johnson hagood stadium
The Citadel Athletics

Football

VMI at The Citadel Gameday Central

LEXINGTON, Va. – Off to a strong start to the season with a 3-1 mark through September, the VMI football team opens the month of October at SoCon rival The Citadel for a Saturday afternoon kickoff at Johnson Hagood Stadium in Charleston, South Carolina.
 
The Military Classic of the South will be televised by Nexstar and broadcast on ESPN+ starting at 2 p.m. as the Keydets look to maintain possession of the Silver Shako trophy.

Links to the broadcast, radio and live stats are listed below in addition to other links that provide gameday information for both programs.
 
Attending the Game
Tickets | Weather | Fan Guide - Johnson Hagood Stadium
Broadcasts
Watch on ESPN+
Live Radio Broadcast on 96.7 3WZ 
Live Stats
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VMI (3-1, 1-0 SoCon)
Roster
Coaching Staff
Schedule/Results
Statistics
Game Notes 
2021 Fact Book
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The Citadel (1-2, 0-0 SoCon)
Roster
Schedule/Results
Coaching Staff
Statistics
Game Notes
Media Guide
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THE SERIES: Saturday's meeting between VMI and The Citadel will be the 77th meeting overall in the series that began in 1920. The rivalry adopted the name "The Military Classic of the South" in 1976 when the Keydets and the Bulldogs began vying for the Silver Shako trophy that is awarded to the winner of each meeting. The Citadel leads the overall series 42-32-2. In the last meeting between the teams in Charleston, S.C. in 2019, VMI reclaimed the Silver Shako for the first time since 2002 when the Keydets defeated The Citadel, 34-21. It ended a Citadel 12-game win streak in the rivalry. VMI successfully defended the Shako last spring in Lexington on April 17 with a 31-17 win over The Bulldogs.   
 
BATTLE FOR THE SHAKO – VMI will look to defend the Silver Shako trophy when it faces The Citadel Saturday in the Military Classic of the South Saturday in Charleston. The award, a silver replica of the cadet head covering worn at full dress parades at both military colleges, has been presented since 1976. VMI reclaimed the Silver Shako for the first time in 13 meetings in their last trip to Johnson-Hagood Stadium in October, 2019 in Charleston, S.C. The Keydets held on to the Shako last spring with a 31-17 at Foster Stadium. VMI has never won three straight Military Classics since the Silver Shako started being presented to the winner of the series.
 
SNYDER EARNS SOCON DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK - VMI junior linebacker Stone Snyder had a season-best 19 tackles in the Keydets' 31-23 win over Wofford, just two off his career high and was named SoCon Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. The 2020-21 SoCon Defensive Player of the Year from Richmond, Virginia had five solo stops and 14 assisted tackles on the afternoon, including 1.5 tackles for loss for 1 yard. Snyder also added a quarterback hurry as the Keydets beat Wofford in consecutive games for the first time since 1988 and 1992.
 
BRIDY HAS BREAKOUT DAY – Senior running back Korey Bridy set a new career-high in rushing yards with 171 yards on 22 carries against Wofford Saturday. Bridy scored on touchdown runs of five and 34 yards and also returned four kicks for 90 yards including a 33-yarder. Through four games, Bridy leads the team in rushing with 364 yards which ranks fourth in the SoCon at 91.0 yards per game.
 
BACK IN BOTH POLLS – VMI returned to national rankings in both FCS polls following last week's action. The Keydets enter this weekend's game at The Citadel ranked 18th in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 poll and 22nd in the AFCA FCS Coaches poll. VMI had been others receiving votes in the AFCA poll the past two weeks.
 
A VMI Win over The Citadel would ...
---Give the Keydets their third straight win over the Bulldogs for the first time in the series since 1961-63.
---Be VMI's fifth road victory over the last six away contests.
 
VMI RADIO NETWORK: WWZW – 96.7 FM (Lexington, Lynchburg), WJFN – 820 AM, 92.7 FM, 107.7 FM (Richmond), WPMH 1010 AM, 100.5 FM, 96.9 FM (Hampton Roads). A free audio broadcast of the game is available at 3wzfm.com. Wade Branner will call the play-by-play and Rick Cruze will be color commentator.
 
TELEVISION/ VIDEO STREAMING: Saturday's game can be seen on ESPN+ and also in several SoCon TV markets as part of the Ingles Nexstar Game of the Week package. Carrying the game will be ECBD/The Lowcountry's CW (Charleston), WHDF/North Alabama's CW (Huntsville/Florence), WMUB (Macon), WMYT/My 12 (Charlotte), WWCW/The CW Virginia (Lynchburg/Roanoke), WYCW/The CW62 (Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville). Pete Yanity will handle play-by-play and Jay Sonnhalter will serve as analyst.
 
- WOFFORD GAME NOTES -
MILESTONE WATCH – Keydet receivers Jakob Herres and Leroy Thomas both surpassed milestones after last Saturday's game with Wofford. Herres caught four passes for 62 yards against the terriers and now has 201 career receptions to join Aaron Sanders as the only two in program history to hit that mark. Thomas now has 110 career receptions and 1,026 career yards after catching three passes for 61 yards against Wofford.
 
IRONSIDE SHINES AGAIN – After engineering a Keydet victory in reserve duty following Seth Morgan's injury at Cornell, Ironside led the Keydets to a win over Wofford one week later in the SoCon opener in his first college start at quarterback. Ironside completed 18 of 22 passes for 183 yards and threw touchdowns strikes of 20 yards to Chance Knox and 47 yards to Leroy Thomas. Through four games, Ironside is completing .700 of his passes for 523 yards and four touchdowns.
 
RICE CONTINUES RANGE - Redshirt sophomore place kicker Jerry Rice kicked his fifth consecutive field goal over 40 yards dating back to last year when he connected on a 42-yarder in the fourth quarter against Wofford. Rice is four for five on the season with all his makes in the fall season coming from 40+ yards.
 
BACK-TO-BACK – With a 31-23 win over Wofford September 25, VMI logged its second straight win over the Terriers and first back-to-back victories in the series since November 7, 1992 when a 44-13 victory in Lexington marked VMI's ninth straight in the rivalry.
 
GOOD START AGAIN – The win over Wofford September 25 marked three straight Southern Conference opening victories for the Keydets. VMI won its 2019 conference opener at ETSU and last spring knocked off Furman in Lexington which laid the foundation for a SoCon title run. The last time VMI had won three straight Southern Conference openers was 1961 through 1963 when the Keydets registered victories over Richmond once and George Washington twice.
 
WELCOME BACK – Two Keydets who had been sidelined for extended periods because of injury returned to the field against Wofford September 25 for their first action of 2021. Sophomore wide receiver Chance Knox missed the first three games of the season but shined his 2021 fall debut when he caught a team-high five passes for 37 yards including a 20-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. Senior outside linebacker Carter Johnson made his first start since March 13 and was credited with two tackles against the Terriers.
 




 
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Players Mentioned

Korey Bridy

#1 Korey Bridy

RB
6' 0"
Senior
Jakob Herres

#14 Jakob Herres

WR
6' 4"
Senior
Carter Johnson

#26 Carter Johnson

LB
6' 3"
Senior
Chance Knox

#6 Chance Knox

WR
5' 10"
Sophomore
Seth Morgan

#4 Seth Morgan

QB
6' 3"
Redshirt Sophomore
Jerry Rice

#93 Jerry Rice

K/P
5' 7"
Redshirt Sophomore
Stone Snyder

#5 Stone Snyder

LB
6' 3"
Junior
Leroy Thomas

#15 Leroy Thomas

WR
5' 11"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Korey Bridy

#1 Korey Bridy

6' 0"
Senior
RB
Jakob Herres

#14 Jakob Herres

6' 4"
Senior
WR
Carter Johnson

#26 Carter Johnson

6' 3"
Senior
LB
Chance Knox

#6 Chance Knox

5' 10"
Sophomore
WR
Seth Morgan

#4 Seth Morgan

6' 3"
Redshirt Sophomore
QB
Jerry Rice

#93 Jerry Rice

5' 7"
Redshirt Sophomore
K/P
Stone Snyder

#5 Stone Snyder

6' 3"
Junior
LB
Leroy Thomas

#15 Leroy Thomas

5' 11"
Junior
WR