2004 Wilmington College Football Season Preview

Wilmington College is looking to new head coach Phil Dorn to lead the football team back on the road to prosperity.

Dorn inherits a team that was 2-8 last season, but returns 15 of 24 starters from that squad, including eight defensive starters.

Leading the way for the squad will be 2003 All-American Brandon Tisdale, who had the sixth most tackles for loss among all of the NCAA's four football divisions (I-A, I-AA, II and III), with 25.5, and is ranked fourth in career tackles for loss in Division III history with 71.5 for his three-year career. His 38.5 career sacks also ranks fourth in Division III history.

Also back for Dorn's inaugural campaign are seniors Deon Short, Damien Ivory, Marcus Hefner, Mark Lane and Jeff Jenkins, all of whom played significant roles last season. Dorn wants to transform the football squad into a more physical version of itself.

"We want to establish a strong philosophy of physical football," commented Dorn. "We want our players to come in and understand that we are going to be very disciplined. We are going to play smart and be very aggressive."

The new coach wants to establish a physical brand of football for the 2004 Quakers. "We want to establish ourselves as a team that you will have to stop our running game to beat us," said Dorn. "I believe very strongly that to win in football­at any level­that you have to run the ball, and be able to stop the run. Defensively we want to be a team that can run to the ball. We are going to have a very multiple, attack-style defense."

The former Cincinnati assistant coach has no favorites coming into camp in the early fall, and is willing to move people to new positions to give his team the best chance at success. "I believe that our emphasis is to put the best 11 guys that we have on defense," noted Dorn. "If you can't stop your opponents, you can't win the game. We are going to put a big emphasis on defense and on special teams."

Defensively, the Quakers return eight starters from a year ago, including four defensive tackles, three linebackers and a pair of defensive backs.

Leading the way on the defensive line is the tackle tandem of Lane and Tisdale, who have each started all 30 games they have played. A year ago Lane was fourth on the team in tackles with 66, while Tisdale recorded 60. Lane had nine tackles for loss and a sack, while Tisdale was among the nation's leaders in each of those categories with 25.5 tackles for loss and 10.5 sacks. Outside of Tisdale and Lane are a trio of defensive ends, junior Jimmy Courey and sophomores Nick Davey and Kevin Vidourek. Courey led the trio with 23 tackles a year ago, while the sophomores each had 10 tackles in their first year with the program.

"We want to have guys in the defensive line who can run to the football and be very aggressive up front," said Dorn. "They have to be people that have an attitude of gaining the line of scrimmage, attacking an offense and disrupting blocking schemes­­being guys that can make plays for us."

In the linebacking corps, the Quakers return the top three tacklers from last season in seniors Marcus Hefner and Jeff Jenkins and sophomore Jeremy Clingner. Hefner led all tacklers with 83 stops while Clingner had 78 and Jenkins 70. Junior Dirk Beckett had 19 stops in three games a year ago, as Cory Norvell had six stops.

"You have to have players who can make tackles in space, who can cover space on the field, who can run well, and can be sure tacklers one-on-one," commented Dorn. "Our linebackers are going to be people that will be asked to be athletic, quick on their feet, people that can run and make plays in space and have good decision making responsibilities. They will need to be able to read and diagnose keys and get to their responsibilities in a fast manner."

In the secondary the team returns two safeties and a pair of cornerbacks that saw significant action in 2003. Elliott Ward and Brandon Slocum both saw action at safety last season, with Ward recording 47 tackles and Slocum 14. Ward and Slocum each had an interception, while Slocum, a former quarterback, tied for the team lead with six passes defended. Junior Joe Roberto and sophomore Chad Otte both return at the cornerback position. Roberto had three interceptions last season and six passes defended while Otte had 30 tackles in four games played before having his season cut short by an injury.

"We want our defensive backs to be aggressive and physical," said the first year head coach. "We will be using a lot of man-to-man concepts in our secondary, and we are going to be a little bit more aggressive in playing our style of defense. We want to be more physical at the line of scrimmage with receivers and also be physical in re-routing receivers as they begin to run their routes to try to disrupt the passing game. Guys in the position need to have a great ability to not only cover people, but also be people that can make great tackles and can work well in space."

The kicking game returns top punter Drew Springer, who also doubled as the team's kicker. Springer averaged 33.8 yards per punt last season on 56 attempts. He downed eight inside of the opponent's 20-yardline. His longest punt was 50 yards. He was also 15-of-17 in extra point attempts as a kicker, and is looking for his first collegiate field goal after missing his first four attempts last season.

Kick returner Tyler Kelch returns for the Quakers, after averaging 19.2 yards per kick return in 29 opportunities last year, while Roberto returned three punts, to lead all players back this season.

"In the kicking game we want to be simple and sound in our approach," said Dorn. We want to be fundamentalists of the kicking game, and have those teams actually enhance each game, to try to alter the course of the game, which special teams are capable of doing at any time in the game. We say our philosophy in the special teams will be one-play-warriors, guys who can run in on the field and make one great play for you, and then run back off. Some of those players can be starters, and some of those can be guys who are not in the game at the time, who come off of the bench to make a great play and help us alter the course of the game."

Back at quarterback for the Quakers is the duo of seniors, Brett Pogozalski and Damien Ivory. Pogozalski threw for 417 yards in six games last season, while Ivory threw for 159 while also playing wide receiver, running back and returning kicks. Pogozalski was 36-of-81 passing with two touchdowns, while Ivory was 10-of-31 with a long toss of 60 yards to start the game for the Quakers on a flea flicker in the homecoming victory over Marietta.

"The quarterback will be the decision maker of the offense," said Dorn. "A lot of our offense will be called at the line of scrimmage, so what we are looking for is a quarterback that can make solid decisions and keep us in the best play we can be in for the situation. We are looking for someone who can execute the play by making great decisions, whether it is throwing or running the ball, or whatever we ask him to do. We are looking for a quarterback being a position that the defense has to account for. We need to have someone back there who is athletic, that can run and cause problems for the defense. We want to make the defenses account for our quarterback as a complete athlete, not just someone who will hand the ball off and throw it."

Leading the returnees at running back are junior Schulyer Streber and sophomore Tyler Kelch. Kelch, who rushed for 344 yards last season, had a single-game high of 204 yards and two touchdowns in the team's victory over Heidelberg. Streber rushed for 107 yards in six games for the Quakers with a long of 14.

"The backfield positions are much the same," noted Dorn. "We will feature two- and one-back formations. We will have what we call a fullback or utility back that is not only a good blocker but can also run with the ball and catch some coming out of the backfield. We will have an I-back posiition, or even a single back at times, that will feature a very talented runner who can also catch the football."

Leading the wide receivers is the duo of Deon Short and Ryan Howell, who combined to catch 67 passes for 1005 of the team's 1540 yards. Howell led the team in receptions with 37 for 486 yards while Short had 30 catches for a team-best 519 yards and six touchdowns. Also back for the receivers is tight end Joe Clark who had four catches for 24 yards and Ivory, who hauled in two passes for 27 yards.

"We need players at wide receiver who will be good blockers­they will be a big part of our running game­as well as being able to catch the ball," said the new head coach. "We need multiple talented football players. We won't be featuring specialization­our players will be as total of a football player as they can be. We also want to have very athletic tight ends who can be people that we can split out and also align in tight to help us with run blocking."

The offensive line returns both starting tackles and a starting guard, but loses four-year starter and All-OAC center Abe Lawson, who is along this year as an assistant coach. Returning are tackles David Uloho and Jeff Hastings and guard Ricky Palmer. Hoping to fill in for the lost spaces are junior Justin Beers and sophomore Doug Creech.

"We want the offensive line to be physical but also athletic," said Dorn. "We don't want guys that are necessarily big people. We want them to be as strong and physical as they can be, but we also need guys up there that are athletes and can be quick. The offensive line is probably the most difficult position to play, because you have to make split-second decisions, and often-times you are trying to block more physical athletes, guys that are quicker­ones that can move quickly on the snap."

The team starts their season on September 4 as the team travels to Delhi, Ohio, to face off against the Lions of Mt. St. Joseph in opening game in their new stadium. Wilmington's home opener at Williams Stadium will be three weeks later, as the Quakers host NCAA Tournament participant Baldwin-Wallace College at 1:30, before hosting Heidelberg October 2 for homecoming.