The Calvin University football team is set for its inaugural game this Saturday when the Knights host the Yeomen from Oberlin College at 1 p.m at Eagle Stadium on the campus of Grand Rapids Christian High School (23000 Plymouth Ave, G.R. Mich. 49506).
A reminder that in the event of rain, pop-out umbrellas will not be allowed in the stadium to ensure fan sight lines.
A limited amount of standing room only tickets are still available for Saturday's game. Ticket, parking and stadium information can be found online at
: Calvin Football Ticket Page.
Calvin will be under the direction of head coach
Trent Figg who will guide his 112-member roster into year one this fall.
How to Watch/Listen: The Calvin football team can be followed live in several different ways during the 2024 season.
All home games will be broadcast on the Calvin Knights YouTube channel at:
https://www.youtube.com/calvinknights
The Live Stream pre-game broadcast on Saturday will begin at 12:30 p.m.
All home games will feature live stats online at:
Calvin Football Live Stats.
In addition, all 10 games will be broadcast through Michigan Sports Radio (
Michigansportsradio.com) with home games including video and away games including just audio.
Six of Calvin's 10 games will be carried on Grand Rapids radio outlets with
TALK 1230 AM-WTKG carrying Calvin's games on September 7 (Oberlin), October 5 (Alma), November 2 (at Olivet), November 9 (Hope) and November 16 (Albion) with its September 28 game against Kalamazoo airing on
96.1 FM - The Game - WMAX. Radio broadcast outlets for Calvin's games on October 19 (at Adrian) and October 26 (at Trine) are still to be determined.
Finally, Calvin's season opener against Oberlin on September 7 and its rivalry game against Hope on November 9 will air live on
WXSP-TV Nexstar Media Inc.
History in the Making: Here is a timeline football at Calvin University leading up to its first ever game…
October 28, 2022 – Calvin's Board of Trustees approves the addition of football as a varsity sport, along with men's volleyball and women's acrobatics & tumbling
November 22, 2022 – Calvin announces the start of its search for its first ever head football coach
January 6, 2023 – Calvin announces the hire of head coach
Trent Figg
January 14, 2023 –
Trent Figg is introduced as the head football coach at a press conference in Van Noord Arena
May 18, 2023 – The schedule for the first ever Calvin football season in 2024 is released
August 19, 2023 – Calvin holds its first ever official football practice
September 30, 2023 – Calvin holds a scrimmage on Homecoming weekend at Grand Rapids Christian High School in front of more than 3,000 fans
July 1, 2024 – Season tickets for the first ever Calvin football season go on sale and sell out in less than one week
August 13, 2024 – Football locker room facility opens for the first time as players arrive for camp
Calvin by the Numbers: Here are some quick facts about the inaugural Calvin University football team…
112 – Number of total players on this year's Calvin football team
102 – Number of players from the state of Michigan
10 – Number of players from other states, including Texas (three), Ohio (two), California (one), Georgia (one), Illinois (one), Minnesota (one) and New York (one)
88 – Number of freshmen (54) and redshirt freshmen (34)
66 – Number of offensive players from the following positions:
- QB – 4
- RB – 11
- WR – 20
- TE – 8
- OL – 21
45 – Number of defensive players from the following positions:
3 – Number of kickers and punters
MIAA Preseason Poll: Calvin was picked eighth in this year's MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll in August. The Knights finished the poll with 49 total points.
Alma was the unanimous selection at the top of the poll, receiving all seven possible first-place votes. Hope (13 points) and Trine (20) finished second and third, respectively, followed by Albion (25), Olivet (33), Adrian (35) and Kalamazoo (42).
Calvin Coach: Head coach
Trent Figg was hired on January 6, 2023. He is a native of Chillicothe, Missouri, located an hour-and-a-half from Kansas City. He is a 2008 graduate of William Jewell College where he was a four-year member of the football program as a special teams ace and defensive back. He later earned his master's degree from Northwest Missouri State in 2013. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at (then NAIA) William Jewell and later had stints as the special teams coordinator and defensive coordinator at D2 Southern Arkansas, defensive coordinator at William Jewell and special teams coordinator at Missouri State. He later spent two years (2019-21) at the University of Hawaii, serving as chief of staff of the football program and later associate head coach. In 2022, he serve as the lead offensive analyst for the University of Oregon football program under head coach Dan Lanning
Oberlin Last Season: The Yeomen finished the 2023 season with a 1-9 record, with its lone win coming in week two against Concordia University Chicago. Oberlin was led on offense by quarterback Drew Nye, who completed 51 percent of his passes for 1,632 yards and 11 touchdowns against 14 interceptions. Nye's leading receiver was Evan Smith-Rooks, who caught 45 passes for 383 yards and one score.
On defense, Oberlin allowed an average of 408.8 yards and 49.5 points per game. Brandon Hall led the defense with 82 tackles, while Hunter Greene led all returning Yeomen with 4.0 sacks.
Oberlin Coach: John Pont is in his second season as the head coach of the Oberlin football program. Prior to taking the head coaching job with the Yeomen, Pont served as an offensive analyst and football athletic performance assistant at Indiana University in 2021 and 2022. Prior to that, he was the offensive coordinator at University of Chicago from 2017-20, and the wide receivers coach at Case Western Reserve from 2015-16. He is a 2007 graduate of Miami University (Oh.) and later earned a master's degree from Florida State in 2009. His grandfather – also named John Pont – was the head football coach at the University of Indiana from 1965-1972 and led the Hoosiers to their only Rose Bowl berth back in 1967.
2024 Schedule: Here is the full schedule for the 2024 Calvin football team. Note that
all home contests will be played at Grand Rapids Christian High School.
9/7 v. Oberlin – 1:00 PM (Maroon Monsoon)
9/14 @Concordia Wisconsin – 1:00 PM (CST)
9/21 @Anderson (IN) – 1:00 PM
9/28 @Kalamazoo – 6:30 PM
10/5 v. Alma (Homecoming) – 1:00 PM (Knight Nation – Calvin Colors)
10/19 @Adrian – 3:00 PM
10/26 @Trine – 1:00 PM
11/2 @Olivet – 1:00 PM
11/9 v. Hope – 1:00 PM (Gold Rush)
11/16 v. Albon – 1:00 PM (Black Out)
