Sunday, August 26, 2007
Generals eyeing return to top of ODAC
With 15 starters returning from last year’s ODAC championship team, W&L is poised to defend its title.
2007 College Football Preview
Courtesy of Washington and Lee
Washington and Lee quarterback R.J. Varner threw for 1,101 yards last season.
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Washington and Lee rose to the ODAC penthouse last season. Now they will try to keep from getting evicted.
The Generals return 15 starters from the first W&L team to win the league crown since 1985. They went 7-4 last year, advancing to the NCAA Division III playoffs for the first time.
“Can we maintain that hunger?” W&L coach Frank Miriello said.
Bridgewater, which saw its string of five straight ODAC titles snapped last year, tops the preseason ODAC coaches poll. W&L is second. W&L went 5-1 in the league last year, with its lone loss coming at BC.
“Expectations are higher,” sophomore quarterback R.J. Varner said. “All we can do is keep trying to get better. We can’t really worry about other teams. … We have a good chance of repeating.”
“We’re going to have a target on our back,” cornerback Mark Snoddy said. “We kind of got lucky with Bridgewater losing two [ODAC] games last year, so I think we’re going to have to take them down this year as well as everyone else to win.”
The Generals have made Street & Smith’s preseason Top 25 for the first time. The magazine ranks them No. 25 in Division III, eight spots behind Bridgewater.
W&L has risen from years of mediocrity to reel off three straight winning seasons, but the coordinators who played a big role in the turnaround have left.
Offensive coordinator Tommy Laurendine, who also had that job at W&L in the mid-1990s, takes over for Bert O’Neal, who left to pursue his MBA. Defensive coordinator and ex-General Matt Stavish succeeds Brian Newberry, now an assistant at Elon.
“Hopefully the staff changes won’t upset the chemistry of the organization,” Miriello said.
“It seems like we’re not going to miss a beat.”
Varner was thrust into the starting QB job after Hunter Dawkins suffered a broken collarbone in the fourth game last season. Varner completed 97 of 159 passes for 1,101 yards and eight touchdowns with eight interceptions, earning ODAC rookie of the year .
“We noticed in the spring, his arm is stronger,” Miriello said.
“He surprised me, how far he could throw it on a rope.”
Receiver Jack Martin is another one of the six returning starters on offense. Martin had 70 catches in 2005 but saw his total drop to 32 last year. Miriello hopes Varner can find Martin more often this year.
The Generals will miss V-back Colton Ward, who caught a school-record 161 passes in his career. Last year, the All-ODAC pick had 47 catches and ran for 241 yards.
Stuart Sitterson, who rushed for 418 yards and caught 37 passes as the starting tailback last year, will move over to V-back. Miriello figures that hybrid receiver/running back position will be a better fit for the 5-foot-10, 180-pound Sitterson.
Tom Pacicco or Tucker Laurens will be the new starting tailback. The Generals averaged just 79.5 yards rushing last year, so Miriello hopes a standout emerges.
Nine starters return from a defense that forced 31 turnovers and allowed 15.7 points a game.
Among those back are Snoddy and fellow All-ODAC first-team pick Bryant Fulk, as well as second-team picks Tommy Matteo, Kyle Harvey, Jimmy Gift and Kyle Luby.
“I don’t really see a weakness,” Snoddy said of the defense. “So many of us have been playing together for so long, … we kind of know what each other can do and know how to kind of feed off each other.”
W&L will have a new punter and place-kicker.
The Generals will have only nine games this year.
Perennial foes Centre and Sewanee dropped the Generals, although Sewanee will return to the schedule next season. W&L added a Salem Stadium duel with Averett to replace one of those games.
Carnegie Mellon, ranked No. 23 by Street & Smith’s after making the Division III playoffs last year, replaces Case Western Reserve as the foe for the season finale.
