FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[sigma one]

Last year, Wabash ran the ball 65% of the time (438 runs in 679 snaps).  In 2011, they ran the ball, 61% of the time (529 runs in 868 snaps--a playoff year).  This, in 2012, after gaining less than 30 yards rushing v. Hanover behind an inexperienced offensive line.  The line now has experience, Belton is gone (he would sometimes run when a pass was called and a receiver was not apparently open, and, after all, he was a superior runner so quite a few plays were called that used his talent), and Holmes returns after a 1000-yard + season.  And he missed the first two games.  Kudos to C.P. Porter who also more than helped out until he was injured.
     Absent Kitley (a big absence--on an NCAA post-graduate fellowship in chemistry), the offensive line returns.  This includes two who split time at Center--yes, Brock is a smidge less than 300 lbs; he was about 360 or so last year, depending on the day of the week,  the accuracy of the scales at that weight, and his latest snack.   All  the receivers also return.  So, what will coach Rseburn try to do?
    The QB situation will be fun to watch.  Walsh played pretty well when called on last year.  Putko is a rising talent.  To be inclusive, there is another sophmore, Schmetz, who has ability.  Of the freshmen, Christen was the QB on a big-school state championship team.  He's small; 5-8, 165 or so; very quick.  Rice, also a state champion QB, on a team that plays everyone it can schedule in and out of state.  He's a lefty with great size.  Belton's big brother says this Belton, Cameron, is special--what else is a brother to say.  Brown will move to defense:  athletic, probably a safety, maybe a linebacker.  McMann had a productive h.s. career at Western Boone.  He's a little bit of an unknown coming in I would say.  Matt Hudson once told me that he started his sophomore-year camp as the 7th-string QB, worked hs way up the chart, and was inserted in the second half at OWU to engineer a win.  The rest, as they say, is history.

[smedindy]

sigma one made brief mention previously, but one more of the freshmen to maybe watch for behind center sometime down the road is Connor Rice from Cathedral.  6-3 220, which is Walsh-sized.  Nobody plays against better competition in Indiana than Cathedral does and the information superhighway tells me that he got offered from ISU, so he's probably pretty good.  I don't think he runs quite like Chase did, but Matt Hudson did ok for three years in the ER offense and he wasn't a hyper-mobile dude either.

The offense we saw last year wasn't Hudson's offense.  The Wabash offense is evolving.  We all realize Chase is a totally different athlete than a lot of us have seen at Wabash. Despite Chase being gone, I don't anticipate the offensive staff totally reinventing the wheel offensively based on how fast the Q is.

There are lots of easy solutions for the "non-mobile QB in a zone read run game" problem. Teams like that tend to add more bubbles, motions, and other screens to get the ball out of the Q's hands when he gets a pull read.  There are lots more triple option looks and packaged plays (read more about those here.) to get the ball out. I don't think you can just totally change what you do from year-to-year based on your Q.  You have to make the offensive scheme fit around the personnel you have.  That continuity needs to be there.

Au contraire, Pal...word on the streets* is that Wabash is implementing a Maryland I this year.  Except they are going to do it really fast.  That's right.  Stack I, one snap every 15 seconds.  Mind blowing stuff. 

*all unconfirmed and possibly made up entirely

Actually, I heard they're going to the football version of Wisconsin basketball! Hopefully without the missed field goals! 

[ExTartanPlayer]

The QB situation will be fun to watch.  Walsh played pretty well when called on last year.  Putko is a rising talent.  To be inclusive, there is another sophmore, Schmetz, who has ability.  Of the freshmen, Christen was the QB on a big-school state championship team.  He's small; 5-8, 165 or so; very quick.  Rice, also a state champion QB, on a team that plays everyone it can schedule in and out of state.  He's a lefty with great size.  Belton's big brother says this Belton, Cameron, is special--what else is a brother to say.  Brown will move to defense:  athletic, probably a safety, maybe a linebacker.  McMann had a productive h.s. career at Western Boone.  He's a little bit of an unknown coming in I would say.  Matt Hudson once told me that he started his sophomore-year camp as the 7th-string QB, worked hs way up the chart, and was inserted in the second half at OWU to engineer a win.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Just a note on this: it's not at all unusual to have a glut of skilled QB's enter the program at once and let the proverbial chips fall where they may.  It's a good problem to have, and regarding the Hudson note above - I think this is somewhat common, with so many kids in Division III and so little to REALLY evaluate the kids against one another before their arrival at camp, things can take some time to sort out before you realize who can really play.

Tangential self-indulgent note: I vividly remember showing up for my first day of camp and by the end of my first practice thinking "Good god, I'm never going to play a snap here" (I was the fifth-string left tackle, the only guard/tackle under 6 feet tall, and the only one under 250 pounds).  I did all right.  That experience is why I strongly believe that a) it's nearly impossible to tell who will be a successful college ballplayer from mere high school highlights and b) in Division III, with no scholarship limits, you can NEVER have enough good kids, you've just gotta bring in as many as you can at every position, throw it all against the wall and see what sticks.  You have to see kids playing against one another in person and FURTHERMORE see how they respond to a year or two of college ball.  Some kids grow, improve, and blossom once they arrive on campus, while others never improve from the minute they walk on campus.

We had a particularly gifted defensive player in my recruiting class who saw significant action in every game as a freshman and started as a sophomore.  He was by far the most gifted recruit on the defensive side of the ball from our class.  He left CMU after our sophomore year for decidedly non-athletic reasons.  The next season, another less-talented recruit from our class took his place and produced two straight all-conference seasons.

Basically, my point is that having a lot of talented QB options in camp is a terrific thing because it's likely someone will get hurt, someone will struggle academically and/or personally, and maybe 1-2 others just won't make the transition from a football standpoint.  Bringing in that many kids from top-notch programs is an excellent sign, though.  Somebody from that group has gotta be able to play ball.

[wally_wabash]

The Matt Hudson arc is pretty epic.  If not for a very unfortunate onside kick at the end of game 1 in 2007, we might never have seen the big fella play ball at Wabash.  But that onside kick happened, a two-week trial by fire competition happened which Hudson won and then bam- three straight playoff trips, two OPOY awards (probably maybe sort of should have been three), "I will not fail you, Coach" (he didn't), and NCAC QB of the decade.  Funny how things work out. 

Man he threw a good deep ball. 

[bashbrother]

Man he threw a good deep ball.

He sure did,  mechanically he was sometimes hard to watch.....   every time he ran with the ball,  I worried that his upper torso would be separated from his lower limbs....  But he got the job done.  Some Little Giant! 

He was the definition of a true winner!   

[smedindy]

Any kid for any school lamenting where he is on the depth chart should look to Hudson for inspiration. How many before or since have been mired in the depth chart, threw in the towel, and then later a situation that was tailor made for the player presented itself but he was nowhere to be found.

Of course there are many reasons, mostly excellent reasons at that, why a player chucks it and concentrates on studies, but being stuck as a fifth string or so their freshman year shouldn't be the sole cause for just quitting.

[sigma one]

Agree, Agree, Agree.

[Joe Wally]

Thanks for the analysis on the QBs, Sigma.  My baseball team has been dead since before the fourth of July.  September 14 can't get here soon enough!

[bashgiant]

I am new to the D3 scene and was wondering why D3 starts practice so much later than D1. I heard some of the LG players stay most of the summer and train but not a whole lot other than lifting, running, and swimming.

[smedindy]

It's simple - the season starts later. You can begin official practices based on the date of your first game.

D-3 doesn't kick off until the 7th or the 14th, whilst some D-1 schools begin play at the end of this month.

[bashgiant]

It's simple - the season starts later. You can begin official practices based on the date of your first game.

D-3 doesn't kick off until the 7th or the 14th, whilst some D-1 schools begin play at the end of this month.

Makes sense.

[wally_wabash]

I believe the first day of class plays a role in when you can start as well.

[sigma one]

It gets complicated, but here is what I think I know--I'm allowed to miss some details.The outline is here as best I can recall.  The first day of fall practice does involve counting backward from the first day of classes.  Some days (the ones during the the week in which classes begin, a 7-day period) count as one unit.  The other days count as two units.  There are 29 total units counting backward, and on that day practice can start.  (I believe DI gets to use more units.)     There is a breaking in period of 5 (or maybe 4) days.  During the first two days, helmets only; the next two, helmets and shoulder pads; after that, full gear.  A team can practice 29 times (be on the practice field) before the first scheduled game, but there can be no consecutive days of two-a-day practices.  Last year, 2012, the way the days fell some teams had only 2 (3?) two-a-day practices.  There are also rules about on field and off field time and about the length of time that must be observed between practices.  I think no practice is allowed to be longer than three hours on the field, and the recovery time must be three hours between practices.  In the early going a team can also have short-walk through sessions without any gear, I think.
     This all sounds overly complex, and I'm not going to defend the NCAA (too far).  But this was worked out so that teams would not jump the gun or adversely affect student-athletes.  In the "olden days" many of us will recall that particularly the practices lengths and recovery times, as well as the two-a-days, were more loosely observed.  To even the playing field field, in a sense, the NCAA mandated a stricter model.   
     Is this a good thing?  My vote is yes, but the many old timers, a I'm sure a lot of coaches, are bothered.       

[Mr. Ypsi]

It may also be that d3 players are not quasi-professionals.  With no (athletic) scholarships, many rely on summer jobs to pay tuition and/or survive.

[BashBacker#16]

Good to be back on the Boards!  I 'm ready for the 2013 season to get started.

I apologize if someone already posted this but Ethan Buresh is going to be a nasty addition to the Wabash LB corps.  First off, how good are the trio of Akinribade, C. Buresh, and Scola?  Now add Ethan Buresh - http://www.hudl.com/athlete/548458/ethan-buresh

Can't wait to watch the QB battle too!

WAF