Dear Friends of Tribe Athletics,
The Mann household is set to welcome lots of guests this week. My mom will be making her way to Williamsburg from Massachusetts and she will bring her recipe for Mama Mann's potato stuffing, which is my very favorite item on the Thanksgiving menu. I hope that your holiday is full of friends, family and good food, too!
Giving Tuesday
This is the time of the year when many of us take the time to reflect on what is meaningful to us. For me, it's a time to embrace all the wonderful things in my life, including our wonderful Tribe student-athletes and my colleagues in Athletics and the university.
I'm also tremendously grateful for the community of W&M fans, alumni and friends who stretch across the globe and all that you do for us every day of the year. I'd like to ask that you remember us on Giving Tuesday, which is a week from today on Dec. 3. Please consider a gift to your favorite team or to the
Athletics Impact Fund , which benefits the entire department. The funds we raise on Giving Tuesday are important as we work to ensure the Tribe is financially healthy and able to support a first-class Athletics Department. Thanks for giving as generously as you can.
Smartly Done
For the 19th time in the last 20 years the
Tribe has the highest Federal Graduation Rate (88%) among D1 public schools. William & Mary's 88% FGR was well ahead of the national average for all student-athletes (68%).
What a Feat!
Please join me in congratulating our dual threat playmaker, graduate student Hollis Mathis, who accomplished something extraordinary in our football game vs. Richmond. With 50 receiving yards vs. the Spiders, Mathis became just the second player in the history of college football to record 1,000 career yards passing, rushing and receiving! He is the first player to achieve this feat at the FCS level!
Notable
- Senior offensive tackle Charles Grant continues to draw national acclaim for his outstanding play, as the returning first-team All-American was the first player signed to play in the prestigious Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala, and has now been named as a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, the FCS version of the Heisman Trophy.
- Not to be outdone, junior cornerback Jalen Jones is also up for national honors, as he has been named a finalist for the Buck Buchannon Award, given to the nation's top defender at the FCS level! Learn more about these outstanding awards and find out which Tribe players earned All-CAA honors by going to the football page on TribeAthletics.com.
- Tailback Bronson Yoder ended his spectacular career with the Tribe with 3,775 rushing yards, making him the second-leading rusher in school history. He also finished second in career all-purpose yards and his 35 rushing TDs placed him fourth all-time in the W&M record books.
- Swimming had an impressive outing at the three-day West Virginia Invitational, highlighted by a school-record performance from Claire Neilly in the 400 IM. The Tribe had nine event winners, and the women's team had the highest score.
- Our men's and women's gymnastics teams will hold the annual Green & Gold meet on Friday, Dec. 6. The event is free to the public and will be held in Kaplan Arena starting at 6:30 p.m.
- Field Hockey's goalkeeper Maddie George was one of 38 Division 1 seniors to be honored by the National Field Hockey's Coaches Association.
As we loosen our belts after the Thanksgiving dinner, many thoughts turn to Black Friday, but our Women's Basketball team is ahead of you. They are holding a canned food drive for the House of Mercy before the game vs. Howard. The 2 pm tip at Kaplan Arena will welcome all canned goods. Still, if you have some individually packaged sweets, raman, jelly, fruit cups, cold cereal, canned seafood and boxed potato products, those are especially requested. We know the power of our Tribe is strong and we hope to see a great turnout.
Lastly, for those attending, check out the home bench. Yes, Mama
Mann will be court side, helping with the X's and O's!
Go, Tribe!
Brian D. Mann
Director of Athletics
