KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For Emporia State coach Garin Higgins, this season is largely about two positions: quarterback and kicker.
Get effective play from those two spots — both problem areas for the Hornets in 2009 — and Higgins figures ESU will do a better job of competing and win more games. Struggle at those two spots again, and another season as trying as last year’s 2-9 campaign is a real possibility.
So at MIAA Media Day on Monday, Higgins emphasized the importance of the guys charged with leading drives, and the guys charged with finishing them off with a boot through the uprights.
“There’s a lot of different things that we struggled in that we need to get better at, but like I said, it boils down to two things: our quarterback play and our kicking game,” Higgins said. “And we get that corrected, then we’re gonna get more Ws than we had last year, and we’re gonna have more success, and we’re gonna get this thing going in the right direction, and all those things that everybody wants to see us do.”
Redshirt sophomore Tyler Eckenrode and junior Sheldon Smith will battle for starting quarterback duties. Eckenrode, a redshirt sophomore and the better passer of the two, started three games last season and threw for 551 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Higgins said Eckenrode will enter the first day of practice this Friday with a slight edge over Smith, whose main asset is his ability to run.
“Tyler’s strength is throwing the football,” Higgins said. “He’s athletic too, though. He can get it done with his legs. But he’s very accurate, gets rid of the ball on time, so coming out of the spring, yeah, I would say Tyler would be a little bit farther ahead than Sheldon. But at the same time, I think Sheldon Smith, as you saw in the last game of the year against Washburn, can do a lot of great things for us, too.”
While either Eckenrode or Smith will be the guy under center when the Hornets open their season at Southwestern Oklahoma State on Aug. 26, exactly who will be doing the kicking is much more of a mystery.
Dustin Andrews, who became a three-sport athlete when he replaced the struggling Will Maxwell as placekicker during last season, is recovering from a broken foot suffered while high-jumping. Special teams coach Matt Walter said the earliest Andrews could return is the season’s fourth game. Derek Jonas, who kicked for the Hornets in spring ball, is ineligible this year.
So at present, that leaves three newcomers to battle it out for the kicking duties: junior and Highland Community College transfer Zackary King; sophomore Brian Dorsey, a transfer from Baker and an Emporia High alum; and freshman Zane Guadagnolo, from Kennedale, Texas.
In addition to finding a placekicking game in that group, Walter is looking for a backup punter to Tyler Chilson; he said Andrews doesn’t punt, but the other three do. Walter said Monday night that he’s confident that the pieces are there for significant improvement in the kicking game.
“I think we’re a lot better off there than we were last year,” he said.
Entering his fourth year at ESU with a 9-24 record, the pressure on Higgins to win only figures to increase. But rather than think about his job security, he said he just worries about the job in front of him — which would certainly be made easier if the Hornets can fill the two needs he’s identified at the top of their priority list.
“I’ve been brought up around coaching. You gotta have thick skin,” he said. “We feel like we’re doing the right thing here at Emporia State, and we’ve been doing the right thing here at Emporia State.
“We (were) a better football team last year than I think we were in the previous two years. We just didn’t get it done in the W area. And again, that falls back on our quarterback play and our kicking game. Period, bottom line. Talk about anything else — that’s what it boils down to.”