Saint Francis University Athletics

Recruiting Areas: Pennsylvania Districts 4 and 6, Eastern Ohio, Michigan, Indiana

Garrett Clawson returned to Saint Francis in 2016 as Running Backs coach and Special Teams Coordinator.  Clawson helped coach Special Teams for the 2013 season and enters his third year in his current stint at SFU.

The Red Flash running backs helped the 2017 Saint Francis offense to average 21.9 points, 287.1 total yards, 185.6 passing yards and 101.5 rushing yards per game.  The SFU running backs totaled 1,219 rushing yards and 125 receiving yards this season. SFU’s offense had 38 plays of 20 or more yards, including 29 passes and nine rushes.
 
Junior Jymere Jordan-Toney led the group, and finished fourth in the NEC, with 561 yards and three touchdowns on 116 carries.  Jordan-Toney averaged 70.1 yards per game and 4.8 yards per carry.  He produced two 100-yard performances this season with 105 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries against Wagner and 105 yards on 22 carries at No. 22 Liberty.  Jordan-Toney rushed for two touchdowns against Lock Haven and caught a touchdown pass at Presbyterian.
 
Sophomore Avery Miliner had 247 yards and three scores on 67 rushes.  Miliner rushed for 81 yards and a touchdown vs. Lock Haven, 50 yards at Bryant and touchdowns against Robert Morris and CCSU.  Freshman Joel Denley contributed 225 yards on 61 carries and nine catches for 62 yards.  Denley had 59 yards at CCSU and 60 vs. Sacred Heart as well as 43 vs. Lock Haven.  Junior Byron Johnson rushed for 145 yards on 29 carries.  In SFU’s season finale at EKU, Johnson rushed for 80 yards and had a 30-yard reception.  He also had 56 yards vs. Sacred Heart.  Freshman Kobe Pinkney had 41 yards on 10 carries.
 
Saint Francis had a solid year on special teams, led by two All-NEC selections.  Punter Andrew Zecca earned First Team All-NEC honors, leading the conference with a 39.9 punt average (56 punts for 2,234 yards), a long of 68, six punts over 50 yards, 20 inside the 20 and 23 fair-caught.  Zecca averaged over 40 yards per punt in six different games, with a season-high 48.3 yards per punt at Eastern Kentucky.  He was named STATS FCS National Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance at No. 22 Liberty, with 12 punts for 480 yards, including a long of 62, tying an SFU game record for punts and breaking an SFU game record for yards.  He also hit a 61-yard punt at Presbyterian.
 
Returner Nick Rinella earned Second Team All-NEC accolades.  He emerged as a threat over the second half of the season, averaging 27.4 yards per kick return and 12.4 per punt return.  Rinella had four kick returns over 30 yards, including a season-high 46-yard return at CCSU.  Rinella also had three punt returns over 20 yards, with a 35-yard punt return for a touchdown vs. Robert Morris.  Rinella became a threat on offense too, with five rushes for 65 yards, including a 49-yard touchdown vs. RMU.
 
Kicker Eric Bofenkamp converted 10-of-19 field goal attempts, with a long of 44, and 29-of-30 extra point attempts.  He also averaged 58.6 yards per kickoff.  Bofenkamp had the third-most field goal attempts in a season at SFU.  Bofenkamp made six field goals over 30 yards, including a 44-yard kick at Eastern Kentucky.  He also made three field goals at Bryant.  Bofenkamp tied an SFU game record with nine extra points vs. Lock Haven.
 
Jorge Solano was a major part of SFU’s return game as well.  He averaged 22.6 yards per kick return, with 11 returns for 249 yards, and 5.9 yards per punt return, with eight returns for 47 yards.
 
Saint Francis also blocked four kicks this year, ranking 19th in the FCS, with three blocked field goals and one blocked punt.  Delondo Boyd, Louie Gartner and Da’Jon Lee each had a blocked field goal and Gibbs Tinne blocked a punt vs. Lock Haven.

Clawson’s running back unit helped SFU to rank third in the NEC, and 55th in the FCS, with a 26.9 scoring average in 2016.  SFU averaged 218.9 yards through the air and 126.2 on the ground.  SFU averaged 345.1 total yards per game.
 
Junior Marcus Bagley ran for 891 yards and a touchdown on 207 carries, averaging 81 yards per game and 4.3 yards per carry to earn First Team All-NEC honors.  He posted two 100-yard games, including a career-high 220 yards in a win at Columbia, an effort which earned him a NEC Offensive Player of the Week award.  Bagley also caught 12 passes for 109 yards, including a 14-yard touchdown catch at Robert Morris. 
 
Sophomore Jymere Jordan-Toney rushed for 375 yards and five touchdowns on 87 carries.  In a win over Malone, Jordan-Toney ran for 156 yards on 23 carries and tied a school-record with four touchdowns.  Freshman Avery Miliner entered the rotation near the end of the season and ran for 132 yards on 14 carries, including 96 yards at Sacred Heart.
 
On special teams, senior kicker Lance Geesey made 12 of 20 field goal attempts, with a long of 52 yards.  He converted all 39 extra point attempts.  Geesey ended his career with 57 career field goals to tie the NEC record.  Geesey finished his career with SFU records in field goals made (57), attempted (75), percentage (76), PATs made (123) and points (294). He earned invitations to the FCS Bowl and Dream Bowl V.  Geesey was named the Special Teams MVP of Dream Bowl V, setting the game’s scoring record with five extra points, all from NFL range, and a 40-yard field goal.
 
Sophomore Andrew Zecca and senior Zack Drayer shared the punting duties.  Drayer averaged 35 yards per punt on 41 kicks, with a long of 53.  Zecca averaged 43.4 yards per punt on 32 kicks and set a school-record with a 73-yard punt at Villanova.
 
Senior Lorenzo Jerome ranked second in the nation with a 28.9 kick return average, including a 73-yard touchdown on a squib kick and another 86-yard return at Montana.  After that game, he was named STATS FCS National Special Teams Player of the Week. One of the special teams highlights of the season was a blocked punt, by Da’Jon Lee, against Robert Morris.

Clawson spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons at Westminster College, where he also served as the running backs and kickers coach.  

Under his guidance, Westminster did not give up a blocked punt, blocked kick or special teams touchdown during the 2014 season.  He also helped kicker Justin Dahl to set new career-highs as Dahl made 8-of-9 Field Goal attempts, 30-of-33 extra point attempts, and was named First Team All-PAC.

In his first stint at Saint Francis, Clawson helped Lance Geesey to tie two school records for field goals in a season(11) and field goals in a game(3).

Clawson was an All-NEC kicker at Robert Morris after transferring in 2008 after playing at Temple University.  Clawson led the team in scoring his first year at Robert Morris and was named First Team All-NEC in 2009.  He hit 14 field goals to set a new single-season record and won NEC Special Teams Player of the Week in three consecutive weeks.  Prior to the 2010 season, Clawson was named an All-America selection.

The Duncansville, Pa. native finished his RMU career with 139 points to rank fifth in school history and helped the Colonials to win the NEC title in 2010.