Rocket Docket

JuCo punter signs with Rockets

UT football coach Matt Campbell announced today that Brad Dunavant, a junior college punter out of Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College, has signed a national letter of intent to play for the Rockets in 2012. Dunavant will have sophomore eligibility next fall.

"We are very happy to add Brad to our 2012 recruiting class," Campbell said. "We feel he is a punter who can come in and help our team right away."

Last season at Trinity Valley, Dunavant averaged 38.9 yards per punt. He played his high school football at Rockwall-Heath High School in Rockwall, Texas.

With Bill Claus graduating and Vince Penza entering his junior year next season, this signing gives the Rockets some depth and competition at punter.

Wednesday was the first day that junior-college athletes who graduated in December were allowed to sign with Division I schools.

Dunavant will enroll in classes in January and be eligible to participate in spring practices. He is expected to be the only recruit that Toledo will sign during the early signing period. The remainder of Toledo's 2012 football recruiting class cannot sign until the regular signing period on Feb. 1.

UT announces Golesh, Ward departures

University of Toledo football coach Matt Campbell announced today that assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator Mike Ward and tight ends coach/recruiting coordinator Alex Golesh have resigned to accept positions on former UT head coach Tim Beckman's staff at Illinois, as reported in today's Blade.

"Mike Ward and Alex Golesh were a big part of the success we've had here the past three seasons," Campbell said. "I want to wish them and their families all the best at the University of Illinois and in all their future endeavors."

Campbell added that Ward and Golesh will not be coaching in the Military Bowl and that their positions would be filled after the bowl game.

VanDerMeulen named finalist for Bowden Award

University of Toledo senior offensive lineman Mike VanDerMeulen is one of three finalists for the Bobby Bowden Award, presented annually by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes to the FBS player who best epitomizes a student-athlete.

The other two finalists are center Ben Jones of Georgia and quarterback Case Keenum of Houston.

Nominees for the Bowden Award, named after the former Florida State coach, must have at least a 3.0 GPA and conduct themselves as a faith model in the community, on campus, in the classroom and on the field.

VanDerMeulen is a first-team All-MAC selection who carries a 3.385 GPA in human resource management. He has started 49 straight games at left tackle for UT, which ranks eighth in the nation in total offense.

The 2011 Bobby Bowden Award winner will be announced at the FCA Allstate Bowl Championship Series breakfast in New Orleans on Jan. 6.

Bobby Bowden Award Past Winners
2003 - Jason Wright, Northwestern
2004 - Billy Bajema, Oklahoma State
2005 - D. J. Shockley, Georgia
2006 - Carl Pendleton, Oklahoma
2007 - Jacob Tamme, Kentucky
2008 - Stephen McGee, Texas A&M
2009 - Colt McCoy, Texas
2010 - Christian Ponder, Florida State

Military Bowl ticket update

The University of Toledo has sold 1,200 of its 5,000 ticket allotment for the 2011 Military Bowl as of Monday morning, according to UT officials.

That figure includes UT box office sales, alumni bus trip participants and coach/player tickets.

Tickets remain on sale at the UT athletic ticket office (Monday-Friday, 8:30-5:30), at 419-530-GOLD (4653) or at www.utrockets.com. They are priced at $90, $55 and $25. UT student tickets are $15 (limit two).

Seats are also still available for the UT alumni association bus. Private motor coaches will depart campus on Tuesday morning, Dec. 27 and return to Toledo on Thursday evening, Dec. 29. The package includes roundtrip transportation including all tolls and tips, a two-night stay at the JW Marriott located just two blocks from the White House, five meals including a pre-game party, a guided tour of Washington landmarks including the World War II Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a ticket to the Military Bowl game and a commemorative Military Bowl hooded sweatshirt. 

The total cost of the package is $400 per person based upon double occupancy. The rate for single occupancy is $560. Reservations will be accepted until Dec. 22 at noon at 419-530-ALUM (2586).

Military Bowl ticket info

Tickets for the Military Bowl will go on sale at the UT athletic ticket office at Savage Arena at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

The Rockets (8-4) will take on Air Force (7-5) in the matchup at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 28 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.

Tickets are $90, $55 and $25. UT student tickets are $15 (two tickets per student ID, one ID per student) and will go on sale next week. Donors and football season ticket holders will receive reserve priority seating (see more information below).

UT has been assigned a 5,000-ticket allotment by the Military Bowl, and Rocket fans are strongly encouraged to purchase their tickets from UT in order to get the best seats and sit in the Toledo section.

Tickets can be purchased at the UT athletic ticket office, (419) 530-GOLD (4653) or www.utrockets.com. Ticket office hours are Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Online orders will be available beginning Wednesday.

Athletic department contributors and season ticket holders may call and order premium tickets for the game. Donors can call the UT athletic development office at 419-530-2510 or 419-530-4183. Season ticket holders may call the ticket office at 419-530-4653.

The deadline to order premium tickets will be 5 p.m. Dec. 14. Ticket locations will be assigned based on season ticket and contribution history. Ticket orders will be mailed Dec. 16 or held at Will Call for pick-up, if requested. 

The UT alumni association will offer a bus package, as well as pregame party package to all Rocket fans. Details will be announced Thursday. For more information, call the alumni office at 419-530-2586.

Transcript of Beckman news conference

University of Toledo football coach Tim Beckman met with the media before practice today at the Fetterman Training Center to address coaching rumors, Urban Meyer's hire at Ohio State and a couple other items.

Questions posed to Beckman appear in italics.

What was your reaction to Urban Meyer being named the head coach at Ohio State?
"I knew that would be the first question you guys would ask. I'm happy for him. He's a close friend of mine. I'm excited about him getting back in Ohio. His wife Shelley is from Chillicothe, and I'm just happy for him. I talked to him a couple days ago, and he'll do a great job. He's a true Ohio native."

There are some reports out there about Illinois. Any contact yet?
"I have not been contacted by anyone. We're worried about bowl games, we're worried about bowl preparation, and I love Toledo."

Would you be open, if it was the right, you know...
"I'm worried about the Toledo Rockets. I'm worried about winning a bowl game. We did not get that accomplished last year. I'm worried about these seniors leaving this school successful, so that's what we're doing"

Speaking of bowl games, do you have any preference of where to go?
"We're happy just to be to one. To go in here and practice and get ourselves better as a football team. We don't have the seniors practicing here today, but what a blessing it is for the younger kids to come in here, who might not have gotten those reps and are now going to get a bunch of reps here in the next couple days."

Would the Pizza Bowl be ideal, just from a travel perspective for not only you but [also] the fans?
"Well, yeah. I mean, no question, 'cause it's a local bowl game. But these young men deserve a reward and where ever that might be, we'll find that out Friday evening probably after the [MAC] championship game is over."

How do you go about practice, just knowing that not only do you not know which bowl you're going to but [also] you don't know your opponent?
"Well, these first four practices are really for the young players and they're really for scrimmage purposes, for them to get reps in, to work our schemes and really we work on what the Rockets need to work on -- regardless of scheme or anything like that. We've got to become better tacklers, throwing the ball, catching the ball and doing all those types of fundamentals. So that's what we're trying to get accomplished these next four days."

Is it tough to keep the guys focused?
Nah! They love it. When you get to go to a bowl game, we have little competitions. We split this team up into blue and white teams. We'll have punt, pass and kick [competitions]. We'll do different things after each practice. There's always competition going on, and we had a great time with it last year."

It sounds like every practice is fun, right?
"Yeah, I mean we're going to be out here for an hour today, and we're going to let these guys run around. Eric Page will line up at DB [defensive back] today, or we'll have other guys playing different positions to see what they can do and try to get better on their skills."

Bowl projections: 11-23

Well, it's that time of year again. Time to start the annual guessing game of where all the bowl eligibile teams are heading and who's staying home for the holidays.

So far in the MAC, six teams are bowl eligible -- Ball State, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Temple, Toledo and Western Michigan. Eastern Michigan and Kent State can also become bowl eligible with wins Friday, although both are underdogs on the road.

As it stands right now, I see four MAC teams going bowling, with the outside chance of five making it. Ohio is already assured a spot in the postseason by virtue of winning the East Division. Northern Illinois and Toledo will undoubtedly be going bowling, and I think Temple is the fourth most attractive of the group. Plus, as I wrote yesterday, it would be cruel and unusual punishment if the Owls finish with eight wins again this year and don't go bowling.

That leaves Ball State, Western Michigan, Kent State and Eastern Michigan fighting for that fifth and final spot, should one open up. Of that trio, I think the Broncos are the most attractive to bowl officials because of their high-powered offense. WMU has the nation's leading receiver in Jordan White and a darn fine up-and-comer in QB Alex Carder.

Ball State is facing a must-win Friday against Toledo if it wants any chance of going bowling. Right now, the Cardinals just don't have enough to offer to get themselves into the postseason.

Eastern Michigan is a nice story, but there's no guarantee they'll even get bowl eligible with a tough matchup at Northern Illinois. Plus, the Eagles can barely get anybody to come to their home games, let alone expect anyone to travel to a bowl.

Kent State is also no lock to get bowl eligible with a season finale at Temple, plus teams from the MAC that get their sixth win in the final week of the regular season don't usually merit much bowl consideration.

Here's how I see the bowl lineup for the MAC shaking out:

NEW MEXICO (Dec. 17): Western Michigan vs. Mountain West

FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO (Dec. 17): Toledo vs. WAC

LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA (Dec. 27): Northern Illinois vs. Big Ten

KRAFT FIGHT HUNGER (Dec. 31): Temple vs. Pac-12

GODADDY.COM (Jan. 8): Ohio vs. Sun Belt

A closer look at: UT men's basketball

The Blade's UT men's basketball season preview will run in tomorrow's paper, and I was at practice earlier today to observe the team's progress and then talk with coach Tod Kowalczyk and a couple of his players about the upcoming season.

The Rockets open the 2011-12 season Friday against Texas State in the Texas-Pan American tournament in Edinburg, Texas, and I can say for certain they've already come a long way since preseason practices started earlier this fall.

UT's seven-man rotation of junior G Dominique Buckley, sophomore G Rian Pearson, sophomore F Matt Smith, sophomore G Reese Holliday, sophomore C DeLino Dear, freshman PG Juice Brown and freshman G Ryan Majerle have already developed a nice chemistry. Junior G Curtis Dennis will join the rotation in mid-December once he becomes eligible to play after sitting out his mandatory one year following his transfer from New Mexico last January.

Obviously with such few players, though, staying healthy will be a huge priority for the Rockets. If that happens, they'll win a lot more games than last year. How many is hard to say, but the words "competing for a championship" have been thrown around quite a bit in preseason practices. That may be a little ambitious, but for a program that's starving for success, it's hard to blame them.

Here's a few snippets from my interviews today with Kowalczyk, Pearson and Smith:

KOWALCZYK: "We like this team. We think this is a team that has a chance and an opportunity to be very good."

PEARSON: "I'm ready to get going. We've been getting focused all week and we're ready to start our first game. I'm looking forward to it."

KOWALCZYK: "I like playing in these preseason tournaments and having a chance with a young team and a team that is relatively all new guys to be able to get away for four games and be gone basically one full week. I think it's great. We get away from parents and girlfriends and distractions. It's just us. It's just our basketball tight circle. I think that's a good thing for a young team to bond and grow together and experience success and adversity together too."

PEARSON: "We had a [intrasquad] scrimmage this past Saturday, and coack K got the rotations going. We'll get a two-minute breather or something like that and then go right back in. I like that, just getting a quick blow and then getting right back into the game."

KOWALCZYK: "I don't think we have one guy that night-to-night is going to lead us in scoring. I think with this team -- and I truly believe this -- we've got seven guys that could on any given night score 20 points. Majerle had 19 [in the exhibition game], so he could do it. RP obviously can do it. Juice already has done it. I think Dominique Buckley can do it. Reese Holliday did it last year. And then Curtis and Matt without question can do it. So, we've got a lot of guys that can score. Good teams share the ball and they share scoring opportunities. I think this team is very unselfish. They do a great job of making one more pass, and they generally like making that extra pass."

SMITH: "It's different playing in an exhibition than it is in the regular season. The intensity just goes to the next level. And then it does the same thing once we get to MAC play and then postseason. So, I'm more than excited. I can't even explain it."

KOWALCZYK: "I think our team defense and our halfcourt defense is good. Our transition defense was not good the other night [in the exhibition game]. I give credit to Northwestern Ohio because they did a great job of getting the ball inbounds. But when we get our defense set, our halfcourt defense is good. But we've got to get set and we've got to rebound the ball better than what we have been doing."

SMITH: "Each day I think we're getting more feel for the game, we're trusting each other more, we're playing more together than we have been lately, so I'm feeling really confident in us."

KOWALCZYK: "A step forward for us is to try to compete for a championship. We're by no means a finished product. We have a long way to go, but I like this team. I think it's a talented team. If we stay healthy, we're going to have a chance to be a team that I would like to think at the end of the season is as good as anybody in our league."

Defensive changes for WMU game

UT's defense will have a slightly new look when it takes the field tomorrow night at the Glass Bowl against Western Michigan.

Senior linebacker Charles "Bobo" Rancifer will not play for the second consecutive week after breaking an unspecified "team policy," according to coach Tim Beckman, who has continued to evade questions on the nature of Rancifer's suspension and how long he'll be out. A public records request made by The Blade last week turned up no campus police reports containing Rancifer's name, and a source classified the situation as an "internal team matter" before declining further comment.

Rancifer's loss was magnified last week in a 63-60 loss to Northern Illinois, and with another high-powered offense coming to town tomorrow, the Rockets were forced to shuffle their defensive lineup a bit, according to the depth chart released earlier today.

Senior Diauntae Morrow will again start at the "star" position, while senior Desmond Marrow will move over from cornerback to free safety to take Morrow's usual spot. Freshman Keith Suggs will start alongside senior Taikwon Paige at cornerback.

The most interesting move here is Marrow getting the start at free safety, an unfamiliar position for him but one he seems physically suited to play at 6-3, 210 pounds. Additionally, Marrow could very well end up playing safety at the next level because of his size, so this move could end up being a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Obviously, some changes had to be made after last week's debacle, so we'll see tomorrow night if this turns out to be the right button to push to cure the Rockets' ails on defense.

Women's basketball picked to win MAC

The University of Toledo women's basketball team was picked to win the MAC West Division and conference tournament titles in a preseason poll of league coaches and media released Tuesday.

Senior G Naama Shafir was also selected to the MAC West preseason All-MAC squad for the third year in a row. Shafir was a 2010-11 first-team all-conference honoree.

Since the MAC switched to divisional play for the 1997-98 season, UT has been the preseason favorite in the West Division seven times.

UT returns nine letterwinners in 2011-12, including three starters from last year's squad that enjoyed one of the most successful seasons in school history. The Rockets won a school-record 29 games and became the first MAC basketball program to capture a national postseason tournament with a win over USC in the WNIT championship game at Savage Arena.

The Rockets also claimed an outright 2010-11 MAC regular-season championship for the first time in a decade with a 14-2 record, as well as successfully defending their MAC West Division title.

UT takes on Ashland in an exhibition game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Savage Arena. Regular season play commences eight days later on Nov. 13 vs. 2011 NCAA tournament participant Dayton at 2 p.m.

The complete preseason poll and preseason All-MAC honorees can be found below:

WEST DIVISION
1. Toledo
2. Central Michigan
3. Eastern Michigan
4. Northern Illinois
5. Ball State
6. Western Michigan

PRESEASON WEST DIVISION TEAM
Brandi Baker, Central Michigan
Niki DiGuilio, Central Michigan
Tavelyn James, Eastern Michigan
Naama Shafir, Toledo
Miame Giden, Western Michigan

EAST DIVISION
1. Bowling Green
2. Miami
3. Akron
4. Kent State
5. Ohio
6. Buffalo

PRESEASON EAST DIVISION TEAM
Rachel Tecca, Akron
Chrissy Steffen, Bowling Green
Courtney Osborn, Miami
Kirsten Olowinski, Miami
Tenishia Benson, Ohio

MAC TOURNAMENT WINNER
Toledo (33 votes), Central Michigan (10), Bowling Green (3), Eastern Michigan (2)