Anthony Soto, Aggie alum and former wide receiver 2009-2012 is the Mercer Offensive Coordinator and QB coach. Plough was passing game coordinator during three of Soto’s years playing at Davis. Soto later had a quality control role under Ron Gould. 2014-2015.

Yeah, I remember Anthony Soto, wow, so we have a connection in this game down in Montgomery. I guess I'm not surprised, that's a good thing to know

Soto and the head coach are a tandem, coaching at 3 schools together. Soto was assistant head coach at the previous stop.
Mercer’s freshman QB who started six games transferred last week to Oklahoma.
Davis may have half the defense starting lineup show up for the first time in summer camp.
A real challenge for coaches on both teams to get their teams ready in week 0.

during the Alumni Zoom this week, Plough said that when they were watching the playoff selection show and they announced Mercer, he was thinking 'why does that sound familar?......wait, isn't that the team that we scheduled for a zero week game?'. He was also commenting on the neutrality of the site of this neutral site game!

Neutrality, ha, it's in the South and it's a 3 hour drive for Mercer, and a 2 hour gather and haul to SMF, then a 4.5 hour flight to Montgomery with a 1 hour bus load and drop off for Davis. Hardly neutral if you ask me! Still, a great opportunity for the program, and in the spotlight, love it...now let's not suck on the field with all of college football watching.

Now compare it to the average Cal road game,

Insanity!

Football Game Slate to Open the 2025 Season on Saturday, August 23 will be the following -- not entirely sure what time or which network is covering each game:

Tarleton State @ Portland State
UC Davis vs. Mercer at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, AL
Incarnate Word @ Nicholls
NC Central @ Southern at Center Parc Stadium in Atlanta, GA. Interesting note, Center Parc Stadium is the current home of the Georgia State Panthers -- and was formerly known as Turner Field, the home of the Atlanta Braves up until 2016.

Stanford @ Hawai'i
Kansas State @ Iowa State at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland
Fresno State @ Kansas
Sam Houston @ Western Kentucky