This offseason Eastern Michigan had a lot of news with the athletic program and the football team. This summer it was announced Athletic Director Derek Gragg had taken the Athletic Director job at Tulsa. With that Eastern Michigan hired Heather Lyke as the new AD at EMU. Head coach Ron English made some changes to the football team by hiring Stan Parrish as the new offensive coordinator. Parrish brings a much simpler offense to EMU, but still an affective offense that will be able to put points on the board often. Ron English has taken over as the Defensive Coordinator now which English has been know for having strong defenses.
This season the Eagles face one of the toughest schedules in all of college football. Eastern will open up against Howard, but then travel to Penn State, and Rutgers, and start a tough MAC schedule. The MAC is as good as it has ever been with so many teams going to bowls, being ranked in the top 25, and even making BCS games.
Starting with the offense, EMU has to go back to basics. Who will step up and be leaders of the offense? QB Tyler Benz, and OL Lincoln Hansen seem like they would be able to step up and make an impact on the offense.
With this new offense we could expect just about anything. RB Bronson Hill will be huge this year for the Eagles. He will rely on the offensive line to create holes for him to run through. There are many questions about this years O-Line and with the experience they now have, will they be able to step up this year? Will they protect Benz and the running backs? There is nowhere to go but up for this years O-Line. A good thing coming this season is the Eagles have so much depth in the offense this year. We haven't seen a whole lot of depth in past years rosters. EMU has many quarterbacks, that could all potentially play. Tyler Benz will return another season to start, and this offense should fit his style a whole lot better. Other contributors to the position are Mark Ianotti, and the freshman Brogan Roback, Brandon Bossard, and Reggie Bell. The QB position is very deep and we have every type of QB you can think of. Ones that can scramble and make broken plays go for big plays. QB's that can make throws on the run, or your classic pocket passer. It will be interesting to see how Stan Parrish uses each QB this season.
The first thing that comes to mind when you think of EMU running backs, is Bronson Hill. He had an outstanding year last year, and you can expect more of the same this year. He has the ability to break free, and use his speed to get away. He does have help behind him with Brumfield, Jackson, and Greene. All we could see with playing time this season.
What's nice about this years wide receiving core is there is experience. Scott, Creel, J. Jones, Q. Jones, Reed and Allen all have playing time experience. But what's even better is the depth of redshirt players and true freshman. This is another very deep position with talented receivers.
The defense is a huge concern coming into this year. Last season EMU had trouble stopping the run. Teams on average would be picked up 7-8 yards a carry. With Ron English taking over as defensive coordinator you can expect improvements.
The linebacker position will have lots of battles for starting spots as this is yet another position EMU has a lot of depth at. Spearman, Kurtz, and H. Matt all return this season but are going to have to beat out some talented players such as Ibe, Zappone, Glick, Robinson, and Borland who all have a good chance of replacing them and possibly start.
English is known for his DB's. The DB's will be strong this year, with many returning players and many newcomers. Darius Scott will bring a intense attitude and playing style to this defense as he enters his 3rd year as a starter. Pudge Cotton, Coleman, Gillespie, Strange, and Johnson are all returning as leaders. EMU could also see freshman Jaleel Canty as a possible threat to maybe start this year.
Special teams is also important to any team. Place kickers Dylan Mulder and Kody Fulkerson we may have to rely on quite a bit this season. Both pretty talented as well. With Jay Karutz graduated the punter spot opens up and could possibly be freshman Austin Barnes. Competing for the spot is Owen Dubiel.
I can tell EMU will be fun team to watch this year and it will be interesting to see how the Eagles compete in the MAC. With the toughness of the schedule it will be a difficult road for EMU to get to a bowl this year. A 6-6 season would give EMU there first bowl bid since 1987. Predictions have Eastern Michigan finishing last in the MAC West. It's just time to prove everyone wrong. EMU will have to win the games they're suppose to win, and pull off a few so called "upsets".
Looking at the schedule, EMU will open up the season with Howard. It is a must win game for EMU to get momentum going to start the year. In week 2 and 3 EMU goes to Penn State and Rutgers which could be a trap games for both the Nittany Lions and Scarlet Knights. Meaning they could overlook Eastern Michigan. Conference play will begin right after that with a really tough Ball State team at home. Another 2 weeks in a row EMU travels to Buffalo, and Army, both are very winnable games and going 2-0 on the road here would be huge momentum for the rest of the season. Coming back home to play a tough Ohio squad won't be easy but home field advantage might come in handy. A tough stretch to end the season on the road going to the defending MAC champions Northern Illinois, and at Toledo. EMU had a good chance last season at beating the Rockets in a high scoring shootout where Bronson Hill made a big name for himself. Then closing the season with WMU, Bowling Green, and CMU. The Eagles will need to beat both CMU, and WMU. Bowling Green returns almost there entire team this season and will be a tough game to win at home. Depending on how the cards fall this season EMU could possibly go 7-5 this year. I am very optimistic and think this team can pull off some games even if it is by just a field goal or extra point.
Be sure to support the Eagles as they kickoff the 2013 season on August 31st at Rynearson Stadium at 6PM.
