2007 Preseason Camp Archive
The local and regional media received their first look at the 2007 Western Michigan football team on Aug. 10 as the team held its annual media day at the Donald J. Seelye Center. The media and fans also saw a new look from the Broncos as WMU unveiled its new home black jersey. It is a "throwback" look accoring to head coach Bill Cubit.
Below is a transcript of Cubit's opening statement and also the opening statement from junior cornerback E.J. Biggers:
Cubit Comments:
We have had an interesting deal since the International Bowl that we lost. We lost five assistants, but this gave us the opportunity to get five great new people in here that we feel really proud about. Bill Miller is our defensive coordinator who been at Miami, MSU, Florida, ASU and OSU. Bob Stanley has been an old friend of mine he has been at Texas, Texas A&M, Purdue, Kansas State with a lot of great people. Pete McCarty was a good friend of mine from Stanford. Scott Kavanaugh who is a Midwest guy from Chicago, which gives us some ties in Chicago. He played in Wisconsin. Grant Heard who played at Ole Miss who is a high achiever and will help out with recruiting.
For our team I will start out on the defensive side, we started nine sophomores last year so we have a lot of people over on the other side of the ball. In the Front end I think a lot of guys have done a great job, Nick Varcadipane right now is playing pretty well. At there is a battle at the other tackle with Cory Flom and Cory Cielenski and both those guys are doing a pretty good job.
Depth wise we have got some guys: John Russell and some other guys biding for some time there. defensive End Zach Davidson who we feel is pretty good player in this League. Greg Marshall who moved from linebacker to a defensive end, a local guy from Portage Northern who has really done a lot of good things. We have got a couple other guys Justin Braska and Mark Berghius two similar type guys' 6'3 - 6'31/2, 225 and 230 pounds tight guys who can run. We are real excited about a couple of freshman out there. I think Kevin Cyrille is a guy who going to be a good player, it depends on how much time he is going to need to get to that spot right there.
As for linebackers we were thin and we had been thin, the last couple of years we were lead by Dustin Duclo who was our Defensive Team MVP who is a smart intelligent guy who gets us all lined up and understands the whole scheme. Austin Pritchard who is a kid you hardly even recognize anymore, he is up to about 230 pounds and a guy that I think is really going to come out in the zone. We have some other guys, Cornelius Robinson an older guy who will get some chances out there. Then two I think younger guys who will end up playing, Harrison Porter from Fort Lauderdale down there who is a little undersized but the guy can run and has a pretty good work ethic and Boston McCornell who is a JC Transfer from Georgia Military. I think that those two guys have a pretty good chance to be good players.
At the back end, if E.J does not screw up I think we have got some people back there, but E.J is in the corner and has been a two year starter for us, and on the other side we have Desman Stephan who is starting because London Fryer had issues injury wise and her is going to have to earn his way back because that is the was it is around here and I think Andy Dorcely is playing a lot better than last year and has matured and showing that the one year has really helped him out. Inside on the Safety's I think we have the best safety tandem with C.J Wilson and Louis Delmas, and Louis is a guy who just shows up in practice all the time and backing him is Anthony Gebhart who is a walk on from a division three school who we just awarded a scholarship. Anthony is our third safety and we are trying to find a fourth one right now.
I have been really happy with our kicking. Jim Laney is our returning punter. We also signed a guy Ben Armer which I hope we don't have to play him and just have Jim out there. Our place kicker Mike Jones has really come back and has done a nice job, he attended a lot of camps this summer and has done really a great job so far. The backup is TBD, we have Dylan VanFossen who is a walk-on and he may be the backup there.
On the offensive side of the ball Brandon West, Glenis Thompson and Mark Bonds are all in the mix. It all depends on who plays the hardest, and who gets it done. To be honest with you all three are doing a good job for us right now.
At tight end we have Brandon Ledbetter and we have another guy from Fort Lauderdale Anthony Middleton, who is kind of a clone of Brandon, a lot better looking. We also have a bigger guy Keith Schultz who I think is a valuable. We have some other guys who I think can be worked in and Jimmy O'Neil and Joe Workman which I kind of a familiar name which is John Workman's brother who plays basketball at WMU. Joe has done some nice things out there and I am really pleased with him.
At wide out we have a ton on them, I think Jamarko has got a chance to make a great deal, he is weighing about 230 and his work ethic is allowing him to keep growing personally and I think that is going to keep him on track. Herb Martin has looked a lot better since last year. I think that the speed of the game was really hard for him, but he got himself better and understands that a little more. We have got some guys that did not work with us last year and Jordan White got hurt with his ACL in preseason has done a nice job. Juan Nunez who did not qualify last year and we usually out a tag on academically but has since far exceeded what his entrance was which I give a lot of credit to him. Kelly Martin who I think is looking better and Jamelle Murray is another guy. Two young guys Deshon Lawrence and Kyle McDowell who we think with time will improve.
Offensive Line wise we have Robbie back and I think he is sitting a record with consecutive starts, I don't know if anyone can have one because we play more games. At left tackle we have Bob Johnson who is getting pushed by Andy Laue that is a big battle. At left guard it is Matt Williams and he is getting pushed by Phil Swanson and that is a pretty big battle. Right now a Right Guard we have Nick Clemens is a red-shirt freshman who is getting pushed by Schyler Truesdall and that is getting to be a pretty good battle right now. On the right side is James Blair and he has been a starter on off for two years and he is getting pushed by Anthony Parker who is well beyond his maturity and we hope we can red shirt Anthony and only go with three tackles.
As for quarterback, I can't tell you. On the first day we had all three of them. We had one guy take starter reps and then move them down and the next day the next guy did it and the next day the next guy did it and we go into the second cycle. We are fair with everyone and we let them all go out there and perform. We check out charts and every throw they make they are getting graded on every decision they make they're getting graded on accuracy, consistency, red zone offence, short yards offence. We are evaluating and seeing how the team reacts; see how they are in the huddle, so it's an on-going process. I don't think you can go out there and make decisions too early.
We also have a position called a T position; the T position is kind of a hybrid type back. And we are fortunate to have a couple of guys, Keith Schultz and Nic Saad are veteran also they are guys who kind of do a little bit of everything.
E.J Bigger's opening comment:
I would like to say that they defense has grown, we've learned a lot. Everybody is picking up everything in the secondary. We've all grown, me, Louis (Delmas), C.J. (Wilson), Des(man Stephen), and Londen (Fryar). Everyday we get with each other, learning things, especially the starters right now we get together every day and pick up everything that Coach Daoust and Coach Miller tell us and we try to bond together right now just like we did last year to try to become the best secondary in the MAC and in the country.
I think the things that Coach Miller are putting in now are a lot better than last year, and are going to help us in the long run against the teams we are playing this year and a lot of their spread offences. We've got a ton of coverages that we are putting in, some days we are slow on them but we are picking them up real nice and I think we are going to keep growing every day and become a great secondary.
We all have two more years and the young guys are picking up real strong, everyday we're working with them, me, Louis (Delmas), C.J. (Wilson), Des(man Stephen), Londen (Fryar), the coaches, and we are just doing everything our coaches say and trying to be the best that we can be.
