Tickets'Young Cats' Launch Football Drills
Bearcats seek replacements for 16 departed starters.
Contact: Tom Hathaway
3/29/2005
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Several key battles for position begin on Tuesday when the University of Cincinnati opens spring football practice.
While second-year head coach Mark Dantonio will welcome the return of 36 lettermen, he and his staff will work diligently over the next four weeks to find replacements for the 16 starters who departed following last year?s 7-5 campaign.
?We?ll be a very young football team,? Dantonio acknowledged. ?We have some experience at some positions with the return of these 36 lettermen to the team.
?Our goals will be to get the best 22 on the field on offense and defense, and then fill in the special teams in the same type of order,? explained Dantonio of the Bearcats? immediate task. ?We did the same thing last year, in a lot of respects, because last year we came in not knowing too much about exactly who was who.
?The offense and defense systems are in place. The special teams systems are in place. We know our players better, they know us better, and they know the expectations. So those are all positives, things we have to build on, the strengths that we have to rely on,? the coach added.
One of the key vacancies to fill is at quarterback, where UC lost four-year starter Gino Guidugli, who rewrote the school?s passing records. Todd Spitzer, a redshirt sophomore, Dustin Grutza, a redshirt freshman, junior college transfer Nick Davila and true frosh Tony Pike will battle for the starting job during spring drills. That battle will likely last through most of preseason practice, according to Dantonio, to give incoming freshmen Craig Carey and Dominick Goodman and first-year sophomore David Wess a shot.
Cincinnati will also have to find replacements for all three of its linebackers, three of the four starters on the defensive line and four of the five offensive line slots. Junior college transfer Leo Morgan and sophomore Jon Carpenter, who is being moved from fullback, are expected to play key roles in the rebuilding of the linebacker corps. Senior Adam Roberts, who excelled at tackle last season, will return to defensive end to help offset the loss of All-C-USA picks Trent Cole and Andre Frazier. Steve Eastlake, a senior who has started the last 24 games at left tackle, will anchor the offensive line.
?I like our attitude. I like our toughness,? stated Dantonio. ?We are going to be a young football team. We?re going to take small steps. We look at this as an opportunity to get better as a young football team. We expect to be successful.?
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