WIAC Preview Two-a-days Part 4: UW-River Falls

UW-River Falls

Fast Facts:

Head Coach: Matt Walker; 4th season (1st at UWRF); 22-8 (overall) / 0-0 (UWRF)

Starters Returning/Lost on Offense: 7/4

Starters Returning/Lost on Defense: 8/3

Starters Returning/Lost at Kicker: 2/0

Returning All-WIAC: Taylor Edwards (Sr., RB, 2009-Second, 2010-First); Greg Klingelhutz (Sr., All-Purpose, 2009-First, 2010-First)

2011 Schedule

2010 Recap:

Coach Jon O’Grady’s swan song was a sad tune but definitely ended on a high note.  All three of the Falcons’ non-conference games were against teams that eventually in the Playoffs.  The Falcons then dropped their first 6 conference games but did defeat UW-Eau Claire 45-43 in their final game of the season and Jon O’Grady’s final game as head coach.  Taylor Edwards rushed for over 1,000 yards and 6 scores and averaged over 100 yards rushing per game. Greg Klingelhutz meanwhile averaged just under 150 all-purpose yards per game.

2011 Outlook:

Matt Walker takes over at the helm for the Falcons this year and does have some returning talent.  Edwards and Klingelhutz are back as is B.J. Letourneau who played in 8 games at the Quarterback position last year splitting time with Ryan Luessenheide who is out of eligibility.  Walker has an interesting background.  He played Football and Baseball at SCAC power DePauw University in the late ‘90s, managed a baseball team in Crawfordsville, Ind. From ’97-’05 and was the head baseball coach for DePauw from 2001-2009 and an assistant for the football team from 2000-2005 before taking over as the Head Coach from 2006-2009 where he went 22-8.  Last Season, he coached Tight Ends at Butler.  Walker now takes over one of the more maligned programs in the WIAC.  The Falcons have won 6 combined conference games in the past 4 seasons.  The O-line is young featuring mostly sophomores but back is Joe Gotmer who was an All-WIAC honorable mention last season. Klingelhutz is now a DB but the 3 of the top 4 rushers are back from the ground based Falcons.  2 of the top 3 receivers are also back in John Wahlstrom and Brady Hannigan.  On defense the Falcons return 8 of their top eleven tacklers from 2010.  While the number of returning players in encouraging for the Falcons, the fact still remains that quite frankly those players haven’t played all too well.  The Falcons will look to turn that experience into wins in 2011.

Big Question:

What effect will the changes in the coaching staff have on this team?

Coach Walker has an impressive resume and brings a new energy to the team.  He also brings new offensive coordinator Jake Wissing.  Wissing worked under Walker at DePauw and has a reputation for producing a strong run game which is one thing River Falls has had going for them the past few years.  The thing that remains to be seen is if the Falcons will continue with their old-school power running game or set-up a more modern pro-style look.  Unfortunately this video doesn’t offer any clues.  We’ll just have to wait to find out.

Player to Watch:

Taylor Edwards

Edwards has posted back-to-back 1,000 yard rushing seasons and unless there is a drastic change in scheme I see no reason why he can’t get a third.  After the league had a bevy of talented running backs last year the group has thinned a bit and Edwards, in my opinion, is behind only UWW running back Levell Coppage in the race for the best back in the league.  Edwards is a powerful back that looks to run guys over and has success doing it.  He will hope to be more than just the lone bright spot on a bad team this season.

Bottom Line:

River Falls returns a large number of players but not necessarily all that much talent.  Coaching changes can be tough and one of the team’s best players has to deal with a position change in his final year. This season will likely be another struggle for the once proud program. It’s hard to believe that the Falcons have 18 conference titles, good for 3^rd place in conference history.  At this point or the Falcons there is nowhere to go but up.

Tomorrow I'll look at UW-Eau Claire and UW-Oshkosh