Ashland University Football – Spring Preview
March 18, 2004

Ashland University will introduce a new version of spring fling starting on Monday, Mar. 22. That’s when AU will open spring football practice. This is the first spring session to be conducted by new AU head football coach Lee Owens and his staff.

Owens, who comes to AU from the University of Akron, coached some of the most prolific offensive teams in the Mid-American Conference during his tenure with the Zips. It will be no surprise to see the Eagles open up the offense. That process will begin this spring.

The Eagles (2-9 in 2003, 2-8 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) will begin spring practice with 59 players. The spring session will conclude with a spring game on Friday, April 16, at Community Stadium.

One of the major questions to be answered concerns the quarterback position. The Eagles are searching to find a starter. There’s a full field of candidates that includes junior John Szabo (Dayton, OH/Chaminade-Julienne), freshmen Nick Strance (Willard, OH) and Kyle Johann (Findlay, OH), redshirt freshman Mark Workman (Chillicothe, OH/Paint Valley) and junior Jeremy Holland (Olmsted Twp., OH/Olmsted Falls).

Szabo went into last year as the starter and was injured in the fourth game. After that, Strance became a starter as a true freshman. Johann also appeared in one game. Szabo has the most experience, he started throughout the 2002 season and the final three games of 2001. Of course with a new system in place, all the quarterbacks are, in a sense, starting over.

Strance completed 119 of 236 passes (50.4 percent) for 1,098 yards with three touchdowns and seven interceptions. Szabo was 53 of 113 (46.9) with a touchdown and three interceptions.

The Eagles have several other top players returning on offense. Junior wide receiver Michael Hull (Cincinnati, OH/Sycamore), who holds school records for receptions in a season and a career, returns. Hull caught 57 passes last season. Also back is junior tight end Brian Mong (Columbus, OH/Watterson). He had 27 receptions in 2003.

Ashland brings back its top two rushers from last year, junior Antwan Hart (Detroit, MI/Erie C.C.), who gained 706 yards (3.9 ypc.) and junior Jason Schwalm (Kenosha, WI/Dublin Coffman), who picked up 661 yards and averaged 5.0 ypc.

Defensively, the Eagles were one of the best units in the GLIAC in 2003. AU was second in the league in rush, pass and total defense and fourth in scoring defense. Ashland returns its top tackler from last season – linebacker Devin Conwell (Baltimore, MD/Montgomery C.C.). The sophomore had 121 tackles (64 solo) and 17 tackles for loss. Another solid linebacker, junior Chris Campbell (Newark, OH), is coming off of a season that saw him make 65 tackles (35 solo). Junior defensive lineman Jason Reynolds (Clinton, OH/Jackson) is one of the returning leaders up front. He had 27 tackles and three sacks in 2003.

The leader on special teams is sophomore kicker Austin Wellock (North Canton, OH/Green). He was successful on 8-of-15 field goal attempts and was 19-of-19 on extra points.

A question-and-answer session with Owens previewing spring practice follows.

Q: What are the key teaching points for you and your staff this spring?

A: “We’re trying to establish a depth chart for all the positions and special teams. We’re paying special attention to the quarterback position. We’ll address fundamentals and physical toughness. We’ll also be working hard on team confidence and team chemistry. Finally, it’s just learning to master the offensive and defensive strategy with new schemes on both sides of the ball.”

Q: Are you on schedule with where you thought you’d be?

A: “With us having such a big question mark at quarterback it’s hard to judge where we are as a team. You’d like to have a pat hand and know who your quarterback is going to be. Defensively, we feel we have the linebackers you need to contend for a championship. But we don’t know where we are in the secondary and defensive line, we’re uncertain in those areas. On offense we feel good about the tight end position and depth at wide receiver. The rest is all a question mark. We feel good about our kicker, but we don’t know where we are at punter. You’d like to have more certainties. Hopefully after the spring we’ll have some of these questions answered.”

Q: How has the offseason conditioning program gone?

A: “It’s gone well. We went at 6 a.m.., four days a week, for six weeks. We had 48 out of 59 players with perfect attendance. We had seven players who we recognized for outstanding work ethic and strength gain. On offense, those players are Brian Mong, Jason Schwalm, Vince Cashdollar and Trent Seay. On defense we recognized Jason Reynolds, Chris Campbell and Chris Holland. We did six weeks emphasizing strength gains and a little bit of speed. We only had one week with conditioning and mental toughness. Interestingly, with the week of conditioning and mental toughness, I’ve been impressed with how our guys have responded. This week has been good. They busted their tails and did what we’ve asked them to do.”

Q: How do the challenges in this camp compare to the previous challenges you’ve faced?

A: “I think our players are really hungry. They’re receptive and responsive to the coaching. There are no prima donna attitudes. These players are hungry to learn and happy to be coached. On the flip side, we’d like to have a few more impact players. We have a handful. We’d like to have more impact players on both sides of the ball. The more players like that you have, the better you’ll be.”

Q: Explain what the spring game will be like.

A: “It will be a wide open game, three-to-one passing. There will be no blitzing and it will be an offensive-oriented game. We’ll see what the quarterbacks and receivers can do. We want to watch the guys compete. It’s not so much about strategy, it’s more like a pickup situation. We may have some guys playing out of position. We want to go out and find out who are the real competitors. There’s more emphasis on the players than the plays. We’ll have some scrimmages before that.”