Stony Brook ranks No. 25 in HERO Sports’ FCS Preseason Top 25.
The Seawolves finished 8-4 last year, missing the FCS playoffs.
Here’s a look at the 2025 Stony Brook football squad.
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Returning 2024 FCS All-Conference Players (4)
1st Team
RB Roland Dempster
2nd Team
K Enda Kirby
3rd Team
OL Niko Papic
LB AJ Roberts
D1 Transfer Portal Movement
Transfers Coming In From The FCS (7)
Chris Zellous (QB), Hampton
Ryan Ruane (DB), Holy Cross
Christian Forbes (OL), Howard
JoJo Garcia (DB), LIU
Alhaji Kamara (DB), Maine
MarQeese Dietz (WR), UAlbany
Thomas Inge (OL), VMI
Transfers Coming In From The FBS (2)
Aidan Kaler (LB), Charlotte
Ikaika Ragsdale (RB), North Texas
Transfers Lost To The FCS (3)
Rahmon Hart Jr. (WR) to Campbell
Jackson Dorr (P) to Gardner-Webb
Anthony Pecorella (P) to Maine
Transfers Lost To The FBS (2)
Rushawn Lawrence (DL) to Minnesota
Johnny Martin (RB) to Temple
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Offensive Outlook
Stony Brook lost both quarterbacks who played last season. But the Seawolves return their all-conference running back — who is among the five of their top seven receivers returning — and they welcome back three of five starting offensive linemen.
With Tyler Knoop’s college football career complete and Malachi Marshall transferring to Iowa Western CC, Stony Brook starts anew at QB in 2025, though it does have 2023 starter Casey Case still in-house. Case arrived at SBU from FBS Buffalo, where he’d spent three seasons, including the COVID year, so 2025 lines up to be Case’s last year in college football. He did not appear in a game in 2024 after having 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in ’23.
Case is one of two graduate student QBs for the Seawolves, the other being Hampton transfer Chris Zellous. Zellous has one year of eligibility to use this fall after four seasons progressing up the Pirates’ depth chart. At Hampton, Zellous passed for 13 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 2023, but also ran for nine scores in 10 games. Last year, Zellous was Hampton’s starter in all 12 games while he shared time with fellow vet Malcolm Mays. Zellous threw three TDs and six INTs and added six rushing TDs.
The youngest QB by class year at Stony Brook is true freshman Tavion Byrd, who became a Seawolf over offers from Buffalo, Stonehill, Lehigh, and Saint Francis. Byrd is an early grad who was on hand for spring with SBU.
The star of the Stony Brook offense, independent of the signal-caller, is grad running back Roland Dempster. Dempster rolled up 1,332 rushing yards for 18 touchdowns with 335 receiving yards for one touchdown in his 12 games of 2024. That certainly made ’24 his breakout year, but Dempster showed his potential at 5.6 YPC on 60 attempts in fall 2021, and 4.4 YPC on 93 totes in 2023. He’d missed ’22 with a season-ending injury sustained in preseason.
Dempster joins a stable of pass-catchers that largely carries over from last season. SBU has its No. 1 receiver in wideout Jayce Freeman back on Long Island. Freeman led the way a year ago with 506 yards on 23 catches.
Stony Brook won’t have its highest-volume targets to work with this fall as Jasiah Williams’ 51 receptions and Cal Redman’s 32 were the final tallies of their careers last year. That’s offset some with former Wake Forest transfer Dez Williams and RJ Lamarre back at WR and Cole Bunicci back at TE. Dez Williams’ total of 382 receiving yards on 30 catches was a career high last season. Lamarre, whose first year at Stony Brook was his 2019 redshirt, also set career marks with 22 receptions for 267 yards in ’24.
Bunicci was behind Redman at tight end last season, finishing with 259 yards and two TDs on 14 grabs. That came after 2023’s 13 receptions for 124 yards in 10 games played.
Left guard Niko Papic (6-4, 300) and right guard Kollin Melendez (6-5, 310) highlight the Seawolf O-line after both eclipsed 900 snaps in 2024, the only SBU offensive players to do so. For Papic, ’24 was a great success to start every game coming off his 2023 season-ending injury. Melendez, a redshirt senior, has played 22 games over the last two years.
Stony Brook brought in more experience on the offensive front with former VMI OL starter and captain Thomas Inge (6-4, 300) and former Howard and Wake Forest OL Christian Forbes (6-4, 290). Both are grad transfers with one year of eligibility.
Notably in the CAA, ex-Old Dominion and UAlbany WR MarQeese “Queese” Dietz crosses to the other side of the Golden Apple rivalry by joining Stony Brook. Dietz began his college career with the Monarchs in 2021 and has one year of eligibility with SBU. He was a 500-yard receiver in 2023 at UAlbany and surpassed 300 yards on 31 balls last year for the Great Danes.
Defensive Outlook
The CAA’s No. 7 scoring defense (24.8 PPG) only maintains four of its top 11 tacklers, but it sweetens the deal that three of those four are linebackers who ranked Nos. 1, 2, and 4.
LBs AJ Roberts, Anthony Ferrelli, and Chayce Chalmers completed 2024 with tackle totals of 86, 84, and 56, respectively.
Roberts made ’24 an All-CAA year with 4.5 TFLs, one sack, one forced fumble and fumble recovery each, an interception, and three PBUs.
The second-best red zone defense in the conference a year ago (70%), Stony Brook has to retool somewhat on the defensive line, where defensive end Rushawn Lawrence and nose tackle Taylor Bolesta are departures. Edge defender Rodney Faulk remains, though, and he captained SBU while tallying 37 tackles, 4.5 sacks, and three forced fumbles in 460+ snaps of 2024.
The Seawolves look to fill both starting corner spots this season with previous starters Rudy Silvera and DJ Jones having moved on. Former Virginia Tech transfer Cam Johnson is a defensive back who’s a redshirt junior in 2025 and could step forward in his third season with the Seawolves.
Holy Cross grad transfer DB Ryan Ruane became a starting safety as a Crusaders senior in 2024. He had 23 tackles and one interception in his last HC season and enters his final year of eligibility. Stony Brook intends to play Ruane at outside linebacker.
LIU DB transfer JoJo Garcia accumulated 65 total stops for the Sharks’ 2024 team best. The junior will plug in at safety for SBU.
Alhaji Kamara, the Maine DB transfer and redshirt senior, is destined for CB at Stony Brook. Kamara is on board with the Seawolves after other offers from Incarnate Word, Rhode Island, UAlbany, and New Hampshire.
The name of the game for the Stony Brook defense may well be establishing those pieces around the linebackers. The Dempster-led offense’s rushing game can keep SBU with some favorable times of possession when all is working, but it will be instant tests for the Seawolves’ defense when they open the season at FBS San Diego State and host preseason-ranked Rhode Island right after.
Topping things off fittingly for Stony Brook’s defensive adds as the program seeks to extend its turnaround momentum, Charlotte LB transfer Aidan Kaler makes a homecoming in 2025. He rejoins the Seawolves, where he spent 2019-2023 before making 14 total tackles last year at Charlotte. With a degree in sociology from Stony Brook in tow, Kaler is a graduate student back at linebacker who was a ’23 Honorable Mention All-CAA pick.
2025 Preseason Preview Central
Stony Brook Football Schedule
8/28 at San Diego State
9/6 vs No. 9 Rhode Island
9/13 vs Fordham
9/20 at Lindenwood
9/27 vs Merrimack
10/4 at UAlbany
10/18 at No. 21 Monmouth
10/25 vs Towson
11/1 at Maine
11/8 vs North Carolina A&T
11/15 at No. 14 Villanova
11/22 vs Bryant
Bold indicates CAA games
HERO Sports’ rankings
