I know that I say this every year, but man – that off season was brutal. Maybe it was the fact that the NFL wasn’t quite what it had been, March Madness was blah, and the Royals – well, they are the Royals. So needless to say, it seemed to take forever. But the past month or so has really flown by. Let’s see if we can get caught up. NW’s Athletic Director Wren Baker left and took a position with Memphis – this left an open position that was filled by Mel Tjeerdsma. Unfortunately for Mel, the first couple of announcements that he had to make weren’t of his doing: the Athletic Dept. decided to retire the Paw that Jim Svoboda drew and we all came to love – and replace it with a new family of logos, including the Faux Paw and some other logos which appeared to be stolen from other schools or taken right from a Clip Art CD. Needless to say, it wasn’t the most well accepted change in the world. The next announcement was as equally upsetting to fans: there will be no new video board this year. I don’t know if anybody else had been named AD and their first two major announcements were those, if they hadn’t of been ran out of town. Oh, but they introduce a new tailgating policy. Basically it’s the same that it has been, but now it’s officially okay to drink alcohol before the game as long as you are not a minor.
This Week’s Game:
So that brings us to the football team. There have been some major changes there as well – well, not as major as some changes in offseasons the past couple of years. Most noticeable will be the absence of JF3. JF3 was released from the team after the spring semester. I believe that academics were a major issue, but I think that his attitude with the team added to the decision. Most recently, Ricky Bailey quit the team a few weeks ago. I think that that is about the extent of players unexpectedly leaving, now for the additions. NW beefed up their WR corps by bringing in a couple of WR transfers. Reuben Thomas came in to Maryville in the spring semester via Pasadena City College and Korey Jackson signed last December but didn’t come to Maryville until this semester. He hails from Homestead, FL and is friends with the Dixon brothers. Both of those guys are Juniors. This summer also saw Collin Bevins transfer in at DE from Iowa State. He is a red-shirt freshman and was scheduled to start at DT for Iowa State. NW currently has him as a DE, but from what I’ve seen he seems a bit slow to be at DE, and will probably get moved to DT by the end of the season.
Those additions helped to address some of my concerns at the end of the season last year. If you remember, my biggest concerns were QB, OL, DL, and WR. The addition of Bevins definitely helps the DLine. There appears to be a lot of talent at WR – but a lot of that is talent on paper. The majority of the WR corps have never caught a pass in a D2 game. The OL is still the same OL that NW had last year, minus Rod Williams and add Cody Carlson back from injury. QB – that’s the $64,000 question. As of right now, Trevor Adams is the scheduled starter. I really hope that he pulls a Zach Dickey and has an amazing Senior year. Can it happen? Sure – but I will believe it when I see it. IMO TA is a really good QB when it comes to practice and lesser opponents – but he has always struggled against really good opponents. And Saginaw Valley is going to be a very good opponent!
On offense, Trevor Adams is going to be the starting signal caller – and he’s going to be going up against a good defense. The Cardinals return 8 starters from last year. That’s a lot. But I will be honest – they weren’t the best in the world – actually they were middle of the pack. But they didn’t need to be great, because SVSU’s offense could score a lot of points. But 8 starters is still a big deal – and they now have another year under their belt of working together, so they will definitely be better than they were last year. The D is led by #41 Brian Johnson – linebacker. He had a total of 102 tackles last year. NW is going to need to take advantage of any mismatches, and score early and often. In the backfield, Billy Creason is going to be getting the majority of snaps. But I would not be surprised to see some of the younger guys gets some snaps as well. Bobby Burton (RB3) is really good, and runs a lot like LC. He is a Jr this year, NW redshirted him last year knowing that with Simmons and JF3 he wasn’t needed. Phil Jackson II appears to be the real deal – and has the potential to be as good as Xavier Omon. And Justin Fulks is showing a lot of promise as well. As far as TE’s go, I’m really not too sure. Haven’t seen a lot of TE plays in the scrimmages, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. NW returns Joel Gantz as a TE, and has a bunch of younger guys – the one that stood out to me in spring ball was Brock Behrndt. One player described him to me as possibly having the best hands on the team. As far as WR’s go – that is anyone’s guess. The only receiver that caught more than 4 balls last year that is still on the team is Bryce Young. And he missed most of fall camp due to injuries. I don’t know if he’s going to play, or if he does what 100% he will be at. The rest of the receivers are all pretty much new guys. I am hoping that Clint Utter steps up and has a great senior campaign. I am very interested in seeing how the new guys do. From what I understand, they are quick and have good hands. I would not be surprised to see Haden Bryant see the field – he is a true freshman, and a walk-on on top of that. How rare is that for the Bearcat program!?!
On Defense – the Bearcats are definitely going to have their hands full. The Cards return one of the best QB’s in the nation, and one of the best WR’s in the nation as well. Jonathan Jennings led the GLIAC in passing, and his favorite target was/is Jeff Janis who led D2 with a total of 1635 yards receiving. They also return their #2 and #3 receivers as well. So their WR corps is completely intact. The D line is going to need to get some kind of pressure on Jennings. But that is easier said than done – as SVSU returns their entire Oline. The good news is that the Cards don’t return much in the RB department – but they do have a transfer from Grand Valley – Norman Shuford. He sat out last year because of the transfer, so he is pretty much an unknown at this time. I don’t think that this is a good time for a coming out party for him – so if the Dline and LB’s can keep him in check, that would be good! The secondary is going to need to not have any blown coverage – because if they do, Jennings WILL take advantage of those situations.
There is no reason to be super confident going into this game. SVSU is a good team who isn’t afraid of competing against the big boys. They opened up their season last year by beating Valdosta – and they ended up having a pretty good team last year. What I’m saying, is that they are not going to be intimidated to be playing the Bearcats. NW is going to need to play smart ball, and not have stupid mistakes. Like I said, the Cards know how to score – they remind me of an LSC team. Not the best D, but a really good offense. A lot is going to depend on the game plan put together by the coaches. Last year the coaches tried to start off the season with a completely different game plan – and both of those games were ugly. Hopefully they have completely forgotten those playbooks! I wouldn’t be surprised to see this as a higher scoring game. In the end, I believe that NW will eek out a win: NW 45 SVSU 42
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