(Published Tuesday, August 14, 2007 11:10:20 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Tom Miller tmiller@gazetteextra.com
WHITEWATER-The season opener is still 18 days away. The first home game is 40 days away.
The UW-Whitewater football team, however, is ready to get back into action.
The enthusiasm of the new head coach, Lance Leipold, and several players was evident Monday during at the team's media day at Perkins Stadium.
The Warhawks are coming off back-to-back 14-1 seasons, both of which ended with losses to Mount Union (Ohio) in the NCAA Division III title game.
Only two days into organized practices, and none with pads on, Leipold still is getting to know his players. Hours of poring over last season's film, a spring practice session and getting to know his players during summer workouts still can't give Leipold what a week's worth of drills with pads will provide.
Lance Leipold
There is one thing that new offensive coordinator Jim Zebrowski has realized in just two days of practices.
"There are just so many great athletes around," Zebrowski said.
While the players have been in camp for only two days, they have experienced one major difference. The speed in which drills are conducted is much faster under Leipold than under former head coach Bob Berezowitz.
The players aren't the only ones who have had to rev up their engines.
"I thought I ran up-tempo practices," said Zebrowski, who was Lakeland College's head coach the past four seasons. "But coach Leipold's practices are 100 mph faster. We get in a lot of reps."
Leipold prepares the team on the playbook and individual responsibilities during meetings. When the players are on the field, it's zip, zip, zip. That produces more videotape on the players that coaches can evaluate.
And it also eliminates the need to run sprints after practice. With players on the move throughout the normal 2½-hour practice, they're gassed by the final whistle.
"I strongly believe that the level you practice at will help you on Saturday afternoons," Leipold said. "On a scale of 1 to 10, if you're practicing at a Level 8, when you get to Saturday and the adrenaline is flowing and the band is playing, you're going to play better. But if you're practicing at a 5, it's going to take you a while to get geared up, because the game speeds up on Saturday."
The Warhawks have juiced up the scoreboards on Saturday afternoons, and that shouldn't change. Despite the loss of two players who are in NFL camps-Derek Stanley and Pete Schmitt-Whitewater still features record-setting senior Justin Beaver and several other tough runners in the backfield.
Whitewater will have an experienced offensive line-featuring NFL prospect 6-foot-6, 308-pound Brady Ramseier and senior wide receiver Neil Mrkvicka.
The question mark is at quarterback, where record-setting Justin Jacobs graduated.
"When you lose someone of the quality and character of Justin Jacobs, you have a little bit of the unknown," Leipold said.
"(The competition) will make it a better camp and make us a better football team," Leipold said.
But Leipold's coaching foundation started here. He kept in contact with the coaching staff throughout the years. With those roots, the change in coaches won't result in any radical changes.
"Whoever was going to be the new head coach, there was going to be a change in the program," Leipold said. "There's going to be a change in terminology and in how things are called."
"But it's not going to be really off-base."
Leipold admits he's a ball-control advocate, while Zebrowski pushes for the big play. Between the two of them, the offense should be varied and stretch defenses.
"You're going to see a lot of things from the past," Leipold said.
He plans on that including the success the Warhawks have had the past two seasons.
Heavy workload Leipold admits the responsibilities of being a head coach surpassed even what he imagined.
Fundraising and recruiting are just part of the almost full-time responsibilities the head coach has to have on his agenda.
That is especially true at Whitewater, where Berezowitz ran the show for 22 years before retiring last year.
"There's a lot to it," Leipold said. "That goes from a youth coach all the way through the NFL. When you're sitting in that other chair, sometimes you think of a few things on how you would do it.
"There are a lot more things expected of you," Leipold said. "Bob Berezowitz did such an outstanding job here with community relations and other things that have made this operate in such a non-Division III setting.
"It's at a higher level. That's why it was imperative for me to surround us with an outstanding coaching staff."
Milton's Langer in QB mix With Jacobs gone, the quarterback position is wide open.
Senior Brian Ryczkowski returns, but he hasn't played any meaningful minutes. Sophomore Jeff Donovan has played baseball and is getting back into football.
The player with the best resume is transfer Danny Jones, who comes in after operating in the run-and-shoot offense at Cal Lutheran. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound Jones threw for 20 touchdowns and 1,952 yards and rushed for 387 yards as a junior for Cal Lutheran's 6-3 team last year.
Leipold said freshman Bruce Langer out of Milton High has been impressive.
"He's going to be a quality player," Leipold said. "He's mature, very talented and strong. He ran a very nice 40. I'm very excited about his future here."
Here's the kicker When Jeff Schebler arrived at football camp last year, he was just one of many freshmen trying to catch the coaching staff's attention.
A year later, he is considered one of the top kickers in NCAA Division III football.
The Davenport, Iowa, resident hit 18 of 21 field goals and 68 of 70 extra-point tries last season en route to a 122-point freshman season.
Schebler was named to the D3football.com All-America second team and AP College Division All-America second team after last season.
Now he has been named a Pre-season Division III All-America kicker by Street and Smith's Official Yearbook, 2007 College Football.
Schebler remembers how he felt at this time last season.
"Coming in, I think there were three other kickers," Schebler said of the wide-open kicking situation. "But coach Berezowitz had faith in me."
