Illinois Wesleyan Football Preview Illinois Wesleyan returns nine offensive and four defensive starters from a team that finished 7-2 overall and 6-1 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, the second straight season the Titans have shared the CCIW championship. IWU is 16-3 (.842) the last two years and has won 80% of games in last five seasons (37-9). The two IWU losses were by a total of 10 points (17-14 at Washington U. and 14-7 vs. Augustana).
Head coach Norm Eash, whose next win will be his 100th as a head college coach, welcomes back four all-league performers - senior defensive back and punt returner Kevin Kaplan (20 tackles, 5 interceptions, led league in punt returns), senior linebacker Mike Clark (82 tackles, 45 solo, 13 tackles for loss); senior offensive tackle Adam Miller; and junior wide receiver Tim Snyder (27 catches for 396 yards).
In the offensive backfield, the Titans return a starting quarterback in Josh Akin and fullback in Pat Spangler. Akin was 90 of 182 for 1141 yards and 8 TDs last season while Spangler ran for 317 yards and three TDs on 85 carries. The likely tailback is senior Chris Ross, who scampered for 79 yards on 18 carries while backing up Aaron Telford last year. In addition to Snyder, Akin will aim for wide receiver Eric White, who gathered in 20 passes for 312 yards and six scoring strikes last fall.
The Titans amassed 3,156 yards of total offense last year (5.1 per play) and with the experience of a veteran offensive line, that number is likely to increase this seaon. On the offensive line in addition to Miller, returning starters are Nathan Gavzer and Tom Mikolajczyk at guards and Joe Bzdyl at the other tackle.
The Titan defensive is traditionally stingy - in last year's final NCAA Division III statistics, Illinois Wesleyan was 29th in total defense and 13th in scoring defense (12.0 allowed). In addition to Kaplan and Clark, linemen Brad Burtnette and Willie Chandler were starters last fall. Linebnackers Peter Dabrowski and Kenny Hogue are heavily counted on to contribute in 2002.
On special teams, junior kicker Brian Klesath is back for his third year as IWU's full-time kicker. In 2001, he was 7-of-9 FG and 20-25 PAT. For his career he is 45 of 52 PAT and 13 of 22 in FG tries. Freshman punter Drew Himes (6-6, 200 pounds) will join a short list of freshman starters during Eash's tenure. "We're real excited about Drew," Eash said. "We think he can be an All-American type of punter just because of the build of his body, the leg swing and so forth."
Eash, whose 15 year record is 99-40-1, told Doug Hamm of The Pantagraph that he has been pleased with the preseason progress of both his offensive and defensive units. "The offense is right where I thought it would be," Eash said. "There's a lot of potential there, and I think we will be very explosive. We've just got to guard against complacency and keep improving. Defensively I think we're going to be a surprise. Our kids are taking it to heart that maybe people don't believe we're going to be very good defensively. It's going to be a quick, fast, team pursuit type of defense. That's how we're going to have play because we're not going to be overly big."
In the preseason coaches poll, IWU was picked to finish second in the CCIW behind Augustana. "It's kind of funny because the last two years they picked us fourth in the conference and we won it," Snyder told The Pantagraph. "It doesn't mean anything to us anymore because we've been slapped in the face twice before and just shown everybody up in the conference. Everybody guns for us in the conference because everyone wants to beat us. It's kind of nice to prove it to them every year that we're the same team coming back."
The Titans open their grid campaign on Sept. 14 at Wisconsin-LaCrosse before facing Washington University at 6 p.m. Sept. 21 in the home opener, the Titans' first night home game in 31 years.
Talented Titans tired of CCIW ties
By Douglas Hamm
Pantagraph staff, Tuesday, August 27, 2002BLOOMINGTON -- Sharing is a noble virtue, unless it comes to conference football championships.
Illinois Wesleyan's two-time, co-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin champions plan to be stingy this season.
"It's always better to have something of your own," senior linebacker Mike Clark said during Monday's Media Day activities at Wesleyan Stadium. "Our number one goal is to go get it for ourselves and have that undefeated season. We don't want to leave it up to tie-breakers."
Senior defensive back Kevin Kaplan was even more adamant.
"We are way tired of taking a piece of the title," Kaplan said. "This year there's no excuses and no exceptions."
The Titans have reason to be optimistic. Nine offensive and four defensive starters return from last year's 7-2 squad which tied Augustana for the CCIW title with a 6-1 league mark. A total of 31 lettermen are back, led by All-CCIW first-team performers Clark, Kaplan, senior offensive tackle Adam Miller and junior flanker Tim Snyder.
"We've got the talent this year. It's just believing we can do it, and I know we do," said senior quarterback Josh Akin. "We just have to match the potential and strive to be the best we can."
IWU was picked to finish second in the CCIW behind Augustana in the preseason coaches poll, which didn't sit well with Snyder.
"It's kind of funny because the last two years they picked us fourth in the conference and we won it," Snyder said. "It doesn't mean anything to us anymore because we've been slapped in the face twice before and just shown everybody up in the conference.
"Everybody guns for us in the conference because everyone wants to beat us. It's kind of nice to prove it to them every year that we're the same team coming back."
IWU coach Norm Eash, who enters his 16th season one victory shy of 100 at his alma mater, welcomed 104 players to last week's double-session practices. The first week of camp did nothing to douse Eash's optimism over the upcoming campaign.
"It's been a good week," Eash said. "We've been pretty fortunate (with injuries), other than defensive lineman Jared Wagner. We really wanted to see him in preseason camp but he missed it all with a knee injury.
"We only had six days of doubles, and that makes a difference. You go 10 days or over 10 days and there's some wear and tear on the body. They're still tired. We needed this day off today."
Miller saw a noticeable change from his previous three preseason camps.
"I think we're weeks ahead of where we were last year," Miller said. "We have so many people back we don't have to do so much installation. We can work on perfecting the timing, routes and misdirection plays.
"Camp was here and gone, and usually it seems like it lasts forever. We just flew through so much stuff."
Kaplan, who also earned All-CCIW first-team honors as a return specialist, is impressed with how the Titans have come together as a team.
"We've developed some good chemistry and character," Kaplan said. "We're definitely loaded with talent, just like we are every year. The difference this year is going to have to be our chemistry. Our seniors have a big standard to hold up, and we're trying to make that better and better."
Eash has been pleased with the progress of both his offensive and defensive units.
"The offense is right where I thought it would be," Eash said. "There's a lot of potential there, and I think we will be very explosive. We've just got to guard against complacency and keep improving.
"Defensively I think we're going to be a surprise. Our kids are taking it to heart that maybe people don't believe we're going to be very good defensively. It's going to be a quick, fast, team pursuit type of defense. That's how we're going to have play because we're not going to be overly big."
The Titans will open the season Sept. 14 at Wisconsin-LaCrosse before facing Washington University at 6 p.m. Sept. 21 in the home opener. It will be the Titans' first night home game in 31 years. Last year's scheduled night game against Aurora at Wesleyan Stadium was canceled because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"We're ready for this year, and our goals are really high," Snyder said. "We're thinking playoffs and way past that."