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Printer-Friendly ModeCards young but experienced
August 24, 2007 —
Young, at least in sports, can be a subjective term, referencing age or experience or maybe a combination of both. Just a year ago, having only 13 seniors led coach Randy Awrey to label his team as such. What, then, does he make of this year's Cardinals?
"We're still a young team," he says. "But that's not a bad thing in some ways. We have got some very talented freshmen and sophomores."
While we will have to wait for the season to unfold to see just how talented those young players are, the fact is that Awrey has a lot of them: 89 to be exact. That's 77 more than the amount of seniors, 12, on the roster.
But just because his players are young doesn't mean there is a wealth of inexperience on the roster. The 12 seniors will play prominent roles, but unlike some stacked Cardinals teams from the past, some of this year's sophomores have game experience, too.
"We broke nine redshirts last year," Awrey says of last year's 6-4 injury-riddled campaign. "I don't think in all of our years previous here we broke nine. But then again, they got game experience. We're hoping to not have to do that this year."
Still, those young players will be filling holes left by some valuable seniors from a year ago. The biggest hole is in the secondary, where both of last year's starting safeties, Joe DiGiorgio and Mino Solomon, and their backups are gone. This year's team is also without wide receiver Bobby Awrey, nose tackle Damion DeRosia, two offensive linemen, and kicker Bobby Belmonte.
A quick look at the roster would indicate that Awrey's biggest concern would be filling the secondary holes, but he says there's a larger concern.
"We're losing four secondary guys who also played a lot of special teams," he explains. "We had Bobby, a very intelligent wide receiver, who also played a lot of special teams. We lost some defensive backs, some receivers, and some linebackers, so there goes all your special teams guys. Then you lose your kicker. So my concern is more that our special teams are going to be different, because it's almost all brand new."
Special teams are not going to be the only aspect of this year's team that will be different. While it will not be brand new, the Cardinals offense will be directed by Bill Unsworth, who comes to SVSU to replace departed offensive coordinator Jim Kiernan (who took the head coaching job at Gannon). Unsworth spent three years as the Cards' wide receivers coach from 2003 to 2005 and tutored current NFL players Ruvell Martin and Glenn Martinez.
Unsworth, Awrey, and Kiernan have worked together several different times over the last decade and a half.
"When you look at the offense, you'll say 'Oh, this is similar,'" Awrey adds. "It's just the verbiage and calls. Concepts are concepts: it's blocking and tackling; it's football. But the things that (Unsworth) tries to do are simpler. There isn't as much of a learning curve there. So that should be a little more friendly for the young guys to learn and play in."
The learning curve will be even smaller for the young players because of the 12 seniors on this year's roster, eight are on offense, including quarterback Chris Dougherty.
"The good news is you have got a guy like Chris Dougherty, who is very intelligent," Awrey says. "I mean, he's boarding camp. He's smart."
Dougherty comes into this season as the Cardinals' most proficient passer ever, having completed 65.7 percent of his passes over two years as starter.
Barring injury, Dougherty will almost surely become the school's all-time leader in completions and passing yards, and with 33 touchdown passes would set the record in that category.
He will have several veteran options to throw to, including Ric Cottengim, who was named to the All-GLIAC First Team last season after catching 52 balls for 765 yards and 13 touchdowns. Dougherty will also be looking to get the ball to his twin brother, Joe, and tight ends Steve Brander and Kevin Kelch. Joe Dougherty was third on the team with 29 catches for 392 yards, while Brander and Kelch combined for 16 catches for 214 yards.
Dougherty, who missed three games last year due to injury, will be protected by a group of offensive linemen led by Josh Gibbs and Bill Kern. The seniors are two of seven linemen that started at least one game for the Cardinals last year, a year that saw injuries decimate the line.
Meanwhile, the three-headed committee of running backs that Dougherty handed off to last year is down to two this season. Sophomore Brad Crandall, who was third on the team with 223 yards on the ground last year, injured his knee in the spring and is out for the season. That leaves junior Brandon Emeott, who was first with 444 yards and a 4.2 yard average last season, and sophomore Toby Goetz, who will be the thunder to Emeott's lightning.
The four seniors on the defensive side of the ball are right where they will be needed most. Defensive tackle Josh Miller and linebacker Derek Volmering lead the group, which also will rely on cornerback Mark Miller and linebacker Kerk Summers for senior leadership. Volmering and Summers will be aided by sophomore John Jacobs, who was one tackle for loss shy of tying the Cardinals' season record and was second on the team with 68 tackles.
While even Awrey has yet to decide who will start at safety, the cornerback position is solidified. Miller is joined by junior Matt Black, who was named to the All-GLIAC Second Team last season, and junior Michael McClenney.
Awrey has also not decided who will be handling the kicking duties when the Cardinals host Ashland on Sept. 1. Junior Jeremy Burr is the veteran of a group of four possible solutions, but has not attempted a field goal during his career. He is competing with redshirt freshman Colin Yerby, freshman Austin Borchard, and sophomore Evan Muldoon, who made all 30 of his extra point attempts and was 12-for-15 in field goal attempts at Grand Rapids Community College last season.
"Right now, they need to piece together about four good days in a row if they want to be the guy," Awrey says.
While he admits that there is not much he can do to aid the situation further, Awrey adds that he isn't worried.
"Eric Houle started as a freshman, and he turned out to be a heck of a kicker," he says of the Cardinals' all-time points leader.
With a more favorable schedule than last year, including the home opener against Ashland and home games against Ferris State, Michigan Tech, and Grand Valley State, the Cardinals should be able to improve on last year's record, but that success will depend partly on some luck.
"Early in the season, you have got to get the right bounce of the ball," says Awrey, who points to a last-minute victory in the season opener against Northwood two seasons ago that led to a 11-2 record and a heartbreaking loss to Ferris State three games into last season that set the tone for a 6-4 record.
"If you don't have that big play or that big thing happen to you, you might not have as good of a season," he adds. "But if you have that magical thing happen, all of a sudden you are just rolling."