Leatherneck Nation

ST_Lawson wrote: 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)?

According to LinkedIn BRIAN Cox got his undergrad from WIU from 1985 to 1988 (masters 89-95). Was HC at Quincy University from 97 to 99 and then an assistant at Missouri State (then Southwest Missouri State) from 2000 to 2003. Going to guess this is our guy.

letsgonecks wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2017 3:45 pm According to LinkedIn BRIAN Cox got his undergrad from WIU from 1985 to 1988 (masters 89-95). Was HC at Quincy University from 97 to 99 and then an assistant at Missouri State (then Southwest Missouri State) from 2000 to 2003. Going to guess this is our guy.

Good to know, thanks for the info.

#83 - Adam Conrady
Junior, Tight End
From Rochester, IL

Has played in 19 games.
Last year, had 4 receptions for 40 yards.

Other #83's in Leatherneck History:
Red Miller...............................1946-49
Pete Bakas.............................1949-51
Gehrig Dergo..........................1955-56
Tim Hart....................................... 1966
Ron Wilson.................................. 1969
Peter Muller............................1971-72
Gary Kooken..........................1974-75
Mike Shadley..........................1977-80
Dwayne Harvey......................1981-82
Gene Christman.....................1958-61
Tom Bragg..............................1986-87
Josh Moulden................... 1990-92, 94
Mike Scifres............................1998-02
Dwayne Miller.........................2005-07
Chris Duguay............................... 2008
Alie Walker (72 also in 2010)....... 2010
Quenton Keating.................... 2011-12
Cole Griffin.................................. 2014

For me personally, I see two names that really jump out at me on this list.

Red Miller - A Macomb native and Leatherneck player, Red Miller really made his name in the coaching ranks. Starting with local high schools and colleges, and moved his way up to being an assistant coach under Lou Saban at Western in the late '50s. When Saban moved up to the NFL ranks, Miller went with him. He was an assistant coach at the Patriots, Bills, Broncos, Cardinals, Colts, and back to the Patriots, before getting his own HC job back with Denver. He was the coach for the Broncos for four years, taking them to one Super Bowl (losing to a Tom Landry-coached Dallas Cowboys team), and making the playoffs in 3 out of those 4 years.


Mike Scifres - Not much that we haven't said already about Scifres over the past decade or so. Mike holds the conference records for punting average in a game (61.5 yards) and in a season (48.0 yards, which is 3rd overall in the history of the FCS/I-AA). His 89 yards punt against Missouri State in 2000 is the longest punt in MVFC history and is tied for the 4th longest in FCS/I-AA history. Scifres was drafted by the Chargers in the 5th round of the 2003 NFL draft and would play for them for 13 years (12 as the starting punter). By the time of his retirement from football in 2016, Scifres played in 195 NFL games, punting 756 times with an overall 39.1 yards per punt average and 293 inside the 20, and a long of 72 yards in 2014. He is tied for 3rd in the NFL record books for most punts inside the 20 in a season (36 in 2007). He played in more games than any kicker in Chargers history, has the most punting yards of any punter in Chargers history, and holds the team record for career punting average. His 6-punt performance in the 2009 wild card playoff game against the Colts, including a 67 yard punt and averaging 51.7 yards (with all inside the 20 yard line, and 4 inside the 10) was crucial to their 23-17 OT win.

#82 is Tyler Mahnke

http://goleathernecks.com/roster.aspx?r ... h=football
Tyler is a redshirt freshman from Beaver Dam, WI. In HS, he lettered three years in football and four years of basketball and started his own charity called 'Christmas for Kids' which raised more than $16,000.

Previous Leathernecks who have worn #82 include:
Wayne Whitmore....................1946-48
Don Weiden............................1947-50
Art Hudson.............................1949-50
Wilie Grant..............................1950-53
Jack Atchason........................1958-59
George Katsenes........................ 1966
Steve Pederson........................... 1970
Duane Malone........................1975-77
Don Vock..................................... 1978
Steve Marchewka...................1983-84
Tim Wofford............................1985-86
Wes Courier............................1987-89
Steve Decker..........................1991-92
Darnell Harrison.......................... 1993
Pat Hutton..............................1995-97
Jammarl O’Neal........................... 2000
Brian Janecek.............................. 2001
Freddie Summers...................2002-03
Dave Oswald..........................2007-08
Justin Morgan.........................2009-12
Zach Konstanzer......................... 2013
Jaelon Acklin............................... 2014

#81 is Tony Harper

Senior Tight End from Toledo, OH
Tony comes to Western following 3 years at Pitt (including redshirt year). He played in 11 games last year, catching 14 passes for 159 yards and 1 TD.


Former Leathernecks to have worn #81:
George Weberring..................1946-48
Warren Dew............................1958-61
Ken Raskiewicz......................1962-63
Bill Brockhouse............................ 1966
Dan Weilandt..........................1971-72
Tim Lumley.................................. 1975
Mike Maher.............................1977-80
Jay Lutzenberger....................1983-84
Bob Schade............................1986-88
Vince Brown...........................1991-92
Gunnard Twyner.....................1993-95
Kevin Walsh............................1997-98
Walter Mitchell........................1999-00
Rob Johnson............................... 2001
Marco Thomas............................. 2003
Paul Anderson........................2005-07
Lito Senatus................................ 2008
Mason Howington...................2010-13
Ben Arnold................................... 2014
Khalen Saunders (also wore 80).2015

There's a few names on here that jump out to me....

Gunnard Twyner - a WR who lead the Leathernecks in receptions and receiving yards in '93, '94, and '95. Twyner still holds the WIU record for TD receptions in a game with 4 against Buffalo in '94 and he averaged 77.5 yards per game that season. He's 5th on the Leathernecks all-time career receptions list with 144 and until recently, was 3rd on the list of career yards with 2,243, although Lenoir passed him two years ago and Borsellino passed him last year, so he's now 5th. He's #2 on the list of consecutive games with a reception with 33 (held the record until 4 games into last season when Lenoir passed him). His 68 yards per game career average is 3rd in Leatherneck history and he's 7th on the list of career TDs with 14. He was first-team All-Gateway in '93 as a TE, then '94 and '95 as a WR. He went on to play two years in the NFL for the Bengals and the Saints, then 5 years in Arena Football League, retiring in 2004. Twyner is currently the WR coach at Lafayette College.

Marco Thomas - led the Leathernecks in receptions in '06 and receiving yards in '05 and '06 and he holds the record for the longest reception in a game, with a 98-yard TD catch against Illinois State in '05. He's 9th on the list of career receptions (109) and career yards (1,661). He was first-team All-Gateway in 2006. Following his time at Western, Thomas spent a few years on offseason or practice squads of Giants, Jets, Raiders, and Chargers, before playing two years in the CFL. He then moved on to the Arena Football League, spending time with Chicago, San Jose, Iowa, and Philadelphia. In 2014, Thomas was named First Team All-Arena as well as the Wide Receiver of the Year while he was with the Iowa Barnstormers. He is 23rd on the list of career receptions in AFL history with 672, has the 15th best season for receiving yards with 1,946 in 2014 and has the 13th and 18th best season performances for total receptions.

Lito Senatus - led the Leathernecks in receptions and receiving yards in '09 and '10. Lito has the 3rd best receiving performance in a game in Leatherneck history, with 235 yards against Sam Houston State in '09 and he also shows up at #7 on that list with 210 yards against Illinois State in '10 (him and Frisman Jackson are the only players to go over 200 yards twice in a career). He's tied with himself at 5th for most receptions in a season (65 catches in both '09 and '10) and holds the record for TDs in a season with 14. He's #2 on the list for yards in a season with 1,145 in '10 (one of only 7 times a Western receiver has caught for more than 1k yards in a season). His 5 100+ yards games in 2010 tie him with 3 other players for the most in a season. For career numbers (and just FYI, this is through 3 years, he played his first season at a JUCO school) include 4th on the all-time receptions list (149), 4th on the career yards list (2,269), and 2nd on TDs (21). He still holds the record for consecutive games with a TD catch with 7.

Don't want to steal thunder from Tony Harper, but ...

[tweet][/tweet]

Awesome. Who's jersey was that? With the camo highlights, it'd have to be relatively recent....Khalen Saunders...or maybe Ben Arnold?

ST_Lawson wrote: Sun Jun 11, 2017 7:12 pm Awesome. Who's jersey was that? With the camo highlights, it'd have to be relatively recent....Khalen Saunders...or maybe Ben Arnold?

Not sure but my bet is Arnold. Going to frame it and put it in the man cave when I get the man cave done.

Sorry, I was out of town most of yesterday so I didn't get #80 posted. Today is technically 79 days until kickoff, but we don't have a #79 on the roster. So, here's a combined 80/79 post...

#80 Matt Wieskamp

Matt is a Sophomore Wide Receiver from Muscatine, IA. He was redshirted his freshman year and didn't get any game time last year. In his senior year of HS, he passed for 1,500 yards and 16 TDs, ran for 635 yards and 14 TDs, and punted 41 times averaging 39.5 yards. He was named district Player of the Year and the area Offensive Player of the Year. Matt is a Biology major.

Other players who wore 80 include:
Henry Sale..............................1952-54
Ozzie Hysen...........................1955-57
Jerry Fornaff...........................1957-61
Bill Seno.................................1960-61
Jim Traba..................................... 1966
Richard Schachner.................1968-69
Richard Schertz......................1968-69
Harry Page.............................1970-72
Harry Mendez.........................1974-76
Tim Sturdivant............................. 1982
Mike Lockwood............................ 1983
Mike Borich.............................1987-88
Rich Westen................................ 1991
Dennis Riccio.........................1993-95
Jerome Nichols.......................1996-97
Shadrick Washington..............1998-99
Stacy Coleman............................ 2001
David Akers................................. 2003
Ken Duffy................................2005-06
A.J. Martin..............................2007-08
Justin Rideau............................... 2009
Kyle Robiskie..........................2010-13
Nick Schroeder............................ 2014
Khalen Saunders (also wore 81).2015

Couple of things....anyone know if Rich Westen is related to the HC for a couple of years in the '70s, Brodie Westen (son maybe?) and/or if there is a connection to the local Westen people...like that own Westen Investments (http://www.westeninvest.com/)?

Also, I saw David Akers on there and for a second I was like..."I think I would have remembered if THAT David Akers played for us"...and yea...different David Akers.

And on to #79. Currently no #79s on the roster, but here's some that have worn it in the past:
Ed Cramer..............................1946-49
Willie Bridges..........................1949-51
LeWayne Autray.....................1969-70
Jim Woods..............................1971-72
Chuck Carey...........................1973-74
Craig Phalen...........................1976-77
Pat Sullivan............................1986-88
Paul Breed................................... 1998
Perry Cox...............................2001-05
Kelvin Rowan.............................. 2006
William Bishop............................. 2007
Kevin Estell.................................. 2012
Nick Ziegenbein........................... 2015

Craig Phalen is a 2012 Leatherneck HOF inductee. From his bio on the HOF page: Craig Phalen began his collegiate career at Wisconsin before transferring to Joliet CC. He transferred and played his final two years in the Leatherneck uniform along the defensive line, and capped his career by earning First Team All-America honors in 1977 from the Associated Press, Kodak, and American Football Coaches Association.
He was voted team captain his senior year, a year in which he set a then-program record with seven tackles for a loss (currently second-most all-time) and six sacks against Nebraska Omaha, a record that he still owns. During the Illinois State game his senior year Phalen set a then-record for most tackles by a defensive lineman with 12.
His other season records set included: tackles for a loss (18), and big plays (22), in addition to career tackles for a defensive lineman (229).
After his Leatherneck playing days, then head coach Bill Shanahan said, "Craig will go down as one of the greatest competitors and players in our program history." Phalen spent part of the 1978 season with the St. Louis (football) Cardinals.

Perry Cox was an offensive lineman who was a first-team academic all-conference in 2003, 2004, and 2005, earning President's Academic Excellence Awards in '04 and '05. He was an academic All-American in '04 (2nd team) and '05 (1st team) and on the FCS ADA Academic All-Star Team in '03 and '05.

Yes, Rich, Rob, Tony, Stew, Kurt, Joe, and Kristy Dakin are all Brodie Westen's kids.