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Show The Newness Won't Quit New Offense Quarterback Dale Mager is the key figure in the new Wishbone or Texas Y offense installed by Weber State coaches this year. But there are ten other guys on the offense who all have a part in the success of the versatile offense. Big, strong running backs are needed to pound into the defensive line. Transfers like Alan Staub (224), Jim Nichols (211), and Rick Bojak (194) are running back candidates along with three or four freshmen and jaycee newcomers who are smaller but with excellent speed. All backs are new except for letterman Gary Baltahzor (197). Weber's offensive line will have big tackles and good size at guard, while the tight end split end, and center positions are question marks. Pro prospect Dave Taylor (6-4, 255), a letterman, and transfer Larry Hall (6-4,255) have the inside track at tackle. Others are Ray Hunt (6-4, 2602 and Rich Watkins (6-4, 245). At guard Weber has returning starter Jim Campasano (6-2, 242) and letterman Bob Jones (201), plus letterman Tom Morgan and some newcomers. The center spot is wide open and the same goes for tight end and split end. Last year's wide receiver Randy Mc-Dougall has been switched to defense, but there are several candidates, most of them newcomers, who have the talent necessary for those positions. f j; - .... : " -12"--,; V 4 ,H 5 V - n 4 Dave Taylor, OT, 256, 6ft. 4 in., Jr., JC Weber State College, Ogden Utah. s - 1 New Defense Defensively the Wildcats will also have a new look. Players will be a little smaller than in the past, but still will have good size. All-Conference offensive tackle Clayton Ah Quin has moved to defensive end and the 6-3, 228 pounder will anchor the front line. The smaller, but quicker type lineman on defense include 200 pound letterman Don Ritchey, 218 pound letterman Kevin McNeeley, and 216 pound letterman Carl Barbeau. Gordon Baxter, a 220 pound letterman, and newcomer Dave Rhodes at 220 pounds are prospects for the defensive line. f Randy AAcDougall Clayton AH Quin, DE, 235, 6 ft. 3 in., Jr., JC Weber State College, Ogden, Utah r Don Ritchey Linebackers are plentiful despite the loss of two starters. Middle linebacker John Smith is back but will be pushed by redshirt Dave Lofgreen and other newcomers, and McDougall. McDougall was the spring starter and called the defensive signals, so he looks like the number one man at present. Russ Lewandowski has been moved from the secondary to a linebacker post and could start along with letterman backer Shane Mosher. Other excellent candidates from the jaycee or freshman group could break into the lineup. Only Randle Anderson is back in the secondary as a starter and he missed most of the spring drills with an injury. Last year's reserves like Dave Ar-slanian, Dan Leisure, and Mike Mannott, will head the list of hopefuls in the defensive backfield. Weber has twenty-one lettermen back with three starters on offense and two on defense. Right now most positions are wide open and there should be a mad scramble for starting assignments. The coaches feel that they have a healthy situation even though there are so many new and untested players. Everyone is eager. The returning players went through the toughest spring drills ever staged at Weber and only the tough players remain. Enthusiasm is high. The Wildcats will be a hustling and aggressive team. Morale and eagerness will carry the squad in the early games until the youngsters mature and gain experience. Mil Dick Gwinn Dick Gwinn New Coach Ever watched a swarm of bees attacking an intruder? That's just what the Weber State defense will look like this fall. New coach Dick Gwinn will have a hustling, attacking, swarming type of defense that is designed to confuse the opponents. Gwinn hails from Oklahoma where he played on Bud Wilkinson's three teams which established a record forty-seven straight wins. Gwinn's 'Gremlins' will hit and hustle and play a buzz-saw type of defense which will go after the ball more than teams of the past. Free linebackers, monster men, rovers, will add a new zing to the Cat defense. Gwinn learned his defense well at Oklahoma and then coached at Northeastern Oklahoma Junior College. During Gwinn's three years at NEO he assisted with three teams which fashioned a 23-5 record. In 1969 Northeastern went 10-0 and won the national junior college championship. Last year the team was 8-1 and ranked third in the nation. Mean Green-- (from page 1 col. 3) Lone Star State. North Texas State is the first full-fledged major college power to play in Ogden with the exception of Idaho, a member of the Big Sky Conference. A look through the Eagle press book is enough to alarm the Weber State squad. Pictures of the North Texas players show them to be mature, well built, and yes, even mean! Six starters are back on offense including Fred Woods at tight end, running back Bob Wyatt, split end Dralves Edwards, tackle Steve Sullivan, guard Aubrey Byerly and tackle Clyde Hebert. Sullivan is a three year starter and at 6-8, 251 pounds, is a pro prospect. He was second team all-conference and has started every game he has played in since the eighth grade. On defense the Mean Green returns five starters. End Harold Greer who moves to tackle, end Ed Tasby, linebacker Glynn Hachtel, a three year starter and second team all-conference player, linebacker James Smith and safety Lyndon Fox. Fox is a three year starter and has fourteen career interceptions.Several redshirts, twenty-two sophomores and a dozen junior college transfers join the veteran Eagles. North Texas State opens it's season on September 11 against Brigham Young University and Beehive grid fans will have an opportunity to compare BYU and Weber State teams against a common opponent. Sark Starts 7th Season One of the best recruiters in the business, Weber State Head Football Coach Sarkis Arslanian, embarks on his seventh year as the leader of Wildcat football. In six seasons, the energetic Arslanian has won 38 games, lost 19 and tied one at Weber and two conference trophies rest in the trophy case. Weber State tied for the Big Sky crown in 1965 and again in 1968. Coach Sark's Wildcat teams must be considered challengers for the league crown in each season because of his recruiting skills. Coach Sark's Weber State teams have been ranked nationally each year in college division polls. In 1965, 66 and 67, the Cats were ranked ninth and in 1968 Weber finished in the fifteenth spot (UPI). Weber's highest ranking ever came in 1967 when the Cats moved to a third place rating early in the season. In fourteen years of coaching, Arslanian has compiled a 101-45-4 record. Nine of those years were spent at Dixie Junior College where he had eight JC All-American, and won 24 out of 25 games and two conference titles the last two C Coach Sarkis Arslanian years. His 1963 and 1964 teams were ranked in the top ten, and Coach Sark served as an assistant and as head coach of the West squad in the JC All-America game those years. To date, Coach Sark has won 62 out of his last 78 games, and during the eight years he has compiled that mark, Arslanian has won or tied four conference titles. It is Sark's uncanny knack of recruiting and wide-open brand of football which has spelled success for the enthusiastic Armenian. The Weber mentor was Big Sky coach of the year in 1965 and in 1969 the national Armenian newspaper, the Hairenik Weekly, named him national coach of the year. While Coach Sark was earning a master's degree from Utah State University in 1961, he served as a graduate assistant to Stanford's John Ralston who was coaching in Logan at that time. Three years in the Navy and athletic director duties while at Dixie JC add to the busy and successful years of experience of Coach Arslanian. He is married to the former Verlyn Metcalf of Brigham City, Utah. Emotion and Ethusiasm "We plan on doing things with emotion, excitment, and enthusiasm," says Weber State head coach Sark Arslanian. "We are going to be very young and inexperienced, but our players will hit and hustle and be fun to watch," summed up the veteran coach. The Wildcats have many new things going this fall. An adjustment in overall philosophy and some coaching assignment changes add to the new look. Coach Sark will actively handle the offensive line. Offensive linemen will be bigger than in the past and will alter their blocking techniques and style. Blocking will be more aggressive and the idea will be to advance the scrimmage line on the snap of the ball. (Emotion, page 3 col. 4) |