Clarksville, TN – The 2023 football season is here and the Austin Peay State University (APSU) football team opens the year with a Saturday 6:00pm showdown against Southern Illinois at Saluki Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois.
After leading the Governors to an Atlantic Sun Conference Championship in 2022, head coach Scotty Walden returns for his fourth year at the helm while leading the APSU Govs into the new football-only United Athletic Conference.
The UAC will be the third conference that Walden has coached the Govs in after playing in the Ohio Valley Conference for his first two seasons and the ASUN during the 2022 campaign.
For his fourth season, Walden will return the same starting quarterback for back-to-back fall seasons for the first time since he came to Austin Peay State University. Mike DiLiello started all 11 games under center for the Governors a season ago, passing for 2,447 yards and 21 touchdowns while adding another 446 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground. Walden and DiLiello led the Governors’ offense to 423.5 yards of total offense per game last season, which was the best single-season mark in program history.
Protecting DiLiello, the APSU Govs return all five starting offensive linemen that accounted for 52-of-55 starts last season. Isaiah Wright – who tacked on 55 pounds in the offseason – Harrison Wilkes, Jalen Armstrong, Chandler Kirton, and Brennan Smith provide continuity and experience for the Govs’ offense in the trenches.
Austin Peay State University also returns its top-two ball carriers from 2022 in CJ Evans Jr. and Jevon Jackson. The duo of Evans Jr. and Jackson combined to rush for 1,213 yards and 10 touchdowns last season.
On defense, the Governors return just three starters – Kory Chapman, Jau’Von Young, and Cedarius Doss – but have added a wealth of experience in graduate transfer players. Austin Peay’s five graduate transfers from the FCS level – Christian Lewis (DB, Albany), Tyler Long (LB, Norfolk St.), Miles Richardson (DB, Wofford), Darius Richmond (DL, Incarnate Word), and Michael Ruttlen Jr. (DB, Princeton) – have played in 149 career games while accumulating 476 tackles, 23.5 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, 9 interceptions, and 3 forced fumbles.
The Governors also bring back experience on special teams with place-kicker Maddux Trujillo, kickoff specialist – and now punter – Riley Stephens, and kick returner Kam Thomas. Trujillo finds himself on the Fred Mitchell Outstanding Place-Kicker Award Watch List after going 11-of-20 on field goals and 44-for-45 on PATs last season. In the return game, Thomas was one of six Division I players to return both a kick and a punt for a touchdown last season.
Southern Illinois enters Saturday’s season opener on a four-game losing streak dating back to last season. The Salukis went 2-3 in Carbondale last season and lost their last two games at Saluki Stadium. Austin Peay State University went 3-3 on the road last season but posted a 3-1 mark on the road against FCS programs.
Saturday’s game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Dominic Hoscher and Stone Labanowitz on the call. Fans also can tune into the Governors Sports Network to hear Brian Rives and Van Stokes call all the action.
Notably
Good Directions
Dating back to 2017, Austin Peay State University’s 41 victories are tied for the 14th most in the FCS and are the most in a six-year stretch in program history.
The APSU Govs lead all United Athletic Conference teams in wins since 2017 with Central Arkansas (40, t-17th) and Eastern Kentucky (35, t-34th) being the only other programs to crack the top 45. The Govs 41 victories in the past six seasons are two more wins than the 39 victories they had in 14 seasons from 2002-16.
The Gang Gets Recognized
Senior defensive back Kory Chapman, graduate tight end Jordan Goco, redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Chandler Kirton, and graduate transfer linebacker Tyler Long were all named to the first Preseason All-United Athletic Conference team. Chapman averaged 8.2 tackles and 1.0 tackle for loss per game in the final seven games of the 2022 season while Long racked up 106 tackles last season at Norfolk State and ranked 19th in the FCS with 9.6 tackles per game.
Kirton was a 2022 HERO Sports Freshman All-America and All-ASUN Conference selection after starting all 11 games at right guard for the Govs while Goco made nine starts and recorded 11 receptions for 127 yards in his first season at Austin Peay last year.
Govs 2K
During the 2022 season, Austin Peay State University recorded both 2,000-plus rushing and passing yards in the same season for the first time in program history. The APSU Govs passed for 2,580 yards last season — the fourth-best single-season total in program history — and return 2,511 yards, or 97.33 percent, of those passing yards, led by Mike DiLiello’s 2,447 yards.
The Governors rushed for 2,082 yards last season and return 1,665 yards, or 79.97 percent, of those rushing yards with their top-three rushing options coming back as well — CJ Evans Jr. (641 yards), Jevon Jackson (572 yards), and DiLiello (446).
Lion Chasers
43 returning letter winners and 17 players who redshirted a season ago have combined with 45 newcomers to make up the 2023 Austin Peay State University football roster. The returning letter winners include nine returning starters on offense and a trio of returning starters on the defensive side.
The 45 newcomers are made up of 25 true freshmen and 20 transfers, eight of the transfers come from FCS programs, three are from Group of Five programs, and two are from Power Five programs. The Govs also added five junior college transfers, one Division II transfer, and one NAIA transfer for the 2023 season.
Walden; Life At Austin Peay State University
After just 28 games at Austin Peay State University, Scotty Walden already is tied for seventh in program history with 17 career wins. Walden is tied with Roy Gregory and is three victories behind Bill Schmitz and Fred D. Brown for fifth place — Gregory, Schmitz, and Brown all needed six seasons to reach their respective win total.
With three more wins, Walden would match Rick Christophel — who also coached six seasons — for the fourth-most wins in program history while becoming just the fifth head coach to win 20 games at Austin Peay State University.
About the Southern Illinois
This is the eighth meeting between Austin Peay State University and Southern Illinois; SIU leads the all-time series, 5-2.
It is the first meeting between the Governors and Salukis since 1992.
Tabbed to finish fifth in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, Southern Illinois is coming off a 5-6 season with a 4-4 mark in the MVFC for a seventh-place finish in 2022. SIU closed the 2022 season with four straight losses and ended the season with a 2-3 record at Saluki Stadium, where it is 39-26 since the facility opened in 2010.
SIU ranked 30th in the FCS in total defense (343.5 ypg) last season and returns its top two tacklers in Preseason First Team All-MVFC selections PJ Jules and Branson Combs. A junior linebacker, Combs totaled 57 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, and 2 interceptions in 2022. Combs moved from wide receiver to linebacker during the 2021 season and has 86 tackles in 22 games since the switch.
A Stats Perform Preseason All-America selection, PJ Jules led Southern Illinois with 66 tackles during the 2022 season. The senior safety added 4.0 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, and a team-leading 7 pass breakups during the 2022 campaign. In 43 career games for the Salukis, Jules has recorded 171 tackles, 9.0 TFLs, 3.5 sacks, 1 interception, and 18 pass breakups.
Next Up For APSU Football
The Austin Peay State University football team stays on the road for an in-state battle at September 9th at 4:00pm CT against No. 10 Tennessee at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Week 2 matchup between the Governors and Volunteers will be broadcast on SEC Network+ and ESPN+.
The Governors then return home for their season opener when they host a September 16th, 6:00pm contest against East Tennessee State at Fortera Stadium.
