DAYTON – University of Dayton head football coach Rick Chamberlin and his staff will welcome 116 players back to campus Sunday, August 7 as the Flyers prepare for the 2017 football season. 

Chamberlin is beginning his 10th season as UD's head coach and returns 13 starters (eight offense, four defense, punter) from last season.

Dayton was 9-2 in 2016, and finished second in the Pioneer Football League with a 7-1 record. 

The Flyers bring a seven-game winning streak into the season, which is tied for the third-best in FCS football.  Defending FCS national champion James Madison leads with a 12-game streak, Grambling is second with 11, and UD is tied with Coastal Carolina with seven.

Dayton was picked to finish second in the PFL for the 2017 season in a preseason vote of the league's coaches.  This is the 25th season of the PFL.  Dayton has 12 league championships to its credit the PFL's first 24 seasons. 

Dayton returns 13 starters – eight offense, four defense and punter -- from last year.

Captains Jack Crain, Alex Jeske and Nick Surges will lead UD in 2017. 

Jeske is a two-year starter at quarterback and last year's White-Allen MVP for the Flyers.  The Chicago native suffered a Jones fracture in his right foot that required surgery on Aug. 1.  He will miss preseason camp but is expected to play this season.

Crain and Surges are First Team Preseason All-PFL.  Crain is one of just 954 student-athletes playing college football (out of approximately 70,000 college football players) who have already earned the undergraduate degree.

Two other Flyers are First Team Preseason All-PFL for the second straight season – cornerback Christian Searles and punter Sean Smith.  Searles is also UD's 2017 Special Teams captain.  Smith's two season averages of 41.7 and 41.4 yards per punt are the two best in Dayton football history. 

The fifth Preseason All-PFL performer for Dayton is offensive tackle Ben Gauthier, a junior who was a starter from the first game of his freshman season.

The Flyers have had 39 winning seasons in the last 40 years.

Coach Chamberlin has guided UD to 74 wins in his first nine seasons, including a record 55 Pioneer Football League wins.  Chamberlin is tied with his predecessor, Hall of Fame Mike Kelly, at 55.  They are the only two PFL coaches to win more than 50 PFL games.  A Flyer All-American linebacker in his playing days, Chamberlin has been a part of 368 of UD's 668 wins – 26 as a player, 268 as an assistant coach, and 74 as a head coach.  He was the 2015 AFCA Region Coach of the Year.

After reporting, attending meetings, getting their equipment and undergoing physicals Sunday, the team will undergo fitness tests Monday morning.  First practice for the 2017 Flyers will be Monday afternoon.  Practices will be at Welcome Stadium and the adjacent Jerry Von Mohr practice field.  The team will also conduct some walk-thru practices on Stuart Field in the heart of campus.

Dayton will play six home games. In addition to the home opener on Saturday, Sept. 9 against SEMO, UD will play a second home non-conference game against Duquesne on Sept. 16.  Pioneer Football League teams visiting Welcome Stadium in 2017 are San Diego (Sept. 30), Campbell (Oct. 14, Butler (Oct. 28) and Marist (Nov. 4). 

With the exception of the San Diego game, all home games are all 1:00 p.m. ET starts.  The San Diego game is a 12 noon start, and it will also be UD's annual Football Alumni Reunion Game.  All Flyer football alumni are invited to attend and the featured team of honor will be UD's 2007 team that won a PFL championship, defeated Albany in the Gridiron Classic and won the 2007 NCAA Division I-AA Mid-Major National Championship. 

Good News Worth Repeating...The Flyers enter the season with the fourth-best winning percentage (.761, 143-45) in FCS football since 2000 AND have produced the most football Academic All-Americans (26) at any level of competition in the same time frame.  The top five are Harvard (.799), North Dakota State (.767), Montana (.755), Dayton (.761) and San Diego (.719).

Streaking…UD has not been shut out in a school-record 454 straight games, the best such active string in all of college football. The last team to shut out the Flyers was Marshall, 9-0, on Oct. 16, 1976. That is also the all-time FCS record.

Success In The Classroom…In the last 15 years, the University of Dayton football program has produced 26 Academic All-Americans, the most of any college football team.  In the history of the Academic All-America program, UD football has had 56 Academic All-Americans.  Among schools playing Division I football, only Nebraska (106), Penn State (64) and Notre Dame (59) have had more. Ohio State (53) and Oklahoma (52) are next. The Flyers also had a PFL-high 79 players on the 2016 PFL Academic Honor Roll, the most in the PFL for the 22nd time in the 24-year history of the league (UD had a league-record 81 in 2016).  UD is one of four D-I schools (and the only one in the PFL) to have a Campbell Trophy semifinalist for 11 straight seasons.  The Campbell Trophy is the National Football Foundation's award sometimes referred to as "the Academic Heisman."

PFL Power...The Pioneer Football League is in its 25th season.  The original (and now the only) Division I strictly need-based football league began with charter members Butler, Dayton, Drake, Evansville, San Diego and Valparaiso.  UD's 110-33 record is the best in PFL history.

Tickets Now On Sale...Season tickets are only $50 for adults and high school age young adults.  Children eighth grade and younger can join the Future Flyers Kids Club for just $20 to have free admission to all home football, men's basketball and women's basketball games.  Single game tickets are $10.00 for adults, and $5 for children high school age and younger.  Groups of 20 or more are $5 each.  UD students are admitted free with an ID.  Call 229-4433 for more information. 

Rick Chamberlin Show...The weekly Rick Chamberlin Show will air on NewsTalk1290 WHIO every Monday live from Milano's on Brown Street. WHIO's Larry Hansgen will host the show, which runs from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET.  The first show of the season will be Sept. 4, and the final Rick Chamberlin Show of 2017 will be Nov. 6.