HAMILTON  — Fred '50 and Marilyn Dunlap Head Football Coach Stan Dakosty announced five captains for the 2024 season on Thursday morning. Treyvhon Saunders, Michael Brescia, Mike Slivka, William Parker and Christian Sweeney will all assume team captain duties per the results of a team-wide vote. 

"I'm really so proud of these guys," Dakosty said. "They've really stepped up as leaders throughout their careers here and are great representatives of Colgate Football. We have a very strong locker room with a lot of guys taking on leadership roles, and when you combine that with this group of captains, we have the potential to be a player-led team." 

Brescia has now held the title for three consecutive years since becoming the first sophomore in program history to don the captain patch in 2022. The 2021 Patriot League Rookie of the Year is back for his final season as a Raider after accumulating 990 all-purpose yards and eight touchdowns in 2023. 

Fifth-year linebacker Slivka also repeats as captain in 2024 looking to comeback from a season-ending injury which limited his 2023 campaign to 7 games, where he made 27 tackles (17 solo).

Also headlining the linebacker core is Christian Sweeney. The fifth year paced the Raider defense with a personal-best 74 tackles last season, good for second-most on the team and 10th most in the conference. A stellar 2023 season also saw the All-Patriot League selection rank first on the squad with eight tackles-for-a-loss accumulating minus-30 yards. 

Fellow fifth-year Parker earned captaincy on the heels of a career-high year in 2024. The then-senior started in all 11 contests and tied his personal-best with four receptions, also hauling in his first touchdown as a Raider with an eight-yard grab in a win against Cornell. 

After one of the best statistical seasons ever by a Colgate wide out, Saunders will assume a role as the Raiders' third offensive captain. Last season, his 68 receptions ranked second in the Patriot League, 12th in FCS, and sixth-most all-time by a Raider pass-catcher. Saunders also racked up the third-most receiving yards (859) and yards per game (78.1) in the conference while putting together four 100-yard receiving games.

These five team captains will lead the Raiders into battle in just 16 days when Colgate travels to Maine for a season-opener against the Black Bears at 7pm.