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CCIW Football Coaches' Chat Archive

Aug. 7, 2012 - North Central College head football coach John Thorne participated in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Coaches' Chat Tuesday morning, and offered the following responses to questions on the upcoming season.

On the Cardinals' plans for the quarterback position with Spencer Stanek and Tyler Dicken, the Cardinals' playoff starters from the past two seasons, in camp:
"It's been a great competition between them. They're both doing extremely well. We're very anxious to see who comes out as the starter at the end of fall camp. "

On the Cardinals' prospects on special teams:
"Both of our kickers and our punter are returning. Tyler Rasche was an All-Conference punter, Nick Dace is our record holder in extra-points and field goals, and Kevin Looff is back to do kickoffs. With the new rule putting the ball on the 35-yard line, Kevin should have a very large number of kicks that go into the end zone.

"We have many returners who were starters on special teams, but two of the most outstanding were Ryne Rezac and Nick Slezak who were both gunners for us. We should have a great competition for our long snapper and short snapper positions, but Nathan Schweitzer is a returner at that spot. Josh Mitchell looked excellent returning punts in our game in Spain, and Ryan Kent returns as an excellent kickoff returner."

On North Central's ability to substitute as freely on the defensive line as it did last season with all four starters having been lost to graduation:
"We won't know the answer to that until we get through fall camp. We are excited about the number of defensive linemen we have who are fast, strong and intelligent football players."

On newcomers who may have an impact in the upcoming season:
"We have some excellent transfer students. Mack Tracey, from Northern Illinois Univ., is a very good wide receiver and he can also punt and play the Wildcat quarterback position. Jason Callahan, from Western Illinois Univ., is an excellent long snapper and should be an impact player on special teams. Emmanuel Clark, from Harper College, has done some really good things on the defensive line. Charlie Terry, from Southern Illinois Univ., is a very good offensive lineman, and Sam Quintanilla, from College of DuPage, is an excellent offensive tackle. We also have another transfer from COD, Quentin McNew, who is very athletic and could play quarterback or defensive back for us."

On the amount of emphasis being placed on putting forth a quality performance in the Sept. 1 season opener again the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, the Cardinals' first time opening the season at home since 2008:
"All three of our non-conference games are going to be very, very competitive. This is the toughest non-conference schedule we've tried out of all 10 years that I've been here. We need to be able to play with fewer mistakes in game 1. We expect it to be a really great contest."

On the Cardinals' senior class:
"We have a terrific group of seniors. It's much smaller than last year's class of 37. Our captains out of that class are Nick Kukuc, Jordan Tassio, Joe Guenther, Alex Pirela and Joey Michals, along with a junior, Shane Dierking. Josh Mitchell is a Preseason All-American. We expect some really great leadership out of this group. They've worked very hard, and they know that this is going to be a very, very difficult season."

On the preseason outlook for the offensive line:
"We have four returning starters on the offensive line, including a Preseason All-American in left tackle Jace Werkheiser. As a group, the offensive linemen have worked as hard or harder than any other position group. They've made the most gains in size and strength on the whole team. We expect them to have a very calming effect on the whole offensive side of the ball, especially for our running backs and quarterbacks."

On expectations for sophomore quarterback Tyler Dicken:
"Tyler had a terrific season as a freshman starting quarterback last year. He is a very hard worker and we expect some great things from him in the next three years here at North Central."

On what it will take to win the CCIW Championship this season:
"The conference should be very competitive. The team that plays with the fewest penalties, plays great defense, and controls the football should have the best opportunity to win the CCIW."

North Central's opener against UW-La Crosse will kick off at 1 p.m. The Cardinals begin CCIW play Sept. 29, hosting Elmhurst College.