns. He was also the team's receiving leader with 30 catches for 446 yards.
• In the NE10 preseason coaches' poll, American International landed at No. 7 in the nine-team league. AIC went 4-6 overall and 3-5 in NE10 play back in 2019, but that was a quality improvement after going 1-8 in 2018. It wasn't that long ago that AIC was at the top of the NE10, as it won league titles in 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2014. The program also won four in a row from 1997-2000.
• The last time AIC took the field was in 2019, and the offense ranked eighth in the NE10 in scoring (19.9), total offense (304.3), passing (142.3) and rushing (162.0). The defense led the NE10 in interceptions (14), and in the top four in total defense (343.1) and rushing yards allowed per game (148.3).

THE LAST TIME OUT

• Millersville: Mercyhurst 17, Millersville 7 (Nov. 16, 2019) - Despite being decimated by injuries, the Millersville Marauders dug deep into the depth chart and battled visiting Mercyhurst for four quarters, but with wide receiver Evan Morrill filling in as the starting quarterback, the Marauders could not keep pace with a physical Lakers' run game, falling 17-7 on Senior Day. A Kevon Newerls touchdown catch late in the second quarter made the score 10-7 at the half, but Mercyhurst's Garrett Owens' 182 rushing yards played keep-away from the Millersville offense in the second half. 
• American International: Bentley 38, AIC 0 (Nov. 16, 2019) - Bentley forced a fumble at the AIC 28 two plays into the opening drive and scored for the lead two players later. Bentley scored again on the next drive after an AIC three-and-out, and a 17-0 halftime lead grew in the second with a pick-six for Bentley. Jayson DeMild went 6-for-13 for 79 yards while Samad Davila rushed for 121.

SERIES HISTORY

• Thursday's meeting between Millersville and American International is the first between the programs since 1995. Millersville holds a 4-0 lead in the all-time series, which started in 1992. The teams played four consecutive seasons between '92-'95 with two of the wins coming at Biemesderfer Stadium. Millersville scored at least 30 points in all four games and held AIC to 10 points or fewer in all four, including a shutout (39-0) in 1995. Millersville and AIC played in week two of each of those seasons. Millersville posted a combined 32-8-1 record over those four seasons, winning the PSAC East in 1993 and 1995. 
   

THE COVETED NUMBER ONE

• In his first season of 2018, J.C. Morgan instituted a new tradition. Now, at the conclusion of fall camp, prior to the team's first game, the team votes on which of their peers will wear the No. 1 jersey. The player who sports the No. 1 is who most exemplifies the values of the program. This year, the team voted second-year linebacker Isaiah Onuschak to don the jersey. Onuschak follows in the footsteps of fellow linebacker Zac Button, who wore the No. 1 jersey in both 2018 and 2019. Like Button, Onuschak is also a former All-PSAC East selection, and both led the team in tackles and tackles for loss.
   

THE CHOSEN LEADERS

• On Sunday, Aug. 29, Millersville's players voted on their 2021 team captains, selecting Tyler Tate, Isaiah Onuschak, Mekhi Alexander and Anthony Butler. All four of the players have junior or sophomore eligibility, making it the first time (records date back to 1956) that there are no seniors among the captains. All four players are first time captains as well.
   

THE HEART OF THE DEFENSE

• Millersville's defense is led by its productive and veteran linebackers. Isaiah Onuschak became the first Marauder freshman named All-PSAC East since 2007. He led the league in forced fumbles and ranked seventh in the league in sacks with seven—the most by a Marauder in 18 years. He had double-digit stops seven times, and finished the season with 110 tackles, making him just the fifth Marauder in the previous 20 years to record 100 or more tackles in a season. Christian Martir hit the century mark in 2019 as well, and he ranked second in the PSAC in solo tackles. His 62 solo stops were the 13th-most in Millersville history. Martir also picked off a pass, broke up five, recovered a fumble and forced two. Martir is moving into a slightly different position in 2021, however. He took most of his snaps at safety in 2019, and he'll be Millersville's outside linebacker or “Rover" this season. 
   

ON THE CORNER

• Tyler Patron-Penn is coming off an All-PSAC East Second Team selection at cornerback. In 2019, he led the team with two interceptions and seven passes broken up. Consistent, Patron-Penn started all 11 games. Patron-Penn was Millersville's first All-PSAC East corner since 2007, and he's now looking to become the first Millersville defensive back--corner or safety--to repeat as an All-PSAC East honoree since Brandon Shelton and Marcus Banks in 2006 and 2007.
   

WELL-TRAVELED 

• Cole Klayman is expected to take Millersville's first snaps of the season at quarterback. He's new to Millersville but he's a veteran with plenty of snaps--and miles traveled--behind him. Originally from Los Angeles, Klayman started his career at Shippensburg when Morgan and offensive coordinator Jeff Tomasetti were coaching at the PSAC school. After a redshirt season, he starred at El Camino College, where he threw for over 2,300 yards and was voted the team MVP. Klayman went on to Division I Abilene Christian where he played in three games before earning a bachelor's degree. Now, Klayman is enrolled in the sport management master's degree program at Millersville while playing out his final collegiate football season.