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General Info (Coming Soon) Boards & Admin  use policy(Meetings/Club reports) (Buy, Sell & Trade) Jacket Football (Coming Soon) 2001 Kickoff Classic Hoops Jacket Links |
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Game Previews Brought to you by Army Jacket
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Head Coach- Ellis Johnson (1st year as a head coach) Things started off badly for the Bulldogs (twin 38-0 shutouts by Clemson and Delaware), brightened slighty (2 wins in 3 weeks over WCU and SC State), then plummeted to all-time lows (losses to rivals Wofford and VMI) to cap off a 6 game losing streak. Ultimately it forced former coach Don Powers out as the head man, bringing in Johnson, a Citadel graduate and former player and coach for Bobby Ross. His task is to turn around a team that finished 88th in the nation in total defense, and was even worse at 109th in total offense. Giving up alot of points is not conducive to winning...especially when you can't score yourself. The good news, if there is any, is that Johnson will have an experienced group to work with- only 7 starters are lost. However, given their performance last season, it's no wonder Coach Johnson guaranteed no one an automatic position on the first team. Rush Off. - 174 ypg/49th...Pass Off. - 85 ypg/117th...Total Off. - 259 ypg/109th Returning Starters OFFENSE - OC Jeff Fela (1st season at the Citadel) Quarterbacks Joe Call held down the starting QB job in spring practice after fending off a good effort by Scooter Johnson. I've got to assume that Call showed better leadership and maturity in picking up the Bulldogs' new multiple pro-set offense, because Johnson is definitely the more mobile of the two. Both QB's saw playing time in 2000. Call had 63 completions in 122 attempts for 556 yards in 11 games. He threw for one score and had 8 passes picked off. Johnson did not fare any better. He was 30 of 64 for 378 yards. He managed two touchdowns, but had 6 interceptions in his 9 games. As I said above, Johnson was the more mobile, running the option to the tune of 431 yards on 84 attempts (2nd on the team) compared to Call's minus 93 yards on 43 carries. Johnson is also the team's backup punter and has decent speed; be alert if he takes the field on 4th down. Runningbacks Maurice Murphy (FB) - 5-10, 220 lb. Sr., Bradley Hall (FB) - 6-0, 210 lb. Sr. Murphy is actually the featured back (or at least he was last year) in the Citadel's offense. Blessed with good speed for a back his size, he rumbled for a team high 854 yards on 162 attempts, a very respectable 5.3 yards/carry. He found the end-zone 6 times while adding 4 receptions and 13 yards to his totals. Running their own version of inside-outside, Mahoney is your typical option back who's good to the corner. He picked up 354 yards on 99 carries and added two touchdowns. Both Doyle (6 games, 20 carries, 83 yards) and Hall (9 games, 18 carries, 48 yards) give the Citadel some good experience off the bench. Wide Receivers Healy is the leading returning receiver off a squad that obviously had a hard time completing anything in 2000. I'm sure he's excited about the change in offense. For the season he had 31 receptions for 331 yards and a score. Hines will backup Healy as a flanker. He grabbed 9 catches for 75 yards in his 8 games a year ago. Hollingsworth will replace the graduated Dendrick Gamble at split end. In 2000, he was the 5th leading receiver on the team with 39 yards on 9 receptions. He'll be relieved by Bud Pough who didn't crack the stat book in 2000, but does come from a football family. His father is Buddy Pough, the running backs coach at South Carolina. Former DB Charles Watson (5-8, 165 lb. Jr.) will also figure in the WR rotation somewhere. Tight Ends Johnson played at fullback in 2000 where he managed to get into 6 games, but had no carries. He did catch one pass for 4 yards. With Murphy and Hall firmly entrenched there, Coach Johnson decided Nick Johnson could help out better at TE where the Bulldogs lost Jason Barley. Daly did not record any individual stats- I have no idea how much, or even if, he played in 2000. Offensive Line To be perfectly honest, there's not a whole lot I can tell you about this group. You can see for yourself that they have 4 returning starters. Relative to the passing game, the rushing attack was fairly decent last season. However, remember that in their lone game against a I-A opponent in 2000, they managed just 57 yards on 42 attempts. They surrendered 27 sacks - not too good for a team that was reluctant to pass. With Ellis Johnson looking to throw more in 2001, this could be a big problem, especially when you look at the size (or lack of it) of their OL and remember that Call isn't blessed w/ great speed. The one plus they have for them is experience and that doesn't really fall off in the 2nd team either. LT Horace Stephenson (6-2, 260 lb. So.), LG Corey White (6-2, 265 lb. Jr.) and C Kevin Olecki (6-5, 235 lb. So.) all saw playing significant playing time last year. The problem is numbers...the Citadel was so thin on the OL during spring practice that Stephenson and White are listed as the backups at RT and RG respectively. The staff really needs OT Lew Dawson to come back from injury. They'll also need immediate help from the incoming freshman class. DEFENSE - DC Les Herrin (1st year @ the Citadel) Defensive Line No one area was hit harder by graduation than the line. It prompted the coaching staff to switch things up and go to a 3-4 alignment. Leadership of this group falls to Cunningham, the only returning starter. He recorded 71 tackles, 12 for loss, and forced a fumble in 2000. Keele Goodwin is new to the starter's role, but he did play in all 11 games a season ago, picking up 26 tackles, 3 of them sacks, along the way. All Bethea has to do is fill the shoes of the departed Jeff Johnson (64 tackles, 5 TFL, 3 sacks, 2 fumbles recovered). He played in 4 games last year and had one tackle. Bethea will split time w/ Larry Schreiber (6-4, 220 lb. So.). Schreiber has 5 games of experience and 11 tackles, but couldn't beat out Bethea in spring ball. That could change in August. Aaron Capps (6-2, 240 lb. Sr.) will give the Citadel an experienced backup at NT. He had 26 stops while playing in all 11 games in 2000. At the other DE spot, the coaches moved Ryan Funke (5-11, 235 lb. Sr.) over from the FB spot. He performed well enough in spring practice, he earned a spot on the two-deep. Linebackers Travis Stephens' presence makes this unit the strongest part of the Bulldog defense. The rising senior made the third team I-AA All-American squad and was 1st team All-SoCon. In 2000, he led the team w/ 144 tackles, 23 of them for loss. He'll have to go it alone this year though with his teammate and fellow LB Denny Haywood graduated. It will be up to Rose, a defensive back moved to LB in the spring to replace Haywood's 134 tackles. Macklin is also a former DB moved to LB so the coaches could complete the change from a traditional 4-3 defense to the 3-4 alignment. Sales rounds out the 1st team LB corps. He had 25 tackles in 10 games last season. Quinn Ferrall (6-0, 215 lb. Sr.) will see his minutes increase. He's listed as the backup to both Stephens and Sales. In 5 games, he recorded 10 tackles. Bernardo Richardson (6-0, 180 lb. Jr.) is the #2 bandit. He too had 10 tackles in 5 games. Finally, relieving Rose will be Travis Hodge. (6-1, 210 lb. So.) He actually had more playing time than Rose in 2000 (6 games to 4) and tackles (6 to 5) but missed spring practice w/ a shoulder injury. By the time we face the Citadel, he could very well be the first team linebacker on that side. Defensive Backs I'm sure the coaches are hoping that the experience returning in the defensive backfield translates into improved performance. Howard led this unit last year with 96 tackles and 4 passes defended. (However, I don't think it's such a good thing when a DB has 96 tackles!) Nichols chipped in with 67 stops while Gause recorded 47. Like Syracuse, they were terrible as a unit intercepting their opponents. Only 4 of the Bulldogs 9 interceptions were made by the secondary... and two of those belonged to departed CB Jay Ingram. His replacement is Knight, a former 3rd string QB who didn't have much hope of cracking the line-up on the offensive side of the ball. So. Marcus Cohen (6-0, 170 lb.) will get a trial by fire. After rarely playing in 2000 (and recording 0 tackles), he's listed as the #2 man at both CB positions. Again, I'm sure the coaching staff is looking for help from the incoming class. The main man off the bench will be Marcus Carter. (6-1, 180 lb. Jr.) He'll after wait one more year for Nichols to graduate before assuming a starting role. In the meantime, the new staff sure would like a repeat of his 33 tackles in 8 games off the bench in 2000. Alex Prince (6-2, 180 lb. So.) will spell Howard when need be. Special Teams Actually, Zobel is new to the place-kicking duties. He was strictly a punter in 2000, averaging 36.8 yards on 64 kicks. He was an all-state kicker in High School, hitting a 53 yarder his senior season at James Island. CB Rob Nichols will be the primary kick off return man this season. He handled 9 kickoffs for a 16.1 average in 2000. WR Charles Watson will join him. It's possible that TB's Mahoney and Doyle could also return a few. (Let's see if we can wear out the return men ;-) ) Watson will also be the primary punt returner. Coaching What this all means |
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