DAYTON – University of Dayton head football coach Rick Chamberlin and his staff will welcome 114 players back to campus Sunday, August 5 as the Flyers prepare for the 2018 football season. 

Chamberlin is beginning his 11th season as UD's head coach and returns 17 starters (nine offense, six defense, both kicking specialists) from last season.

Dayton was picked to finish second in the PFL for the 2018 season in a preseason vote of the league's coaches.  Dayton has 12 league championships to its credit the PFL's 25 seasons. 

Captains Ben Gauthier and Nick Surges will lead UD in 2017.   Gauthier, an offensive tackle, and Surges, a defensive end, are two of seven UD players were named Preseason All-PFL.  The others are safety David Leisring, punter Sean Smith, tight end Adam Trautman, wide receiver/long snapper Matt Tunnacliffe and running back Tucker Yinger.  

Smith is the best punter in UD history.  He is a three-time First Team All-PFL player.  Last year he was one of three unanimous selections.  Smith led the league in punting average for the third time (a career-best and Dayton record 42.7 yards per punt) in 2017.  Smith also led the league in punts inside the opponent 20-yard line (24).  

Yinger and quarterback Alex Jeske, both fifth-year players, enter their final season already entrenched in the Dayton record books.  Yinger is sixth in career rushing with 2,417 yards.  Jeske, who has a 22-5 record as a starter, is already third at UD in career completions (432), third in passing yards (5,224) and total offense (6,224).

 The Flyers finished 5-6 in 2017, just UD's second sub-.500 season in the last 41 years.  Four of the losses were by a total of 15 points.  The Flyers were 4-4 in the PFL, which tied them for sixth.

Coach Chamberlin has guided UD to 79 wins in his first nine seasons, including a record 59 Pioneer Football League wins.  Chamberlin and his predecessor, College Football Hall of Famer Mike Kelly, are the only two PFL coaches to win more than 50 PFL games.  Kelly had 55.  A Flyer All-American linebacker in his playing days, Chamberlin has been a part of 373 of UD's 673 wins – 26 as a player, 268 as an assistant coach, and 79 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 2018 Flyers will be Monday afternoon on the grass at 2:30 at the Jerry Von Mohr Practice Facility.  The Flyer preseason practices will be also at Welcome Stadium, and the team will also conduct some walk-thru practices on Stuart Field in the heart of campus during camp.

Dayton will play five home games.  UD will open the season on Sept. 1 when Robert Morris comes to town.  Pioneer Football League teams visiting Welcome Stadium in 2018 are Davidson (Sept. 22), Valparaiso (Oct. 6), Drake (Oct. 20) and Morehead State (Nov. 10). 

All home games are all 1:00 p.m. ET starts.  

Streaking…UD has not been shut out in a school-record 465 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 16 years, the University of Dayton football program has produced 29 Academic All-Americans, the most of any college football team.  In the history of the Academic All-America program, UD football has had 59 Academic All-Americans.  Among schools playing Division I football, only Nebraska (107), Penn State (64) have had more. The Flyers are tied with Notre Dame at 59.  Ohio State (54) and Oklahoma (52) are next. The Flyers also had a PFL-high 71 players on the 2017 PFL Academic Honor Roll, the most in the PFL for the 23rd time in the 25-year history of the league (UD had a league-record 81 in 2016).  UD is one of two D-I schools (and the only one in the PFL) to have a Campbell Trophy semifinalist for 12 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 26th 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 114-37 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.