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

Q: What about the safeties?You have JermaineRobinson there, and MarkSinger is coming back.Campbell: If you saydefensive line is an areaof strength, then I’d saythat safety is, too. We havesome really talented footballplayers at safety, guys whohave been leaders and won alot of football games. I couldnot be more proud of (senior) Mark Singer. As a coach,you love his unselfishness. He had to sit out with aninjury all of last year but he remained a great leader in ourfootball program. I think that has benefitted him. He reallyhit the ground running this winter. (Senior) JermaineRobinson brings us many of the same intangibles asMark. Jermaine has a smile on his face and comes towork every day. He knows how to compete at a reallyhigh level and expects to be successful. He’s a guy thatother players rally around because of the energy that hebrings to the practice field every day. Another player weare watching is (sophomore) Cheatham Norrils, whowe feel is one of the best young football players in ourprogram right now. He’s a guy that can play safety andcorner and can do a lot of things in the secondary. (Junior)Ross Madison has been lights out this off-season. He’splayed a lot of football here and we’re looking for him tobe a guy that can play with great consistency at all times.We also have (junior) Ethan Kagy, who did a great jobon special teams for us last year until he got injured. Weexpect him to be ready to go. Noah Key is a freshmanthat we’re excited to see develop this spring.Q: You’ve got two starting cornerbacks to replace.That has to be a concern.Q & A With Matt CampbellCampbell: Cornerback is an area where there is goingto be a tremendous amount of competition this spring.We’re moving (senior) Byron Best back to cornerbackfrom the star position. He started at corner as a freshmanand we feel it’s his natural position. (Sophomore) JordanHaden who transferred from Florida, has an opportunityto compete and make a difference in our program. Twoyoung guys who played alot of football for us lastyear are (sophomores)Keith Suggs and KishonWilcher. Both have playedreally well on specialteams and saw enoughaction at corner that wefeel really good about theirpotential. Another playerwe’re looking at is ChrisDukes, who redshirted asa freshman last year.Q: Talk about the kicking game. Is Jeremiah Detmerready to take over all the kicking duties?Campbell: I think we tried to ease J.D. into the position asmuch as possible in his freshman season last year, wherehe handled the kickoffs and long field goals and RyanCasano handled the shorter kicks. J.D. proved himselfand is ready to compete for all the kicking duties. Hewill be pushed by (sophomore) Clay Simpkins. Also(sophomore) Brad Dunavant, a junior college player whowe brought in to punt, will be competing to handle thekickoffs. At punter, Brad will be competing with (junior)Vince Penza, our starter from last year who had a greatbowl game. He’s punting with a lot of confidence now soI think you will see a great competition between Vinceand Brad. The guy that I think is as important as anybodyon special teams is our long snapper, (junior) Matt Wall.Matt was extremely consistent last year, which is whatyou want from a long snapper.Q: Can you summarize your feelings about theupcoming season?Campbell: We have a great mix of juniors and seniors inleadership positions on our team. I think we are a youngfootball team in a lot of areas, but we have great talentand great leadership so I think we have an opportunity tobe a really solid football team. I am really excited abouthow our coaching staff is meshing, too. It’s an excitingtime in our program and we look forward to taking thenext step.