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beargrowlz · 01-06-2007, 01:45 AM

WINTER 2006

TCY Today had our recruiting class ranked #22 in the nation. That gives me some real positive vibes heading into the 2006 season.

Looks like UGA was playing a little dirty to win their national championship in 2004 as the NCAA placed the school on probation - no TV and no bowl games. I think that program will be hurt pretty badly by those sanctions, and it saddens me a bit as I have a soft place for UGA in my heart.

But I've got my own problems to worry about.

Starting Safety Patrick Airhart was ruled academically ineligible - a true senior that finishes his football career here at Keene. Airhart has started both seasons the program has been in existence. Kyle Mueller, a walk-on OG has also been suspended for academic reasons. He won't be missed.

I ultimately decided to leave the staff intact this season. It'll be interesting to see what Drew Thompson and Omar Harper can do with some of the talent I have brought in, and Lead Scout Brant Cline is a key figure in the future success of this program.

Once again no transfers in or out, and we're maxed out at 60 scholarships. Turned out to be a pretty quiet winter in the Monadnock Region in 2006. Hopefully we'll make some noise come the fall.

* * *

SPRING 2006

Due to AD negotiated contracts, we play at UAB week 3 and at home against Northern Illinois week 6. That leaves us two non-conference games to schedule. I'd like to establish some more regional rivalries, so we'll look at UCONN and BC first.

Stage 1: UCONN accepted our offer of an away game this year and a game at Keene in 2007. As they're right down the Connecticut River from us, that should be a fun series. Now let's see if we can get something done with BC. Ohio State is offerring an away game for us, but I'd rather get something done against a solid program within the region.

Stage 2: BC turned down our offer of a home and home series. Maybe a little sour grapes about us stealing OT Van McGee from right under their noses two years ago. Arizona is offerring us a home game for week 2, and I'm going to accept it. Be nice to have a big time program come into Keene.

Stage 3: Got the Arizona game all set and that fills up our schedule early this year. We'll start play Week 1 against UCONN in Storrs, have a week off in Week 4, open our conference schedule Week 5 at NNE champ Green Mountain, have a week off during week 9 and finish up with all NNE games weeks 10-13.

There's already talk of a quarterback controversy and we haven't even started summer drills yet. Some boosters are calling for Freshman Terrell McKenzie to start right away. I can't really red-shirt McKenzie as our depth at QB is pretty thin, but I think coming off the year Tommy Cassidy had he deserves the start. But we'll see.

* * *

SUMMER 2006

I'm allowing my staff to handle time management again this season. I find it to be the most tedious, time consuming, and annoying part of the job. I'll chip in during the season when a player has a crisis and allocate some blocks of time, but other than that, I'll let my assistants earn their paychecks.

As the Owl coaching staff worked our student-athletes through summer two-a-days we're already noticing how many freshmen recruits are far more talented than their upperclassmen counterparts. Like Van McGee and Len Sembower last season, we're looking for a number of frosh to be impact players this season. Summer camp has shown us that we've significantly improved the offensive line and drastically improved our linebacking corps. We don't have much depth in either area yet, but we're working on that with some redshirts and we'll continue looking to bring in depth in those areas.

Our offensive line is led by 1st Team All-American Sophomore LT Van McGee. Van's counterpart at RT is redshirt senior Alan Flowers who has really grown in his time with us. We're looking for big things from him over the next two years. True junior Lenny Daschle returns at LG while frosh recruit Walter Forte, as expected, won the starting RG position. At OC, returning for his 3rd season as a starter is redshirt senior Omar Bjorlin. There's not much depth here after the starting 5, but this has the makings of a very good O-line.

Returning as signal caller for his 3rd season is redshirt senior Tommy Cassidy. Tommy was the NNE's Offensive player of the year in 2005, throwing for 1800 yards and 12 TD's while running for 7 more TD's and 503 yards. Coach Drew Thompson continues to work hard with Tommy to improve his passing game, and Tommy was pushed hard in camp by freshman Terrell McKenzie, who will back up Cassidy this season.

Redshirt sophomore Eugene Paullin wrested the tailback spot away from 2 year starter Norm Duran. Paullin enters the season at 60/93 after being redshirted last season - boy did he improve his game significantly. Duran will be starting, but at Wingback, while another redshirt sophomore Quentin Poole serves as the primary backup. The Owls sport a very deep backfield this season and should for years to come.

Starting at FB will be sophomore Len Sembower. Sembower was 1st Team All-NNE last year with 56 receptions for 548 yards and 4 TD's and he continues to develop into a fine run blocker and short yardage back.

Our ends will be the same as last year, with 1st Team All-NNE TE Terry Noyes anchoring the strong side while big play threat Ev Bishop and sure-handed Malcolm Mason share time on the weak side at Split End. In Tommy Cassidy's three seasons here at KSC this is the best group of receivers he has ever had.

While our offense looks to be explosive this season, it's likely that we've improved more defensively than anything. We'll be starting 3 freshman at LB including prized recruit Mike Grevan at SLB. They'll join 1st Team All-NNE ILB Corey Tatum, only a sophomore himself, to give us a much improved linebacking corps.

Anchoring the defensive line will be DE's Van Calera, who really came into his own last season registering 35 tackles and 10.5 sacks while earning 2nd team All-NNE honors, and the high potential redshirt sophomore Buddy Doggett (23/83).

The secondary was the strength of the Fighting Owl defense last season, and 3/4 of it returns intact. Leo Bishop and Dez Reynoso start at the corners and Dan Surdyk fills one of the safety spots. Freshman Justin Rivera replaces the academically ineligible Patrick Airhart at the other safety spot.

There's no doubt the defense is much improved, at least potential-wise. The question is can Defensive Coordinator Omar Harper translate that high potential into on field production enough to make the Owls legitimate contenders for the NNE conference title?

-20-

01-06-2007, 01:45 AM	#8
beargrowlz High School Varsity Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Georgia	2006 Preseason WINTER 2006 TCY Today had our recruiting class ranked #22 in the nation. That gives me some real positive vibes heading into the 2006 season. Looks like UGA was playing a little dirty to win their national championship in 2004 as the NCAA placed the school on probation - no TV and no bowl games. I think that program will be hurt pretty badly by those sanctions, and it saddens me a bit as I have a soft place for UGA in my heart. But I've got my own problems to worry about. Starting Safety Patrick Airhart was ruled academically ineligible - a true senior that finishes his football career here at Keene. Airhart has started both seasons the program has been in existence. Kyle Mueller, a walk-on OG has also been suspended for academic reasons. He won't be missed. I ultimately decided to leave the staff intact this season. It'll be interesting to see what Drew Thompson and Omar Harper can do with some of the talent I have brought in, and Lead Scout Brant Cline is a key figure in the future success of this program. Once again no transfers in or out, and we're maxed out at 60 scholarships. Turned out to be a pretty quiet winter in the Monadnock Region in 2006. Hopefully we'll make some noise come the fall. * * * SPRING 2006 Due to AD negotiated contracts, we play at UAB week 3 and at home against Northern Illinois week 6. That leaves us two non-conference games to schedule. I'd like to establish some more regional rivalries, so we'll look at UCONN and BC first. Stage 1: UCONN accepted our offer of an away game this year and a game at Keene in 2007. As they're right down the Connecticut River from us, that should be a fun series. Now let's see if we can get something done with BC. Ohio State is offerring an away game for us, but I'd rather get something done against a solid program within the region. Stage 2: BC turned down our offer of a home and home series. Maybe a little sour grapes about us stealing OT Van McGee from right under their noses two years ago. Arizona is offerring us a home game for week 2, and I'm going to accept it. Be nice to have a big time program come into Keene. Stage 3: Got the Arizona game all set and that fills up our schedule early this year. We'll start play Week 1 against UCONN in Storrs, have a week off in Week 4, open our conference schedule Week 5 at NNE champ Green Mountain, have a week off during week 9 and finish up with all NNE games weeks 10-13. There's already talk of a quarterback controversy and we haven't even started summer drills yet. Some boosters are calling for Freshman Terrell McKenzie to start right away. I can't really red-shirt McKenzie as our depth at QB is pretty thin, but I think coming off the year Tommy Cassidy had he deserves the start. But we'll see. * * * SUMMER 2006 I'm allowing my staff to handle time management again this season. I find it to be the most tedious, time consuming, and annoying part of the job. I'll chip in during the season when a player has a crisis and allocate some blocks of time, but other than that, I'll let my assistants earn their paychecks. As the Owl coaching staff worked our student-athletes through summer two-a-days we're already noticing how many freshmen recruits are far more talented than their upperclassmen counterparts. Like Van McGee and Len Sembower last season, we're looking for a number of frosh to be impact players this season. Summer camp has shown us that we've significantly improved the offensive line and drastically improved our linebacking corps. We don't have much depth in either area yet, but we're working on that with some redshirts and we'll continue looking to bring in depth in those areas. Our offensive line is led by 1st Team All-American Sophomore LT Van McGee. Van's counterpart at RT is redshirt senior Alan Flowers who has really grown in his time with us. We're looking for big things from him over the next two years. True junior Lenny Daschle returns at LG while frosh recruit Walter Forte, as expected, won the starting RG position. At OC, returning for his 3rd season as a starter is redshirt senior Omar Bjorlin. There's not much depth here after the starting 5, but this has the makings of a very good O-line. Returning as signal caller for his 3rd season is redshirt senior Tommy Cassidy. Tommy was the NNE's Offensive player of the year in 2005, throwing for 1800 yards and 12 TD's while running for 7 more TD's and 503 yards. Coach Drew Thompson continues to work hard with Tommy to improve his passing game, and Tommy was pushed hard in camp by freshman Terrell McKenzie, who will back up Cassidy this season. Redshirt sophomore Eugene Paullin wrested the tailback spot away from 2 year starter Norm Duran. Paullin enters the season at 60/93 after being redshirted last season - boy did he improve his game significantly. Duran will be starting, but at Wingback, while another redshirt sophomore Quentin Poole serves as the primary backup. The Owls sport a very deep backfield this season and should for years to come. Starting at FB will be sophomore Len Sembower. Sembower was 1st Team All-NNE last year with 56 receptions for 548 yards and 4 TD's and he continues to develop into a fine run blocker and short yardage back. Our ends will be the same as last year, with 1st Team All-NNE TE Terry Noyes anchoring the strong side while big play threat Ev Bishop and sure-handed Malcolm Mason share time on the weak side at Split End. In Tommy Cassidy's three seasons here at KSC this is the best group of receivers he has ever had. While our offense looks to be explosive this season, it's likely that we've improved more defensively than anything. We'll be starting 3 freshman at LB including prized recruit Mike Grevan at SLB. They'll join 1st Team All-NNE ILB Corey Tatum, only a sophomore himself, to give us a much improved linebacking corps. Anchoring the defensive line will be DE's Van Calera, who really came into his own last season registering 35 tackles and 10.5 sacks while earning 2nd team All-NNE honors, and the high potential redshirt sophomore Buddy Doggett (23/83). The secondary was the strength of the Fighting Owl defense last season, and 3/4 of it returns intact. Leo Bishop and Dez Reynoso start at the corners and Dan Surdyk fills one of the safety spots. Freshman Justin Rivera replaces the academically ineligible Patrick Airhart at the other safety spot. There's no doubt the defense is much improved, at least potential-wise. The question is can Defensive Coordinator Omar Harper translate that high potential into on field production enough to make the Owls legitimate contenders for the NNE conference title? -20- Last edited by beargrowlz : 01-06-2007 at 01:47 AM.