UW-La Crosse
Fast Facts:
Head Coach: Joel Detwiler; 1st season at UWL
Starters Returning/Lost on Offense: 4/7
Starters Returning/Lost on Defense: 6/5
Starters Returning/Lost at Kicker: 2/0
Returning All-WIAC: Derek Dreher (Sr., DB, 2008-Second,
2009-Honorable); Lee Lauters (Sr., RB, 2010-Second); Donovan Winter (Sr., DB,
2010-Second)
2010 Recap:
Larry Terry’s final year was not a happy one. After several successful seasons,
particularly with 3 conference titles from 2002-2004, the Eagles have fallen on
hard times. The Eagles finished
5-5 in 2009 and 2-5 in conference play and then finished 2010 with a 3-7 record
overall with a 3-4 record in the WIAC.
UWL did get close to knocking off Mary-Hardin-Baylor, a perennial power
in the SAC but lost their first 4 games of the season including their first
loss to UW-Oshkosh in almost 40 years.
UWL did scrap together home wins against River Falls and Eau Claire and
in their biggest win of the season beat Stout on the road on a last minute
drive 29-28 on October 30th.
UWL was lead in rushing by Lee Lauters who rushed for 746 yards and 6
TDs. Nick Anker had a shaky season
at quarterback throwing for over 2,000 yards and 14 scores but also threw an
alarming 12 interceptions. It was
a mixed bag at wide out as Travis Bordeau caught 65 balls for 650 yards and one
score while Kyle Steffen led the team in TD catches with 5. The defense did pretty well against the
pass but struggled in the running game allowing 188 yards per game on the
ground. But it wasn’t the defense
that lost this team games in 2010, it was the offense that only scored 21
points 4 times and went 3-1 in those contests.
2011 Outlook:
Coach Terry is out and Joel Detwiler is in for UWL. Detwiler is from Oregon Wisconsin and
played 4 years at UW-Platteville as a defensive, so he knows the conference
well. He worked as an assistant at
UWP from 2000-2004 until he took a position at Wartburg College in Iowa. From 2004-2008 he was the linebackers
and strength coach for the nights before taking over as defensive coordinator
in 2008. The Knights won 2 IIAC
titles with Detwiler heading up the defense. Detwiler will be calling the plays on defense and work
closely with the DBs this season.
Detwiler also brought in Reed Hoskins who was on the offensive side of
the ball at Wartburg while Detwiler was running the defense. In his time at Wartburg Hoskins’
offense ranked second in the IIAC in total offense and 3rd in total
scoring. It will be an uphill
battle for both Detwiler and Hoskins this season. Detwiler will have to shore up a defense that struggled
against the run last year and Hoskins will have to deal with at least 7 new
starters on an offense that struggled to score last year. UWL will come out in a pro-set on
offense and a 4-3 defense this season.
Offensive line will be a problem this year for UWL. They only return 1 starter on that line
and he only started the final 5 games of last year in Sophomore Andrew
Hermann. UWL’s number 2 receiver a
year ago, Alex Maxinoski, is back as is Tight End Ross Slovensky. Luckily for the Eagles Lee Lauters also
is back for his senior season. The
defensive backfield should be well off with Derek
Dreher and Jake Meckstroth back.
On the defensive line Nicholas Matthews and Donovan Winter could have
break out years but the linebacker position is pretty thin.
Big Question:
Who is going to start at quarterback?
With Nick Anker gone word on the west coast is that a
quarterback battle brewing in La Crosse, between Mike Butterfield
and Andy Sires. Now I’m not at
practice everyday but to me this seems pretty simple that Butterfield should
get the job. He was 6 for 7
passing last season for 86 yards and a score. He also ran for 171 yards and a score. But the coaches like Sires' arm. At least early I'll take the guy with game experience thus I think Butterfield is the
logical choice.
Player to Watch:
Lee Lauters
Lauters might want to get Taylor Edwards’ phone number, or
friend him on facebook or follow him on twitter or whatever people are doing
these days because those two are going to be in very similar situations, good
running backs on bad teams.
Lauters is more talented than what his rushing total shows. Lauters averaged 5 yards per carry in
2010 and averaged 93.2 yards per game, not bad. The problem for Lauters this year is that his O-line will be
the most inexperienced in the conference.
The passing game might also take a hit with Anker gone as well. What might help him, or could hurt him,
is the pro style offense. Lacrosse ran a zone-read shotgun look under Larry
Terry, which fit Lauters’ style but kept his number of carries low. If Lauters can adapt to this new system
(we’ll see Saturday how different it really is) and get a higher number of
carries he will solidify himself as one of the conference’s top backs.
Bottom Line:
This shapes up to be a rough year for the Eagles. The return the fewest starters by far
of any WIAC team not named UW-Whitewater and they still have 2 fewer returning
starters than the Warhawks. Add in
a tougher schedule, playing at Mary-Hardin-Baylor who is ranked 6th to
start the season and playing UWW twice, loss of not just quantity of players
but also quality at key positions and a new coach and new system. I personally don’t see La Crosse having
that much success this year, despite what this video says.
The Platteville Preview will be out later this afternoon
with the WIAC overview coming out Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment