Thoughts on D-Shot: UW-Whitewater Warhawks Football 2015 Preview Part 1: The Offense

A new era has officially begun at UW-Whitewater, as the Kevin Bullis Era is about to begin for Warhawk Football as they kick off the 2015 season at Belhaven on September 12th.  As a first year head coach, Kevin Bullis gets the keys to a car that doesn't have too many rusts to it. Some good pieces are already in place on the roster (such as the running back duo of Jordan Ratliffe and Dennis Moore) along with some that we'll find a lot more about some other players in 2015 than we have in previous seasons. We'll find out what the new coordinators (Craig Smith, the offensive coordinator, and Rob Erickson, the new defensive coordinator) bring to the Warhawk offense and defense. As for expectations for 2015, expect the success to continue without Lance Leipold as coach and a return to the post-season as either a conference champion or an at-large bid (as it will be a battle for the WIAC title with an perhaps equally dangerous UW-Oshkosh team) and perhaps another trip to Salem, Virginia for another Stagg Bowl to face Mount Union again or maybe just maybe an ALL-WIAC Stagg Bowl against UW-Oshkosh. That could happen in 2015 especially if both get placed on opposite sides when they get to the post-season.
Before I get too far ahead of myself with this already, it is time to preview the team for 2015.  Starting with previewing the offense for 2015. Looking at the numbers from 2014, the team averaged just above 40 points last year and yardage wise they were just above 7,100 yards while averaging 8.8 yards per play last season. Offensively, the Warhawks scored 81 touchdowns last year and scored touchdowns 70 percent of the time they were in the red zone (in fact they scored 84 percent they were in the red zone last year).  The Warhawks lost some big names from last year's National Championship winning team on the offensive side of the ball most notably now-Cincinnati Bengal wide receiver Jake Kumerow. Kumerow, quarterback Matt Behrendt, tight end Derric Junakin, running back Ryan Givens and the other standout wide receiver from last year in Justin Howard are all really tough pieces to replace in this offense, and you can't replace all these guys with guys trying to be the next version that just doesn't happen. Like I said, at the beginning of this we'll find out about some guys on both sides of ball that have seen the field the last few years. I'll start with the quarterback position with junior quarterback Chris Nelson.  Chris Nelson has been a guy that has seen some time during garbage time the last two seasons. As a backup to Behrendt, Nelson was 31-for-53 for 458 yards and five touchdowns. He has some upsides to him and in essence it seems like the Warhawks are going to get kind of the same player as what Behrendt was.  Nelson has a good accurate arm and some mobility to him as well. With his mobility and along with the fact that new offensive coordinator Craig Smith ran a ton of the Read-Option at UW-Oshkosh. I could easily see them running more of that to open up the offense a lot more with both the passing and running game. The other spot that I'll hit on is the wide receiving corps. Obviously this season, they aren't going to have the threats that Jake Kumerow and Justin Howard were, but they have some guys who can make an impact from previous seasons. Joe Worth is going to have to step up big time and lead this wide receiving corps. Worth was the third option in addition to Kumerow and Howard last year. Expect some big things from him as possibly the number one option for Nelson in this offense. This wide receiving corps. has some depth in it and it is full of guys that Warhawk fans saw a bit of last year. Marcus Hudson started off last year really well and was the number four wide out in the offense last year. Another guy is Ryan Storto, who also saw time last year as a four or five wide out in the offense last season. Storto will provide a huge factor in 2015 in the special teams with the loss of Justin Howard and Marcus McLin. In addition to Kumerow and Howard being gone from this offense, Ricky Finco is no longer on the roster either. Finco transferred to Wisconsin. So that is another spot the Warhawks need to fill. One of the guys who could fill that role and could step up at wide receiver is Colton Hrgich. Warhawk fans haven't seen him that much, but he could see some time this year as well. Another spot where you could see some guys step up is at the tight end position.  The Warhawks lost Derric Junakin, who was their most productive tight end last season to graduation, so there will be a need for someone to step up at that spot as well. At the spot it could Brett Campbell, Tony Gumina, and maybe even Logan Solano.  Solano saw some time as a tight end in 2013 and has seen a lot of time as a fullback as well. Now onto the strengths of this year's Warhawks squad. With the Warhawks being known for "pounding the rock," the same will be true going into this year.  At the running back position the Warhawks bring back 1,000 yard rusher Dennis Moore along with Jordan Ratliffe, who almost rushed for 1,000 yards as well in 2014. Beyond that they have a ton of depth there as well with senior Nick Patterson, and sophomores Eric Wade and Saquan Dowery.  The running game will once again carry the Warhawks in 2015.  Another spot that is one of the Warhawks strengths for 2015 is the offensive line. They return the whole offensive line from last year with Connor Peters, Eli Sloneker, Spencer Shier, Johnny Wiederholt, and Tony Koepnick. Offensive guard Connor Peters is listed as D3Football.com Preseason All-American going into 2015. They might be even stronger in the offensive line this year with a healthy Lucas Skibba as well.  Skibba was named a preseason All-American last year before suffering a season-ending injury. Even though there are a few questions in terms of who could replace the big names from last year's Warhawk offense, they have the running game, the offensive line, an accurate quarterback, and some pieces to become a good offense in 2015.