Eagle Football Team Back on Campus
August 12, 2002

The clock is running for the Ashland University football team. It’s not going “Tick, Tock,” but rather, “Tick, Tech.”

The Eagles and Michigan Tech open the season on Saturday, Aug. 31, at 7 p.m. at Community Stadium. There’s a lot to be accomplished before then. The Eagles arrived back on campus on Monday, Aug. 12. The final count shows 100 players in camp.

“Guys have worked hard in the offseason,” said AU head coach Gary Keller. “Guys are cranked up.”

Keller is certainly ready to go. This is his ninth season as Ashland’s head coach and his 20th season with the program. A year ago, he guided the Eagles to a 6-5 finish, 5-5 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Keller’s forte has always been defense and he will be spending a lot of time working with that unit in August. The Eagles must replace seven starters from a defense that led the GLIAC in sacks and was third in rush defense The list of goners includes the top two tacklers from last year’s team – linebackers Brock Swonguer and Jesse Howard.

“Every day we’ll go out on the field and try to get better,” said Keller when asked about rebuilding the defense. “We know what we have to zero in on. Our goal is we know what we have to do to get ready to play. I’m really worried about getting Ashland ready to be Ashland. I want us to be well coached and well prepared. Football is a game of mistakes.”

A perfect example of that was last year’s game in Houghton, MI, with Michigan Tech. AU lost that game, 45-40. The Eagles had four second-quarter turnovers and those miscues led to 21 Tech points. AU trailed, 31-10, but got back into the contest with 30 points in the second half.

The Eagles return seven starters on offense, including senior running back J.R. McCoy, the GLIAC’s 2001 rushing leader. The possibility exists that more 30-point explosions by the Eagles in 2002 aren’t out of the question. If the defense comes together the Eagles have the chance to have a very good season and surpass the fifth place slot they were given in the 2002 GLIAC coaches preseason poll.

Even though this defense has some holes to fill, there’s no sense of panic in the Eagle camp. Rather, a feeling of anticipation prevails.

“Camp’s always the same thing,” said Keller. “Players come in and they’re so excited. Each camp presents opportunities. That’s what we’ll focus on.”

One veteran who should be able to help the Eagles maintain their sense of direction is senior outside linebacker Dave Catanese (Richmond Heights, OH). He enters his final season as an anchor for the defense.

“Sure, I feel a little more pressure,” said Catanese of being one of the few veterans on the unit. “I think it’s more responsibility than pressure. We do have to fill some spots, guys like Nate Howard and Brad Mumaw aren’t here now. I think I’m going to have to be like a player-coach out there.”

Catanese is coming off a year that saw him make 49 tackles, five sacks and 11 tackles for loss. Normally the AU captain adheres to the Teddy Roosevelt axiom of speaking softly and carrying a big stick, but he does have words of advice for the youngsters on this year’s team.

“I’d tell them to be themselves,” said Catanese. “As far as chemistry, that always comes in camp. You spend every waking moment with 100 guys, you get to know them.”

Catanese believes the younger players on this defense will know the intricacies of the scheme before long. As Keller has repeatedly pointed out, the new starters aren’t new to the program. The four top candidates at linebacker, sophomore Chris Campbell (Newark, OH), senior Geoff Henry (Medina, OH) and redshirt freshmen Jeremy Crabtree (Pickerington, OH) and Jarrett Fuller (Tiffin, OH/Columbian), have all been in the program. They’ve shown promise in the opportunities they’ve received. Now it’s just a matter of moving into starting positions. That’s a natural progression that takes place in camps all across the country, Division III to Division I.

“We have a lot of guys who are pretty intense,” said Catanese. “They all like to have fun out there. People who come to our games, they’ll see us having fun out there.”

Unlike the newcomers, the fun ends for Catanese after this year. His first season, in 1997, AU won a conference championship. Catanese was a redshirt freshman on that team. He wants to finish his career the way it started.

“I’d love to win a GLIAC title,” said the senior. “This being my senior season I want to treasure every moment. Even two-a-days.”

NOTES FROM THE NEST: AU will start hitting in earnest on Thursday (Aug. 15). The coaching staff has just one new coach – graduate assistant coach A.J. Blum. Blum was an all-conference defensive lineman who played on the 1997 championship team that advanced to the NCAA Division II playoffs. AU’s lone non-conference game comes in the second week of the season with a trip to Edinboro. Ashland has downed the Fighting Scots each of the last two years. The four-game series concludes next year when the ‘Boro visits Ashland. The Michigan Tech game was originally scheduled for Nov. 16, but both teams preferred an August date. That’s especially true of the Eagles, who weren’t looking forward to playing outdoors in Houghton in mid-November in 2003.