Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Hit the Field
8/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- It was, John Bonamego said, just good to be back on the football field.
Bonamego, the first-year coach at Central Michigan, had his team on the turf at Kelly/Shorts Stadium for its first practice of the 2015 season on Friday.
"It's always good to get on the field and have the focus be on football -- been looking forward to it all summer," said Bonamego, who has been making daily trips to Ann Arbor for chemotherapy and radiation treatments in his battle with cancer.
"Typical first practice," Bonamego said. "Some good, some bad; a lot of things to work on. We knocked the rust off. We'll get there. We've just got to get there sooner rather than later."
And plenty of questions marks as there are for every team, every year, on every campus. Questions that require answers by the time the Chippewas, 7-6 in 2014, kick off the season on Sept. 3 at home against Oklahoma State.
The Chippewas have had to deal not only with the health of Bonamego, a former CMU walk-on who was named the Chippewas coach in February, but with the death of former teammate Derrick Nash. Nash succumbed to leukemia in mid-June.
A few days later, Bonamego revealed his diagnosis of tonsil cancer that had also spread to his lymph nodes.
Those situations have helped to galvanize the Chippewas, junior safety Tony Annese said.
"All of us want to play for each other, and we also want to play for Derrick Nash, coach Bonamego," Annese said. "We've got people that we really care about who are going through some things. It's just something in the back of our minds, something you can push a little harder for, go that extra step, do things the right way."
Annese, who is entering his third year as a starter and who many consider among the best safeties in the Mid-American Conference, said leadership is a critical element in assessing the 2015 Chippewas -- or any team, for that matter.
He, along with the likes of veteran center Nick Beamish and quarterback Cooper Rush, are among those expected to take the leadership mantle.
"We had a lot of great senior leadership last year," said Annese, ticking off the names of linebacker Justin Cherocci, defensive lineman Leterrius Walton, and cornerback Jason Wilson. "It was easy to look up to them and know that they had my back.
"They knew how to push people and uplift them, push you to your limits, but they never put anybody down, they never got on anybody negatively. They were always pushing you to be your best."
"I've got to step up. I'm not the hoorah guy, I'm not the loudest guy at all, not very vocal, I usually lead by example. But now I feel like I have to be a little more vocal because we've got a lot of young guys who need to step up this year."
Rush, a junior, said he also feels the responsibility to be more of a vocal leader as he enters his third year as the Chippewas' starting quarterback. It's a role he said he is prepared to embrace.
Quarterback is "a natural leadership position," he said. "You're the guy calling the plays, running the show so to speak. Everything goes off you. As you get more comfortable playing, you can work on that and you can focus on little things and how to lead, be a little more vocal."
Simply being on the field with the entire team and coaching staff puts a charge into things, Rush said.
"Felt good to get out there and have 11-on-11," he said. "We haven't done that all summer. Felt good to get back in the huddle and see everyone fly around and have a good day. We were in rhythm, we were really smooth."
Bonamego said there is plenty of emerging leadership in the likes of Beamish, middle linebacker Tim Hamilton, and several others.
"I think that leadership's a complex thing," he said. "I think you have to empower people, you have enable them, you have to give them a voice. They also have to be prepared for it.
"It's easy for people to say that we lead by example, but that doesn't make you a leader, that just makes you an example. Leaders have to be able to pull guys along and the hardest thing for anybody to do is confront; they have to be able to confront people and do it through their own personality. Leadership is something that if you allow it to grow, it will. But if you have such a tight totalitarian culture, you can stifle it easily as well. I'm pleased to see a lot of these guys stepping up. They're rising to the challenge. It's their responsibility, even more so than the assistant coaches, to teach the freshmen how we expect things to be done around here. "
From a nuts-and-bolts perspective, there are major personnel question marks on both sides of the ball. Graduation to the likes of wide receiver Titus Davis, guard Andy Phillips, and running back Thomas Rawls have left big shoes to fill on offense, while the defense must replace stalwarts Cherocci, Wilson and Walton.
In the backfield, sophomore Devon Spalding and junior Martez Walker are the only two returnees with any measurable playing experience.
Senior mainstay Saylor Lavallii is out for the season with an injury, a turn of events that will certainly hurt the Chippewas' depth at the position.
The diminutive but hard-charging Lavallii ran for 1,446 yards and scored 11 touchdowns during his first three seasons.
"Any time you lose a player in their senior year that way it's unpleasant," Bonamego said. "However it opens an opportunity for someone else to step up.
"He's lost on the football field, but his presence is still here. We're still counting on his leadership. He brings a lot of that. He'll be a player-coach of sorts. He'll help set the standard."
