UL
Monroe Warhawks
Preview 2007
By
Pete Fiutak
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2007 ULM Offense Preview |
2007 ULM Defense Preview
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2007 ULM Depth Chart
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2006 CFN UL Monroe
Preview
The Sun Belt is the nation’s quirkiest league, and no one in the Sun
Belt is quirkier than UL Monroe. That’s what happens when you have a
really, really young team.
Full of veterans in 2005, the Indians needed to beat UL Lafayette to win
the Sun Belt title and go to the New Orleans Bowl. They got blasted
54-21. In 2006, the inexperienced, rebuilding Warhawks were arguably the
nation’s worst team over the first two months of the year and going
nowhere fast with a seven-game losing streak, and then the offense went
ballistic.
Head coach: Charlie Weatherbie
5th year: 15-31
15th year overall: 60-95
Returning Lettermen: 44
Lettermen Lost: 12 |
Ten
Best ULM Players
1.
RB Calvin
Dawson, Sr.
2. S Josh Thompson, Jr.
3. QB Kinsmon Lancaster, Jr.
4. PK Cole Wilson, Sr.
5. OT Kyle Cunningham, Sr.
6. TE Zeek Zacharie, Jr.
7. CB Quintez Secka, Sr.
8. WR LaGregory Sapp, Jr.
9. C Adam Hill, Sr.
10. OG Aaron Schutz, Jr. |
| Aug. 30 |
Tulsa |
| Sept.
8 |
at Clemson |
| Sept.
15 |
at Texas A&M |
| Sept.
29 |
at
Troy |
| Oct. 6 |
Arkansas State |
| Oct. 13 |
at
North Texas |
| Oct. 20 |
FIU |
| Oct. 27 |
at
Florida Atlantic |
| Nov. 3 |
Middle
Tennessee |
| Nov. 10 |
Grambling State |
| Nov. 17 |
at
Alabama |
| Nov. 24 |
at UL
Lafayette |
|
|
2006
Schedule
2006 Results:
4-8 |
| 9/2 |
Alcorn State W 24-6 |
| 9/9 |
at Kansas L 21-19 |
| 9/16 |
at Alabama L 41-7 |
|
9/30 |
Florida Atlantic L 21-19 |
| 10/7 |
at Arkansas St L 10-6 |
| 10/14 |
at Troy L 24-19 |
| 10/21 |
MTSU L 35-21 |
| 10/28 |
at Arkansas L 44-10 |
| 11/11 |
FIU W 35-0 |
| 11/18 |
at Kentucky L 42-40 |
| 11/25 |
North Texas W 23-3 |
| 12/2 |
at UL Lafayette W 39-20 |
|
The
young team grew up, especially on offense, to average over 34 points per
game over the final four highlighted by a brilliant performance in a
42-40 shootout loss to Kentucky. Now the sky’s the limit for an attack
that gets ten starters back on loses only one player of the offensive
two-deep depth chart.
This will be the league’s most balanced offense with Calvin Dawson, the
Sun Belt’s leading rusher last year, certain to be an all-star working
behind a veteran line, while Kinsmon Lancaster, one of the league’s best
passers, is on the verge of Offensive Player of the Year status if he
plays like he did over the last month of 2006.
Defense is a different story losing NFL-caliber talents Kevin Payne and
Chaz Williams from the secondary along with three key pieces of a front
seven that didn’t do anything to get into the backfield. Fortunately,
the offense should be able to make up for most of the defensive problems
against the mediocre teams.
For a program that hasn’t had a winning season, or been able to crank
out more than five wins, since it moved up to D-I in 1994, it will take
just a little bit to come up with one or two more victories to have the
best year in the program’s history. This is the team to do it.
What to watch for on offense: Explosiveness. Everyone knew ULM
had more work to do than anyone in the league, but when things started
to click, they really started to click. Now all the freshmen receivers
are grizzled veterans, Lancaster has a grip on the offense, and the
running game should be tremendous. If this isn’t the league’s best
all-around offense by a long shot, it’ll be an upset.
What to watch for on defense: Takeaways at the sacrifice of a
pass rush. ULM doesn’t sell out to get into the backfield, preferring to
provide the big hit while trying to create the big play. The plan works,
for the most part, doing a fantastic job of forcing turnovers while
preventing the short to midrange passes. However, the run defense tends
to get bowled over and when a sack or quarterback pressure is needed, it
isn’t there.
The team will be far better if … there’s even a little bit of
production from all aspects of the punting game. Cole Wilson is an
All-America caliber placekicker and Darrell McNeal is an adequate
kickoff returner. Now the punting game has to be better despite the loss
of safety/punter Kevin Payne. McNeal has the potential to be a good punt
returner, but he didn’t do much as ULM averaged just 4.56 yards per try.
The Schedule:
It’s enough
to prevent a winning season and a shot the Sun Belt title. Starting out
against Tulsa, at Clemson and at Texas A&M isn’t going to inspire much
confidence before starting out the Sun Belt season at Troy. Getting
Middle Tennessee at home is a major plus, but it’ll be a rough second
half of the season with road games at Florida Atlantic, Alabama and UL
Lafayette to likely end things on a down note.
Best Offensive Player:
Senior RB
Calvin Dawson. He won’t have to carry the entire workload like he did
over the second half of last year when he was amazing, but he’ll be a
near-lock for 1,000 yards and double-digit touchdowns working behind a
strong line. Kinsmon Lancaster and an improved passing game will help
take the pressure off.
Best Defensive Player:
Junior S
Josh Thompson. While he’s less than 200 pounds, he’s such a good hitter
that he’ll be a key backup linebacker as well as the top popping rover.
He was second on the team with 83 tackles to go along with a
team-leading six interceptions. He has range, toughness, and the talent
to be the leader of the defense.
Key player to a
successful season:
Senior DTs David Cooper
and Kendall Mouton. The Warhawks have to be better against the run to
have any hope of competing for the Sun Belt title, and it’ll start in
the middle with Cooper and Mouton. They’re big enough to hold their own,
but they’re not going to get into the backfield so if they’re not
stopping the run, they’re not of much use.
The season will be a
success if
... ULM finishes with a winning season. It has as much star power as
anyone in the Sun Belt, but the schedule is a bit too tough to win the
title with battles with Troy and UL Lafayette on the road. Being in the
top three is a must for a team with as much potential as this one.
Key game:
Sept. 29 at Troy. This
is the tone-setter for the Sun Belt season. Win the conference opener,
and the title will be there for the taking. Lose it, and there’s no
margin for error with three conference road games, and home dates with
Middle Tennessee and Arkansas State, still to deal with.
2006 Fun Stats:
- Penalties: UL Monroe 85 for 643 yards – Opponents 69 for 552 yards
- Punt return average: Opponents 12.1 yards – UL Monroe 4.6 yards
- Sacks: UL Monroe 19 for 126 yards – Opponents 13 for 83 yards