 |
 |
 Last Updated: Saturday, August 20, 2005 |
|
|
|
Last Updated: Saturday, August 20, 2005 |
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
Loper Football
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||
 |
||||
|
Lopers.live is an MP3 streaming "LIVE" radio broadcast via the Internet. |
||||
|
To view Loper Lines and other items on this web site, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. For the FREE download click on the logo below. |
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
Lopers.com is proudly
designed & maintained by |
||||
|
|
||||
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 18, 2003
Lopers Finished Spring Drills Yesterday
Kearney, NE - Coming off the best season in two decades, the Nebraska-Kearney football coaching staff spent much of spring practice trying to mold young talent into the type of player that will help the Lopers repeat as RMAC Champions in the fall. UNK will have 13 starters (eight offense, five defense) back, eight who earned some type of all-conference honor last fall.
After nearly a month of workouts, UNK finished up spring practice Thursday.
Head coach Darrell Morris, who has posted a 24-7 record in three years, has a lot of the "fancy" players back from last year's squad that went 9-2 and made the NCAA Division II playoffs for the first time in school history. On offense, that includes senior quarterback Pat Korth (Hastings), junior running back Mike Miller (Littleton, Colo.) and all three starting receivers. Defensively, senior linebacker Jesse Calabretto (Gretna), junior linebacker Akil Davis (Aurora, Colo.) and senior safety Sean Haines (Ft. Collins, Colo.) made their share of plays as well.
The challenge for Morris and his staff is to rebuild the offensive and defensive lines as well as the defensive secondary. UNK lost 14 seniors from last year's team, including three starters on the o-line, four talented d-linemen and three cornerbacks.
"Like every spring, you have a bunch of young kids that don't have a lot of game experience and have a limited knowledge about your offense and defense," Morris said. "You try and bring them along but it can be frustrating at times.
He continued, "Inexperienced players make mistakes. A guy will make a mistake on a play, and then someone else will do something wrong on the next play, so things never run that smoothly."
At the areas where the Lopers lost the most, they have redshirt sophomores and redshirt freshmen replacing fifth year seniors like Steve Vecchio (center), four year starters like Chris Blair (left guard) or all-region performers such as Michael Cunningham (nose guard).
"We would prefer they would have another year to develop but, because of some circumstances, we need them to be ready now. Our older guys know what they are doing and are just refining things. The younger guys are trying to learn how to play their positions," Morris said.
Athletic ability isn't a problem for the UNK youngsters as, according to Morris, they are often faster, quicker and stronger than the predecessors.
On the offensive line, sophomore Asa Poole (Denver) and redshirt freshman Nick Trampe (Riverdale) are battling to start at center while sophomore James Poynter (Plainview) and redshirt freshman Paul Dutmer (York) are fighting for one of the tackle spots. UNK's new starter at left guard will have some more experience as Justin Weller (Littleton, Colo.) has lettered the past two years while Bryan Kula (Phoenix) saw the field a bit last year after transferring from Arizona.
The leadership will come from senior left tackle Ryan Bachman (Ponca), senior tight end Joel Jacobs (Mullen) and junior right guard Kurt Nielsen (Grand Island). They all will be starting for the third straight season.
The interior defensive line may be even greener than the offensive as sophomore Brad Bohn (Ravenna) is the only returning player that saw extensive time in 2002. Gretna sophomore Danny Ostransky, who missed all of last fall with injury, has moved inside from end. He lettered as a true freshman in 2001.
Others who will play there include sophomore Mike Strong (Eustis), who only played deep snapper in the fall, and redshirt freshmen Clayton Gaunt (McCook) and Trent Georgiana (Hastings).
"We have some good athletes up front and we need a couple of them to step up and replace the four guys we lost (Cunningham, Kalon Fancher, Bryan Calder and Bryan Eakin)," Morris said.
UNK has some experience at defensive end where juniors Todd Guenther (Crofton) and Curtis Harris (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) played extensively last year while sophomore Ross Gardner (Wakefield) backed up Eakin.
To replace departed corners John English, Justin Comstock and Theron Kitt, UNK has a host of players that backed up the trio in the past. They include juniors Deano Korecky (Northglenn) and Clay Mankin (Aurora) and sophomores Byrone Bell (Denver) and Nate Hotovy (Gretna). Transfer Burton Bosan has also been impressive this spring.
And at place kicker, the Lopers will be as young as possible. True freshman Jessup Pfeifer, from Northglenn, Colo., is in line to replace two-time All-American Henrik Juul-Nielsen.
"I think we can have another good year but, like always, we really need to stay healthy," Morris said.
UNK opens its season at home August 28th (Thursday) against in state rival UNO.
Inside the Numbers - Returning Leaders
Passing - Korth (170 of 314 for 2,689 yards, 17 TD's, 10 INT's; 244. 5 ypg; 54.1 comp. pct.; 6 rushing TD's)
Rushing - Miller (333 carries for 1,600 yards, 13 TD's, 145.5 ypg, 19 receptions for 106 yards)
Receiving - Richie Ross, So. (56 receptions for 1,142 yards, 10 TD's, 103.8 ypg, 20.4 ypc)
Tackles - Davis (74 tackles, 27 solo, 5 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks)
Offense - 31.7 ppg, 427.5 ypg (257.9 throwing, 169.6 rushing)
Defense - 18.7 ppg 294.2 ypg (200.5 throwing, 93.7 rushing)
Contact:
Peter Yazvac yazvacpa@unk.edu
Media Relations Director (308)
865-8334
|
Website Suggestions ? Contact the webmaster at Lopers.com |
Copyright
© 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
University of Nebraska at Kearney
Comments? Contact the Loper
Staff at Lopers.com
