Newsfeed
Printer-Friendly ModeCardinals return with just 11 starters, optimism
August 25, 2005 —
Although he did not use the term "rebuilding" to describe this year's team, head coach Randy Awrey certainly could have about his Cardinals. Instead, he describes this year as a "transition" year.
"We're kind of in a transition stage," he says. "It's kind of exciting in one sense, because you have new people - coaches and players. It's kind of been for many years the same guys. We've had a lot of three- and four-year starters. We're at the point now where we're on the back end of that, where we're starting over again with a lot of young guys who will become three- and four-year starters."
This year's Cardinals will return just half of its starters from a year ago, when the team went 7-3 in the GLIAC and missed the playoffs for the first time in five years. The offense will return six starters, while the defense will return five. Gone are record-setting quarterback Mark Radlinski, current Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Todd Herremans and two other offensive linemen, linebacker Neil Baumgartner, defensive end Pierre Colin and safety Corey Gonzales.
Replacing Radlinski will be sophomore Chris Dougherty, who beat out seven other candidates to win the starting job at quarterback. Depth and experience at running back, wide receiver and the offensive line should allow Dougherty's transition to starter to not be as rough as it could be.
"You're hoping that you're in a situation where you're not expecting the quarterback to win the game for you," Awrey says realistically. "You're expecting the returning players to do that."
Aiding Dougherty's cause will be senior running backs Logan Barnhart, Justin Barcey, and Bart Bennett, Awrey says. Barnhart, who emerged last season to be voted the MVP Offensive Back/Wide Receiver, will most likely see most of the carries.
Barcey, who has been unable to stay healthy during his time at SVSU, and Bennett will see some carries as well.
Wide receiver looks to be the deepest and best position on the offense this year, as four starters will return from last season. Seniors Mark LaFreniere and Stan Spencer will lead the group, along with junior Bob Awrey and sophomore Rick Cottengim.
LaFreniere, who broke his leg in the first half of last year's game against Northwood and received a medical redshirt for the season, is fully recovered.
"Laffy's healthy, so that's going to help," Awrey says, "as far as getting back a guy who was a great football player and missed our whole football season last year. He's ready to go, he's been rehabilitated. He did all of the summer workouts and preseason camps with no limitations, so we're excited about him coming back to the lineup."
While replacing the All-American Herremans and center Nic LaFear and guard Butch Bauer smoothly will be next to impossible to begin the season, the Cardinals do bring back returning starters Stephanol Santos and Matt George, both seniors.
Taking Herremans' spot at left tackle will be junior Matt Buren-Priebe, who will double as the long snapper on special teams. Junior Tony Alessi will be taking over for LeFear, an All-GLIAC Honorable Mention performer.
Senior preseason All-American John DiGiorgio will lead this year's defense, expected to be the team's strong suit.
The up-the-middle presence for the Cardinals will be experienced, as senior Chad Steele and junior Damion DeRosia will lineup at defensive tackle, and John's brother, junior Joe DiGiorgio, and junior Lenny Dantinne will provide big plays and hard hits from the safety spots.
Returning at defensive end for the Cardinals are seniors Dan Fodrocy and Joe Hermann. In the Cardinals' modified 5-2 system, the two "ends" couple as outside linebackers.
The Cardinals' starting cornerbacks from a year ago, Sheldon Cantrell and Solomon Brittain, are also gone. Replacing them will be junior Delando Bradford and sophomore Mark Miller. Redshirt freshman Matt Black, listed in the Cardinals' 2005 media guide as "arguably the fastest player on the team," may also see time at the corner spot.
Solidifying the special teams unit is senior punter Dustin Esslin, a First Team All-GLIAC performer two years ago and Honorable Mention last year, and sophomore kicker Bobby Belmonte, who was named GLIAC Special Teams Player of the Week after making four field goals at Ferris State last year.
"We're hoping that with our experience on defense and our kicking game guys coming back, we can make it more of a team effort and not have to rely on our offense all the time," Awrey says.
While the saying goes "Defense wins championships," Awrey believes it's not just the defense that the Cardinals need to step up.
"I think we need both a good offense and good defense," he says. "Obviously, you can't win games if you can't score points. But I think that early in the season, when you have a young offense, you have to be able to let that offense grow and mature, which means we can't get into a scoring fest. We'll need to be able to hold the score down defensively so that our offense has time to catch up with its timing."
In years' past, there would be games the Cardinals could rely on the strong arm of Radlinski to bail them out, or the defense to make an important stop when needed. Awrey concedes this year might be a little more difficult.
"We are just going to have to do whatever it takes," he says. "Some games, that will mean playing great defense and some games that will mean playing great offense, and some games it might be the special teams that makes the difference. Whatever it is, our goal is to win the football games, and all those other stats don't mean much."