X Days until 2017 Leatherneck Football

Fri Jun 02, 2017 3:10 pm

90

We don't have a current #90 on our roster, but we do have a fairly well-known player (at least, one that I'm familiar with) from the past who did wear #90 for two years...
Joe Koomar............................1946-48
Bob Gregory...........................1949-51
Darvin Schisler.......................1957-58
Jim Scruggs............................1974-76
Kent Anselment......................1979-82
Rick Renner............................1983-87
Maxie Graham........................1990-91
Jason Sims.............................1992-93
Mark Afoa...............................1994-95
Don Shymkewich......................... 1996
Gene David................................. 1997
Edgerton Hartwell...................1999-00
Jermaine High............................. 2001
Jon Warren.............................2002-03
Steve Sowers.........................2004-06
Ryan Demming............................ 2010
Jean-Marc Charles.................2012-14

Back in '99 and '00 (my last two years in the Marching Leathernecks), Linebacker Edgerton Hartwell terrorized opposing offenses all across the Gateway Conference (he also played for us in '98, but wore #50 that year). In both of those years, he won the conference defensive player of the year award, setting the school record for solo tackles in a season in '99 (with 107) and then breaking his own record with 122 solo tackles in '00. He was the nation's leading tackler in I-AA in 2000, and ended his Leatherneck career with a school record 512 total tackles over 3 years (that's an average of 170.6 total tackles per season...only one other Leatherneck has surpassed 170 tackles in a season since the start of the DI era at Western, James Milton with 176 in 1998...which means that we had three years in a row where the team's tackle leader had 165+ tackles). Hartwell was awarded the Buck Buchanan Award for the best defensive player in I-AA in 2000 and would go on to be drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the 4th round of the 2001 NFL draft. Hartwell played for 6 years in the NFL (4 with the Ravens, 2 with the Falcons), playing in 77 games (starting in 57 of them) and racking up a career total of 400 total tackles (and having a career-high season in 2002 where he had 142 tackles and was 4th in the league). Hartwell also had 7 sacks and 1 interception in his NFL career.

Sat Jun 03, 2017 4:59 pm

#89 Adam Fellner

Redshirt Freshman Punter/Kicker from Ozark, MO
Averaged 42 yards per punt in HS and kicked a 77-yard punt during his senior year.
LEJA Major

Other Leathernecks who have worn 89 include:
Walter Rucks..........................1947-49
Andy Phillips...........................1958-59
James Ambruoso......................... 1969
John Teerlinck.........................1971-73
Scott Levenhagen..................1975-76
Frank Angelucci......................1979-82
Anthony Teague........................... 1993
John Sears.................................. 1995
Jon Moffitt.................................... 1996
Tim Johnson................................ 1999
Josh Baylor.............................2005-06
Taylor Hill................................2012-15

Probably the biggest name on that list would be John Teerlinck. During his playing career at Western, he set the (at that point) WIU record for sacks in a game with 4 in a game in 1973 (was broken in '77, but he's still tied with 3 other players for 2nd). He was an AP Third Team All-American in 1973 and was drafted by the Chargers in the 5th round of the 1974 NFL Draft. He played in a total of 20 games over '74 and '75 for the Chargers, but really hit his stride when he made it to the coaching ranks...something I discussed back in this post: http://www.leathernecknation.net/forum/ ... 741#p15741

Sun Jun 04, 2017 12:46 pm

#88 is Chris Age: http://goleathernecks.com/roster.aspx?r ... h=football

Chris is a Redshirt Freshman Tight End from Newnan, GA. His dad played football at West Georgia, which where Coach Fisher had his other HC position before he came to Western. I don't know if his dad actually played for Coach Fisher, but it's possible. He was the HC there from '93 to '97, and Chris was born in '97, so if his dad played in the early to mid-'90s, it's entirely possible to have a kid born in '97. I might have to look into that more to see if that's the case (unless someone already knows the answer to that).

Other Leathernecks who have worn #88 include:
Hobert Redman......................1945-49
Jim Ogle.................................1955-58
Dennis Hansen.......................1967-69
Kenneth Verhaeren..................... 1969
Brian Steward.........................1975-77
John Hannan..........................1981-82
Tom Bragg................................... 1985
Chris Earl..................................... 1986
Brian Cox..................................... 1987
John O’Brien...........................1988-89
Brock Smith................................. 1998
Karim Ross.................................. 2000
Jake Steele.............................2001-03
David Williams............................. 2004
Terry Barney...........................2006-07
Terriun Crump......................... 2009-11
Scott Simpson............................. 2013
Josh Baldus................................. 2014

letsgonecks · Sun Jun 04, 2017 8:15 pm

My Google skills found his dad was there 86 to 91.

Still a good chance he met coach while going back for games or alumni events.

Sun Jun 04, 2017 10:01 pm

letsgonecks wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2017 8:15 pm My Google skills found his dad was there 86 to 91.

Still a good chance he met coach while going back for games or alumni events.

Excellent, thanks for the update. I'm sure it made the recruiting process quite a bit easier, at least in terms of getting on his parents' good side. I don't know much about the actual recruiting process, but I'd have to imagine that having a friendly connection with the parents is like having a pretty solid foot in the door towards getting the kid to commit.

Mon Jun 05, 2017 9:24 pm

#87 is Senior Tight End Cal Breedlove: http://goleathernecks.com/roster.aspx?r ... h=football

Cal joined the Leathernecks after two years on the NIU Huskie football team (Redshirt + 1 eligible year).
His first year with us, he played in four games, starting the year at Defensive End but finishing as a Tight End. Last year, he played in 9 games as a TE and on special teams. Cal is a fairly local kid, hailing from Kewanee, IL.

Other Leathernecks to have worn #87 include:
Pat Stoik ................................1948-50
Chris Owens............................... 1969
Rich Lavin..............................1973-74
Daryl Mosby................................ 1979
Alex Ulrich .................................. 1981
Alvin Menke...........................1982-83
Mark Gartland............................. 1985
Pete Carlson..........................1989-91
Micaiah Stallworth .................2005-06
Fredson Salomon ....................... 2012
Cal Breedlove............................. 2015

Tue Jun 06, 2017 8:50 am

Nobody currently wears #86, but here's some Leathernecks who have in the past:
Ken “Dutch” Hulslander.............. 1950
Stan Olson.............................1951-54
Ron Little ...............................1955-57
John Bush..............................1957-59
Paul Michel............................1961-64
James Johnson .....................1962-65
Tom Schulback ........................... 1966
Russ Jones............................1969-71
Joe Notorangelo ....................1972-74
Bob Anderson............................. 1975
Mike Orr.................................1977-81
Joe Maher..............................1983-86
Demetrius Davis ....................1987-88
Tony VanAusdall....................1994-95
Thedo Griffin..........................1996-97
Jay Hughbanks........................... 1999
Dusty Miller................................. 2001
Taiwan Mixon.............................. 2002
Boomer Moore.......................2003-06
John Wilson...........................2007-08
Adam Hoogerwerf..................2014-15

Wed Jun 07, 2017 9:16 am

#85 is Sophomore Wide Receiver Spencer Beatty from Muscatine, IA

Spencer was redshirted his freshman year and did not see any game action last year. In HS, he lettered in baseball, basketball, track/field, soccer and football. He is currently a Sports Psychology major.
http://goleathernecks.com/roster.aspx?r ... h=football

Other Leathernecks who have work #85 include (and there's a few fairly big names on here):
Jim Shaw................................1947-49
Jim Reis..................................1948-49
Joe Bratcher...........................1950-53
Jim Wakefield.........................1961-63
Edward Clichy........................1964-65
Philip Warner..........................1976-79
John Carl................................1981-82
Jeff Prentice............................1986-87
Fabien Bownes.......................1991-94
Rich Seubert...........................1997-98
Matt Edwards.........................1999-00
Reggie Gray...........................2002-05
John Arient.................................. 2007
Brian Hackett............................... 2008
Aaron Muhammad.................. 2010-11
Joey Borsellino............................ 2013

So, we've got Fabien Bownes, a WR who was an All-Gateway Conference Honorable Mention in 1994 and would go on to play 6 seasons in the NFL, participating in 80 games, catching 21 passes for a total of 283 yards and 2 TDs (most of that yardage came in 1997 as a Chicago Bear): http://www.pro-football-reference.com/p ... wnFa00.htm

Then we have Rich Seubert, an Offensive Lineman who was an All-Gateway Honorable Mention in '98 and '99, and First Team All-Gateway in '00. He would play in a total of 104 games for the New York Giants from 2001 to 2010, winning a Super Bowl with them in 2007. Seubert was a 2011 Western Illinois Athletics HOF inductee in 2011. He currently lives in New Jersey with wife and 3 kids, and is the head football coach at Watchung Hills Regional HS.

Reggie Gray was one of the most productive receivers in Leatherneck History, holding the records for both career receptions and career yards (until Lance Lenoir and Joey Borsellino). He had 8 100+ yard games in his career (tied for 2nd most) and from 2003-2005 went 29 games with a reception (3rd best streak). In his 4-year career, he averaged 15.9 yards per reception over 153 catches (the best average for anyone with a 4-year career, or anything over 87 receptions). He finished with 16 TD receptions (5th in WIU history) and when combined with his kick return stats, is 3rd on the list if career all-purpose yards (he's #2 on the list of most career kick return yards with 1592). Since his time at Western, "Big Play" Reggie Gray has made a name for himself in the Arena League, playing for 10 different teams in various leagues, and is still currently playing for the Baltimore Brigade of the AFL. He was a first team all-arena player in 2015, the AFL WR of the year and ArenaBowl XXVIII MVP, and is a 3x second-team All-Arena player. On the AFL record books, he is currently 19th for total receptions (2nd among active players), 16th for total receiving yards (2nd of active players), 13th in Career TDs (2nd active), 17th for TD per reception % (4th), 25th in Kick returns (4th among actives), 22nd in kick return yards (3rd active) and tied for 10th for kick return TDs (2nd active).

And finally, Joey Borsellino. I won't get into to much detail because he's more known for wearing #1 (2014-2016), but I'll point you to this: http://www.leathernecknation.net/forum/ ... 515#p13515. Suffice it to say that Borsellino is one of the most productive receivers in Western history, and if not for teammate Lance Lenoir, would have been at the top of the receiving lists for his entire career. I'll discuss Joey more when we get down to 1 day left though.

letsgonecks · Wed Jun 07, 2017 2:16 pm

Most famous on the list has to be Ed Cichy. Greatest PE teacher in the history of teaching PE!!!!! No joke, the best badminton player I've ever seen and he was in his 60's then.

Thu Jun 08, 2017 1:01 pm

Nobody currently wearing 84 on the Leathernecks roster, but here's some who have in the past:
Clarence Reuss......................1946-49
Bob Allan................................1957-58
Ronald Tomhave.....................1963-64
Frank Salvatoria.......................... 1969
Marvin Williams........................... 1973
Bob Anderson.............................. 1974
Jerry Holloway........................1975-78
Todd Stalcup...........................1981-84
Brian Cox..................................... 1986
Ross Schulte..........................1990-94
Kris Houser.............................1995-96
Jermaine High........................2002-04
Ryan Wilhelmi............................. 2005
Nick Coleman.........................2006-08
Andre Boney................................ 2010
Malik Johnson........................2012-13

So, might need a bit of clarification here from those of you who've been around a while. There is a Brian Cox listed for 1986. That's the same name, but different spelling as Bryan Cox, who had a great deal of success for Western, played in the NFL for 11 years, and has been a NFL assistant coach for the last 11 years. It looks like that Bryan Cox wore #48 from '87-'90, which would be 4 years of playing eligibility. 1986 would have been a redshirt year for him. Anyone have any idea if Bryan Cox was here in '86, redshirted and wore #84...in which case, that listing is a typo (wouldn't be the only one I've found in the media guide from last year so far)...or if there actually was a Brian Cox (different player) who wore #84 in 1986 and only played that year (he's not listed as having any other number or playing in any other year)?