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University of New Hampshire Athletics
Josiah Silver named to CAA Football Preseason All-Conference Team
7/28/2022 12:00:00 PM | Football
RICHMOND, Va. – Sophomore defensive end Josiah Silver (Hampton, Va.) of the University of New Hampshire football team was named to the 2022 CAA Football Preseason All-Conference Team on Thursday.
Senior safety Pop Bush (Nocatee, Fla.) and senior offensive lineman Patrick Flynn (Hanover, Mass.) both received Honorable Mention and UNH was picked ninth in the CAA Football preseason poll that was also unveiled Thursday.
Season tickets for UNH football at Wildcat Stadium start at just $99 per ticket and can be purchased online at unhwildcats.com/tickets or by calling (603) 862-4000 or e-mailing unh.tickets@unh.edu.
Single-game tickets are also on sale and start at $15 with group tickets as low as $10 per ticket.
Led by first-year head coach and 2007 alum Rick Santos, the Wildcats play host to five games at Wildcat Stadium. The season opener is slated for Sept. 1 (7 p.m.) at home against CAA newcomer Monmouth University for the Thursday Night Throwdown presented by Dunkin'.
This is the second 2022 preseason accolade for Silver. The 6-foot-2, 234-pound defensive end was named to the 2022 Athlon Sports FCS Preseason All-America Team in mid-June.
Silver was voted to the 2021 Associated Press FCS All-America Second Team as a freshman, when he also garnered All-America Third Team honors from both Stats Perform and Phil Steele, as well as CAA Defensive Rookie of the Year and CAA All-Conference First Team accolades. Silver was also named one of 23 finalists for the Jerry Rice Award for the National Freshman of the Year Award and was a NEFWA All-New England Team selection.
Silver amassed 80 tackles (42 solo), 20.5 TFL (88 yards), 12.5 sacks, six forced fumbles and one fumble recovery in 11 games. With those stats, Silver led UNH in solo tackles, assisted tackles, total tackles, tackles for loss, sacks and forced fumbles.
Silver's 12.5 sacks led the CAA and ranked fourth among all FCS players. His six forced fumbles also led the CAA and tied for second in the FCS.
Silver finished the season strong by recording 9+ tackles each of the last five games. His totals down the stretch included 50 tackles (27 solo), 13.0 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, and five forced fumbles.
He was named CAA Defensive Player of the Week on Nov. 15 following a game-high 11 tackles, career-best of 5.0 TFL's and 4.0 sacks, and two forced fumbles at the University of Rhode Island on Nov. 13. One week later, Silver finished the 2021 season with a career-high 12 tackles, which included three tackles for loss and two sacks, as well as a forced fumble against the University of Maine.
Bush played in 8 of 11 games with seven starts last season. He finished with 47 total tackles (30 solo, 17 assisted), three forced fumbles, two interceptions and five pass breakups, which tied for second on the team. Bush's season highlights included 10 tackles, including a sack, as well as two forced fumbles, a 65-yard interception return and two pass breakups at Stony Brook University.
Bush enters the 2022 season as UNH's active leader in career tackles with 132 and is tied for the lead in career interceptions (three).
Flynn started all 11 games at left tackle last season and enters the 2022 season with 34 consecutive starts – that is every New Hampshire game played the previous four years – as an anchor on the Wildcats' offensive line. In UNH's only game of the 2020-21 season, he was the starting left guard. Flynn was the Wildcats' left tackle as a sophomore in 2019 and was the center in the '18 season.
Villanova University finished atop the preseason poll with 16 first-place votes and 270 points. 'Nova was followed in the top five by University of Delaware (235 points, seven first-place votes), Rhode Island (224), University of Richmond (219) and College of William & Mary (206; two). The 6-10 spots are held by Elon University (191; one), Stony Brook (151), Maine (134), UNH (117) and Monmouth (105). The poll is rounded out by Towson University (81), University at Albany (64) and Hampton University (31), another newcomer.
CAA Football expands to 13 teams for the first time in conference history with the addition of both Hampton and Monmouth.
