Western Courier

Issue date: 8/27/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Adam Sacasa Either junior Zack Wells (pictured here) or redshirt freshman Matt Baar will start the season as Western's No. 1 quarterback.

Media Credit: Adam Sacasa Either junior Zack Wells or redshirt freshman Matt Baar (pictured here) will start the season as Western's No. 1 quarterback.

Media Credit: Adam Sacasa Junior linebacker Mike McEachern pursues sophomore fullback D'Andre Dowdy during practice last week.

Media Credit: Adam Sacasa Freshman running back Andrew Briones works on his route-running skills during a practice last week.

With less than a week before college football kicks off at Western Illinois, the Leathernecks do not know who will be starting its first game under center.

Coach Don Patterson said the quarterback race is between junior Zack Wells and redshirt freshman Matt Baar, but neither have cemented themselves as the starter yet.

"We're comfortable with the way that the guys have developed," Patterson said. "I'm confident we're going to have good quarterback play on Thursday night. I don't know that one person will get all of the snaps, but I'm confident that whoever is in there will do a good job."

Junior Will Ducey was removed from the quarterback competition and has been taking practice snaps from the wide receiver position. He will remain third on the team's depth chart.

"(Ducey) has this mindset: He wants to do everything he can to help the team," Patterson said. "If he's only third in line from a quarterbacking standpoint, then he wants to make himself available to us in any other way that we might choose to use him.

"We still have a lot of confidence in him for how he can play quarterback, but the truth of it is, with the limited workouts we have before the game, we don't have time to get three guys ready like we'd like to," he added. "We only have time to get two guys ready."

One position where there is no question as to who the starter will be is running back. One of the three offensive captains, junior Herb Donaldson is coming off a breakout season in 2006 in which he ran for 1,417 yards and 18 touchdowns; however, he said those numbers have not affected how he will play the game this year.

"Last year nobody knew about me, and this year they're going to be preparing," Donaldson said. "Even if I didn't play last year, I still would have been trying to be the best I can be (this year). It didn't change my work ethic any. I was still going to work hard to try to be the best I could be to help the team."

Backing him up again this season is senior Alex Douglas, who the team voted as an offensive captain. Douglas has a different running style than Donaldson, but according to the starting running back, the senior has all of the tools to make an impact when he's in the game.

"If I'm tired and (Douglas) goes in, we're not going to lose a step at all with (Douglas) going in," Donaldson said. "There's never a doubt in my mind (that) if I'm on the sideline, we're not at our best, because I know (Douglas) will come in and keep the chains moving."

Clearing holes for the two running backs is an almost completely new offensive line. Western lost four of its five starting linemen from last year's team, but each of the replacements has seen significant time during their collegiate careers.

Junior tackles Brett Valle and Reshad Jones have combined to appear in 17 games while sophomore Dan Zeller and senior Zach Howell started in a combined five games last season. Senior guard Drew Sweeney, the team's third offensive team captain, is the only returning full-time starter from 2006.

For Donaldson, it would be reasonable to be concerned with this fact heading into the season. On the contrary, he said he has complete faith in the offensive line.

"I don't think it'll have a big effect because everybody that's stepping up into these starting roles has played in big games," Donaldson said. "It's not like we're breaking in new freshmen."

While the wide receivers did not see a big loss in terms of numbers from last season, they did lose a key component to the passing game with the graduation of Marco Thomas.

Junior Carl Sims fills the void left by the first team All-Gateway Football Conference honoree. Beyond Sims, junior Paul Anderson, redshirt freshman Nick Coleman and sophomore Fred Amiker will be competing for playing time.

Only four days remain before the Leathernecks kick off its 2007 season. For three-straight seasons, Western has finished with a losing record, and all that has done was make the players that much more hungry for a postseason berth.

"The players do have a sense of urgency because they don't want to leave here without a ring," Patterson said. "For 10 of them, it's one last opportunity. For another 26 of them, they've only got two more opportunities, and they want to capitalize on both. I've explained to the juniors that you don't have to be a senior to have a sense of urgency."

Western's quest to end the streak of losing seasons and make it back to the playoffs begins Thursday night when South Dakota State visits Hanson Field.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools