On a team well known for its successful spread option offensive concepts, the Salisbury defense is also getting the job done, including Frank Giannetti leading the way with 11 tackles for loss and eight sacks. Salisbury athletics photo by Joey Gardner

By Greg Thomas
D3football.com

The 2023 season left a sour taste in the mouth of Salisbury football. Season-ending injuries to a number of key players early last season contributed to a 1-3 start that ultimately ended with a frustrating 6-4 season that fell short of the program’s expectations. The Sea Gulls have come roaring back in 2024, completing just the fifth undefeated regular season in program history, winning the New Jersey Athletic Conference, and qualifying for the NCAA playoffs as the No. 3 overall seed. 

“A year ago last week,” is exactly when fifth year defensive lineman Frank Giannetti knew that 2024 could be special.  

• More 2024 playoff features
• Feature: UMass-Dartmouth talking turkey
• Feature: River Hawks ready to regain rhythm
• Team-by-team playoff preview capsules
• Podcast 369: Recapping the first round

“Last year, after the season unfolded, we had a meeting as players, and we kind of looked at each other and decided this is never going to happen again. And from here on out, we were going to do everything in our power to be as successful as we can be,” says Giannetti. “I think in that moment when all 100 guys bought into the same idea, I think right from then on it was all business and we kind of knew the steps we had to take. Seeing the guys day in and day out for the past year have the same goal and the same focus from day one definitely showed me that this group can do something special.”

Head coach Sherman Wood also saw the team hit the reset button after 2023. “You know, we had seven starters injured for the season last year. We had quite a few young guys playing key roles against some pretty tough competition,” Wood recalls. “So we went back to the drawing board, got healthy, went through the winter, had our meetings, and the guys bonded so well during the winter, spring, and summer.

“They knew what they were capable of.”

The investment that the Sea Gulls made in the offseason has paid off handsomely.

“When you put it all together, anything's possible,” Wood says. “We had a great spring of family bonding and team bonding. We got stronger in the weight room, everyone was more committed. And then, when we got to the schedule, people were saying, ‘Man, how did you guys get going the way you did?’ And I say, well, No. 1, we’re familiar with our opponents. We knew what to expect from teams like Muhlenberg and Johns Hopkins. The kids knew they could win — it was just a matter of playing the best football we could.”

Despite the team’s turnaround in results, the Sea Gulls have not been free of some of the adversity that impacted them in 2023. A quarterback change at the season’s halfway point saw Salisbury turn to freshman SyRus McGowan to trigger what had been one of the nation’s best offenses through the first month of the season.  The result? The Sea Gulls didn’t skip a beat and enter the second round of the NCAA playoffs with the Division’s second best rushing offense (349.3 yards per game) and the fifth best scoring offense (51.8 points per game). 

“A very, very mature young man, he is,” Wood says of McGowan. “One of the things that we noticed about him when Gage (Katzenell-Hall) was playing — and actually, SyRus wasn’t even a backup at that time — was that he was always a team guy. He was rooting people on, staying positive, and just kept taking the reps as we asked him to do. There were a couple of times when we went on the road and his name was popping up: ‘Do we take him or do we not take him?’ But then we said, ‘He’s a team guy. You’ve got to take a locker room guy then.’”

McGowan’s arrival was announced with some fanfare as he was awarded the NJAC’s Offensive Rookie of the Week following his performance in Week 7 against Montclair State. And again in Week 8 after Salisbury’s homecoming win over Rowan. McGowan, in fact, won the league’s Offensive Rookie of the Week award in each of the last five weeks of the regular season on the way to being named the NJAC Offensive Rookie of the Year.  

“In the William Paterson game, he came out and did some great things for us,” Wood recalls. “The rest was history. But more importantly, he’s just a team guy. He respects everyone. It was just a matter of waiting his turn and taking the reps the way he should.”

The Sea Gull offense has rightfully drawn plenty of attention this season, but an undefeated record is a team effort, and Salisbury's defense has played an equally critical role. Wood credits the defense’s focus and effort as a key component to the team’s success.

“We do a tremendous job of executing in practice, with organization, and a lot of team effort-type drills," says Wood. "Our defense runs all over the field. That's something we preach from day one. We pursue every day. We made sure that everyone just goes from point A to point B across the field. There are no loafs at all. Coach D (defensive coordinator Robb Disbennett) has done a great job of making sure everyone’s in the right place at the right time and just put forth a tremendous effort. And everything, as you know, it starts up front."

Giannetti is a key piece up front for Sea Gulls. After recording eight sacks, 11 tackles for loss, and 29 tackles from his defensive line position, Giannetti has earned a second consecutive First Team All-NJAC honor. “I think our defense is very effort-based," he says. "I would say there’s probably not a room with more effort in the country than our defensive room. We're a family, and we all trust each other with 100 percent certainty."

As the Sea Gulls head into the NCAA playoffs, their perfect regular season and dominant performance on both sides of the ball have put them in prime position to make a deep run. An NJAC championship is nice, but Salisbury has their eyes on much more.

“You know, we’re happy where we are, as far as going 10-0, but I’m gonna tell you right now, we still feel like we have work to do, and we want to go full steam ahead,” Wood says. “This is just one step. And we’re just ready to fight, ready to go. So this isn’t something that we’ve been in a celebratory type of fashion at all. We took that conference championship for about an hour, and then the next hour, we’re ready to see what we need to do next.”

Giannetti shares that same mindset, pointing to the team’s preparation and focus as the foundation for their postseason run. “We’re prepared for the moment,” he says. “We knew last summer, from December through August, that we were going to be in this position. I don’t think anybody’s taking anything for granted. I think we’re exactly where we expected to be.”

While the Sea Gulls have achieved a perfect regular season and secured the NJAC title, both Wood and Giannetti agree that the best is yet to come.

“I think we have higher hopes than this,” Giannetti says. “So we’re going to keep playing the game that we know we can play and keep taking care of business.”