Central Michigan University Athletics
Football Media Day: Run Game A Hot Topic
8/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - You talk about the Central Michigan football team in 2016, you start with the quarterback, Cooper Rush.
Without question, the senior is among the very best in the Mid-American Conference and, in the admittedly biased eyes of second-year CMU coach John Bonamego, among the best in the country.
How good Rush is and where he rates where it counts, on the field, will play itself out beginning with the Chippewas' opener on Sept. 1 at Kelly/Shorts Stadium against Presbyterian.
What will certainly help Rush is a complementary run game, and improvement in that department has been a major point of emphasis, beginning with spring practice.
"I think that our running back position's a lot deeper, more experienced and healthier than it was a year ago," Bonamego said on Friday during the Chippewas' annual media day.
The Chippewas ranked last in the MAC a year ago with 101.3 rushing yards per game.
Mainstay Devon Spalding, a junior who appeared in just five games because of injury in 2015, is back and healthy as is redshirt freshman Jerrod Davis, who sat out last season with a knee injury.
Three others who carried the ball a year ago - Jahray Hayes, Romello Ross and Jay Roberson - also return. Ross is a sophomore who, when pressed into duty late last season as a true freshman, was impressive, scoring four touchdowns in the regular-season finale against Eastern Michigan and rushing for 100 yards against Minnesota in the Quick Lane Bowl.
Last year's top ground gainer, Martez Walker (373 yards rushing), has transferred. Two true freshman, Kumehnnu Gwilly and Jonathan Ward, have joined the fray, giving the Chippewas their deepest and most-competitive corps at the position in recent memory.
Bonamego said he isn't necessarily concerned with who is eventually named the starter since the Chippewas, like most teams, are apt to use several backs throughout the course of any given game.
"The running back position is by committee and they're all going to get their touches," Bonamego said. "Those guys will all play and they'll all contribute."
The competition is fierce, said Gino Guidugli, who is in his fourth season as the Chippewas' running backs coach.
"Sometimes it's a good coming out of a bad situation," Guidugli said. "With all the things (that happened) last year, some guys got thrown in a little earlier than they were supposed to and got some experience.
"Now all of a sudden you're looking around the room and it's 'That guy's played in games, that guy's played in games, that guy's played in games, I think he might be ready.' It's a good position to be in."
The fullback is returning starter Joe Bacci, a 245-pound senior who proved himself a capable receiver last season, when he hauled in three touchdown passes.
Pass catching aside, the fullback's first job is to block. Not a problem, Guidugli said.
"Joe could probably be the second starter at tight end," Guidugli said. "Joe is probably one of the best players on this offense. Very versatile player, allows us to do a lot as far as game planning and scheme just because of his ability to block, receive the ball out of the backfield, and just his knowledge of the offense. I wish I had two or three more Joe Baccis. Good player."
Leadership
Bonamego said he and the team's leadership council, comprising players from all four classes, made a day trip to Northern Michigan during which they discussed objectives and goals.
"We spent a day up there and did some leadership exercises," he said. "It was very, very beneficial for us. We had a lot of dialogue and when we got back it was a good foundation for us to start communication with the underclassmen to kind of bring them into the fold and point them in the right direction."
Bonamego stressed the importance of leadership among the players, and he said he encourages feedback and input from the rank and file.
"The standard's always set by the veterans in the group," he said. "We can talk to them as coaches, we can show them, we can yell at them if we have to, but it's a little bit different when it comes from one of your peers.
"If you have an environment that's so totalitarian you're going to suppress a lot of that stuff so you have to find ways to encourage it, nurture it, reinforce it when you see it, and you coach it. It's hard work. It never stops. I do think we have a group of upperclassmen who have a lot of those natural qualities."
A different game
Austin Stewart has traded his basketball shoes for football cleats.
A 6-foot-6 senior who was among the core of CMU's resurgent basketball program over the past four years, is now a member of the football team. He adds a measure of height and athleticism to the Chippewas' already deep receiving corps.
"I've come a long way, just trying to learn the concepts and the schemes and just doing what the coaches ask me," said Stewart, who was with the Chippewa football team during spring practice. "I view this as a new opportunity. I figured I take it and make the most of it.
"Just being out here, the grind. Even the hard days, the conditioning, I love it all."
It's the first time Stewart has played football since his senior year at West High School in Normal, Ill., where he played mostly wide receiver and a little quarterback.
"At the beginning we're going to have very specific roles for him," Bonamego said. "He's picked up everything very, very well to his credit. We're not asking him to know the entire playbook, but to know and to be able to execute really well at one or two spots."
Quote of the day
Bonamego was asked during his press conference to compare how he feels now physically as compared to last year in training camp, when he was in the midst of chemotherapy and radiation treatments for cancer.
"When I think back to a year ago, a lot of it honestly is a little bit of a haze," he said. "Radiation (and) chemo's like having a 16-week flu."
Getting defensive
While Rush and the offense garnered most of the questions during Friday's media day, the Chippewa defense cannot be overlooked.
CMU ranked second in the MAC and 16th nationally a year ago in total defense.
"I don't expect any drop-off from our defense whatsoever," Bonamego said. "I think we have the personnel to be as good or better than we were a year ago."
Several starters return, tops among them is senior safety Tony Annese, who is on the Jim Thorpe Award Preseason Watch List. Annese made 84 tackles and led the Chippewas with two interceptions a year ago.
Annese combined last season with leading tackler Kavon Frazier - who was drafted in the sixth round by the Dallas Cowboys last spring - to give the Chippewas arguably the MAC's best safety combo.
"Tony's a very instinctive player," Bonamego said. "He's one of the tougher players on our team, physically, mentally. He works very hard and he's intensely prideful and those things make for a great defensive safety."
Getting their opportunity
The competition for who will start alongside Annese in the safety spot vacated by Frazier is a major question heading into the season.
Among the candidates are senior Winslow Chapman and sophomore Otis Kearney, both of whom mainly saw the field on special teams last season. Quarterback-turned-safety Zach Oakley, a sophomore, is also in the mix, Bonamego said.
Backing up Rush
Bonamego said that redshirt freshman Jake Johnson sits second on the depth chart at quarterback behind Rush, while sophomore junior-college transfer Tony Lazzaro is also in the hunt.
Johnson and Lazzaro took all of the snaps in CMU's spring game. True freshmen Tony Poljan and Austin Hergott are also on the roster. Bonamego said the plan is to greyshirt Hergott.
"We're pretty deep at the QB position," Bonamego said. "When you watch those guys throw and warmup, every single one of them looks the part and it's an impressive group to watch work physically. I'm excited about our quarterbacks."
