You couldn't have a more perfect day tomorrow for the annual Brown/White game (1:30PM, Murray Goodman Stadium). With a forecast of 80 degrees and mostly sunny, it won't be too much of a leap of imagination to think of yourself on September 6th at Drake. And with the IronPigs taking their huge losing streak to Syracuse this weekend, the Brown/White game will take center stage.The goings-on at Coca-Cola park, the announcement of a new head wrestling coach and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama coming to town have knocked the Mountain Hawks from the headlines these days. But here at Lehigh Football Nation, I'll be heading to Murray Goodman to take exclusive pictures, catch up with coach Coen and get a glimpse at what we have for 2008.
The South Side Boosters will also be there at the game with refreshments and hotdogs after the game. It will be fun!
Here are some random thoughts about tomorrow, and what I'll be looking for.
- "O"-line improvement. The linchpin to the offense, coach Coen has said that he wants to see improvement in this area through the rest of the spring, and it will be interesting to see who gets those two last spots, especially since the "O" line has been dinged up this spring. Senior OL Chris Tiefenthal and sophomore OL William Rackley may be held out tomorrow with injury (we'll see), so we'll be able to see what junior OL Frank Giacalone and can do as well as sophomore OL Ricky Clerge and junior OL Ben Harden. We could be seeing every "O" lineman on the roster, I think, tomorrow.
- This tough "D". This defense, especially with coach Coen giving praise to junior LB Al Pierce, looks really, really solid -- especially if the secondary is as good as advertised. Senior DB Jarard Cribbs and junior DB Femi Ajewole will be guys I'll be looking at to see how they are coming along as corners -- and I'll also be watching the guy who is increasingly looking like the starter on the other side in sophomore DB John Kennedy. Also, seeing how the entire linebacking unit gels - senior LB Tim Diamond, junior LB Matt Cohen, junior LB Heath Brickner and (possibly) Pierce.
- The receiving corps. Believe me when I say that there are still battles going on here. When healthy, senior WR Sekou Yansane will be in there, as will senior WR Mike Fitzgerald you would think, but I'm especially interested to see who might push for starting roles, like (perhaps) sophomore WR Craig Zurn or sophomore WR Travis Artim.
- QB, QB, QB. With the spot up for grabs between junior QB Chris Bokosky, sophomore QB J.B. Clark and sophomore QB Trace Cisneros, every eye is going to be looking over our signal-callers as they aim to impress enough to secure the status of "frontrunner" going into the summer. Impossible to handicap this battle - all that can be said is that their performance tomorrow will speak volumes.
SATURDAY MORNING UPDATE: Keith Groller's spring preview article is up and he drops a bombshell:
One negative is that tailback Kwesi Kankam, who dazzled early last season as a freshman, has quit the team, although he's still in school.
''That's probably the biggest disappointment of the whole spring,'' Coen said. ''He said that he just didn't love football anymore. Usually, kids don't say that when they play as much as he did last year. We'll miss him.''
Hope Kankam made the right decision about the football team - it's encouraging at least that he's still in school taking classes. Football-wise, it's a big blow. Even though we have two solid backs still available in senior RB Matt McGowan and sophomore RB Jaren Walker - Kankam's speed out of the backfield was a dimension I was looking forward to seeing.
The backfield just went from "no problem" to "maybe something I should watch in the game today".
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