Douglas Seitz, Staff Writer

Head football coach, Blaise Faggiano says “Every Coach on our staff is a Utica College graduate except three of us” and continues to explain that is something that he takes a tremendous amount of pride in.”

Utica College assistant football coach Matt Rogers happens to be on that list of Utica College alumni, but is also the newest coach on the Pioneers football staff.

Rogers attended high school at Bishop Ludden, located in East Syracuse. He even led his basketball team to a state championship.

“I was always playing sports, whatever season it was, that was the sport I was playing,” Rogers said.

Rogers’s leadership was something that stood out to Faggiano during the recruiting process. He continued to state that Rogers was a competitor and a strong student.

Rogers continued to make an impact in the classroom during his college career as well, where he made it on the Empire 8 president’s list with at least 3.75 grade point average all four years of his attendance.

He was the co-Editor-in-chief for the Tangerine in the 2015-16 academic year.

Outside of the classroom Rogers played two sports at the collegiate level, tennis, in which he led the team in wins for all four years of his career and was also a captain, but football was his passion.

When asked what brought him to Utica College Rogers said, “I wanted to play football in college and I was given a shot here. I knew I didn’t want to just sit around.” Rogers played an important role on the team. He was the backup quarterback, and that was a job that he took very seriously. His hard work led him to receive the Matt Dunn Memorial Pioneer Award, which was voted on by his teammates.

Senior linebacker and captain, Juwan Wilson said that as a player, Rogers was a model for young guys to see what consistency looked like. “As a coach, you can see the difference he makes at the running back position because the players are starting to convert the drills they practice into real game situations.” Wilson also said that Rogers brings energy to the game that is second to none.

“So far, it’s been a lot of work but I’m loving every second of it. It’s very rewarding, and I feel I am improving as a coach as time goes on. I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys to work with and players to coach. Everyone has the same goal and mission.” Faggiano stated that he believes Rogers has a future as a full-time football coach because he is willing to put in the hard work and adapt to any situation that comes his way. Rogers is an individual that bleeds blue an orange as a player, and as a coach.