2007 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Day Date Opponent Time Series Record Saturday Sept. 1 at Pittsburgh Pittsburgh leads, 1-0 Saturday Sept. 8 BALL STATE* Ball State leads, 25-20-2 Saturday Sept. 15 at Northern Illinois* 2 p.m. NIU leads, 22-13-2 Saturday Sept. 22 HOWARD UNIVERSITY First meeting Saturday Sept. 29 at Vanderbilt First meeting Saturday Oct. 6 at Michigan Michigan leads, 7-0 Saturday Oct. 13 at Ohio* Ohio leads, 14-11-1 Saturday Nov. 20 NORTHWESTERN Northwestern leads, 1-0 Saturday Oct. 27 WESTERN MICHIGAN* WMU leads, 26-14-2 Saturday Nov. 3 at Toledo* Toledo leads, 23-11 Friday Nov. 9 BOWLING GREEN* (ESPNU) BG leads, 22-10-1 Saturday Nov. 17 at Central Michigan* CMU leads, 53-25-6 *Mid-American Conference game Eastern Michigan University 2007 Football Coaching Staff Athletics Staff Head Coach: ........... Jeff Genyk (Bowling Green,'82); Fourth season (9-25) Athletics Director .. Dr. Derrick Gragg Assistant Coaches: Associate A.D. .......................... TBA Jarvis Adams .............. Northwestern, ‘04........... 2nd Year-Cornerbacks Associate A.D. ............. Mike Malach Josh Buis.................... DePauw, '2000 .............. 2nd Year-Tight ends/Tackles Howard Feggins .......... North Carolina, '87 .......... 4th Year-Running backs Asst. A.D.-Interim SWA .................... Scott Isphording .......... Hanover College, '94 ....... 4th Year-Offensive Coordinator/QB’s ...... Stephannnie Harvey-VandenBerg Robert Lee.................. IUPUI, '90 ....................... 4th Year-Defensive line Asst. A.D.-Marketing/Promotions ...... Jim O’Neil ................... Towson, '2001 ............... 2nd Year-Safeties, Recruiting coordinator ...... Stephannnie Harvey-VandenBerg Jay Peterson ............... Miami, '85 ..................... 4th Year-Def. Coor./Asst. Head coach/Lb’s Dir. of Compliance/Certification ...... Chris Symington .......... Colorado, '88 ................. 4th Year-Offensive line ................ Dr. Melody Reifel Werner Scott Weaver .............. Illinois, '96 ...................... 4th Year-Receivers Athletic Dev. Director ....... Craig Fink Adam Tubaro .............. Adrian,'05 ...................... 3rd Year-Special Operations Ticket Mgr. ........................ Ron Reid Graduate Assistant Coach Faculty Athletics Rep. .. Liz Broughton Aaron Krepps .............. Washington&Jefferson, ‘06/1st Year-Offense Steve Otterebein ......... Hillsdale, ‘07/1st Year-Defense Int. Adm. for Academics .. Erin Burdis Graduate Assistant Coach Facilities Supervisor ....... Dave Keller TBA Equipment Mgr. ....... Darrell Hallberg EMU Quick Facts EMU 2007 Dates Head Athletic Trainer Steve Nordwall President .. Dr. John A. Fallon, III Important Fall Date Associate Trainer .......... Bill Tuscany Founded .... 1849 March 10 Spring practice begins Staff Athletic Trainers ..................... Enrollment . 24,000 March 13 Practice Melissa Pohorence, Masayasu Takaiwa Nickname .. Eagles March 15 Practice Head Strength & Cond.Mike Szerszen Colors ....... Dark Green (349) & White March 17 Practice Asst. Strength & Cond................ TBA March 19 Practice Stadium .... Rynearson Stadium (1969) Ath. Acct. Specialist . Bobbie Bowling March 20 Practice Football Secretary .... Maria Farrugia Capacity ... 30,200; FieldTurf (2005) March 22 Practice March 24 Practice Ath. Dept. Secretaries Carol Carrico Sports Information Staff March 27 Practice ............................... Lori Grohowski Director ......................... Jim Streeter March 29 Practice Office Phone .............. 734.487.0317 March 30 Practice Home Phone ............. 734.485.3221 EMU Board of Regents March 31 Practice Thomas W. Sidlik ....................... Chair Assistant Director ........ Greg Steiner April 3 Practice Roy E. Wilbanks ................... vice chair SID Graduate Asst. .... Mekye Phelps April 5 Practice SID Graduate Asst. ....... Dan Murphy April 7 Spring Game Noon Ismael Ahmed SID Graduate Asst. ......Paul Pancoe All practice days are subject to change Floyd Clack Student Assts ........... Chris Puzzuoli May 30, June 2, 6, 9-Super Senior:one-day Philip A. Incarnati June 26-27 Team Camp Gary D. Hawks Key Football Phone Numbers June 23-24 7-on-7 Passing Jamboree, Francie Parker H.C. Jeff Genyk .... 734.487.2160 (O) Big Man Day James F. Stapleton Rynearson Stadium Press Box Numbers:....... 734.481.0014 (0072) -1- www.emueagles.com 2007 eagles have spring mission Eagles a strong base, the bad news is that while only nine players were lost through graduation, five were record-setting per- formers for the Green and White. “The quantity of veterans returning is good but the quality of the players that graduated will be hard to replace and probably will not be done by just one player at those positions,” Genyk said. “For in- stance, we probably won’t be able to have a guy at receiver who accomplished what Eric Deslauriers accomplished, but we may have two players fill that void. We may not have the productivity of place-kicker Andrew Wellock or the outstanding play of defensive standouts Kevin Howe and Mike Richardson nor an impact return guy like Trumaine Riley, so we may have to spread those numbers out a little more.” All of those graduated players left big holes to fill after leading the team for multiple years but Genyk is confident that his team will rebound from what was a deceiving 1-11 finish in 2006. “Against three teams that played in post- QB Tyler Jones (8) will lead the offense season bowl games last year we had a in spring drills lead in the fourth quarter and you could argue that we had a great chance to win YPSILANTI, Mich. — The main point of those games,” Genyk explained. “It’s not Head coach Jeff Genyk expects produc- spring football practice is to prepare the so much that we have to learn how to finish, tive spring drills team for the upcoming fall season. we need to start better. We need to learn And fourth-year Eastern Michigan Univer- how to utilize our assets, both offensively ing twice at tailback when that position was sity head football coach Jeff Genyk has and defensively, and get ahead of people plagued by injuries and Jones responded two major goals for his Eagles during the and execute better. In reviewing those with 310 yards gained on the year with four 2007 spring drills. fourth quarters we just didn’t execute very touchdowns on the ground. He also com- “From an overall team standpoint, we well on offense and that will be a major pleted 74-of-134 passes for 754 yards and want to assure that there is competition at focus this spring. We need to ensure that four touchdowns through the air. every position this spring,” Genyk explained. our offensive execution improves so we Schmitt started seven times at quarter- “Competition is absolutely critical to us can get more points when we reach the red back as a redshirt freshman last year and making the next step competitively. zone.” not only led the team in passing but also in “The other major emphasis this spring The EMU offense returns both the No. 1 rushing. He completed 131-of-213 passes will be to make sure that our newly founded and No. 2 quarterbacks from last year but for 1,182 yards and two touchdowns and leadership council is responsible for man- the spring will not give Genyk a true indica- rushed 107 times for 461 yards and four aging the team,” Genyk added. “That coun- tor of things to come at that position as touchdowns. cil, with senior captains at every position, both No. 1 incumbent, Andy Schmitt (6-3 With Jones’ playing time limited and has already had a major impact on our off- 1/2, 221, Jr.-So.) and No. 2 man Tyler Schmitt out of spring practice, Genyk will season conditioning and team building. Jones (6-2, 225, Sr.-Jr.), are coming count on two untested players to handle the “We’ve seen results of that leadership in back from off-season shoulder surgery. bulk of the snaps in the spring. December, January and February and now Jones is expected to participate in spring Redshirt freshman Ben Thayer (6-3, we need to see it in a practice environ- practice while Schmitt will most likely not 200, So.-Fr.) and senior Brian Ceckiewicz ment,” Genyk said. be available until after spring drills are (6-2 1/2, 190, Sr.-Sr.) will join Jones in Those two major goals should be attain- completed. the quarterback rotation during spring drills. able with a large group of 39 returning Jones began the 2006 season at quar- Both Thayer and Ceckiewicz practiced lettermen to lead the way. terback and started six times while battling with the team last year but did not see any While those 39 players should give the minor injuries all year. He ended up start- action. -2- 2007 eagles have spring mission Fr.) freshman recruit Dwayne Priest ( 5-9, 185, Fr.-Fr.), a re- cruit from Fork Union Military Academy, along with Tyree Har- ris (5-6, 160, Jr.-So.) and senior John Neely (6-0, 200, Sr.- Sr.). The loss of Deslauriers and Trumaine Riley will present a major void in the receiving corps but returning starter Travis Lewis (6-2, 197, Sr.-Sr.) is back for his senior year and looking to duplicate a 2005 sophomore sea- son that saw him Linebacker Darran Matthews (42) catch 33 balls for 331 returns for his third year as a starter yards and one score. He had just 10 grabs Veteran tailback Pierre Walker (5-7, for 89 yards last year. 206, Sr.-Sr.) returns to bolster the EMU Sophomore wide running game. Walker started six times last receiver Dontayo Starting defensive tackle Jason Jones (83) returns after year before being sidelined with an injury. Gage (5-9, 188, Jr.- finishing fifth in the nation in tackles-for-loss in 2006 He was not only the third-leading rusher on So.) played both the team, with 214 yards and two touch- quarterback and wide receiver last year group are junior Reggie Brown (5-11, downs last year, but also one of the top and will most likely dedicate the spring to 171, Sr.-Jr.), redshirt freshman Michael pass blockers in playing only as a receiver. Graham (6-3, 200, So.-Fr.), West Virginia the offensive He caught 28 passes for State University transfer Nate Beard (5- backfield.