Ball State University Athletics
Football Team in Midst of Fall Camp
August 03, 2009 | Football
Ball State's football team has begun preparations for the 2009 season.
The Cardinals open the 2009 season Thurs., Sept. 3, with a home game vs. North Texas. The game, which is Cardinal Varsity Club Day presented by ProLiance Energy, will be a 7:30 p.m. kickoff and televised nationally on ESPNU.
Order tickets online at www.ballstatesports.com or call 1.888.BSU.TICKET.
Following is a Q&A session with Ball State's first-year head coach Stan Parrish:
Q: One of the biggest tasks will be replacing Nate Davis at quarterback. How do you think having a new head coach and a new quarterback will affect the team?
A: “I would not think of me as new in regards to coaching the quarterbacks. We will not have a new coach, but we will have a new quarterback. We have to get that position taken care of right away. We have an open competition at that spot, as we will in a lot of spots. Kelly Page will have the chance to win the quarterback starting position. He has earned that right with how he handled himself in his redshirt season in 2008. Tanner Justice has been a part of our program for a while now, and he has got to be a coach on the field and in the film room. He knows the system better than the other guys and he will need to teach them by example. Aaron Mershman is a student-athlete who began at Ball State in January and is here and ready to go. This will be an important fall for him. We have to find out what they can do, and what we have in our system that works for them. Our system has a lot of choices in it, and like every year, we will had some new wrinkles. We have two quarterbacks who are very young in the system and one who has been around a little while. None of them have very much game experience, but I fully expect these guys to be ready by opening night.”
Q: Ball State lost a big part of the offensive line, including four starters. How do you go about replacing that part of the team?
A: “Those lineman were the reason we were able to have success last year. We have a lot of work to do with the offensive line and finding the right combinations of players. We have a few players in the program who have been around a while, but are lacking that game experience. We will get them as many reps as possible. Our offense will have a lot of expectations because of the success we have had recently, so we have to rebuild quickly. I have a lot of concerns with the number of starters we lost on offense. We have to get the new guys in there and get them going. We have done a good job of redshirting guys and getting them experience in that setting. Our practices are intense so there will be nothing new to them from that standpoint. The offensive lines progress will be a big key for the 2009 Ball State football team.”
Q: MiQuale Lewis was a big part of the offense a year ago and is one of the team's top returnees this season. What will he mean to the team in 2009?
A: “MiQuale Lewis is an outstanding player who is versatile and can help us in many ways. With that being said, we have got to block so the backs can run. We have got to protect the quarterback, so he can throw to the receivers and give us some options in the running game. The running backs and receivers should be the strength of our offense this season, but it all starts with that offensive line.”
Q: Where do you see the defense for the upcoming season? What are the strengths and weaknesses on that side of the ball?
A: “We have a ways to go to be the defense we want to be. Coach Graber is the best defensive coordinator I have ever been around and is an outstanding secondary coach, so he will have his work cut out for him. We lost our top three cornerbacks, so we have moved some personnel around to help at that spot. We are not very big up front defensively, so we are going to have to play very sound. I will give Coach Graber a lot of latitude to get the defense where it needs to be. You do not lose as many players as we have on defense and not expect some growing pains. But we have to grow quickly. We lost some quality seniors, but we have to transition with our new players.”
Q: What do you want to get accomplished this fall?
A: “We are excited to get to the field and coach these guys. We have new coaches, new players, and this is a new team. We have to do a good job coaching these guys in camp, so we know where we are when the season starts. We are going to be a very young football team, but we want to be a good young football team. To help both the offense and the defense, the kicking game has to be the best in the Mid-American Conference. We will put a great amount of emphasis on the special teams. We lost a senior class that won more games here than any before it. We need to worry about nothing but getting better every day.”
