The Rams are looking to get over last season's 3-9 debacle, which saw them start 3-0 before losing nine straight. Coach Steve Fairchild enters his third year as head coach and is looking for his team to overcome all the inconsistencies and injuries of last season.
Offense - Much uncertainty encompasses this year's offense. The strongest area will be the running backs, but the rest of the side of the ball is really up for grabs.
For the first time since 2004, Colorado State might start a freshman quarterback. Only one quarterback on this year's roster returns with starting experience and that is Jon Eastman. The Rams return 92 percent of their rushing yards from last year, including their top two rushers. Despite playing in only 10 games and not starting, Leonard Mason led the team with 766 yards in 2009. He also had two touchdowns. Last year's primary starter, John Mosure also returns after rushing for 650 yards and seven touchdowns. They will be pushed by sophomore Lou Greenwood or junior Raymond Carter, a transfer from UCLA.
Wide receiver will also be a position of question as they lose both their starters and lose 1,227 yards and four touchdowns. Among the group of receivers who are returning, they have a combined 27 catches, led by walk-on Tyson Liggett's 20. Liggett caught 17 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns. Byron Steele looks to be the starter outside of Liggett, but he will be pushed by younger members of the team such as Vernon Scott or Marquise Law.
Defense - Unlike the offense, the defense returns nine starters and looks to be the stronger unit on the team.
The linebacker spot brings back three of the top five tacklers from last season, including top gun Mychal Sisson, who is coming off of a second-team all-conference season. Sisson had 91 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss and six sacks last season. His six sacks were a team-high. Chris Gipson had quite an impressive redshirt freshman season, finishing with 56 tackles, four tackles for loss and three sacks. Alex Williams looks to overcome injuries to both knees as he returns to take his middle linebacker spot. In only nine games, he pitched in with 55 tackles and three and a half tackles for loss.
While the secondary might be young, they are anything but inexperienced. Many of the younger players got major playing time due to injuries. An upperclassman who returns for his junior season, Elijah-Blu Smith, finished second on the team in tackles with 74, His three interceptions were also second on the team. Two players who saw major playing time, junior safety Ivory Herd and senior DeAngelo Wilkinson, return for their first chance to win the starting job. Momo Thomas returns opposite Wilkinson after coming up with 43 tackles and an interception.
The defensive line also comes back with tons of experience. End Cory Macon and tackle Guy Miller return to their starting spots. Miller stopped 39 opponents last year, including six and a half tackles for loss and two sacks. Macon had 35 tackles, five tackles for loss and two and a half sacks.
Recruiting - Colorado State raided Florida for a good number of their top recruits. Possibly their top recruit, Pete Thomas, comes from California as a rivals.com and scout.com four-star quarterback. As a senior he threw for 2,392 yards and 24 touchdowns. He will push for early playing time after enrolling early and taking part in spring practice.
Eric Niederberger comes in as one of the top defensive recruits after an impressive career in California. He played a little bit of everything but had a nice stat line as a senior linebacker. He finished the 2009 season with 107 tackles, nine sacks two forced fumbles and an interception for a touchdown. He was named the Delta Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year as a senior.
Schedule - The team starts the season with three games away from home. The annual rivalry game against Colorado is in Denver, while back-to-back games against Nevada and Miami (Ohio) are at the respective schools home fields. The teams' first home game is against another WAC team, Idaho. Then the team jumps right into conference play against possibly their toughest opponent of the year, TCU. Luckily for the Rams, they get the Horned Frogs at home. Including the game against TCU, the team does not play consecutive games on the road or home for the rest of the season.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Preview: Colorado
The 2010 season is one of great importance for the Colorado football team and more specifically their coach Dan Hawkins. It has been known that Coach Hawkins is on the hot seat and needs to have a drastic improvement from their 3-9 season in 2009. It also might be the last year for Colorado in the Big 12, as they are set to move to the Pac 10 either next year or the year after.
Offense - To improve, however, Hawkins will need to choose a starting quarterback. Tyler Hansen and Cody Hawkins, his son, started seven and five games, respectively, last season. Luckily for either of the two, seven other starters return on offense, including all five offensive linemen. Hansen, a junior, completed 56 percent of his passes last season for 1,440 yards and eight touchdowns. Unfortunately he also threw seven interceptions and was sacked 33 times. Hawkins, a senior, put up similar stats so it is easy to see why they are in a dead heat coming into the fall. Hawkins threw for 1,277 yards and 10 touchdowns.
The running game will be bolstered by the return of Rodney Stewart, who returns as the lead back yet again. As the leading rusher in 2009, Stewart rushed for 804 yards and nine touchdowns. Behind him, however, there is not much experience as both the second and third leading rushers do not return for the 2010 season. Hansen is the next returning rusher after running for 61 yards, although the total would have been much higher if he wasn't sacked 33 times.
The receiver picture can be just as gloomy for the Buffs, as they return only one of last year's top five receivers. Luckily that one, Scotty McKnight, was last year's top receiver after catching 76 balls for 893 yards and six touchdowns. To show you how much experience the receivers lost, the second leading receiver had only 13 catches, 136 yards and the only other receiving touchdown returning. But what the lack of experience does is give players such as Will Jefferson, Jason Espinoza, Kendrick Celestine and Ryan Deehan to become more prominent figures in the offense.
Defense - The secondary was the strong part of last year's team as they allowed only 201 passing yards per game, which was good for fourth in the conference and 34th nationally. Four of the top five returning tackler leaders are members of the secondary, led by free safety Anthony Perkins. Perkins finished last season with 78 tackles and was tied for the team lead with two interceptions. Cornerbacks Jimmy Smith and Jalil Brown were right behind him, as Smith finished with 70 tackles and Brown 66. Both also had two interceptions each.
The linebacker spot looks to be tough again, led by senior Michael Sipili. Sipili led the returning linebackers in tackles with 39 tackles in the 2009 season. B.J. Beatty also returns for his senior year after being in on 30 tackles and two and a half sacks, despite playing in only 10 games.
The defensive line was very young last season, and while that might still be the case in 2010, the experience the core earned last year will be vital in their development. Curtis Cunningham comes into his junior year after tackling 41 opponents and being in on two sacks. The returning sack leader from last year is senior Marquez Herrod, who had six sacks to go along with his 38 tackles. Will Pericak saw action in all 12 games in his freshman season and contributed with 36 tackles and three sacks.
Recruiting - The Buffaloes bring in 20 high school signees and two junior college kids to make up the 2010 class of 22. 15 of the signees are on the offensive side of the ball, including four running backs and tight ends apiece. Wide receiver Donnie Duncan had quite the senior year as he played primarily WR/DB. He caught 77 passes for 1,691 yards and 16 touchdowns. He also added three rushing touchdowns, two passing, two kick returns for touchdowns and a punt return touchdown. On defense he had 50 tackles and 10 interceptions, three on which he brought back for touchdowns. Tony Jones comes to Boulder after being named the New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year. As a senior he rushed for 1,387 yards and 34 touchdowns. Trea Jones rushed for 1,652 yards and 17 touchdowns, while averaging nearly seven yards per carry and 127 yards per game. Chidera Uzo-Diribe is a standout defensive end coming to Colorado. As a senior he had 69 tackles, seven and a half sacks and two forced fumbles.
Schedule - As per usual, the season starts out with the rivalry game against in-state Colorado State. The Buffs then travel to play the host Cal Bears and attempt to break a 2-2 series tie between the two schools. The team's home opener is a matchup against Hawaii, followed by an off week before they host the Georgia Bulldogs. Colorado will be looking to pick up their first victory against both schools in those games. The Georgia game starts a stretch of five tough games where they jump right into conference play with games at Missouri, back-to-back home games against Baylor and Texas Tech. Consecutive away games at Oklahoma and Kansas follow before the home slate is closed with Iowa State and Kansas State coming to town. The season ends, as it always does, with the annual day after Thanksgiving game against Nebraska, this year in Lincoln.
Offense - To improve, however, Hawkins will need to choose a starting quarterback. Tyler Hansen and Cody Hawkins, his son, started seven and five games, respectively, last season. Luckily for either of the two, seven other starters return on offense, including all five offensive linemen. Hansen, a junior, completed 56 percent of his passes last season for 1,440 yards and eight touchdowns. Unfortunately he also threw seven interceptions and was sacked 33 times. Hawkins, a senior, put up similar stats so it is easy to see why they are in a dead heat coming into the fall. Hawkins threw for 1,277 yards and 10 touchdowns.
The running game will be bolstered by the return of Rodney Stewart, who returns as the lead back yet again. As the leading rusher in 2009, Stewart rushed for 804 yards and nine touchdowns. Behind him, however, there is not much experience as both the second and third leading rushers do not return for the 2010 season. Hansen is the next returning rusher after running for 61 yards, although the total would have been much higher if he wasn't sacked 33 times.
The receiver picture can be just as gloomy for the Buffs, as they return only one of last year's top five receivers. Luckily that one, Scotty McKnight, was last year's top receiver after catching 76 balls for 893 yards and six touchdowns. To show you how much experience the receivers lost, the second leading receiver had only 13 catches, 136 yards and the only other receiving touchdown returning. But what the lack of experience does is give players such as Will Jefferson, Jason Espinoza, Kendrick Celestine and Ryan Deehan to become more prominent figures in the offense.
Defense - The secondary was the strong part of last year's team as they allowed only 201 passing yards per game, which was good for fourth in the conference and 34th nationally. Four of the top five returning tackler leaders are members of the secondary, led by free safety Anthony Perkins. Perkins finished last season with 78 tackles and was tied for the team lead with two interceptions. Cornerbacks Jimmy Smith and Jalil Brown were right behind him, as Smith finished with 70 tackles and Brown 66. Both also had two interceptions each.
The linebacker spot looks to be tough again, led by senior Michael Sipili. Sipili led the returning linebackers in tackles with 39 tackles in the 2009 season. B.J. Beatty also returns for his senior year after being in on 30 tackles and two and a half sacks, despite playing in only 10 games.
The defensive line was very young last season, and while that might still be the case in 2010, the experience the core earned last year will be vital in their development. Curtis Cunningham comes into his junior year after tackling 41 opponents and being in on two sacks. The returning sack leader from last year is senior Marquez Herrod, who had six sacks to go along with his 38 tackles. Will Pericak saw action in all 12 games in his freshman season and contributed with 36 tackles and three sacks.
Recruiting - The Buffaloes bring in 20 high school signees and two junior college kids to make up the 2010 class of 22. 15 of the signees are on the offensive side of the ball, including four running backs and tight ends apiece. Wide receiver Donnie Duncan had quite the senior year as he played primarily WR/DB. He caught 77 passes for 1,691 yards and 16 touchdowns. He also added three rushing touchdowns, two passing, two kick returns for touchdowns and a punt return touchdown. On defense he had 50 tackles and 10 interceptions, three on which he brought back for touchdowns. Tony Jones comes to Boulder after being named the New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year. As a senior he rushed for 1,387 yards and 34 touchdowns. Trea Jones rushed for 1,652 yards and 17 touchdowns, while averaging nearly seven yards per carry and 127 yards per game. Chidera Uzo-Diribe is a standout defensive end coming to Colorado. As a senior he had 69 tackles, seven and a half sacks and two forced fumbles.
Schedule - As per usual, the season starts out with the rivalry game against in-state Colorado State. The Buffs then travel to play the host Cal Bears and attempt to break a 2-2 series tie between the two schools. The team's home opener is a matchup against Hawaii, followed by an off week before they host the Georgia Bulldogs. Colorado will be looking to pick up their first victory against both schools in those games. The Georgia game starts a stretch of five tough games where they jump right into conference play with games at Missouri, back-to-back home games against Baylor and Texas Tech. Consecutive away games at Oklahoma and Kansas follow before the home slate is closed with Iowa State and Kansas State coming to town. The season ends, as it always does, with the annual day after Thanksgiving game against Nebraska, this year in Lincoln.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Preview: Clemson
Clemson brings back 13 starters from last year's 9-5 Music City Bowl winning team. Third year coach Dabo Swinney will try to get his team back into the ACC Championship Game, a year after they lost to Georgia Tech in the title game.
Offense - The question since the end of last season has been 'What will Clemson do without C.J. Spiller?' However, up until last week, a bigger problem may have been coming around, as starting quarterback Kyle Parker was struggling with the decision of signing with the Colorado Rockies, who made him a first-round draft pick in the MLB draft, or come back and play another season of college football. July 20th, he decided...to come back to Clemson.
Parker had quite the debut last year as he threw for 2,526 yards and 20 touchdowns. He also ended up as the fourth highest rusher with 135 yards and a touchdown. All the passing stats are freshman records at Clemson. However, the quarterbacks behind him are very inexperienced. Parker's backup is set to be redshirt freshman Tajh Boyd, who came to the Tigers as a highly touted prospect. Third string will be handled by Mike Wade, who will also see time at safety.
Set to replace Spiller will be the two-headed tandem of Andre Ellington and Jamie Harper. The redshirt sophomore Ellington is the returning rusher after running for 491 yards and an average of 7.22 yards per carry. He also had four touchdowns. Harper, on the other hand, rushed for 418 yards and had four touchdowns as well. His 69-yard touchdown scamper was the longest rush by any Clemson rusher in the 2009 season.
The Tigers lose their top three receivers from last year and little experience returns. The next six receivers combined for 67 catches amongst them. Senior Xavier Dye is the leading pass catcher after hauling 14 passes for 236 yards and three touchdowns. Terrence Ashe hopes to become the starter opposite Dye after catching 11 passes for 124 yards. Last year, the tight end position was more prominent in the Clemson offense and there is no sign that trend will be reversed. Dwayne Allen returns after starting six games at the tight end position. He finished the year with 10 catches, 108 yards and three touchdowns.
Defense - The defense returns six starters from last year's squad that gave up only 20.4 points per game. They forced 30 turnovers, including 21 interceptions.
The leader of the the strength of the defense, the secondary, will be DeAndre McDaniel, who may have had one of the best seasons by a defensive back in school history. McDaniel ended the season with 102 tackles, five tackles for loss, two sacks and eight interceptions, one of which he brought back for a touchdown. His interception total led the ACC, was tied for third in the nation and tied for the most in school history. Joining him in the defensive backfield will be senior strong safety Marcus Gilchrist. He finished the season second in tackles with 107and two tackles for loss. Sophomore Rashard Hall comes back after having a strong freshman season. He finished with 63 tackles and six interceptions, second on the team behind McDaniel.
The defensive line will also be a strong point of the defense this year. Defensive tackles Jarvis Jenkins and Brandon Thompson return for their third season starting together. Jenkins led defensive linemen with 69 tackles, including 11 for loss. Thompson had 50 tackles. Da'Quan Bowers returns as a defensive end starter. He had 58 tackles in 12 games, including 11 for loss and three sacks. Two more talented defensive ends with experience return as well. Mallicah Goodman was a freshman All-ACC performer who had 31 tackles, five for loss and two sacks. Andre Branch had 46 tackles, eight for loss and two sacks.
Brandon Maye, like in 2009, leads the linebacker corps this season. His 103 tackles were third on the team and added seven tackles for loss and three sacks. After Maye, no linebacker comes back after seeing extensive playing time. Scotty Cooper had 16 tackles last season and has seen action in 37 games over three seasons, including six starts.
Recruiting - This year's class brings in 23 student-athletes, the highest since 2008 when the team signed 25. It consists of six defensive backs, four offensive linemen, three wide receivers and two defensive tackles, linebackers, running backs tight ends and defensive ends each.
Two of the top three recruits, Martavis Bryant and DeAndre Hopkins, are wide receivers. Bryant was ranked as the No. 10 wide receiver and No. 84 overall player in the nation by rivals.com. He finished with 70 receptions for 722 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior. Hopkins was ranked just two spots lower in the wide receiver rankings by rivals.com. He had seven receiving touchdowns, two INT touchdown returns, three punt return touchdowns, one o a kickoff return and one on a fumble recovery as well. Justin Parker comes in as the highest rayed defensive player after being ranked as the No. 13 middle linebacker in the nation by scout.com. He had 140 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and seven sacks as a senior.
Schedule - In 2010, Clemson plays seven teams that played in bowl games last year. The Tigers open the season with two home games against North Texas and Presbyterian. It is the first time facing North Texas and first time since 1957 against Presbyterian. They next go on the road to face Auburn, the first regular season matchup since 1971. After a bye week, the team plays eight consecutive conference games, starting with a home date against Miami, a team the Tigers defeated last year. Clemson then travels to North Carolina to face the Tar Heels, in their first trip to Chapel Hill in eight years. Next comes back-to-back home games against Maryland and Georgia Tech before traveling to Boston College. A home date against N.C. State precedes consecutive road games at Florida State and Wake Forest. The team then ends the season with their annual game against in-state rival South Carolina.
Offense - The question since the end of last season has been 'What will Clemson do without C.J. Spiller?' However, up until last week, a bigger problem may have been coming around, as starting quarterback Kyle Parker was struggling with the decision of signing with the Colorado Rockies, who made him a first-round draft pick in the MLB draft, or come back and play another season of college football. July 20th, he decided...to come back to Clemson.
Parker had quite the debut last year as he threw for 2,526 yards and 20 touchdowns. He also ended up as the fourth highest rusher with 135 yards and a touchdown. All the passing stats are freshman records at Clemson. However, the quarterbacks behind him are very inexperienced. Parker's backup is set to be redshirt freshman Tajh Boyd, who came to the Tigers as a highly touted prospect. Third string will be handled by Mike Wade, who will also see time at safety.
Set to replace Spiller will be the two-headed tandem of Andre Ellington and Jamie Harper. The redshirt sophomore Ellington is the returning rusher after running for 491 yards and an average of 7.22 yards per carry. He also had four touchdowns. Harper, on the other hand, rushed for 418 yards and had four touchdowns as well. His 69-yard touchdown scamper was the longest rush by any Clemson rusher in the 2009 season.
The Tigers lose their top three receivers from last year and little experience returns. The next six receivers combined for 67 catches amongst them. Senior Xavier Dye is the leading pass catcher after hauling 14 passes for 236 yards and three touchdowns. Terrence Ashe hopes to become the starter opposite Dye after catching 11 passes for 124 yards. Last year, the tight end position was more prominent in the Clemson offense and there is no sign that trend will be reversed. Dwayne Allen returns after starting six games at the tight end position. He finished the year with 10 catches, 108 yards and three touchdowns.
Defense - The defense returns six starters from last year's squad that gave up only 20.4 points per game. They forced 30 turnovers, including 21 interceptions.
The leader of the the strength of the defense, the secondary, will be DeAndre McDaniel, who may have had one of the best seasons by a defensive back in school history. McDaniel ended the season with 102 tackles, five tackles for loss, two sacks and eight interceptions, one of which he brought back for a touchdown. His interception total led the ACC, was tied for third in the nation and tied for the most in school history. Joining him in the defensive backfield will be senior strong safety Marcus Gilchrist. He finished the season second in tackles with 107and two tackles for loss. Sophomore Rashard Hall comes back after having a strong freshman season. He finished with 63 tackles and six interceptions, second on the team behind McDaniel.
The defensive line will also be a strong point of the defense this year. Defensive tackles Jarvis Jenkins and Brandon Thompson return for their third season starting together. Jenkins led defensive linemen with 69 tackles, including 11 for loss. Thompson had 50 tackles. Da'Quan Bowers returns as a defensive end starter. He had 58 tackles in 12 games, including 11 for loss and three sacks. Two more talented defensive ends with experience return as well. Mallicah Goodman was a freshman All-ACC performer who had 31 tackles, five for loss and two sacks. Andre Branch had 46 tackles, eight for loss and two sacks.
Brandon Maye, like in 2009, leads the linebacker corps this season. His 103 tackles were third on the team and added seven tackles for loss and three sacks. After Maye, no linebacker comes back after seeing extensive playing time. Scotty Cooper had 16 tackles last season and has seen action in 37 games over three seasons, including six starts.
Recruiting - This year's class brings in 23 student-athletes, the highest since 2008 when the team signed 25. It consists of six defensive backs, four offensive linemen, three wide receivers and two defensive tackles, linebackers, running backs tight ends and defensive ends each.
Two of the top three recruits, Martavis Bryant and DeAndre Hopkins, are wide receivers. Bryant was ranked as the No. 10 wide receiver and No. 84 overall player in the nation by rivals.com. He finished with 70 receptions for 722 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior. Hopkins was ranked just two spots lower in the wide receiver rankings by rivals.com. He had seven receiving touchdowns, two INT touchdown returns, three punt return touchdowns, one o a kickoff return and one on a fumble recovery as well. Justin Parker comes in as the highest rayed defensive player after being ranked as the No. 13 middle linebacker in the nation by scout.com. He had 140 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and seven sacks as a senior.
Schedule - In 2010, Clemson plays seven teams that played in bowl games last year. The Tigers open the season with two home games against North Texas and Presbyterian. It is the first time facing North Texas and first time since 1957 against Presbyterian. They next go on the road to face Auburn, the first regular season matchup since 1971. After a bye week, the team plays eight consecutive conference games, starting with a home date against Miami, a team the Tigers defeated last year. Clemson then travels to North Carolina to face the Tar Heels, in their first trip to Chapel Hill in eight years. Next comes back-to-back home games against Maryland and Georgia Tech before traveling to Boston College. A home date against N.C. State precedes consecutive road games at Florida State and Wake Forest. The team then ends the season with their annual game against in-state rival South Carolina.
Monday, July 12, 2010
College Football Preview: C
California - The Bears are coming off of an 8-5 season, which ended with a 37-27 loss to Utah in the Poinsettia Bowl. While the season may not have been as successful as those in the past, the Bears are ready to get back to being one of the most feared teams not only in the Pac 10, but the entire nation.
Offense - The offense brings back nine starters from last year's squad. Despite starting all 13 games last season, senior Kevin Riley opens fall camp in an open competition with two other returnees. Riley threw for 2,850 yards and 18 touchdowns, while only throwing up eight picks. In fact Riley's 2,850 passing yards in a season are the fourth-most in Cal history. His backups, Brock Mansion and Beau Sweeney, both return but did not see much action.
Anytime you have to replace an NFL first round draft pick, you know it won't be easy. Trying to replace Jahvid Best, however, might not be as challenging as it seems. Shane Vereen returns after starting the last four games of the season because Best suffered a season-ending injury in Week 8. He ended up leading the team in rushing with 952 yards and tied Best in touchdowns with 12. Covaughn DeBoskie-Johnson and Isi Sofele also return to backup Vereen.
Marvin Jones returns for his junior year after putting up some nice receiving stats last season. He caught 43 balls for 651 yards and six touchdowns, all career-highs and team bests. The second-most productive returnee, Jeremy Ross, might be one of the fastest players on the team. Ross caught 22 balls for 344 yards and a touchdown. However, only one other returner saw significant playing time, so it will be up to many unproven and younger players to help out whoever the quarterback will be.
Defense - The defense brings back seven starters from last year's team. The linebackers brings back three starters who started six games or more. The unit is led by All-Pac 10 First Team member Mike Mohamed, who started every game last season. His 112 tackles not only led the team, but the entire conference as well. He also had eight tackles for loss, two sacks, three interceptions and a forced fumble. Michael Kendricks started six games last year but his 71 tackles are the second most tackles of all the defensive returnees. He added six tackles for loss, two fumble recoveries and an interception, sack and forced fumble each. D.J. Holt returns after starting eight games at linebacker last year, when he tackles 37 opponents, including three and a half for loss.
Despite losing three starters, the Bears bring back a lot of experience in the secondary. All three players who started at one CB position return for another year. Darian Hagan, Josh Hill and Bryant Nnabuife combined for the 13 starts, with Hill starting five and the others four each. Hill led the three with 34 tackles, two interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Sean Cattouse started the last six games at safety on his way to being named Honorable-Mention All-Pac 10. He accumulated 37 tackles and an interception last season. Three other players who saw game action last year return but will be tested by the younger players for playing time.
Cameron Jordan started all 13 games at defensive end in 2009. He recorded 48 tackles, nine and a half tackles for loss and six sacks. Derrick Hill (18 tackles, 4.5 Tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 8 starts), Aaron Tipoti (21 tackles, 0.5 Tackles for loss, 4 starts) and Kendrick Payne (13 tackles, 4.0 Tackles for loss, one sack, 1 fumble recovery, 2 starts) combined for the remainder of the 2009 starts on the defensive line.
Recruiting - The Bears bring in 20 recruits in this year's class, highlighted by 10 All-Americans. They bring in five wide receivers, highlighted by Keenan Allen. Allen, who is brought in as a WR/S, comes in after earning five-star status from ESPN, Scout and Rivals. Rivals had him as the No. 5 overall player in the entire class. He had a monster senior year, including 145 tackles, eight interceptions, 53 offensive touchdowns and 976 receiving yards. Quarterback Austin Hinder comes from Colorado and was named his state's Gatorade Player of the Year. He threw for 2,205 yards and 25 touchdowns while rushing for 889 yards and 14 touchdowns.
The team loaded up on linebackers in this class, bringing in five, four of which were four-star players and the other a five-star. One of the four-stars, Cecil Whiteside, was ranked as the fourth best linebacker by both rivals.com and scout.com. He accumulated 108 tackles and nine sacks as a senior. The five-star recruit, Chris Martin, also comes from Colorado and was in rivals' and scouts' Top 20 overall lists. He recorded 97 tackles, 11 sacks, five forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in 2009.
Schedule - The Bears play seven of their 12 games at home this year, including the first two against UC Davis and Colorado. That's followed by two deceivingly tough road games at Nevada and Arizona. They come home for a matchup against UCLA before traveling to USC. A home game against Arizona State comes before back-to-back trips to Oregon State and Washington State. The team then gets three straight home games to close out the season. The games against Oregon, Stanford and Washington might determine how well the Bears end up in their 2010 campaign.
Central Michigan - Central Michigan is coming off of the most successful season in school history, one that saw them win a school-record 12 wins, go undefeated in conference play, make their fourth consecutive bowl appearance, as well as finish ranked in the Top 25. This year will be quite different for the Chippewas, as they lose their coach and starting quarterback.
Offense - Outside of the loss of coach Butch Jones (who left for Cincinnati), the biggest departure and hardest hole to fill, will be that of quarterback Dan LeFevour. LeFevour leaves as one of the most successful quarterbacks in NCAA football history. He is the only player in NCAA history with over 12,000 passing yards and 2,500 rushing yards and second all-time in total offensive yards. His 149 total touchdowns are an NCAA Division 1 record.
Replacing LeFevour will be a tough task, especially for players who haven't seen much playing time in the past. Ryan Radcliff returns as the only experienced quarterback, but he only attempted 21 passes last season. Two other quarterbacks are on the roster, including Radcliff, redshirt freshman A.J. Westendorp and junior Derek Rifenbury.
Unfortunately for the Chippewas, they also lose three of their top four rushers from last year. Those three combined for 23 of the team's 29 rushing touchdowns. Carl Volny is the team's leading returning rusher with 390 yards and three touchdowns. Paris Cotton also returns after rushing for 220 yards and a touchdown. Five other running backs will fight to see playing time.
The air attack will take a bigger hit than just losing LeFevour. The team also loses its top two receivers from last year. What's good for the new quarterback, whoever he may be, is that the third-leading receiver returns. Kito Poblah returns returns for his senior year after catching 53 balls for 691 yards and four touchdowns. Other key returnees include Cody Wilson and David Blackburn. The team will also look for younger players to step up into bigger roles.
Defense - Unlike their offensive counterparts, the defense brings back a good chunk of their core. Five of last year's top six tacklers return, including the top two.
Linebacker will be the strength of the defense again, as the top two returning tacklers, Nick Bellore and Matt Berning, both returning for their senior year at two linebacker spots. Bellore led the team in tackles last year with 132. His 13 tackles for loss were also a team-high, while his two interceptions tied for the team lead. He also had three sacks and two forced fumbles. His teammate, Berning, was right behind Bellore with 108 tackles and three sacks as well. He also had eight and a half tackles for loss and seven passes broken up, which was good for second on the team. The only other returning linebacker who saw extensive action is Mike Petrucci, who played in 10 games. Petrucci pitched in with 20 tackles.
The defensive backfield will also be a strong part of the defense as both Bobby Seay and Dannie Bolden return. The two finished as last year's fourth and fifth leading tacklers. Seay led the two with 60 tackles and also had two passes broken up. Bolden had 51 tackles and two interceptions. He also had two passes broken up and a fumble recovery. Vince Agnew returns for his senior year after posting 35 tackles, five passes broken up, a fumble recovery and two blocked kicks.
The defensive line looks to have taken the biggest hit. After Sean Murnane, who had 59 tackles last year, no returning lineman accounted for over 29 tackles. Murnane also finished second on the team in sacks with three and a half sacks and also broke up five passes. John Williams, another returning lineman, saw action in 14 games, where he put up a stat line of 29 tackles, five and a half tackles for loss and two and a half sacks.
Recruiting - Central Michigan brings in a class of 20 recruits. Exactly half are on offense and the other half defense. While the class may only have one true headliner in quarterback Kyle Smith, this class provides the team with plenty of depth as they move forward. Smith comes in after being racking up a nice list of awards and accolades. His 2,757 yards and 50 touchdowns as a senior earned him a spot on EA Sports' Third-Team All-American list, as well being named Mr. Football in Pennsylvania and winning the Gatorade Player of the Year award for his state. He leaves the state after becoming Pennsylvania's all-time leader in passing yards (8,544), career touchdown passes (118) and single-season touchdown passes (50). That's an impressive career, especially since the state of Pennsylvania has produced quarterbacks such as Joe Namath, Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas, George Blanda and Jim Kelly, to name a few.
Schedule - The team will be on the road for most of the year, with seven of their 12 games away from Mount Pleasant. That includes a seven week stretch that sees the Chippewas travel to Temple, Eastern Michigan and Northwestern in consecutive weeks before hosting Ball State and traveling to Virginia Tech. The team finishes with games at home against Miami, Bowling Green and Western Michigan, while traveling to Northern Illinois, Navy and Toledo.
Cincinnati - The Bearcats are coming off of the beat season in school history, one which saw them reach No. 4 in the rankings twice and win their second consecutive Big East title. The team brings back 16 starters so the experience should help new coach Butch Jones easily transition from Central Michigan. The team lost Head Coach Brian Kelly to Notre Dame and got Jones, the second consecutive CMU to coach at Cincinnati, after Jones compiled a 27-13 record, including a 22-3 conference record, two conference titles and three consecutive bowl game appearances.
Offense - Despite bringing back eight starters, the team loses two major playmakers in quarterback Tony Pike and Mardy Ginyard. Ginyard leaves after accounting for 2,690 all-purpose yards, including 1,281 kick return yards.
Despite losing Pike, the Bearcats will not be led by an inexperienced quarterback. Zach Collaros played in all 13 games last season, including four starts when Pike went down with an injury. In that time, Collaros threw for 1,434 yards and 10 touchdowns, while only throwing two interceptions. He also rushed for 344 yards and four touchdowns. Both his backups, Chazz Anderson and Brendon Kay, saw minimal action in 2009.
Jones is happy to know that three of last years' top five rushers return, including leading rusher Isaiah Pead. Pead led the team with 806 rushing yards last season and nine touchdowns. Collaros, who is more mobile than Pike was, rushed for 344 yards and four touchdowns himself.
The receiver unit brings back 61 percent of its receiving yards and 62 percent of its receiving touchdowns. The unit will be led by wide receiver Armon Binns and tight end Ben Guidugli, both of whom were named all-league selections last year. Binns caught 61 balls for 888 yards and 11 touchdowns, which tied Ginyard for the team lead. Junior DJ Woods also returns after being a big part of last year's offense. Woods had 51 catches for 640 yards and four touchdowns. Guidugli comes back after coming up with 27 catches, 364 yards and three touchdowns.
Defense - Unlike their offensive teammates, the defense only returns six of 11 starters from last year's squad. However, the team does see 20 players who saw extensive playing time return from a team that gave up 23 points per game.
The linebackers seem to be a strength of this year's squad. Last year's second-leading tackler, JK Schaffer, returns for his junior year. His sophomore year was quite a success as he was in on 100 tackles, five and a half tackles for loss, one and a half sacks, second on the team with three interceptions and three passes broken up. Walter Syewart also returns at another linebacker spot after racking up 59 tackles, eight and a half tackles for loss, four and a half sacks, an interception and a forced fumble.
The defensive backfield will also be a strong point as they return starters Drew Frey and Dominique Battle. Frey had 64 tackles, including three and a half for loss. He also added four passes broken up to his two interceptions. Battle had almost identical stats as he put up 60 tackles, four for loss, two interceptions and four passes broken up as well. He also had a forced fumble.
The defensive line brings back two players who saw action in all 13 games. Despite being a reserve, Dan Giordano had 42 tackles, seven for loss and two sacks. Derek Wolfe, who started all 13 games, had 41 tackles, eight for loss, five sacks and a fumble recovery and forced fumble each.
Recruiting - Normally, when a school goes through a coaching change, the recruiting that season will suffer as some recruits back out because they wanted to play for a certain coach or certain system. That doesn't seem to be the case with the Bearcats, luckily because the team will be running a similar type of offense. The team signed 22 student-athletes for the upcoming season, 12 of which are on the defensive side of the ball. They loaded up on defensive backs with five, including three from the talent-laden state of Florida. None may be more impressive that wide receiver recruit Dyjuan Lewis, who the team stole out of Indiana. The three-year starter at Pike High School, he earned a four-star ranking by both rivals.com and scout.com. He finished with 1,111 yards receiving and 13 touchdowns.
Schedule - With a year like the one the team had last year, it would be expected that the schedule become a little tougher and that's exactly what happens. The 'Cats play only two of their five non-conference games at home, as they open by traveling to Fresno State, hosting Indiana State, traveling to NC State and playing an Oklahoma team in Cincinnati, but at Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Browns. The non-con season ends with a home date against Miami (Ohio). Luckily for Cincinnati, four of their seven Big East games are at home, although what will probably be the toughest matchup, against West Virginia is in Morgantown on November 13th. Other than that, potential tough games against USF, Rutgers and Pitt are all at home
Offense - The offense brings back nine starters from last year's squad. Despite starting all 13 games last season, senior Kevin Riley opens fall camp in an open competition with two other returnees. Riley threw for 2,850 yards and 18 touchdowns, while only throwing up eight picks. In fact Riley's 2,850 passing yards in a season are the fourth-most in Cal history. His backups, Brock Mansion and Beau Sweeney, both return but did not see much action.
Anytime you have to replace an NFL first round draft pick, you know it won't be easy. Trying to replace Jahvid Best, however, might not be as challenging as it seems. Shane Vereen returns after starting the last four games of the season because Best suffered a season-ending injury in Week 8. He ended up leading the team in rushing with 952 yards and tied Best in touchdowns with 12. Covaughn DeBoskie-Johnson and Isi Sofele also return to backup Vereen.
Marvin Jones returns for his junior year after putting up some nice receiving stats last season. He caught 43 balls for 651 yards and six touchdowns, all career-highs and team bests. The second-most productive returnee, Jeremy Ross, might be one of the fastest players on the team. Ross caught 22 balls for 344 yards and a touchdown. However, only one other returner saw significant playing time, so it will be up to many unproven and younger players to help out whoever the quarterback will be.
Defense - The defense brings back seven starters from last year's team. The linebackers brings back three starters who started six games or more. The unit is led by All-Pac 10 First Team member Mike Mohamed, who started every game last season. His 112 tackles not only led the team, but the entire conference as well. He also had eight tackles for loss, two sacks, three interceptions and a forced fumble. Michael Kendricks started six games last year but his 71 tackles are the second most tackles of all the defensive returnees. He added six tackles for loss, two fumble recoveries and an interception, sack and forced fumble each. D.J. Holt returns after starting eight games at linebacker last year, when he tackles 37 opponents, including three and a half for loss.
Despite losing three starters, the Bears bring back a lot of experience in the secondary. All three players who started at one CB position return for another year. Darian Hagan, Josh Hill and Bryant Nnabuife combined for the 13 starts, with Hill starting five and the others four each. Hill led the three with 34 tackles, two interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Sean Cattouse started the last six games at safety on his way to being named Honorable-Mention All-Pac 10. He accumulated 37 tackles and an interception last season. Three other players who saw game action last year return but will be tested by the younger players for playing time.
Cameron Jordan started all 13 games at defensive end in 2009. He recorded 48 tackles, nine and a half tackles for loss and six sacks. Derrick Hill (18 tackles, 4.5 Tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 8 starts), Aaron Tipoti (21 tackles, 0.5 Tackles for loss, 4 starts) and Kendrick Payne (13 tackles, 4.0 Tackles for loss, one sack, 1 fumble recovery, 2 starts) combined for the remainder of the 2009 starts on the defensive line.
Recruiting - The Bears bring in 20 recruits in this year's class, highlighted by 10 All-Americans. They bring in five wide receivers, highlighted by Keenan Allen. Allen, who is brought in as a WR/S, comes in after earning five-star status from ESPN, Scout and Rivals. Rivals had him as the No. 5 overall player in the entire class. He had a monster senior year, including 145 tackles, eight interceptions, 53 offensive touchdowns and 976 receiving yards. Quarterback Austin Hinder comes from Colorado and was named his state's Gatorade Player of the Year. He threw for 2,205 yards and 25 touchdowns while rushing for 889 yards and 14 touchdowns.
The team loaded up on linebackers in this class, bringing in five, four of which were four-star players and the other a five-star. One of the four-stars, Cecil Whiteside, was ranked as the fourth best linebacker by both rivals.com and scout.com. He accumulated 108 tackles and nine sacks as a senior. The five-star recruit, Chris Martin, also comes from Colorado and was in rivals' and scouts' Top 20 overall lists. He recorded 97 tackles, 11 sacks, five forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in 2009.
Schedule - The Bears play seven of their 12 games at home this year, including the first two against UC Davis and Colorado. That's followed by two deceivingly tough road games at Nevada and Arizona. They come home for a matchup against UCLA before traveling to USC. A home game against Arizona State comes before back-to-back trips to Oregon State and Washington State. The team then gets three straight home games to close out the season. The games against Oregon, Stanford and Washington might determine how well the Bears end up in their 2010 campaign.
Central Michigan - Central Michigan is coming off of the most successful season in school history, one that saw them win a school-record 12 wins, go undefeated in conference play, make their fourth consecutive bowl appearance, as well as finish ranked in the Top 25. This year will be quite different for the Chippewas, as they lose their coach and starting quarterback.
Offense - Outside of the loss of coach Butch Jones (who left for Cincinnati), the biggest departure and hardest hole to fill, will be that of quarterback Dan LeFevour. LeFevour leaves as one of the most successful quarterbacks in NCAA football history. He is the only player in NCAA history with over 12,000 passing yards and 2,500 rushing yards and second all-time in total offensive yards. His 149 total touchdowns are an NCAA Division 1 record.
Replacing LeFevour will be a tough task, especially for players who haven't seen much playing time in the past. Ryan Radcliff returns as the only experienced quarterback, but he only attempted 21 passes last season. Two other quarterbacks are on the roster, including Radcliff, redshirt freshman A.J. Westendorp and junior Derek Rifenbury.
Unfortunately for the Chippewas, they also lose three of their top four rushers from last year. Those three combined for 23 of the team's 29 rushing touchdowns. Carl Volny is the team's leading returning rusher with 390 yards and three touchdowns. Paris Cotton also returns after rushing for 220 yards and a touchdown. Five other running backs will fight to see playing time.
The air attack will take a bigger hit than just losing LeFevour. The team also loses its top two receivers from last year. What's good for the new quarterback, whoever he may be, is that the third-leading receiver returns. Kito Poblah returns returns for his senior year after catching 53 balls for 691 yards and four touchdowns. Other key returnees include Cody Wilson and David Blackburn. The team will also look for younger players to step up into bigger roles.
Defense - Unlike their offensive counterparts, the defense brings back a good chunk of their core. Five of last year's top six tacklers return, including the top two.
Linebacker will be the strength of the defense again, as the top two returning tacklers, Nick Bellore and Matt Berning, both returning for their senior year at two linebacker spots. Bellore led the team in tackles last year with 132. His 13 tackles for loss were also a team-high, while his two interceptions tied for the team lead. He also had three sacks and two forced fumbles. His teammate, Berning, was right behind Bellore with 108 tackles and three sacks as well. He also had eight and a half tackles for loss and seven passes broken up, which was good for second on the team. The only other returning linebacker who saw extensive action is Mike Petrucci, who played in 10 games. Petrucci pitched in with 20 tackles.
The defensive backfield will also be a strong part of the defense as both Bobby Seay and Dannie Bolden return. The two finished as last year's fourth and fifth leading tacklers. Seay led the two with 60 tackles and also had two passes broken up. Bolden had 51 tackles and two interceptions. He also had two passes broken up and a fumble recovery. Vince Agnew returns for his senior year after posting 35 tackles, five passes broken up, a fumble recovery and two blocked kicks.
The defensive line looks to have taken the biggest hit. After Sean Murnane, who had 59 tackles last year, no returning lineman accounted for over 29 tackles. Murnane also finished second on the team in sacks with three and a half sacks and also broke up five passes. John Williams, another returning lineman, saw action in 14 games, where he put up a stat line of 29 tackles, five and a half tackles for loss and two and a half sacks.
Recruiting - Central Michigan brings in a class of 20 recruits. Exactly half are on offense and the other half defense. While the class may only have one true headliner in quarterback Kyle Smith, this class provides the team with plenty of depth as they move forward. Smith comes in after being racking up a nice list of awards and accolades. His 2,757 yards and 50 touchdowns as a senior earned him a spot on EA Sports' Third-Team All-American list, as well being named Mr. Football in Pennsylvania and winning the Gatorade Player of the Year award for his state. He leaves the state after becoming Pennsylvania's all-time leader in passing yards (8,544), career touchdown passes (118) and single-season touchdown passes (50). That's an impressive career, especially since the state of Pennsylvania has produced quarterbacks such as Joe Namath, Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas, George Blanda and Jim Kelly, to name a few.
Schedule - The team will be on the road for most of the year, with seven of their 12 games away from Mount Pleasant. That includes a seven week stretch that sees the Chippewas travel to Temple, Eastern Michigan and Northwestern in consecutive weeks before hosting Ball State and traveling to Virginia Tech. The team finishes with games at home against Miami, Bowling Green and Western Michigan, while traveling to Northern Illinois, Navy and Toledo.
Cincinnati - The Bearcats are coming off of the beat season in school history, one which saw them reach No. 4 in the rankings twice and win their second consecutive Big East title. The team brings back 16 starters so the experience should help new coach Butch Jones easily transition from Central Michigan. The team lost Head Coach Brian Kelly to Notre Dame and got Jones, the second consecutive CMU to coach at Cincinnati, after Jones compiled a 27-13 record, including a 22-3 conference record, two conference titles and three consecutive bowl game appearances.
Offense - Despite bringing back eight starters, the team loses two major playmakers in quarterback Tony Pike and Mardy Ginyard. Ginyard leaves after accounting for 2,690 all-purpose yards, including 1,281 kick return yards.
Despite losing Pike, the Bearcats will not be led by an inexperienced quarterback. Zach Collaros played in all 13 games last season, including four starts when Pike went down with an injury. In that time, Collaros threw for 1,434 yards and 10 touchdowns, while only throwing two interceptions. He also rushed for 344 yards and four touchdowns. Both his backups, Chazz Anderson and Brendon Kay, saw minimal action in 2009.
Jones is happy to know that three of last years' top five rushers return, including leading rusher Isaiah Pead. Pead led the team with 806 rushing yards last season and nine touchdowns. Collaros, who is more mobile than Pike was, rushed for 344 yards and four touchdowns himself.
The receiver unit brings back 61 percent of its receiving yards and 62 percent of its receiving touchdowns. The unit will be led by wide receiver Armon Binns and tight end Ben Guidugli, both of whom were named all-league selections last year. Binns caught 61 balls for 888 yards and 11 touchdowns, which tied Ginyard for the team lead. Junior DJ Woods also returns after being a big part of last year's offense. Woods had 51 catches for 640 yards and four touchdowns. Guidugli comes back after coming up with 27 catches, 364 yards and three touchdowns.
Defense - Unlike their offensive teammates, the defense only returns six of 11 starters from last year's squad. However, the team does see 20 players who saw extensive playing time return from a team that gave up 23 points per game.
The linebackers seem to be a strength of this year's squad. Last year's second-leading tackler, JK Schaffer, returns for his junior year. His sophomore year was quite a success as he was in on 100 tackles, five and a half tackles for loss, one and a half sacks, second on the team with three interceptions and three passes broken up. Walter Syewart also returns at another linebacker spot after racking up 59 tackles, eight and a half tackles for loss, four and a half sacks, an interception and a forced fumble.
The defensive backfield will also be a strong point as they return starters Drew Frey and Dominique Battle. Frey had 64 tackles, including three and a half for loss. He also added four passes broken up to his two interceptions. Battle had almost identical stats as he put up 60 tackles, four for loss, two interceptions and four passes broken up as well. He also had a forced fumble.
The defensive line brings back two players who saw action in all 13 games. Despite being a reserve, Dan Giordano had 42 tackles, seven for loss and two sacks. Derek Wolfe, who started all 13 games, had 41 tackles, eight for loss, five sacks and a fumble recovery and forced fumble each.
Recruiting - Normally, when a school goes through a coaching change, the recruiting that season will suffer as some recruits back out because they wanted to play for a certain coach or certain system. That doesn't seem to be the case with the Bearcats, luckily because the team will be running a similar type of offense. The team signed 22 student-athletes for the upcoming season, 12 of which are on the defensive side of the ball. They loaded up on defensive backs with five, including three from the talent-laden state of Florida. None may be more impressive that wide receiver recruit Dyjuan Lewis, who the team stole out of Indiana. The three-year starter at Pike High School, he earned a four-star ranking by both rivals.com and scout.com. He finished with 1,111 yards receiving and 13 touchdowns.
Schedule - With a year like the one the team had last year, it would be expected that the schedule become a little tougher and that's exactly what happens. The 'Cats play only two of their five non-conference games at home, as they open by traveling to Fresno State, hosting Indiana State, traveling to NC State and playing an Oklahoma team in Cincinnati, but at Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Browns. The non-con season ends with a home date against Miami (Ohio). Luckily for Cincinnati, four of their seven Big East games are at home, although what will probably be the toughest matchup, against West Virginia is in Morgantown on November 13th. Other than that, potential tough games against USF, Rutgers and Pitt are all at home
Saturday, July 10, 2010
College Football Preview: B cont'd
Buffalo - Buffalo will have a new look on the sidelines this year, as Jeff Quinn takes over for Turner Gill, who is the new coach at Kansas. Quinn comes to Buffalo from Cincinnati where he was an assistant under Brian Kelly who is the new coach at Notre Dame. Quinn oversaw a no-huddle spread offense that was responsible for 7.28 yards per play -- second in the nation to Nevada. The Bulls will be looking to go to their second bowl in three years after finishing 5-7 last season.
Offense - The offense will be under new direction, because the 2009 starter doesn't return this year, leaving only Jerry Davis as the only quarterback who has seen collegiate action. Davis, a sophomore, saw action in five games last season, completing eight of 15 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown. Alex Dennison redshirted last year and will look to come in and challenge Davis for the starting role.
Fortunately for the Bulls, they return an experienced trio of running backs from last year. Ike Nduka broke out onto the scene in a big way. Nduka, then a junior, had not had any carries in his entire career before taking over for an injured James Starks and rushing for 598 yards and six touchdowns on 96 carries. Another senior, Brandon Thermilus, is coming off of a successful junior campaign as well, after rushing for 560 yards and four touchdowns.
The hardest replacements will come in the wide receiver corps, where they have to replace both starters, both of whom were All-MAC receivers. Terrell Jackson returns after a sophomore campaign where he caught 25 balls for 250 yards, but no touchdowns. Thermilus is the second leading receiver returning after he caught a mere nine balls for 99 yards. Marcus Rivers, Ed Young and Saron Hood, among other redshirt freshman, will be fighting for playing time as well.
Defense - The defense brings back eight starters from a team that gave up 342 yards per game and 23.8 points per game. They also forced 18 turnovers.
Just looking at the stats, it would be easy to say that the defensive backfield is the position of strength in this year's defense and, in this case, that would be true. Five of last year's seven top tacklers were defensive backs, and four return, including three starters. Davont Shannon, a three-time All-MAC First Team member, returns for his senior season after leading the team in tackles in 2009. He not only led the team in tackles with 97, but also had a team-high 8.5 tackles for loss as well as being a co-leader with two interceptions. The Bulls return both their cornerbacks in Dominic Cook and Josh Thomas. Last season, Cook had 55 tackles and a team-high 10 pass breakups, while Thomas had 45 tackles, nine pass breakups and a forced fumble and fumble recovery each.
Another strong part of the defense will be their linebacker corps, where they return their entire corps. Looking to lead the squad will be Justin Winters who finished third on the squad with 79 tackles. Seven of those tackles were for loss. He also had four and a half sacks, which ranked second on the squad. Scott Pettigrew also returns after finishing fourth on the team in tackles. He enters his junior season after being in on 55 stops, one and a half sacks, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles last year. Raphael Akobundu started the last two games of his junior season and looks to steal the third starting spot for good this year. He finished with 37 tackles last year.
The defensive line brings back two starters, but brings back tons of experience. Anel Montanez returns at the tackle position after starting all 26 games the past two seasons. The senior had 35 tackles, including four for loss last season. End Steven Means returns after turning in a successful freshman campaign where he led the team with five sacks and six and a half of his 25 tackles were for loss.
Recruiting - Th 2010 recruiting class is made of 22 student-athletes, 12 of whom are slated to play on the offensive side of the ball. Aaron Walters comes up to Buffalo from South Carolina after posting some staggering numbers as a high school senior. The wide receiver caught 71 balls for 1,200 yards and 19 touchdowns in his last year. Kendall Roberson comes up from the Peach State as a linebacker. His senior season saw him put up a stat line of 66 tackles, seven sacks, three fumble recoveries, two forced fumbles and an interception.
Schedule - The Bulls start the season against Rhode Island before facing three consecutive tough non-conference opponents in Baylor, UCF and UCONN. The UCONN games marks a stretch in the middle of the season that sees Buffalo play three road games in a row, with a bye week sandwiched in between. After an October 16th games against NIU, however, the Bulls then have four of their next six at home, including a home date with Temple, who figures to be one of the favorites in the MAC. Three of the final four games will also be broadcast on ESPNU.
BYU - The Cougars are coming off of an 11-2 season that saw the team defeat three ranked team, including a 44-20 shellacking of Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl. The team will need to have many younger players stand out if they want to return to last year's form, as many of the important players from last year's squad have departed.
Offense - The Cougars are going to have to replace Max Hall, who finished last season with some ridiculous stats. Hall, who is now in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals, completed 67 percent of his passes for over 3,500 yards and 33 touchdowns. Riley Nelson returns as the only quarterback who has seen any college football action, so the team will look to its younger freshmen to put up a fight for the wide-open starting position.
As if losing your stud quarterback wasn't enough, BYU also loses it's starting running back from last year. Last year's starter, Harvey Unga, rushed for 1,087 of the Cougars' 1,894 rushing yards and 11 of 26 touchdowns last season. However, the team does bring back the next four top rushers. JJ Di Luigi returns after rushing for 248 yards and three touchdowns, while Manase Tonga leads the returnees with four touchdowns.
No matter who the quarterback is, he will have the luxury of having six of the top eight receivers from last year return. McKay Jacobson leads the team in returning yards with 556 and is tied with three others with four touchdowns last season. Jacobson averaged over 24 yards per catch, while all other receivers except one averaged double digit yards per catch.
Defense - As impressive as the offense was, the defense was equally so. The defense gave up 21.5 points per game and only allowed 329 yards per game, nearly 100 yards less than what their offense averaged.
Like their offense, the defense loses many of the starters from last year. Only four of the top 10 tacklers return. Luckily for the defensive secondary, two of the four return after finishing first and fourth on the team respectfully. Andrew Rich returns for his senior season after leading the team with 85 tackles and tying for the team lead in interceptions with four. Brandon Bradley, the fourth highest tackler, also returns in the secondary. He added 64 tackles, four passes broken up and two forced fumbles. Brian Logan is coming off of an impressive season in which he started 12 games. He finished the season with 44 tackles and three interceptions as well as an astounding 14 passes broken up.
Two returning linebackers played in double digit games last season. Jordan Pendelton played in 13 games and started 10 during the 2009 season. He finished the year with 52 tackles, six tackles for loss and three sacks. He also had three passes broken up. His tackles for loss and sack totals lead all returnees. Brandon Ogletree also returns after playing in 10 games in 2009. He will fight for a starting spot after being in on 19 tackles.
Recruiting - The Cougars bring in 26 players in the 2010 recruiting class that has been ranked in the top 25 of at least one ranking list. Jake Heaps comes in as the No. 1 quarterback in the nation and will look to fight for the starting nod. As a senior, Heaps threw for 3,191 yards and 45 touchdowns on his way to a state title win. But Heaps isn't the only highly-rated recruit in this year's class. Eight signees are ranked in the top 25 at their positions. Alani Fua comes in as the No. 25 weakside defensive end after coming up with 71 tackles, nine sacks, two fumble recoveries and three forced fumbles. Zac Stout comes in as the No. 8 middle linebacker and put up incredible stats in his senior season. He totaled 112 tackles, including 81 solo stops.
Schedule - The schedule doesn't look as daunting as it did last year, as Washington replaces Oklahoma, but that can be deceiving. The Huskies will be getting stud quarterback Jake Locker back after he suffered an injury last year. Luckily for BYU that game is at home. Unfortunately for the team, however, three of their next four games are on the road, including a game at Florida State. The Cougars' two toughest MWC games against TCU and Utah are both on the road, including a season-ending game in Salt Lake City.
Offense - The offense will be under new direction, because the 2009 starter doesn't return this year, leaving only Jerry Davis as the only quarterback who has seen collegiate action. Davis, a sophomore, saw action in five games last season, completing eight of 15 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown. Alex Dennison redshirted last year and will look to come in and challenge Davis for the starting role.
Fortunately for the Bulls, they return an experienced trio of running backs from last year. Ike Nduka broke out onto the scene in a big way. Nduka, then a junior, had not had any carries in his entire career before taking over for an injured James Starks and rushing for 598 yards and six touchdowns on 96 carries. Another senior, Brandon Thermilus, is coming off of a successful junior campaign as well, after rushing for 560 yards and four touchdowns.
The hardest replacements will come in the wide receiver corps, where they have to replace both starters, both of whom were All-MAC receivers. Terrell Jackson returns after a sophomore campaign where he caught 25 balls for 250 yards, but no touchdowns. Thermilus is the second leading receiver returning after he caught a mere nine balls for 99 yards. Marcus Rivers, Ed Young and Saron Hood, among other redshirt freshman, will be fighting for playing time as well.
Defense - The defense brings back eight starters from a team that gave up 342 yards per game and 23.8 points per game. They also forced 18 turnovers.
Just looking at the stats, it would be easy to say that the defensive backfield is the position of strength in this year's defense and, in this case, that would be true. Five of last year's seven top tacklers were defensive backs, and four return, including three starters. Davont Shannon, a three-time All-MAC First Team member, returns for his senior season after leading the team in tackles in 2009. He not only led the team in tackles with 97, but also had a team-high 8.5 tackles for loss as well as being a co-leader with two interceptions. The Bulls return both their cornerbacks in Dominic Cook and Josh Thomas. Last season, Cook had 55 tackles and a team-high 10 pass breakups, while Thomas had 45 tackles, nine pass breakups and a forced fumble and fumble recovery each.
Another strong part of the defense will be their linebacker corps, where they return their entire corps. Looking to lead the squad will be Justin Winters who finished third on the squad with 79 tackles. Seven of those tackles were for loss. He also had four and a half sacks, which ranked second on the squad. Scott Pettigrew also returns after finishing fourth on the team in tackles. He enters his junior season after being in on 55 stops, one and a half sacks, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles last year. Raphael Akobundu started the last two games of his junior season and looks to steal the third starting spot for good this year. He finished with 37 tackles last year.
The defensive line brings back two starters, but brings back tons of experience. Anel Montanez returns at the tackle position after starting all 26 games the past two seasons. The senior had 35 tackles, including four for loss last season. End Steven Means returns after turning in a successful freshman campaign where he led the team with five sacks and six and a half of his 25 tackles were for loss.
Recruiting - Th 2010 recruiting class is made of 22 student-athletes, 12 of whom are slated to play on the offensive side of the ball. Aaron Walters comes up to Buffalo from South Carolina after posting some staggering numbers as a high school senior. The wide receiver caught 71 balls for 1,200 yards and 19 touchdowns in his last year. Kendall Roberson comes up from the Peach State as a linebacker. His senior season saw him put up a stat line of 66 tackles, seven sacks, three fumble recoveries, two forced fumbles and an interception.
Schedule - The Bulls start the season against Rhode Island before facing three consecutive tough non-conference opponents in Baylor, UCF and UCONN. The UCONN games marks a stretch in the middle of the season that sees Buffalo play three road games in a row, with a bye week sandwiched in between. After an October 16th games against NIU, however, the Bulls then have four of their next six at home, including a home date with Temple, who figures to be one of the favorites in the MAC. Three of the final four games will also be broadcast on ESPNU.
BYU - The Cougars are coming off of an 11-2 season that saw the team defeat three ranked team, including a 44-20 shellacking of Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl. The team will need to have many younger players stand out if they want to return to last year's form, as many of the important players from last year's squad have departed.
Offense - The Cougars are going to have to replace Max Hall, who finished last season with some ridiculous stats. Hall, who is now in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals, completed 67 percent of his passes for over 3,500 yards and 33 touchdowns. Riley Nelson returns as the only quarterback who has seen any college football action, so the team will look to its younger freshmen to put up a fight for the wide-open starting position.
As if losing your stud quarterback wasn't enough, BYU also loses it's starting running back from last year. Last year's starter, Harvey Unga, rushed for 1,087 of the Cougars' 1,894 rushing yards and 11 of 26 touchdowns last season. However, the team does bring back the next four top rushers. JJ Di Luigi returns after rushing for 248 yards and three touchdowns, while Manase Tonga leads the returnees with four touchdowns.
No matter who the quarterback is, he will have the luxury of having six of the top eight receivers from last year return. McKay Jacobson leads the team in returning yards with 556 and is tied with three others with four touchdowns last season. Jacobson averaged over 24 yards per catch, while all other receivers except one averaged double digit yards per catch.
Defense - As impressive as the offense was, the defense was equally so. The defense gave up 21.5 points per game and only allowed 329 yards per game, nearly 100 yards less than what their offense averaged.
Like their offense, the defense loses many of the starters from last year. Only four of the top 10 tacklers return. Luckily for the defensive secondary, two of the four return after finishing first and fourth on the team respectfully. Andrew Rich returns for his senior season after leading the team with 85 tackles and tying for the team lead in interceptions with four. Brandon Bradley, the fourth highest tackler, also returns in the secondary. He added 64 tackles, four passes broken up and two forced fumbles. Brian Logan is coming off of an impressive season in which he started 12 games. He finished the season with 44 tackles and three interceptions as well as an astounding 14 passes broken up.
Two returning linebackers played in double digit games last season. Jordan Pendelton played in 13 games and started 10 during the 2009 season. He finished the year with 52 tackles, six tackles for loss and three sacks. He also had three passes broken up. His tackles for loss and sack totals lead all returnees. Brandon Ogletree also returns after playing in 10 games in 2009. He will fight for a starting spot after being in on 19 tackles.
Recruiting - The Cougars bring in 26 players in the 2010 recruiting class that has been ranked in the top 25 of at least one ranking list. Jake Heaps comes in as the No. 1 quarterback in the nation and will look to fight for the starting nod. As a senior, Heaps threw for 3,191 yards and 45 touchdowns on his way to a state title win. But Heaps isn't the only highly-rated recruit in this year's class. Eight signees are ranked in the top 25 at their positions. Alani Fua comes in as the No. 25 weakside defensive end after coming up with 71 tackles, nine sacks, two fumble recoveries and three forced fumbles. Zac Stout comes in as the No. 8 middle linebacker and put up incredible stats in his senior season. He totaled 112 tackles, including 81 solo stops.
Schedule - The schedule doesn't look as daunting as it did last year, as Washington replaces Oklahoma, but that can be deceiving. The Huskies will be getting stud quarterback Jake Locker back after he suffered an injury last year. Luckily for BYU that game is at home. Unfortunately for the team, however, three of their next four games are on the road, including a game at Florida State. The Cougars' two toughest MWC games against TCU and Utah are both on the road, including a season-ending game in Salt Lake City.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
College Football Preview: B cont'd
Boston College - The Eagles are coming off an 8-5 season under first-year coach Frank Spaziani. The team lost an Emerald Bowl battle with USC 24-13.
Offense - The offense returns eight starters from a team that averaged nearly 25 points. The team scored on 89 percent of its red-zone attempts, including 27 touchdowns.
For the first time since Matt Ryan was quarterback, the Eagles have their starting quarterback returning for the next season. Dave Shinskie comes off a freshman season in which he threw for 2,049 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Luckily for the Eagles, two of the top three rushing leaders from last year , including top rusher Montel Harris. Harris led the team with 1,457 yards and 14 touchdowns. He averaged 112 yards per game and nearly five yards per carry.
Back to help Shinskie out are his second and third favorite receivers from last year. Second leading receiver Colin Larmond Jr. returns after catching 29 balls for 596 yards and five touchdowns. His 29 catches for 596 yards comes out to a 20.6 yards per catch average. The next highest receiver is Chris Pantale, who had 25 catches for 223 yards. The team is bringing in three wide receivers in their recruiting class, some of whom may be looked upon to help right away.
Defense - The Eagle defense returns six starters from last year's squad which gave up only 19.8 points per game. It returns seven of the top 10 tacklers from last year's squad.
The linebacker corps comes back as possibly the strongest unit on the team. Luke Kuechly comes back for his sophomore year after putting up monster stats in his first year of college football. He was named ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year after posting a stat line of 158 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, and one interception, sack and fumble recovery each. A second starter, Mike Morrissey also returns after being in on 37 tackles last season.
Three of last year's top six tacklers are defensive backs and each returns for another season with the Eagles. Donnie Fletcher returns at one cornerback spot after being in on 51 tackles and one interception. DeLeon Glause will be looking to lock up the other corner position after he had 49 tackles last year. Free safety Wes Davis returns after leading the team in interceptions with three and tackling 46 opponents.
The defensive line returns two starters from last season. Alex Albright and Brad Newman both saw time starting at the left end spot and the thought is that Newman will either slide over to the tackle position or take over the right end spot. Newman led all defensive line players in tackles with 45. Tackle Damik Scafe added 35 tackles, six and a half tackles for loss and two sacks, wile Albright had 32 tackles and eight and a half tackles for loss.
Recruiting - The Eagles bring in two Gatorade Players of the Year, as well as the No.21 pro-style quarterback. CJ Jones was named Delaware's Gatorade Player of the Year after starring as both a QB and CB. He was more known for his feet than his arm after rushing for more than 1,000 yards and averaging 13.7 yards per carry. Kevin Pierre-Louis comes to Boston College as Connecticut's reigning Gatorade Player of the Year. He had 88 tackles and averaged 17.3 tackles on his way to being rated the tenth-best outside linebacker by rivals.com. Chase Rettig comes to the Eagles after being ranked the No.21 pro-style QB by rivals.com. He threw for 1,740 yards and 18 touchdowns as a senior.
Schedule - The Eagles start with two winnable games, Weber State and Kent State, both at home. Their next two games, also at home, will be a little more challenging as they welcome Virginia Tech and Notre Dame to Chestnut Hill. The Irish will be re-tooling after firing Charlie Weis. After the four non-con games, they start their road conference schedule with two ACC away games against N.C. State and Florida State, both of which are winnable. FSU is bringing in a new coach, Jimbo Fisher, who although has been at the school for what seems forever, is in his first season as a head coach. After hosting their next two opponents, Maryland and Clemson, which could be a tough match up, the Eagles go on the road for three of their final four games of the year. They finish at Wake Forest, Duke and Syracuse on the road, with a home game with Virginia in between the Duke and Syracuse games.
Bowling Green -Bowling Green is coming off of what has to be one of the craziest endings to a bowl game seen in a long time. The Falcons scored a touchdown with 32 seconds remaining to take a 42-35 lead and thought they had won the game. The Idaho Vandals, however, had other thoughts as they went 66 yards in three plays before converting a two-point conversion to take the 43-42 Humanitarian Bowl victory.
Offense - This year's offense will look very very different from last year's as only four offensive starters return. Unfortunately, wide receiver Freddie Barnes, who set an NCAA record with 155 catches in a season, graduated and has gone on to the NFL. They'll also have to replace the starting quarterback. Aaron Pankratz returns as the only quarterback who has seen any college football action and has only played in one game in his career, throwing for 52 yards on five completions.
One bright spot for the offense is that it returns starting running back Willie Geter who had 705 yards and none touchdowns last year, both career highs. He had 92 yards and two TD's in the bowl loss. John Pettigrew, Erique Geiger and Mark Mays return to back Geter up. Of the three only Pettigrew has collegiate experience after he rushed for 24 yards in 11 games as a freshman last season.
Losing a record-setting player can be an extremely tough task to overcome, but when that player had 109 more catches and 17 more touchdowns than the leading returning receiver, it will be harder than most people expect. Adrian Hodges returns after catching 46 passes for 417 yards and two touchdowns. In fact, other than Barnes who had 19 touchdowns, no other receiver had more than two. Ray Hutson, Justus Jones and Tyrone Pronty all return after seeing significant time, while the Falcons will look to four redshirt freshman to provide depth.
Defense - The defense also has four starters returning, but that may be a blessing in disguise for the young squad, as last year it could rely on the offense to keep them in a shootout, but with a young offense with many new starters, much is unknown.
The strength of the defense will be the defensive line, where the Falcons return three starters. The line will rely heavily on two seniors, Angelo Magnone and Darius Smith, while two sophomores and juniors return as well. Magnone collected 43 tackles, four tackles for loss and two and a half sacks, while Smith added 36 tackles.
The linebacker corps will be all new, as all three starters graduated from last year's squad. Eugene Fells is the top returning tackler amongst the linebackers, after totaling 44 tackles and three and a half sacks. Dwayne Woods also returns after coming up with 24 tackles.
The defensive backfield will also be replacing three starters and Adrien Spencer is the lone returning starter. Spencer made 42 stops and had one interception last season. Coming back to fight for a chance to start is Keith Morgan who led the DB returnees with 68 tackles and five passes broken up last year. He also had an interception.
Recruiting - The Falcons hit it big with replacements at defensive back and wide receiver in this year's 25-man class. Devon McKoy comes to Bowling Green as a safety from in-state Reynoldsburg High and had quite an impressive senior season. His 2009 season consisted of 75 tackles, three interceptions and eight pass breakups. Ryland Ward, another safety recruit, had seven interceptions in 2009. Marcus Beaurem comes to the Falcons from Michigan. Beaurem comes in after catching 74 balls for 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior.
Schedule - Bowling Green starts the season with five of their first seven games on the road, including the first two at Troy and Tulsa. Marshall comes to Perry Stadium before the Falcons go to Michigan to play their biggest non-conference game of the year, against the Wolverines. After a home game against Buffalo and road games at Ohio and Temple, the Falcons finish with three of their last five at home. Kent State, Miami (Ohio) and Western Michigan come to Bowling Green, while the team travels to Central Michigan and Toledo.
Offense - The offense returns eight starters from a team that averaged nearly 25 points. The team scored on 89 percent of its red-zone attempts, including 27 touchdowns.
For the first time since Matt Ryan was quarterback, the Eagles have their starting quarterback returning for the next season. Dave Shinskie comes off a freshman season in which he threw for 2,049 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Luckily for the Eagles, two of the top three rushing leaders from last year , including top rusher Montel Harris. Harris led the team with 1,457 yards and 14 touchdowns. He averaged 112 yards per game and nearly five yards per carry.
Back to help Shinskie out are his second and third favorite receivers from last year. Second leading receiver Colin Larmond Jr. returns after catching 29 balls for 596 yards and five touchdowns. His 29 catches for 596 yards comes out to a 20.6 yards per catch average. The next highest receiver is Chris Pantale, who had 25 catches for 223 yards. The team is bringing in three wide receivers in their recruiting class, some of whom may be looked upon to help right away.
Defense - The Eagle defense returns six starters from last year's squad which gave up only 19.8 points per game. It returns seven of the top 10 tacklers from last year's squad.
The linebacker corps comes back as possibly the strongest unit on the team. Luke Kuechly comes back for his sophomore year after putting up monster stats in his first year of college football. He was named ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year after posting a stat line of 158 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, and one interception, sack and fumble recovery each. A second starter, Mike Morrissey also returns after being in on 37 tackles last season.
Three of last year's top six tacklers are defensive backs and each returns for another season with the Eagles. Donnie Fletcher returns at one cornerback spot after being in on 51 tackles and one interception. DeLeon Glause will be looking to lock up the other corner position after he had 49 tackles last year. Free safety Wes Davis returns after leading the team in interceptions with three and tackling 46 opponents.
The defensive line returns two starters from last season. Alex Albright and Brad Newman both saw time starting at the left end spot and the thought is that Newman will either slide over to the tackle position or take over the right end spot. Newman led all defensive line players in tackles with 45. Tackle Damik Scafe added 35 tackles, six and a half tackles for loss and two sacks, wile Albright had 32 tackles and eight and a half tackles for loss.
Recruiting - The Eagles bring in two Gatorade Players of the Year, as well as the No.21 pro-style quarterback. CJ Jones was named Delaware's Gatorade Player of the Year after starring as both a QB and CB. He was more known for his feet than his arm after rushing for more than 1,000 yards and averaging 13.7 yards per carry. Kevin Pierre-Louis comes to Boston College as Connecticut's reigning Gatorade Player of the Year. He had 88 tackles and averaged 17.3 tackles on his way to being rated the tenth-best outside linebacker by rivals.com. Chase Rettig comes to the Eagles after being ranked the No.21 pro-style QB by rivals.com. He threw for 1,740 yards and 18 touchdowns as a senior.
Schedule - The Eagles start with two winnable games, Weber State and Kent State, both at home. Their next two games, also at home, will be a little more challenging as they welcome Virginia Tech and Notre Dame to Chestnut Hill. The Irish will be re-tooling after firing Charlie Weis. After the four non-con games, they start their road conference schedule with two ACC away games against N.C. State and Florida State, both of which are winnable. FSU is bringing in a new coach, Jimbo Fisher, who although has been at the school for what seems forever, is in his first season as a head coach. After hosting their next two opponents, Maryland and Clemson, which could be a tough match up, the Eagles go on the road for three of their final four games of the year. They finish at Wake Forest, Duke and Syracuse on the road, with a home game with Virginia in between the Duke and Syracuse games.
Bowling Green -Bowling Green is coming off of what has to be one of the craziest endings to a bowl game seen in a long time. The Falcons scored a touchdown with 32 seconds remaining to take a 42-35 lead and thought they had won the game. The Idaho Vandals, however, had other thoughts as they went 66 yards in three plays before converting a two-point conversion to take the 43-42 Humanitarian Bowl victory.
Offense - This year's offense will look very very different from last year's as only four offensive starters return. Unfortunately, wide receiver Freddie Barnes, who set an NCAA record with 155 catches in a season, graduated and has gone on to the NFL. They'll also have to replace the starting quarterback. Aaron Pankratz returns as the only quarterback who has seen any college football action and has only played in one game in his career, throwing for 52 yards on five completions.
One bright spot for the offense is that it returns starting running back Willie Geter who had 705 yards and none touchdowns last year, both career highs. He had 92 yards and two TD's in the bowl loss. John Pettigrew, Erique Geiger and Mark Mays return to back Geter up. Of the three only Pettigrew has collegiate experience after he rushed for 24 yards in 11 games as a freshman last season.
Losing a record-setting player can be an extremely tough task to overcome, but when that player had 109 more catches and 17 more touchdowns than the leading returning receiver, it will be harder than most people expect. Adrian Hodges returns after catching 46 passes for 417 yards and two touchdowns. In fact, other than Barnes who had 19 touchdowns, no other receiver had more than two. Ray Hutson, Justus Jones and Tyrone Pronty all return after seeing significant time, while the Falcons will look to four redshirt freshman to provide depth.
Defense - The defense also has four starters returning, but that may be a blessing in disguise for the young squad, as last year it could rely on the offense to keep them in a shootout, but with a young offense with many new starters, much is unknown.
The strength of the defense will be the defensive line, where the Falcons return three starters. The line will rely heavily on two seniors, Angelo Magnone and Darius Smith, while two sophomores and juniors return as well. Magnone collected 43 tackles, four tackles for loss and two and a half sacks, while Smith added 36 tackles.
The linebacker corps will be all new, as all three starters graduated from last year's squad. Eugene Fells is the top returning tackler amongst the linebackers, after totaling 44 tackles and three and a half sacks. Dwayne Woods also returns after coming up with 24 tackles.
The defensive backfield will also be replacing three starters and Adrien Spencer is the lone returning starter. Spencer made 42 stops and had one interception last season. Coming back to fight for a chance to start is Keith Morgan who led the DB returnees with 68 tackles and five passes broken up last year. He also had an interception.
Recruiting - The Falcons hit it big with replacements at defensive back and wide receiver in this year's 25-man class. Devon McKoy comes to Bowling Green as a safety from in-state Reynoldsburg High and had quite an impressive senior season. His 2009 season consisted of 75 tackles, three interceptions and eight pass breakups. Ryland Ward, another safety recruit, had seven interceptions in 2009. Marcus Beaurem comes to the Falcons from Michigan. Beaurem comes in after catching 74 balls for 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior.
Schedule - Bowling Green starts the season with five of their first seven games on the road, including the first two at Troy and Tulsa. Marshall comes to Perry Stadium before the Falcons go to Michigan to play their biggest non-conference game of the year, against the Wolverines. After a home game against Buffalo and road games at Ohio and Temple, the Falcons finish with three of their last five at home. Kent State, Miami (Ohio) and Western Michigan come to Bowling Green, while the team travels to Central Michigan and Toledo.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Football Preview: B
Ball State - A year after winning the MAC West Division, the Cardinals struggled mightily, stumbling to a 2-10 record in Stan Parrish's first year at the helm. But luckily for the Cardinals, they bring back 17 starters, including 10 on offense.
Offense - As stated above, 10 starters return including 2nd-Team All-MAC running back MiQuale Lewis. Lewis led the team with 871 yards rushing and five touchdowns last year. Outside of Lewis, Ball State also returns their other top three rushers, Cory Sykes, Eric Williams and Kelly Page. Sykes finished second on the team with 559 yards and three touchdowns, while Williams had 362 and four.
Kelly Page started the first game of his college career in last season's season opener and the now-redshirt sophomore didn't let go of it until he injured his thumb in the seventh game of the year against Bowling Green. In seven games, all starts, he completed just over half of his passes, throwing for 1,019 yards and seven touchdowns. Unlike last season where Page's quarterback was a senior, if something happens to Page, there are no experienced quarterbacks on the roster. His two backups are redshirt freshmen and the Cardinals also bring in a true freshman.
Luckily for Page, he will have all of his top receivers from last year at his disposal. The Cardinals bring back the team's top seven receivers from last season. Briggs Orsbon comes back after catching 51 passes for 461 yards and one touchdown. Despite only starting four games last year, Torieal Gibson comes back as the second leading receiver, piling up 337 yards, while leading the team in receiving touchdowns with three.
Defense - The defense brings back seven players who started a minimum of six games last year. They will need the experience because they gave up almost 30 point per game last year.
The linebacker position is the strongest by far for this year's Ball State squad. The top two tacklers, Davyd Jones and Travis Freeman, from last year are both linebackers and return for another season of wrecking havoc on opponents. Jones piled up 100 tackles, eight tackles for loss and two forced fumbles in the 12 games he started. Freeman finished second in tackles with 93 stops and had one interception as well.
Outside of linebacker, the defensive secondary is the best unit as they return three of four starters. Charlie Todd, last year's fourth-leading tackler, returns for his senior season at the right cornerback position. He came up with 80 stops, one interception, three passes broken up and a forced fumble. Sean Baker returns at one of the safety spots, where he started 11 games last season. Baker came up with 61 tackles, three and a half tackles for loss and led the team with four interceptions. Despite Koreen Burch having 43 tackles and nine passes broken up, he comes into fall camp as a backup to Jason Pinkston for the right to line up opposite of Todd.
The defensive line brings back two starters, both of whom have are entering their final seasons. Defensive end Robert Eddins returns for his fifth year. The 6'3 242 lb-er from Detroit was sixth on the team with 55 tackles, His 13.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks were both team highs. Rene Perry also returns at nose guard after starting 11 games and coming up with 26 stops.
Recruiting - The Cardinals focused on defense in this year's class, as 13 of the 21 are slotted for some sort of defensive position, including seven defensive backs. Brian Jones enters Ball State from Morgan Park, a Chicago Public School, where he managed 75 tackles, six sacks and five interceptions as a senior. Aaron Morris comes in from Ohio powerhouse Glenville, where he put up a stat line that read 91 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, four sacks and three interceptions and forced fumbles each as a senior.
Schedule - The Cardinals start the season with two very winnable games against SE Missouri State as well as Liberty. The two games should be a warmup for the next two, which are road games at Big Ten schools Purdue and Iowa. Right after, Ball State takes care of the Michigan schools, when they travel to Central Michigan before hosting Western and Eastern Michigan. The Cardinals end the season with three of their last five games on the road, including road games at Toledo, Kent State and Buffalo, while hosting Akron and Northern Illinois in the last game of the year.
Baylor - The Bears are coming off of two consecutive 4-8 seasons and will look to get to .500 or above in Coach Art Briles's third season at the helm. Despite their record, the team was within 14 points in three of their losses, including two games where they lost by 10 points or fewer.
Offense - The offense is going to depend on the return of Robert Griffin III as he comes back from a torn ACL suffered in the third game of the year. The dual-threat star will look to get back to his Freshman All-American form he displayed in 2008 as a true freshman. Even in three games last year, he completed 65 percent of his passes for 481 yards and four touchdowns, while rushing for 77 yards and two more touchdowns. His backup, Nick Florence, comes back after seeing extensive experience in his true freshman season last year. After the top two quarterbacks got injured, Florence stepped in and ended up throwing for nearly 1,800 yards and six touchdowns in nine games.
Jay Finley returns for his senior year after struggling with an ankle surgery which limited him to nine 2009 games. Despite only playing in nine games, he still managed to lead the team in rushing yards with 370. Last year's rushing touchdowns leader, Terrance Ganaway, also returns. Ganaway rushed for five touchdowns and finished third in rushing yards with 200.
The receivers will be bolstered by the return of last year's leading receiver, Kendall Wright. Wright led all players in receiving yards (740) and receiving touchdowns (four). The rest of the receiver corps will be made up of younger players who will need to step up and replace last year's second and third leading receivers. Lanear Sampson is coming off of a season where he was named to the All-Big 12 Freshman team. He ended the 2009 season with 29 catches for 297 yards and two touchdowns.
Defense - Only five starters return from last years' defensive unit. Among the seven players not returning is All-American linebacker Joe Pawelek, who led the team in tackles with 109.
Upperclassmen "Cousin Phil" Taylor and Zac Scotton return to lead the defensive line. Despite suffering from turf toe, Taylor managed to chip in with 25 stops and two blocked kicks. Tracy Robinson returns at tackle after leading the team with three sacks while also having five tackles for loss.
Linebacker Antonio Johnson returns as the leading tackler after piling up 77 stops, two sacks, a 56-yard interception return and two fumble recoveries. Elliot Coffey returns as the leading candidate to take over at the other outside linebacker spot after finishing the season with 35 stops. Chris Francis and Chris McAllister will have to try to fill the big shoes left by Pawelek. Francis is coming into his senior year after tackling 45 opponents last year. McAllister is a big redshirt freshman, listed at 6-2, 240.
Tim Atchinson will be moving back to his natural safety spot after starting all 12 games last year at cornerback. Atchinson added 42 tackles and an interception last year. Chance Casey returns as a starter who started at cornerback last year. He led the team in interceptions with two last year and added 36 tackles. Senior Byron Landor returns after starting three games at one safety spot last year. Landor led the returning secondary players with 46 tackles last season.
Recruiting - To say the defensive backfield is the strength of this recruiting class would be an understatement. The six DB's make up a position that was ranked the fifth best DB class by rivals.com. Ahmad Dixon and Tyler Stephenson are the studs of the DB class. Dixon was rated the tenth-best safety in the nation by both rivals.com and scout.com. He registered over 300 tackles in his high school career. Stephenson doesn't come in with as much fanfare but was ranked the No.18 corner by rivals.com and No. 39 by scout.com. He registered 63 tackles and five interceptions as a senior.
Schedule - The Bears have a possibility to get off to a strong start, as three of their first four games are against Sam Houston State, Buffalo and Rice. In between the Buffalo and Rice games is a game against in-state TCU, who is projected to be a Top 10 team in the nation. Baylor's first four games in conference are winnable as well. They start out at home against Kansas, who is bringing in a new coach and having to replace numerous offensive record-breakers. Next is a game against Texas Tech at the Cotton Bowl. The Red Raiders are also bringing in a new coach in Tommy Tuberville. Next is a road game at Colorado followed by Kansas State. The Bears will be tested in their last four games as they travel to Texas and Oklahoma State before hosting Texas A&M and Oklahoma to close the season.
Boise State - Boise State is one of the best teams in the nation and it is to no one's surprise that many college previews have them in the top five, some even as high as number two in the country. What some people do not realize is the amount of starters the Broncos have coming bac. Both the defense and offense have 10 starters returning. Ten. Twenty total starters returning, 19 of which are upperclassmen.
Offense - As always, a football team goes as their quarterback goes. When you bring back an All-American quarterback, the likelihood is that your squad is in good hands. That is what is happening this year in Boise, as Kellen Moore returns for his junior season. Moore put up stats most players can only dream of after completing 64 percent of his passes for 3,536 yards and 39 touchdowns, while only throwing three interceptions through 14 games.
Despite the gaudy passing statistics, the Broncos rushed for over 2,600 yards as a team, led by Jeremy Avery. Avery comes back for his senior year after rushing for 1,151 yards and six touchdowns. His backup, Doug Martin also returns after an impressive sophomore campaign. Although he was a backup, he still managed to rush for 765 yards in all 14 games. His 15 rushing touchdowns led the team. The Broncos will look for big things from junior DJ Harper who rushed for 284 yards and three touchdowns in three games.
Moore will be lucky as he returns nine of last year's top 10 receivers. Titus Young returns after catching 79 passes for 1,041 yards and 10 touchdowns. Just as in rushing, the second-leading player led the team in touchdowns. Austin Pettis caught 14 of his 63 balls for touchdowns, all on his way to an 855-receiving yards campaign. Boise State had seven players record over 100 yards receiving and each one returns for the 2010-2011 season.
Defense - If you thought the offense returns a lot, wait until you see what the defense brings back. 26 of the team's top 27 tacklers are back for a team that finished 14th nationally in total defense. Their stingy defense helped them outscore their opponents by 25 points (42.2-17.1). The Broncos forced 35 total turnovers, including 18 fumbles, 11 of which were lost and 24 interceptions.
The secondary is pretty much all intact, as it only loses cornerback Kyle Wilson. Safety Jeron Johnson returns after leading the team in tackles last season, totaling 91 and a team-leading six passes broken up and four interceptions. Winston Venable finished third on the team in tackles with 63, including eight tackles for loss. He also pulled down two interceptions, one of which he brought back for a touchdown. Brandyn Thompson led the team in interceptions with six, one of which was a touchdown. Thompson added 45 tackles and three passes broken up.
The linebacker position comes back fully intact and has the luxury of having multiple options at the two starting positions in the Broncos 4-2-5 defense. JC Percy returns for his sophomore year, an impressive freshman year that saw him come up with 64 stops, including four and a half tackles for loss. Percy added half a sack and one forced fumble and fumble recovery each. Aaron Tevis also returns after finishing fourth on the team in tackles with 54.
The defensive line brings back some star power as all of the returnees bring back impressive stats. Defensive tackles Billy Winn returns for his junior season after having a season with 44 tackles and six sacks. His counterpart, senior end Ryan Winterswyk, added 41 tackles, including 17 tackles for loss and none sacks, both team highs.
Recruiting - Because of most of the players returning from last year's squad, the recruiting class of 10 should come as no surprise. The team signed two defensive ends, two wide receievsr, two defensive backs, two tight ends, one quarterback and one linebacker. The team brings in two stars, QB Grant Hedrick and S Jeremy Ioane. Hedrick comes to Boise after being named the Oregon High School State Player of the Year as a senior. In his final season he threw for over 2,500 yards, 34 touchdowns, and only one interception. He also rushed for over 1,500 yards and 17 touchdowns. Ioane comes after being named the ninth best prospect in Hawaii. He played safety, running back, quarterback, wide receiver and linebacker during his high school career. Rivals.com rated him as the 74th best safety in the nation.
Schedule - As in previous years, the Broncos load up on teams that will prepare them for conference and postseason play. They open the season against perennial power Virginia Tech at a neutral site in Landover, Maryland. The opening weekend game will be ESPN's feature game on Labor Day. It will also be one of at least six games that will be broadcast on the ESPN network. After a week off, the team travels to Wyoming to face a Cowboy team coming off of a bowl season. Next comes a home game against Oregon State, a year after a controversial end to the game. After last season's BSU win, Oregon RB LeGarrette Blount punched a Bronco player and said something that was not revealed. He was suspended for the season for that incident but was later reinstated. The team finishes the regular season with five more home games and four on the road. The Broncos will play four games during the week instead of Saturdays, including a three week stretch that will see them play three Fridays in a row.
Offense - As stated above, 10 starters return including 2nd-Team All-MAC running back MiQuale Lewis. Lewis led the team with 871 yards rushing and five touchdowns last year. Outside of Lewis, Ball State also returns their other top three rushers, Cory Sykes, Eric Williams and Kelly Page. Sykes finished second on the team with 559 yards and three touchdowns, while Williams had 362 and four.
Kelly Page started the first game of his college career in last season's season opener and the now-redshirt sophomore didn't let go of it until he injured his thumb in the seventh game of the year against Bowling Green. In seven games, all starts, he completed just over half of his passes, throwing for 1,019 yards and seven touchdowns. Unlike last season where Page's quarterback was a senior, if something happens to Page, there are no experienced quarterbacks on the roster. His two backups are redshirt freshmen and the Cardinals also bring in a true freshman.
Luckily for Page, he will have all of his top receivers from last year at his disposal. The Cardinals bring back the team's top seven receivers from last season. Briggs Orsbon comes back after catching 51 passes for 461 yards and one touchdown. Despite only starting four games last year, Torieal Gibson comes back as the second leading receiver, piling up 337 yards, while leading the team in receiving touchdowns with three.
Defense - The defense brings back seven players who started a minimum of six games last year. They will need the experience because they gave up almost 30 point per game last year.
The linebacker position is the strongest by far for this year's Ball State squad. The top two tacklers, Davyd Jones and Travis Freeman, from last year are both linebackers and return for another season of wrecking havoc on opponents. Jones piled up 100 tackles, eight tackles for loss and two forced fumbles in the 12 games he started. Freeman finished second in tackles with 93 stops and had one interception as well.
Outside of linebacker, the defensive secondary is the best unit as they return three of four starters. Charlie Todd, last year's fourth-leading tackler, returns for his senior season at the right cornerback position. He came up with 80 stops, one interception, three passes broken up and a forced fumble. Sean Baker returns at one of the safety spots, where he started 11 games last season. Baker came up with 61 tackles, three and a half tackles for loss and led the team with four interceptions. Despite Koreen Burch having 43 tackles and nine passes broken up, he comes into fall camp as a backup to Jason Pinkston for the right to line up opposite of Todd.
The defensive line brings back two starters, both of whom have are entering their final seasons. Defensive end Robert Eddins returns for his fifth year. The 6'3 242 lb-er from Detroit was sixth on the team with 55 tackles, His 13.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks were both team highs. Rene Perry also returns at nose guard after starting 11 games and coming up with 26 stops.
Recruiting - The Cardinals focused on defense in this year's class, as 13 of the 21 are slotted for some sort of defensive position, including seven defensive backs. Brian Jones enters Ball State from Morgan Park, a Chicago Public School, where he managed 75 tackles, six sacks and five interceptions as a senior. Aaron Morris comes in from Ohio powerhouse Glenville, where he put up a stat line that read 91 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, four sacks and three interceptions and forced fumbles each as a senior.
Schedule - The Cardinals start the season with two very winnable games against SE Missouri State as well as Liberty. The two games should be a warmup for the next two, which are road games at Big Ten schools Purdue and Iowa. Right after, Ball State takes care of the Michigan schools, when they travel to Central Michigan before hosting Western and Eastern Michigan. The Cardinals end the season with three of their last five games on the road, including road games at Toledo, Kent State and Buffalo, while hosting Akron and Northern Illinois in the last game of the year.
Baylor - The Bears are coming off of two consecutive 4-8 seasons and will look to get to .500 or above in Coach Art Briles's third season at the helm. Despite their record, the team was within 14 points in three of their losses, including two games where they lost by 10 points or fewer.
Offense - The offense is going to depend on the return of Robert Griffin III as he comes back from a torn ACL suffered in the third game of the year. The dual-threat star will look to get back to his Freshman All-American form he displayed in 2008 as a true freshman. Even in three games last year, he completed 65 percent of his passes for 481 yards and four touchdowns, while rushing for 77 yards and two more touchdowns. His backup, Nick Florence, comes back after seeing extensive experience in his true freshman season last year. After the top two quarterbacks got injured, Florence stepped in and ended up throwing for nearly 1,800 yards and six touchdowns in nine games.
Jay Finley returns for his senior year after struggling with an ankle surgery which limited him to nine 2009 games. Despite only playing in nine games, he still managed to lead the team in rushing yards with 370. Last year's rushing touchdowns leader, Terrance Ganaway, also returns. Ganaway rushed for five touchdowns and finished third in rushing yards with 200.
The receivers will be bolstered by the return of last year's leading receiver, Kendall Wright. Wright led all players in receiving yards (740) and receiving touchdowns (four). The rest of the receiver corps will be made up of younger players who will need to step up and replace last year's second and third leading receivers. Lanear Sampson is coming off of a season where he was named to the All-Big 12 Freshman team. He ended the 2009 season with 29 catches for 297 yards and two touchdowns.
Defense - Only five starters return from last years' defensive unit. Among the seven players not returning is All-American linebacker Joe Pawelek, who led the team in tackles with 109.
Upperclassmen "Cousin Phil" Taylor and Zac Scotton return to lead the defensive line. Despite suffering from turf toe, Taylor managed to chip in with 25 stops and two blocked kicks. Tracy Robinson returns at tackle after leading the team with three sacks while also having five tackles for loss.
Linebacker Antonio Johnson returns as the leading tackler after piling up 77 stops, two sacks, a 56-yard interception return and two fumble recoveries. Elliot Coffey returns as the leading candidate to take over at the other outside linebacker spot after finishing the season with 35 stops. Chris Francis and Chris McAllister will have to try to fill the big shoes left by Pawelek. Francis is coming into his senior year after tackling 45 opponents last year. McAllister is a big redshirt freshman, listed at 6-2, 240.
Tim Atchinson will be moving back to his natural safety spot after starting all 12 games last year at cornerback. Atchinson added 42 tackles and an interception last year. Chance Casey returns as a starter who started at cornerback last year. He led the team in interceptions with two last year and added 36 tackles. Senior Byron Landor returns after starting three games at one safety spot last year. Landor led the returning secondary players with 46 tackles last season.
Recruiting - To say the defensive backfield is the strength of this recruiting class would be an understatement. The six DB's make up a position that was ranked the fifth best DB class by rivals.com. Ahmad Dixon and Tyler Stephenson are the studs of the DB class. Dixon was rated the tenth-best safety in the nation by both rivals.com and scout.com. He registered over 300 tackles in his high school career. Stephenson doesn't come in with as much fanfare but was ranked the No.18 corner by rivals.com and No. 39 by scout.com. He registered 63 tackles and five interceptions as a senior.
Schedule - The Bears have a possibility to get off to a strong start, as three of their first four games are against Sam Houston State, Buffalo and Rice. In between the Buffalo and Rice games is a game against in-state TCU, who is projected to be a Top 10 team in the nation. Baylor's first four games in conference are winnable as well. They start out at home against Kansas, who is bringing in a new coach and having to replace numerous offensive record-breakers. Next is a game against Texas Tech at the Cotton Bowl. The Red Raiders are also bringing in a new coach in Tommy Tuberville. Next is a road game at Colorado followed by Kansas State. The Bears will be tested in their last four games as they travel to Texas and Oklahoma State before hosting Texas A&M and Oklahoma to close the season.
Boise State - Boise State is one of the best teams in the nation and it is to no one's surprise that many college previews have them in the top five, some even as high as number two in the country. What some people do not realize is the amount of starters the Broncos have coming bac. Both the defense and offense have 10 starters returning. Ten. Twenty total starters returning, 19 of which are upperclassmen.
Offense - As always, a football team goes as their quarterback goes. When you bring back an All-American quarterback, the likelihood is that your squad is in good hands. That is what is happening this year in Boise, as Kellen Moore returns for his junior season. Moore put up stats most players can only dream of after completing 64 percent of his passes for 3,536 yards and 39 touchdowns, while only throwing three interceptions through 14 games.
Despite the gaudy passing statistics, the Broncos rushed for over 2,600 yards as a team, led by Jeremy Avery. Avery comes back for his senior year after rushing for 1,151 yards and six touchdowns. His backup, Doug Martin also returns after an impressive sophomore campaign. Although he was a backup, he still managed to rush for 765 yards in all 14 games. His 15 rushing touchdowns led the team. The Broncos will look for big things from junior DJ Harper who rushed for 284 yards and three touchdowns in three games.
Moore will be lucky as he returns nine of last year's top 10 receivers. Titus Young returns after catching 79 passes for 1,041 yards and 10 touchdowns. Just as in rushing, the second-leading player led the team in touchdowns. Austin Pettis caught 14 of his 63 balls for touchdowns, all on his way to an 855-receiving yards campaign. Boise State had seven players record over 100 yards receiving and each one returns for the 2010-2011 season.
Defense - If you thought the offense returns a lot, wait until you see what the defense brings back. 26 of the team's top 27 tacklers are back for a team that finished 14th nationally in total defense. Their stingy defense helped them outscore their opponents by 25 points (42.2-17.1). The Broncos forced 35 total turnovers, including 18 fumbles, 11 of which were lost and 24 interceptions.
The secondary is pretty much all intact, as it only loses cornerback Kyle Wilson. Safety Jeron Johnson returns after leading the team in tackles last season, totaling 91 and a team-leading six passes broken up and four interceptions. Winston Venable finished third on the team in tackles with 63, including eight tackles for loss. He also pulled down two interceptions, one of which he brought back for a touchdown. Brandyn Thompson led the team in interceptions with six, one of which was a touchdown. Thompson added 45 tackles and three passes broken up.
The linebacker position comes back fully intact and has the luxury of having multiple options at the two starting positions in the Broncos 4-2-5 defense. JC Percy returns for his sophomore year, an impressive freshman year that saw him come up with 64 stops, including four and a half tackles for loss. Percy added half a sack and one forced fumble and fumble recovery each. Aaron Tevis also returns after finishing fourth on the team in tackles with 54.
The defensive line brings back some star power as all of the returnees bring back impressive stats. Defensive tackles Billy Winn returns for his junior season after having a season with 44 tackles and six sacks. His counterpart, senior end Ryan Winterswyk, added 41 tackles, including 17 tackles for loss and none sacks, both team highs.
Recruiting - Because of most of the players returning from last year's squad, the recruiting class of 10 should come as no surprise. The team signed two defensive ends, two wide receievsr, two defensive backs, two tight ends, one quarterback and one linebacker. The team brings in two stars, QB Grant Hedrick and S Jeremy Ioane. Hedrick comes to Boise after being named the Oregon High School State Player of the Year as a senior. In his final season he threw for over 2,500 yards, 34 touchdowns, and only one interception. He also rushed for over 1,500 yards and 17 touchdowns. Ioane comes after being named the ninth best prospect in Hawaii. He played safety, running back, quarterback, wide receiver and linebacker during his high school career. Rivals.com rated him as the 74th best safety in the nation.
Schedule - As in previous years, the Broncos load up on teams that will prepare them for conference and postseason play. They open the season against perennial power Virginia Tech at a neutral site in Landover, Maryland. The opening weekend game will be ESPN's feature game on Labor Day. It will also be one of at least six games that will be broadcast on the ESPN network. After a week off, the team travels to Wyoming to face a Cowboy team coming off of a bowl season. Next comes a home game against Oregon State, a year after a controversial end to the game. After last season's BSU win, Oregon RB LeGarrette Blount punched a Bronco player and said something that was not revealed. He was suspended for the season for that incident but was later reinstated. The team finishes the regular season with five more home games and four on the road. The Broncos will play four games during the week instead of Saturdays, including a three week stretch that will see them play three Fridays in a row.
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