Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU football team announced its 2021 spring schedule Monday, which includes a non-conference matchup against James Madison as well as four Big South foes.
The Colonials will open the season Saturday, Feb. 27, with a trip to Harrisonburg, Va., for a non-conference game against James Madison. It marks the second meeting in the all-time series between the two programs. RMU is still seeking non-conference opponents for its 2021 spring schedule.
The Big South Conference
announced its 2021 spring football schedule Monday, which features five teams playing a four-game conference schedule to determine the Big South's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Playoffs. The five teams competing include Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, Kennesaw State, Monmouth and RMU.
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The Colonials, who joined the Big South as an associate member June 15 and were scheduled to play in the Big South in the fall of 2021, will be an official conference opponent in the spring 2021 campaign and will be eligible for the Big South championship and automatic berth to the postseason.
RMU will christen its first season as a member of the Big South against a familiar opponent, welcoming Monmouth to Joe Walton Stadium Saturday, March 13. The Colonials and Hawks renew a rivalry that has seen the teams split 20 games in an all-time series that dates to 1994. The two teams haven't met since the 2014 campaign, and 11 of the 20 contests between RMU and Monmouth have been decided by 10 points or less, including seven by games by five points or less.
The 2021 Big South slate also includes road games against Charleston Southern (March 20) and Kennesaw State (April 3) as well as a home game against Gardner-Webb (April 10) at Joe Walton Stadium. Information regarding season tickets for the 2021 RMU spring season will be announced at a later date.
Contingencies were built into the Big South 2021 spring schedule to allow flexibility for completing the conference season in full. The week of April 11-17, 2021, has been left open to allow any games impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic to be made up.
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RMU is led by
Bernard Clark, Jr., who enters his third season as head coach of the Colonials in 2021. He guided RMU to an overall record of 7-5 (.583) in 2019, including a mark of 6-1 (.857) in the Northeast Conference (NEC). The Colonials finished second in the league standings, and Clark was tabbed the 2019 NEC Co-Coach of the Year while being named a finalist for the 2019 Eddie Robinson Award, one of the STATS FCS legacy awards.
The Colonials return 14 starters and 42 letterwinners for the 2021 spring season. Among the starters, RMU returns six on offense, six on defense and both on special teams. Highlighting the group on defense is junior linebacker
Aniello Buzzacco, who established a single-season school record in 2019 with 131 tackles. He ranked sixth in the NCAA FCS in both stops and tackles per game (10.6) and has compiled 144 career takedowns entering his third season with the Colonials.
On offense, RMU returns four of its five starters on the offensive line, including seniors
Trevor Hicks and redshirt junior
Bussy Remaley, each of whom garnered All-NEC accolades in 2019. The Colonials will also be bolstered by the return of redshirt junior running back
Alijah Jackson, a member of the 2019 All-NEC First Team who rushed for 971 yards and five touchdowns last season.
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