The College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin conducted its third-annual live chat with its eight head football coaches on Thursday, Aug. 4. Members of the news media and fans joined the session on the CCIW web site. Participants were be able to ask questions of all eight CCIW football coaches regarding the upcoming season.
Here are three questions asked of Carthage head coach Tim Rucks and his replies:
Q: With the loss of quarterback Evan Jones, who re-wrote the Carthage record book for passing offense, will you be looking to run the ball more in 2011?
A: Evan was certainly one of the most prolific quarterbacks the CCIW has seen, but we will run our offense. Our offense is based on taking advantage of our strengths and what the defense gives us. We ran the ball more last year then people give us credit for but it is an entire offense and we will emphasize what we need to emphasize on a weekly basis.
Q: How do you replace All-American kicker/punter Tyler Funk?
A: It's hard to replace a guy who was All-American for two straight years, but we have good challengers for the spot. Mark Bappert is a senior who has been behind an all-conference or All-American kicker for three years and is pretty good. We also like a freshman from last year, Brett Bukari, who is just waiting for his chance. Kurt Krause kicked for us last year and will also figure into things. We will be looking at Pete Djurickovic and Chris Schulz also at punting
Q: Tell us about your defense. The return of Brian Hipchen and Kelly Jauch is obviously a plus. Who else do you expect to contribute?
A: We have many, many people who have taken a lot of snaps. We are looking for big things from a group of six or seven defensive lineman and we look for a lot from Mike Merucci, a junior also. Marcus Williams, Eric Solis should add a lot to our secondary
The pre-season coaches poll was released at the conclusion of the chat. Defending-champion North Central College (6 first-place votes, 48 points) was picked to repeat, followed by Wheaton College (Ill., 2 first-place votes, 44 points) second, Illinois Wesleyan University (33) third, Elmhurst College (31) fourth, Augustana College (Ill., 28) fifth, Carthage College (20) sixth, Millikin University (13) seventh and North Park University (7) eighth.
