ITHACA, N.Y. – Seniors Miles Norris, Ben Rogers, Matt Sullivan and Jackson Weber have been elected as team captains of Cornell football's 129th varsity squad. The announcement, in advance of the season opener in less than a month, was made by David Archer '05, the Roger J. Weiss '61 Head Coach of Football.

A two-year captain, Norris ranked fourth on the team in tackles (48) and paced the squad in forced fumbles (two) as a junior linebacker in 2015. The two-year starter led the Big Red and ranked ninth in the Ivy League in tackles (71) in 2014, ranking 10th in the Ancient Eight with 7.0 tackles for loss and fifth with 4.5 sacks (both team-highs). The three-year letter winner has posted 134 tackles with 11.0 for a loss with 5.5 sacks, three pass breakups, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovered and a blocked kick.

Rogers returns to the Big Red for a fifth season at wide receiver after ranking among the Ivy League and the nation's top all-purpose yardage leaders. He ranked fourth in the Ancient Eight in all-purpose yardage (116.3 ypg.) last season, including posting two games with at least 235 yards. He also paced the Big Red in receptions (26) and receiving yards (439) and hauled in three scores. Rogers enters his final season within striking distance of becoming the 22nd Cornellian to reach 1,000 career receiving yards (782) and the 11th with 3,000 career all-purpose yards (2,160).

Sullivan will begin his third season as a key cog on the offense from his tight end position and has become a bigger part of the offense each year. An excellent pass catcher and punishing blocker, he has hauled in 34 passes for 334 yards and two touchdowns over the last two seasons. Sullivan set personal bests in every receiving category in 2015.

Weber, a consistent starter at linebacker over the past three seasons, is the team's active leading tackler (148) and has added 5.0 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, three pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery while seeing action in all 30 career contests. A three-year letter winner, Weber has started 27 consecutive games and led the team with 54 tackles a season ago.

The Big Red kicks off the 2016 campaign when it visits Bucknell on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 6 p.m. Cornell opens its home schedule the following week when it meets Yale on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 3 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.