Football Preview: Marquette Challenged to Duplicate 2010 Success

The Marquette Mustangs sneaked up on area football teams last year. The Mustangs raced to the school’s first-ever Suburban West championship last fall with an 8-3 record that few observers expected.

Marquette, which shared the Suburban West title in 2010 with Lindbergh and Eureka, will not be able to sneak up on teams this year.

The Mustangs are 1-0 after winning its season-opening game at home over Windsor, 30-8.

Marquette features a junior-laden roster that has little experience, so they will have their work cut out for them in seeking a return trip to the Class 6 playoffs.

“It is a young group with a lot of sophomores and juniors, but we really like these kids,” Marquette coach Ryan Thornhill said.

Thornhill, who enters his fifth season (15-25 overall) as the head man feels this group should not be held to lower standards just because it is less experienced.

“These guys saw what happened last year and they understand that now that we have started to build a program, we have to continue to grow and take the next step and keep getting better.”

Offense: Marquette has three big holes to fill on offense with the graduation of quarterback Matt Severs, running backs Dante McKinney and Ryan Schaefer and wide receiver Sean Ullrich.

The Mustangs have to find a way to replace McKinney’s rushing (901 yards, 12 touchdowns in 2010) and Ullrich’s big-play receiving.

“We lost a lot of good players on offense, but we do feel we have some kids that can step in and be productive for us,” Thornhill said.

Senior Daniel Slattery takes over at quarterback while senior Ryan Kincade is expected to drive the running game, along with fellow senior Justin Bedell. Offensively, the Mustangs prefer to run split backs with a mix of formations. “Offensively, we will run a lot of two-back sets with multiple looks,” Thornhill said.

Defense: With just three returners back on defense, the Mustangs will again be young and inexperienced with this unit. Senior nose tackle Nick Thomas-Smith, Bedell at middle linebacker and Slattery at free safety will form the core of the Marquette defense.

In the secondary, junior cornerback Keshaun Jackson and Slattery will provide deep pass coverage when not looking to provide run containment. Jackson is coming back off a torn ACL injury from his sophomore season and has impressed in practice.

“He tore his ACL as a sophomore and was devastated, but has come back and worked hard, been in good spirits and has definitely been one of our most coachable kids,” Thornhill said.

With Thomas-Smith and Bedell leading the linebacker group, Thornhill believes they will have a major impact on the defense’s development this fall.

“This group, I believe, may be the best we’ve had since I’ve been here because they are big, athletic, and fast and can make plays.”

A 3-5 alignment will be the normal look the Mustangs will employ and it will allow their linebackers to be involved on a lot of plays. “It’s a linebacker-heavy defense and we can do man-to-man and zone pressure out of it. Since we have five-to-six good linebackers that we can rotate in, we know we’ll have the depth to be able to do it.”

2011 Outlook: Marquette capped off the most successful season in the school’s history with a trip to the Class 6 sectionals in 2010. Although the Mustangs were eliminated by perennial Class 6 power Hazelwood Central, Thornhill believes his club will be ready to contend for another Suburban West title.

“We feel, and believe, that we will be there right in the mix all season,” Thornhill said. “The bar has been set and the expectations will not change now that we have the program established. Now, these guys have a chance to build on last year and get better.”