2009 Preview
RIPON, WIS. -- With 2008 Coach of the Year Steve Bell and the return of 14 All-MWC performers, including Offensive Player of the Year junior QB Alex Tanney, Monmouth enters the 2009 season favored to repeat as MWC Champions.
Monmouth received eight out of ten possible first place votes in the poll, while 2007 MWC Champion St. Norbert received the final two and was voted a clear cut second. Ripon, last season’s MWC runner-up, came in third followed closely by Carroll in fourth.
Bell’s squad looks to be a force again in 2009 thanks to the return of Tanney, 2nd Team All-American OL Josh Kotecki and 1st Team All-MWC OL Dan Schwindenhammer. The trio received three preseason All- American nods this summer. Jim Purtill’s Green Knights are also capable of adding another MWC title to their collection. They return a core of veteran players on both sides of the ball, including junior quarterback Rob Berger, who led St. Norbert in total offense and the league in puntinglast season.
For Ripon, one game was all that stood in the Red Hawk’s way of their first MWC Championship since 2001, as they finished 8-1 in the MWC last season. This season, Ripon anticipates improving on last season’s 2,527 rushing yards, but they will be without ten off their 15 2008 All -MWC players, including two of their top three rushers, Scott Perkins and Jon Larsen, lost to graduation. Carroll begins the season with some voids to fill on defense, including Defensive Player of the Year Jeremy Winter, who graduated, but the Pioneers return four offensive starters who pose a legitimate threat to score from anywhere on the field.
Illinois College and Beloit finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the poll, but with only two points separating the squads. Garret Campbell returns to the field for his second season at the helm of the Blueboys program. With an experienced offensive unit, including All-American (HM) and 1st Team All-MWC senior WR Michael Jennings and 1st Team All-MWC seniors DB D.J. Jackson and TE Andrew Pfeiffer, the team appears poised for a spirited run at the top tier of the MWC, while the Buccaneers return a cast of underclassmen who have already made their presence known in the MWC.
First-year head coach Jim Catanzaro inherits a Lake Forest Squad that will look to pick up from where they left off last season, seventh in the MWC. Knox was tabbed to finish eighth, one spot ahead of Grinnell, while Lawrence rounded out the 2009 MWC Preseason Coaches Poll. All three teams return honorable mention selections from 2008.
--2009 MWC Football Preseason Coaches Poll--
Rnk Team (1st place votes)
1. Monmouth (8)
2. St. Norbert (2)
3. Ripon
4. Carroll
5. Illinois College
6. Beloit
7. Lake Forest
8. Knox
9. Grinnell
10. Lawrence
Brief Team-by-Team Previews can be found at http://www.midwestconference.org/football/FB_PP_09.pdf