2010 Preseason Camp Roster
Preseason Notes
2010 Rock Football Schedule
2009 Final statistics
Veteran Rock Head Football Coach
George Mihalik will build his 2010 team upon a foundation that consists of 15 starters and 27 lettermen who return from a 6-5 season a year ago.
Headlining the list of returning players are senior kicking specialist #C.J. Bahr#, senior cornerback
Robert Doiley, senior center
Brandon Fusco, junior wide receiver
Devin Goda and junior linebacker
Zach Sheridan, each of whom earned All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division honors in 2009.
The following is an outlook for the 2010 Rock football season in the words of Coach Mihalik, who enters his 23rd season as The Rock's head coach and is the school's all-time leader in career victories (147-90-4 record):
"We have to be categorized as an 'unknown.' Our starting quarterback in the opening game against Merrimack will not prior to that have taken a snap in a college football game. Anytime you have that situation, I don't think you're considered much of a contender. But I think we have the ability to contend, especially when you look at the strength we have in two areas: the offensive line and wide receivers.
"On the
offensive line, we have
Brandon Fusco, a preseason All-American, two-time first-team all-conference selection and four-year starter. It doesn't get much better than that. On either side of him are
Mike Tomaino, a three-year starter and senior, and
Austin Fedell, a second-year starter who played in the Big 33 all-star game after his high school career. We also have #A.J. Hopp# back for a second season at left tackle. So four of our five starters return on the offensive line. Having that gives us a chance to be the surprise team in the [PSAC] West instead of a team that most people think won't be that good offensively.
"At
wide receiver, we have guys that can make big plays and we also have depth.
Devin Goda, an all-conference performer last year,
Kevin Sanders and
Jermale Cromerdie are all veterans. Newcomers include
Geron James, a transfer from North Carolina State, and
John Schademan, a transfer from Colgate. So we have five guys that can get down the field and make big plays.
"At
tight end,
Josh Gardner is pretty much a returning starter because he and
Kevin Guidish split time there last year and
Chad Noce is a solid tight end/rover-type guy. So we have a strong position there as well.
"It will be a little surprising to fans and opponents that, on paper, Rock football this year doesn't have that usual premier, returning, top-notch
running back. But I think we really do have that.
Akeem Satterfield can be a prime-time running back in the mold of all the great running backs we've had here. He's a big body (6-1, 215) and he's got speed to go along with that. He showed in the last three games last season what he's capable of doing. Behind him we have Kitt Anderson and Cody Jackson, who do not have any game experience, so our depth is a question mark.
"The two guys coming out of spring practices and battling for the starting
quarterback position are redshirt freshmen Mike Bongivengo and Kellen O'Neill. Both of them come from very successful high school programs, Mike from New Castle and Kellen from General McLane, both are proven leaders and winners and both have great bloodlines in that their fathers are coaches. They have similar styles; they can hurt you as much with their feet as they can with their arms, which will give us a little different dimension this year. Another factor that will help determine who will be our starting quarterback is how quickly
Ryan Sabo gets healthy to challenge for the position after missing all last fall and spring due to injury. If he can do that quickly we may have a three-player race.
"In terms of
offensive specialists, we have #C.J. Bahr# back for his senior season. He's a guy who's very consistent in his field goals and extra points, which is a tremendous offensive weapon. He was a first-team all-conference selection and one of the 10 finalists for the Mitchell Award last year. Having him gives us, in my mind, an automatic three points when we call on him.
"On the defensive side of the ball, the secondary should be our strength with starting
cornerbacks in all-conference performer
Robert Doiley and
Andre Freeman. Backing them up are two talented young players in
Anthony Saunders and
Brandon Burley [transfer from West Virginia Wesleyan], which gives us four solid players at the corner positions. At
safety, returning starters
Jayson Nickson and
Brandon Watters return. Also seeing a lot of playing time there last season were
Marquis Knight and Bobby Joyce. I think anytime you have eight guys with the experience and talent those guys do you have a pretty good chance to get solid play in the secondary.
"Our
linebacker positions are solid, but the depth might be a little bit of a concern.
Zach Sheridan, an all-conference performer, and
Tyler Henderson, a third-year starter, return and
Lamar Mason had significant playing time last year.
Quindell Dean was with us a year ago but due to some transfer eligibility questions and injuries was not able to compete, but he had a very impressive spring, so I see him giving us good work at an outside linebacker position. And a redshirt freshman who has a great future ahead of him,
Bob Westerlund also had an impressive spring and will give us good depth at outside linebacker. So there are five players we feel will give us a solid effort. You might see a true freshman at the other backup spot, either middle linebacker or one of the outside spots.
"We're going to be very strong at
defensive end. We made a couple moves in the spring, moving
Andrew Pianetti and
Jeff Thompson from linebacker to end. They both give us good presence and pass rush ability off the edge. That's been our style, to get guys who played linebacker in high school, and as they get bigger and maintain their speed and quickness, move them to defensive end. The other end,
Quintin Johnson is another example of that. He is also extremely quick and is going to cause problems for opposing offensive tackles this fall. We will look for a fourth player to give us good depth on the outside. On the interior, we are a little light in terms of proven talent.
Aaron Nall is a solid returning player who will be our
nose guard and
Scott Kachurik returns as a starter at
tackle, but behind them we have some concerns in terms of depth. We have to find help from some players with limited experience to give us depth there.
"Punting, we lost an all-conference performer and four-year starter in
Kyle Witman, so we're looking for someone to step in there. We have a couple of candidates, but who that person might be … that's why we have preseason practices.
"In terms of
return specialists,
Robert Doiley did very well a year ago on punts and
Akeem Satterfield was our kickoff guy at the end of the season and had the big 90-yard return at Gannon, so we know what he can do. Jeff Schademan,
Geron James and
Kevin Sanders are also good return guys, so we will look at them as well.
"Overall, on paper, I think we have enough talent on both offense and defense to surprise a lot of people and win a few more games than people think we're capable of doing. But, as is always the case, a few positions are question marks and an injury here or there can change the complexion of the season.
"The key probably comes to down to the quarterback spot. How quickly they mature and adapt to the college game will be the key to our season, at least early on. We also have to find the fifth offensive lineman, a tackle, and depth on the interior defensive line.
"You may see some things this year you have not seen in the past. Traditionally, we like to grind it out and establish the running game. Right now, I don't know if we have the ability to do that, so now we have to look at and utilize some of our other strengths. That means the mobility of our quarterbacks and the talent of our wide receivers. We're not going to abandon what's been good to us and our philosophy in the past, but can that carry us as far as it has in the past? That's one of the biggest question marks right now and leads to the legitimate question: Will we see some other style of offense from The Rock. Yeah, that's possible.
"Looking at our
schedule, I have always been a big believer that the crucial stretch is the opening part when you can gain some momentum and confidence. This year, right out of the gate, that's not going to be real easy to accomplish with us opening the season against Merrimack, the champion last year in the Northeast-10 Conference and led by their conference's Player of the Year (quarterback James Suozzo). That's going to be a tough opening game; we're going to find out right away whether we can compete. After that, we travel out east to play a Cheyney team I thought made great strides last year, then return home to face West Chester, year in and year out one of the challengers for the PSAC-East title and an NCAA playoff berth. After those three non-PSAC-West games, we play our rivals right down the road, Indiana, followed the next week by Clarion, which is coming off a fantastic year. What a way to start the division schedule.
"The first half of our season will be a big challenge for us. In our first five games, we play four teams that either were a conference champion or came close to winning a conference championship last year and/or are year in and year out one of the top teams in the region. The second half of the season we have the rest of the PSAC-West: Edinboro, an NCAA playoff team a year ago; California, regional champions each of the last three seasons; Gannon, which won its last four games a year ago; Mercyhurst, Lock Haven and then in the final game C.W. Post, a team some people are picking as the team to beat in the East this year.
"When you play 10 games against PSAC teams every year like we all do, you really don't ever get a breather. Look at last year; some teams with three losses got NCAA berths. That tells you the caliber of competition you face in this conference. Three losses does not necessarily eliminate teams from consideration. I think the key is to get started off on the right foot and to get people to recognize you as being a good team. It's a lot tougher to win late and get into contention for an NCAA playoff berth than it is to win early and fall out with a couple of losses later in the season.
"We have 45 new players in our program this year, which is exciting and also nerve-wracking. It's exciting because with new faces comes new talent. You think they are good, that's why we invited them to join the Green and White, so you're excited to get them here and see how they mesh with the veteran players. But it's also nerve-wracking since, after you get past the first two teams on each side of the ball, everyone else is inexperienced. So you can look at it two ways. We'd rather look at it as exciting because of the new talent and new energy that joins our program.
"There's no doubt, though, that early on, we have to count on the veterans who know what to expect and know the pride and tradition of Rock Football to be leaders and bring the younger players along. We feel like we have a group of veterans that will be excellent leaders, thus allowing the young talent to develop as the season progresses.
"We are 'cautiously optimistic' as the saying goes and we are anxious to get preseason camp started."
