Coaches and Media Polls at OAC Media Day
BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin-Wallace College football team was selected to finish fourth overall in the 2005 media poll and tied for fourth in the coaches poll today (Aug. 3) at the annual Ohio Athletic Conference football media day at the Hilton Cleveland South Hotel in Independence, Ohio. (To view the OAC media and coaches polls, please click here)
A year ago, B-W had a 6-4 overall and 5-4 OAC mark and finished in a tie for fifth in the conference. This year, 33 lettermen and 14 starters return when B-W opens preseason practice in Berea on August 10.
In the OAC Coaches Poll, B-W placed tied for fourth place with Cleveland cross-town rival John Carroll University. The Yellow Jackets totalled 51 points, 14 less than third place Capital University. Ohio Northern was picked second with 73 points and defending OAC Champ Mount Union College finished in the top spot with 81 points.
In the Media Poll, and the OAC had its largest media turnout ever with 34 members attending the conference, B-W placed fourth with 220 points. Capital was again third, Ohio Northern was second and Mt. Union first with 33 first place votes. Capital received the other first place vote.
Yellow Jacket fourth-year Head Coach John Snell told the crowd in attendance that he was confident in his defense with eight returning players but felt that there were a lot of questions that needed to be answered in regards to the offense.
"Our defense should be pretty good again this season," said Snell. "We have a number of returning players including a solid linebacking group in All-OAC players Justin Princehorn (Massillon/ Washington) and Joe George (Massillon/ Perry)."
"We have a lot of questions that need to be answered on offense however." added Snell. "We lost a number of people on the offensive line to graduation and we will count on players like All-OAC running back Brandon Hedges (Oregon/ Clay) and offensive lineman Tom Lutz (Oregon/ Clay) to lead our attack."
Offensively, juniors Mike DiAngelo (Steubenville/ Senior) and Rob Lewis (Castalia/ Margaretta) will battle for the starting quarterback job. DiAngelo completed 105-of-203 passes for 1,249 yards with eight touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also ran for 68 yards and two more scores. Lewis ran for 123 yards and one TD and completed 23-of-54 aerials for 247 yards. They will compete with sophomore Mickey Mental (Olmsted Falls), who made good progress a year ago on the junior varsity team. The feature back is returning first-team All-OAC pick Brandon Hedges who ran for 1,162 yards in school-record 225 attempts with 13 TD a year ago. Hedges also caught 23 passes for 152 yards. Also look for senior Academic All-OAC fullback Bryan Pickens (New London/ Norwalk St. Paul) to run, catch and block effectively again. A year ago, Pickens ran for 52 yards in 13 attempts and caught 10 passes for 81 yards and a TD. DiAngelo and Lewis have a pair of experienced wide receivers back in senior David Peterson (Stow/ Walsh Jesuit) and Tom Murphy (Richfield/ Revere). Peterson caught 17 passes for 166 yards and Murphy grabbed 10 aerials for 175 yards. In addition, senior tight end Mike Brosovich (Rome/ Grand Valley) caught 16 passes for 292 yards with three TD. Brosovich missed all of last last year due to injury but returns healthy this year and should make a difference.
On defense, B-W returns five key linemen, five of six linebackers and a bevy of young and talented deep backs. On the defensive line, senior two-time second-team All-OAC end Ryan Lewis (Holland/ Springfield) returns to lead the way. Lewis has 109 career tackles and 16 QB sacks. In addition, juniors Sam Rantucci (Richfield/ Revere), Derek Fabry (Avon Lake) and Matt Leber (Norwalk/ Senior) all return this season. Senior two-time All-OAC outside linebacker Justin Princehorn was a first-team All-OAC pick and has 183 career stops and senior inside linebacker Joe George was a second-team All-OAC choice and has 223 career tackles. They are two of the top returning linebackers in the North Region. In addition, look for senior Matt Martig (Beloit/ West Branch), junior Dave Brown (North Olmsted) and sophomore Nick Schubert (Dayton (Oakwood) all to be factors. The defense is aided by the return of first-team All-OAC, first-team All-North Region and first-team Division III All-American punter Kevin Soflkiancs (Middleburg Heights/ Midpark). A year ago, Soflkiancs led all of Division III with a 42.7-yard average.
The Yellow Jackets open the 2005 season on Saturday, September 3 when they host North Coast Athletic Conference foe Allegheny (Pa.) College at 6:30 p.m. at The George Finnie Stadium in Berea. Last year, B-W beat Alleghny, 27-14, in Meadville, Pa.
FOR MORE INFORMATION regarding Baldwin-Wallace College football or other sports, please either call the Sports Information Office by telephone at 440-826-2327, FAX us at 440-826-2329 or e-mail SID Kevin Ruple at kruple@bw.edu.
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