Some Notes / Links / Updates

Montana has no player on its 2002 team that has caught a touchdown pass. Not a wide receiver, tight end, or halfback has a TD grab at UM to their credit. The Griz have no returning running backs with playing experience or a touchdown run. The other side to the no receiving/rushing TD story is that senior QBs John Edwards and Brandon Neill passed for 20 TDs last year. The duo also combined for 7 rushing touchdowns (7 by Edwards and 2 by Neill)

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It's an exciting opener. I like the fact that both teams were in the playoffs last year and both are one of the best teams in Division I-AA with two excellent programs. Coach Gardi has won about 75 percent of his games in his tenure at Hofstra, and Montana has won games at a record pace the last 15 years or so. It stacks up to be a great college football game. They were hit hard by graduation but brought in some experienced players to bolster several positions. They have three transfers at receiver, one from Northridge, one from Kentucky, and one from the junior college ranks. They've got a back-up (Arlen Harris) to Trevor Dimmie, who transferred from West Virginia. A year ago they were in the top five in scoring, averaging around 38 a game. They were also in the top five in passing and total offense, and in punt returns. We've got our hands full. Hofstra uses a 4-3 defense, and they'll run a myriad of schemes on you. They lost some excellent players on defense like (Doug) Shanahan at safety and their leading tackles (Todd) DeLamieleure at linebacker. But, they return Robert Thomas at cornerback who broke his leg early in the season last year. Thomas is one of the premier players in the country at any level, and they think he's the best return man in the United States. They have a lot of veterans on defense.

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We're anxious to get the football season underway. We think we've got a good football team, and certainly everyone expects us to be good. But honestly, we're really unknown at tight end, we're unknown at running back, and we're unknown at wide receiver. We lost our top four receivers statistically from last year. We return new guys at tight end, new guys at running back, and we have quite a few young guys at wide receiver. We feel like we have a good core of athletes, but a lot of them will be competing for Montana for the first time, and touching the ball for the first time. They'll be some names that will be new to our fans. As I've mentioned before, we think we have an outstanding offensive line, and that's where it all starts. Not to mention three senior veterans at quarterback, led by our returning starter, John Edwards.

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We had a tough setback this week when we lost Jonny Varona for the year. We feel bad for Jon and we're going to miss him. I think the strength of our defense is our front and our safeties, and Vernon Smith is playing very well at corner. Trey Young and David DeCoite are excellent safeties, and Kyle Scholle and Tyler Thomas could help us there, too. We really like our front inside guys -- John Cahill, Blake Horgan, Chris Orwig, and Curt Colter is back after an injury. A guy who I think people will really like is (redshirt freshman) Alan Saenz. We'll miss Ciche Pitcher at end in our first game, but (redshirt freshman) Lance Spencer will be a solid player, and we have good backups in seniors Ike Mincy and Herb Fernandez, and Chris Connors, and junior Tim Bush is a proven entity. Joel Robinson has looked good at linebacker, as has Adam Hoge. When we're in our nickel, you'll see Brent Meyers, and when we're not, you'll see a much-improved (linebacker) Andy Thompson, and Brent's had a good fall as well.

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