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2006 UW-Stevens
Point Football Preview
This isn�t the kind of season preparation John
Miech is familiar with during his 18 years of college football coaching.
Coming off a 4-6 season that saw the Pointers drop
four of their first five games to teams all ranked in the top 15 nationally
at the time has Miech hoping his players focus only on a fresh start and
their current two-game winning streak.
�We�re not even talking about last year,� said the
veteran coach who endured just his second below .500 season in the past 22
years on the Pointers� staff. �It�s all about blocking, tackling and being
sound on offense, defense and special teams.�
A core of 17 returning starters combined with a
fresh assistant coaching staff has Miech optimistic about an immediate
return to the success UW-Stevens Point fans are accustomed.
�We have a lot of returning starters,� said the
19th-year head coach, who enters the season tied for fourth on the all-time
Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference wins list with a 117-62-2
record. �We�re looking forward to a good blend of experience and new,
enthusiastic assistant coaches.�
Keeping things simple is Miech�s focus for the
upcoming year, believing that his team strayed from its typical physical
style of play and relied on too many gimmicks in recent seasons.
�We got away from Pointer football last year,� he
said. �Due to the fact we�re going to have new offensive and defensive
coordinators, I know we�re going to be keeping it simple. Our young people
will benefit from our lack of complexity.�
The Pointers will build their offense around
senior quarterback Brett Borchart, who is in his third year as a starter and
threw for 2,746 yards and 22 touchdowns in 2004, but adjusted slowly to a
new crop of receivers last year, finishing with 2,101 yards and 10
touchdowns. Borchart found other ways to spark the offense last year,
however, leading the team in rushing and ranking second in the WIAC in total
offense at 224.5 yards per game. Junior Nick Venden and sophomore Jordan
Krause will compete for the top backup spot.
Senior running back Cody Childs was a second-team
all-WIAC pick in 2005 and 2003 and first-team in 2004 as one of the league�s
top all-purpose players. Childs was fifth in the league with 9.4 receptions
per game last year and ranked sixth with 100.6 all-purpose yards per game.
Also returning in the backfield are senior Eric Reible and junior Dustin
Robinson, who along with Childs, gave the Pointers three players with at
least 70 carries and 10 receptions a year ago.
�Those kids are all multi-talented kids,� Miech
said. �Cody�s a special player and we hope he has a banner senior year.�
Junior Chris Freiman and sophomore Jack Marx
gained experience last year to lend depth at the position.
Senior Jacob Dickert emerged as one of the
league�s top receivers at the end of last season with three straight
100-yard games to rank fourth in the league at 78.6 receiving yards per
game. Sophomore Brad Kalsow also made big strides, starting the last six
games and totaling 138 yards in the season finale against UW-Stout.
Sophomore Jeremie Schwartz saw plenty of time at the position along with
juniors Tyler Hau and Kevin Neu and sophomores Luke Gunderson and Rob Balza.
Four of the five starters are back on the
offensive line, including a trio of seniors with center Jake Nantell, guard
Jon Vissers and tackle Dale Bratz. Vissers was a second-team all-WIAC
performer and Nantell earned honorable mention honors. Junior Mike Kovatch
also made eight starts last year at guard, while sophomore James Durante and
junior William Faith made starts when Bratz missed the final four games with
an injury. Other experienced players who are expected to contribute this
year are juniors Jesse Dickert and Matt Petke and sophomore Jay
Schiedermayer.
Junior Adam Spoehr is the incumbent starter at
tight end. Junior Eric Moyer and freshman Chris Dorner, who earned a medical
redshirt last year, will contend for playing time.
Junior defensive end Dan Robinson is the team�s
only returning first-team all-WIAC performer, ranking second in the league
with seven sacks and third with a team-leading 95 tackles.
Robinson is one of four returning starters on the
defensive line as junior Joe Parks is back at the other end, while senior
multi-sport athletes Mike Hayes and Peter Prusinski return at the tackle
positions. Hayes placed third nationally at heavyweight in wrestling, while
Prusinski placed in the top five in the shot put and discus at last year�s
WIAC outdoor track and field championships. Other players to watch on the
defensive line are juniors Heslyn Menadue and Ryan Cresson, along with
sophomores David Chrisinger, Nate Wachowiak and Brad Vickroy.
Senior Brandon Czys made 81 tackles last year to
earn second-team all-WIAC honors and and leads a trio of returning starters
at linebacker. Also back are senior Ben Zimmermann and junior Nate Johnson.
Other contributors at the position will be sophomores Brian Bailey and Tyler
Seibel and freshman Kyle Scofield, who practiced with the team through
training camp last season.
�I think the linebacker area is going to be our
biggest improvement,� Miech said. �The improvement I�ve seen in the
off-season from our returning players along with the incoming freshmen and
transfers has me excited.�
The secondary will provide the biggest changes
with new starters at every position for a group that ranked last in the WIAC
in pass defense. Four of the Pointers� five departing starters were in the
defensive backfield. Senior Tony Seidel and junior Kasey Morgan saw starts
last year and are the likely replacements are cornerback. Senior Bryan
Buechel and junior Lincoln Berg are also experienced and begin training camp
as the potential safeties.
There will be plenty of challengers for those
spots with junior Jason Barber and sophomore Luke Frisch battling for time
at cornerback and sophomore Tyler Florczak and junior Brett Hirsch, a former
UW-Stevens Point basketball player, fighting for safety spots.
Both kicking positions are also open with Frisch
the likely replacement at punter. Junior John Ryan, who handled kickoff
duties last year, will battle for the placekicker job with sophomores Brian
Nicksic and Ryan Grabowski. Morgan ranked second in the WIAC in kickoff
returns last year and is expected to share return duties with Marx and
Reible among others.
The schedule will again be a challenge as the
Pointers open with games against national power Hardin-Simmons and WIAC
rival UW-La Crosse. Also, an odd scheduling quirk has the Pointers playing
seven of their 10 games on the road with just three home games for the first
time since 1947. |
