Saturday, November 13, 2010

CMU-Navy Live Chat

Join me starting at 3:15 p.m.

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Friday, November 5, 2010

Central-Western Live Chat

Join me starting at 5:45 p.m.

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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

CMU Injury Update

Here are some notes on the injuries to the football team heading into Saturday's game with Bowling Green.

-Ryan Radcliff will be the starting quarterback. Enos felt Radcliff responded well to being pulled last Saturday and feels he is just pressing too much at times.
-Paris Cotton is probable to play as he has been able to practice this week but hasn't been taking hits.
-Kashawn Fraser is questionable for Saturday as he is pretty much a game-time decision. Along with the loss of Joe Kinville due to suspension, the DE's will be thin.
-Safety Bobby Seay Jr. will be out on Saturday and Jahleel Addae is questionable. He did practice today after missing on Tuesday, but they need to see how his ankle responds. The secondary will be very thin on Saturday as LaVarus Williams is already out as well.
-Enos did say he will not remove redshirts in order to address the depth as he felt it wouldn't be fair to those redshirted players.

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Friday, October 15, 2010

CMU vs. Miami Live Chat

Join me starting at 11:45 a.m.

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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Olson out for the season

Central Michigan starting left tackle Jake Olson will miss the remainder of the 2010 football season due to a knee injury suffered during the Eastern Michigan game.

The coaching staff was hopeful for Olson to return this year but when swelling in the injured knee didn't subside, they knew surgery would be required, which forces Olson to miss the rest of the season.

Rocky Weaver will make the change from right tackle to left tackle for the remainder of the year while Eric Fisher will stay at right tackle.

Olson, a redshirt sophomore, started 12 games last season at left tackle and earned freshman All-America honors by collegefootballnews.com.

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Friday, October 1, 2010

CMU vs. Ball State Live Chat

Join me for my live chat during the CMU-Ball State game starting at 3:15 p.m.

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Friday, September 24, 2010

CMU at Northwestern Live Chat

Join me starting at 11:45 a.m.

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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

CMU Fall Practice Day 5 Notes

Today marked the first practice that the Chippewas were in full pads and there was plenty of hitting going on. Not a lot of roster notes to report on. Joe Sawicki was in a red jersey today, and hobbled on crutches, but still suited up in full pads, so hopefully his injury isn't too serious.

Here are some other notes from practice:
-Brett Hartmann has a strong leg and during practice he was able to punt the ball 60 yards from his spot a number of times. The key for him this year will be consistency. Many times throughout past seasons, we have seen him shank punts at the wrong time and CMU can't afford that this year.
-Sean Murnane continues to get a lot of pressure on the quarterback during drills. I thought maybe that had something to do with limited contact in practices prior to today, but it continued with full pads on. He has been a beast in the last week. My concern with him is that his body seems to be put together with tape and glue due to his previous injuries. I just hope he can stay healthy for his senior season.
-Dannie Bolden had some early highlights as he put a big hit on Reggie Brown after a long pass from Brandon Fricke and he also intercepted a Fricke pass on a nice play, but I suspect the interception came because of a missed route assignment by tight end Connor Odykirk.
-Dan Enos set up a third and short situation for the team to compete in and the defense won eight of the 11 snaps. There were a couple of fumbled snaps by the quarterbacks in that stretch and a few false starts as well. The defense really created a lot of push on the front line.
-Enos then set up a first and goal from the 3-yard line scenario and the offense went 6-for-6 in that. The first possession came down to fourth and goal from the two before Carl Volny blasted his way into the end zone. Volny and Zurlon Tipton had the best success in this drill, as they are the biggest running backs. Freshmen backs Ben Brown and Kevin King also scored in the drill.
-The final few minutes of practice had the offense and defense start at the home 30-yard line with the offense trying to drive the field. The first team struggled on offense except for a short pass to Matt Torres that he took for a long gain, which set up a 40-yard field goal attempt by freshman Paul Mudgett, which he missed wide right. Vince Agnew also had a sack during that series and he has had a good but quiet week.
-The third team then stepped on the field to end the day and they turned the ball over on downs on a 4th & 11 situation at about the 25-yard line. On the final play, Anthony Hollis broke up a pass in the end zone from Fricker to Valtorrey Showers. Leterrius Walton blew up a running play for a highlight in the series.
-Aaron Kaczmarski injured his left knee during the first team series, he attempted to keep going but couldn't put enough weight on his leg. The injury ended his day, but didn't seem to be too serious.

That is it for the day. I will be taking the next few practices off to focus on other assignments, mainly high school football. There is a scrimmage set up for Saturday that I will attend and provide notes for when it is done. As always, thanks for reading.

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Monday, August 9, 2010

CMU Fall Practice Day 4 Notes

Again, not much new to report today. The team will be in full pads on Tuesday, so I may get a better feel for who is coming along. Here are my observations:

-First, freshman tight end Joe Sawicki got rolled up on during drills and injured his left knee. I don't know the severity, but he did walk off the practice field on his own power at the end of the day.
-I tried to focus a little on special teams today, so here are some notes on that. Richie Hogan is the backup punter as of now and Brett Hartmann looks to be the primary kickoff specialist.
-In terms of return men, the following guys were working on fielding punts during practice: Taylor Bradley, Paris Cotton, Davon Muse, Lorenzo White, Valtorrey Showers, Vince Agnew, Zurlon Tipton, Cody Wilson, Billy Myler, Jahleel Addae, and Carl Volny. I would think Bradley would be an ideal return man because of his speed and quickness, but I am not sure who Enos will use to returns kicks and punts as of now.
-In terms of injuries, the following offensive linemen are still limited contact in practice: Zach Wiersma, Darren Keyton, Jake Olson, Jeff Maddux, Jon Czerwienski, and Matt Kanitz. All take part in practice, but once the offense vs. defense drills start, they sit out. None of the injuries are serious or should keep them out for the first game.
-Also on an injury note, A.J. Westendorp was out of his boot today for his ankle injury. He still has a brace on the foot, but it seems to be improving.
-Cedric Fraser sat out of practice again today as did Daniel Jackson, Leron Eaddy, and Jake Bentley, along with a pair of tight ends.
-During the actual drills and practice, Bobby Seay had a nice interception of Radcliff during the two-minute drill. Seay made a perfect safety read and got the pick.
-Today I really started to focus on Radcliff and how he progresses through his reads. It seems like, as of now, he locks on to a primary receiver and struggles with the play when that receiver isn't open. He also forces some passes to his first read but there are also times where he goes through his reads and does a nice job. I think it will just be a work in progress early on. He just needs to try and manage the offense in the first four games of the season.

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Saturday, August 7, 2010

CMU Fall Practice Day 2 Notes

Alright I made it a point to figure out who was taking snaps where on defense today. First, Daniel Jackson was out of practice with an ankle injury. He stepped on a teammate during drills on Friday. Not sure how severe the injury is, but wouldn't expect him back right away.

Okay, the first team defense is Left End: Darryll Stinson; Defensive Tackles: Sean Murnane and John Williams; Right End: Kashawn Fraser; Will LB: Matt Berning; Mike LB: Nick Bellore; Sam LB: Alex Smith; Left CB: Vince Agnew; Right CB: Lorenzo White; Safeties: Jahleel Addae and Bobby Seay.

The second team defense is Left End: Joe Kinville; Defensive Tackles: Odino Etienne and Steve Winston (Jackson in here probably); Right End: Caesar Rodriguez; Will LB: Shamari Benton; Mike LB: Mike Petrucci; Sam LB: Armond Staten; Left CB: Anthony Hollis; Right CB: Lavarus Williams; Safeties: Dannie Bolden and John Carr.

There really isn't enough bodies to put an entire third team unit together. I would expect to see all of the defensive linemen cycle in and out during the season and in most nickel packages, Bolden came in for the first team to play the third corner position.

Here are some observations and notes:
-While Taylor Bradley has the coaches praise, right now Matt Torres is with the first team and he made some nice catches in traffic during 11-on-11 drills.
-The quarterbacks threw the ball down field a lot during drills and Derek Rifenbury had a few nice passes to Bradley. Rifenbury looked better to me today than yesterday and seemed to have more confidence.
-Bradley has a lot of speed and agility. He made a nice move on Lavarus Williams on a short pass to break into open field. I think Bradley will be a huge asset in the passing game this year.
-The staff continues to use David Blackburn down field in the passing game. I think he will have a really big year if he stays healthy. The MAC has been notorious for struggling to cover athletic tight ends that can stretch the field.
-One interesting note was there were some frustrations from the defensive line during 11-on-11's and DL line coach Tim Daoust encouraged his guys to talk it out with the rest of the first team defense. They did just that and performed better the next series. I think it is good to have the players take some responsibility with their performance and not just blame other teammates and sulk.
-The kicking game looks to be a little touchy but Richie Hogan does indeed look to be the starter. Freshmen Paul Mudgett and Connor Gagnon also are in the mix, but Hogan seems to be the most consistent.
-On a sad note, don't expect to see Tim Phillips much if at all this season. I guess his arm injury is pretty serious and will have him out a while. The positive in that is that he does have a redshirt year available, so if he is to miss the whole season, he wouldn't lose a year of eligibility.

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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

CMU 2010 Schedule Update

By DREW ELLIS
Sun Sports Writer

Central Michigan seemed to have its 2010 football schedule set in stone early in the 2009 season, but like all things, nothing is certain, as the Chippewas have had to make some big changes in recent weeks.
The most recent change comes in the scheduled season opener at Virginia Tech.
ESPN has managed to put together a meeting between Virginia Tech and Boise State for the opening weekend of the 2010 season, thus leaving the Chippewas in the dark.
Instead of losing the Hokies as an opponent, the game will now be moved to Oct. 9, and CMU will instead host a Football Championship Subdivision school yet to be named on Thursday of Labor Day weekend to kick start the Dan Enos era.
While the team hasn’t been confirmed, sources close to CMU expect the opponent to be Hampton.
Another scheduled game for 2010 was to be Indiana visiting CMU for the second game in a three-game series.
The Chippewas went to Indiana in 2008, and the Hoosiers were set to come here in 2010 and then CMU would again return to Indiana in the near future.
With the Hoosiers pulling out of this year’s game to take up another opportunity, CMU is holding strong that Indiana has broken its contract agreement.
The contract states that either team that breaks off the second game in this three-game series must pay $150,000. For the third game not being played, the responsible party would have to pay $200,000. CMU is claiming that Indiana is responsible for the loss of both games as the Chippewas are electing to not play the third game since the Hoosiers broke a promise of coming to Mt. Pleasant in 2010. Thus, Indiana would owe CMU $350,000.
Indiana is arguing that it is only responsible for the second game not happening and that the third game could still go on as scheduled, thus CMU would owe $50,000, subtracting the difference of the two games.
CMU has taken legal action on this and a decision is now in the hands of judges to determine which school will have money taken out of its pocket.
With the loss of the Indiana home game, the Chippewas will now head to Northwestern for a seventh road game, and only have five games at Kelly/Shorts Stadium in 2010.

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