2012 Toledo Spring Football Prospectus - University of Toledo ...

Q & A With Matt CampbellQ: Who are the candidates at tight end?Campbell: We are looking at moving (senior) CordaleScott to tight end. He is a big, strong, physical kid. Hecould also continue to see time at wide receiver. Hehas some athleticism but also has the ability to block.Another possible tight end is (senior) Colby Kratch. Thiswill be Colby’s second year in our system at tight end.Colby’s a strong, physical kid who was a good blockerfor us last year. Another player we moved to tight end is(sophomore) Zac Rosenbauer. Zac has the potential tobe a physical, striking tight end. I’m excited to see whathe brings to the table in spring practice.Q: You are losing three seniors on the offensiveline. Who’s going to be fighting for those positions,especially the two tackle spots?Campbell: The first guy I want to mention is (senior) A.J.Lindeman. A.J. has played a ton of football here. I almostcount him as a returning starter. He’s played both tacklespots and played in a lot of critical situations. He wasthe starter all last spring when some guys were out withinjuries. He brings a big, strong, physical presence there.I probably see him as a right tackle to start the spring off.Next is (sophomore) Jeff Myers. He played in over 300snaps last year. He’s a guy now who will be fighting forone of those inside guard spots. He was very productivelast year when he played. (Sophomore) Josh Hendershotis another kid who played around 200 snaps last year. Heplayed very well when he had the opportunity. He hasthe ability to play inside at offensive guard or outside atoffensive tackle so he gives us flexibility. Of course, ithelps to have (junior) Zac Kerin and (sophomore) GregMancz, two guys who were exceptional last year. Zacwill continue at center, while Greg has the ability to moveout to tackle if need be. They’ll be the foundation of theoffensive line. Other guys who will be competing thisspring are (sophomores) Rob Lisowski, Chase Nelson,(redshirt freshman) Ethan Wirth, (junior) Erik Carlsonand (redshirt freshman) Colin Perchinske.Q: It’s a somewhat similar situation with yourdefensive line. You are losing some starters but youhave a lot of guys back too.Campbell: We’ve got a lot of defensive lineman whocan do a lot of things. We have skill and depth at bothdefensive end and defensive tackle. Coach (Eli) Rasheed’sdone a great job developing this group. At end, we haveguys who can really rush the passer, guys like (senior)T.J. Fatinikun, (juniors) Christian Smith, JayroneElliot, Ben Pike and (senior) Hank Keighley. Obviously,T.J. is as good a player as there is in our conference,and the other guys have the potential to be very good.A young player whose name I’ll throw out is (redshirtfreshman) Keenan Gibbs, who’s had a great off-season.At defensive tackle there are guys like (senior) DannyFarr and (junior) Elijah Jones who were key to how wellwe played defensively in the second half of the MilitaryBowl. Another player who doesn’t get a lot of mention is(senior) Phil Lewis. Phil is a junior college transfer whosat out a year so he’s in his third year for us now. He’s justa solid worker who I think we’ll see good productivityfrom this fall.Q: The linebacker position may be just as strong asthe D-line. You’ve got two senior starters back andsome other guys who could be a factor.Campbell: Right. I think Danny Molls and Bobby Bellare a great foundation for our linebacker corps. Over thelast two years, those two guys were at the top of the tacklelist in just about every game. They have a great nose forthe football, they understand the game and they bring thatattitude to our defense. I’m also excited to watch some ofthe young guys develop, guys like (sophomores) JamesGordon, Ray Bush and Dawalyn Harper. Those guyscertainly have the ability to become consistent footballplayers.Q: Who’s going to compete for the star linebackerposition?Campbell: That position is really important and right nowthe leading contenders are (sophomore) Junior Sylvestreand (junior) Vlad Emilien, a transfer from Michigan whosat out last year. Both are really talented players who havethe ability to play safety but are big enough and physicalenough to play linebacker, as well.