Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Sunday, May 04, 2008
Young receivers ready for new roles with UW-L
 UW-La Crosse football coach Larry Terry |
It’s a lot like “American Idol,” with footballs instead of microphones and UW-La Crosse coach Larry Terry playing the role of Simon Cowell.
A wide-open, winner-take-all competition.
“It’s going to be fun to watch,” said Terry of the Eagles’ wide receiver auditions. “There’s a lot of good, young talent and the cream will rise to the top.”
UW-L lost its top four wide receivers to graduation. Ted Everson, Jason Wagner, Cody Jenson and Garrett Mueller combined for 112 catches, 1,508 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2007.
During the Eagles’ spring drills, a large group of young receivers have tried to make their case to step in. Naturally, there are some front-runners.
Sophomore Tyler Keeney (7 receptions-89 yards-1 TD) and freshman Kyle Steffen (2-33-0) are the only returning wide receivers who caught passes last season.
“We know we lost a lot of talent last year with those seniors, but I think the young guys are ready to step in and take on the challenge,” said Keeney, a Prairie du Chien, Wis., native. “We learned a lot from watching those older guys and now it’s our turn to take the field and show what we can do out there.”
It’s been clear since last August that there would be a changing of the guard at the receiver position in 2008.
“That’s been a big motivating factor for me the whole season,” Steffen said. “There’s really an opportunity for our class, for myself, to take some people by surprise and step up and show that even though we might be younger, we can still play the game.”
Of the 11 returning wide receivers, eight currently are freshmen, two are sophomores and one is a junior. They will be joined next fall by recruits like Wisconsin AP and WFCA All-State first-teamer Jacob Welch of West Salem, Wis., and Logan High School standout Dylan Pedretti.
“They’re young and it will take them a while to get the feel of it,” Terry said. “Playing the position is about so many things; about catching, about running routes, about blocking.”
Keeney, Steffen and the rest don’t yet have the resume of a Ted Everson or a Jason Wagner. They do, however, share their physical characteristics — in other words, they are classic UW-L wider receivers.
Keeney and Steffen are both 6-foot-3, 200 pounds; all but one of the others, including Welch and Pedretti, are 6-1 or taller.
“We’ve got some nice size,” Terry said. “There are a lot of things we’re looking for, but a big one is athleticism. That position is almost like playing basketball on the football field, with the body control and some of the finer points like catching the ball at its highest point.”
Terry also had an important question answered during physical testing this spring. Of the team’s best 16 times in the 40-yard dash, eight were by receivers. Freshman Nate Ward, who is 6-3, finished in 4.46 seconds.
“We were wondering if we had anybody who could stretch defenses, and we did see some of that,” Terry said.
Keeney knows the bottom line for the wide receivers is pretty simple.
“I don’t remember a single ball the seniors dropped last year,” Keeney said. “So we’re trying to catch everything thrown our way.”
SUCCESSFUL SPRING: The Eagles will hold their 15th and final spring practice today.
Terry said despite the poor weather which forced a number of practices indoors, the month was a success because of the return to physical testing for the first time in three years.
“That really set a different tone,” Terry said. “They know they’re going to be tested again in the fall and they want to come back and show improvement. We might not have had as much football because of the weather, but I think we made big strides.”
Joel Badzinski can be reached at (608) 791-8402 or joel.badzinski@lee.net
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