Football team hopes to build on fantastic finish
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The Albion College football team hopes the success it enjoyed at the end of last season carries over to the 2010 campaign.
With many of the skill players returning on offense and a defense led by a veteran line and athletes in the secondary, head coach Craig Rundle enters his 14th season with optimism as Albion seeks its 34th league championship.
“We had a lot of momentum at the end of last year and it is something we tried to build on during the off-season,” Rundle, a 1974 Albion graduate, said. “There was a lot of excitement in the off-season based on the way we finished. The guys feel good about themselves and what they believe they can achieve in the future.
“We competed pretty well with Trine University, the team that won the league championship, so our goal is to compete for the league championship and win it,” he added. “We have some work to do before that can happen, but the guys are confident we have the ability to do that if we work hard.”
Albion led the MIAA in turnover margin and finished second in total defense and points allowed. All-MIAA first team lineman Austin Rodgers (Dexter/Chelsea) and back Chris Greenwood (Detroit/Martin Luther King) and second team lineman Jeremy Green (Chattanooga, Tenn./McCallie School) form the foundation for the defense.
Rodgers was bothered by a high ankle sprain throughout the 2009 season, but he still wrapped up six tackles for loss and 2 ½ sacks. Green, who will enter his fourth season as a starter, was credited with 26 solo tackles last season. Rundle expects Neil Copeland (Livonia/Franklin), who was credited with six solo tackles and two pass break-ups last season, will join Rodgers and Green.
The strength up front should allow Albion’s linebackers to thrive. The group is still young – John Lesinski (Grass Lake/Grass Lake) is a junior and Tony Brown (Bay City/Bay City Central) and C.J. Carroll (Warren/Warren Fitzgerald) are sophomores – but the experience they received last season will be invaluable. Brown led the unit with 40 ½ tackles, including 3 ½ for loss, in 2009.
“The linebackers have to get better, but I expect it will be an improved position because the guys are back with a year of experience under their belt,” Rundle said. “I thought Tony Brown had a great freshman year after playing with a broken hand toward the end. He is going to be a real good player as he matures. John Lesinski was playing well at the end of the year.”
Albion has to fill graduation losses of its safeties, but Greenwood headlines a secondary that Rundle believes will be more athletic than any he has put on the field. Greenwood played in only six games last season, but his seven interceptions would have placed him among the Division III leaders had he played in 75 percent of the contests. Greenwood returned two interceptions for touchdowns, including a 39-yard effort for Albion’s first score in its 17-16 victory over Adrian College.
Rundle expects competition between converted running backs Aaron Dolkowski (Dearborn Heights/Divine Child) and Wes Sherman (Okemos/Haslett), and Devin Burnett (Detroit/University of Detroit Jesuit) and Nate Ross (Fowlerville/Fowlerville) for the safety positions.
“The biggest thing we have to replace with the graduations of Jacob Lee and Robbie Moffett is leadership,” Rundle said. “They were older guys who had played in a lot of games.”
By rushing for 487 yards in the final two weeks of the season, Clinton Orr (Buchanan/Buchanan) climbed the ladder of the leading running backs in Division III. He finished 73rd in the nation with an average of 85 yards per game. The Britons debuted a wildcat formation in the final game of the 2009 season, and they plan to be creative in developing ways for the athletic back to touch the ball as many times as possible in 2010.
“The wildcat is going to be a regular part of what we do each week,” Rundle said. “Clinton runs it extremely well and it’s a way to get the ball in his hands anytime you want. Even if people know we’re running the wildcat, they still have to defend it.”
The line will be the point of emphasis when the Britons campus in August as they seek to find men to replace the graduation losses of two-time all-MIAA first team center Cameron Reichow, all-MIAA second team performer Brett Rude and longtime starter Eric Browning. Albion will build its line around all-MIAA second team performer Shane Jesiel (Sterling Heights/Henry Ford II) and three-year starter Thomas Gerow (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North). Brice Johnson (Troy/Troy) was a part-time starter for the Britons, while Eric Alamat (Brighton/Detroit Catholic Central) and Justin Jevicks (Hastings/Hastings) showed promise last season. Rundle added Jevicks would have likely been a starter if he had not been sidelined by a foot injury.
Kicker Mychal Galla (Muskegon/Muskegon Catholic Central) led the MIAA in field goals and punting on his way to achieving an all-MIAA second team award. He 33.6-yard punting average was deceiving as 19 of his 56 boots forced opponents to take possession inside their 20-yard line.
Albion will have to adjust to some changes in the schedule as it squares off against three news non-league foes (Wheaton, Greenville, and Wisconsin-Stevens Point) and there are a couple of new head coaches in the MIAA in Jim Deere at Adrian and Rich Hulkow at Olivet College.
Albion will play its first two games at home – against Butler University on Sept. 4 and Wheaton on Sept. 11 – and alternate home and away games when it enters the league play with the Oct. 2 Homecoming game against Kalamazoo College. The Britons’ final home game of the season is an Oct. 30 date against Adrian, and they are idle the week before the Nov. 13 season finale at Trine.
“I hope it’s a situation where we’re playing Trine for the league championship and we’ll have two weeks to prepare,” Rundle said. “The different part for us will be playing nine consecutive weeks.”
