Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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DON STROCK ...nation's No.. 2 passer Quality c missing By STEVE PARKER Asst. Sports Editor Wake Forest returns only nine i their 22 starters from last season campaign but the degree of th1 Demon Deacons manpower loss better reflected in the quality of th players lost rather than their mer quantity. Missing from the Deacons poter FOR EXCITING FASHIONS and 1 1 SHOFS, Gamecock Farn Shop All 4 Store EACH HjAS A DiE.N e SELECTI3ON t * r T U. - 0l 'Ws FC RWD PH?J W K4 Looks to imprc VP! ri GARY WEST Sports Writer r Virginia Tech, after a 4-7 season I last year, with first year head 1 coach Charlie Coffey is ready for better things in the future. Much of this hope is riding on the strong arm of of quarterback Don Strock. Strock led the nation most of 1971 in both passing total of fense. He finished second in passing and third in total offense, completing 195 of 356 passes for 2,577 yards and 12 touchdowns. In the backfield along with ffensive p1 From Wake veer offense of last year are the two key figures in its success quarterback Larry Russell and Wake's all-time career rushing I s leader, fullback Larry Hopkins. r e Defensively the Deacods suf is fered their most critical losses as i e graduation removed all three of i e their linebacking corp members and three of the four secondary t backs. Realizing that much of his team l had disappeared, head coach Cal Stoll followed their cue and also departed from the scene. Stoll resigned from his duties at Wake to accept the head job at the University of Minnesota and reconstruct the Gophers of his alma mater. With Stoll gone the duties of finding replacements for the Deacon missing falls upon the top assistant of last year, Tom Harper. Harper's hopes to rebuild last i year's veer offense have some strong foundation in the rushing t abilities of senior back Ken f Garrett. Garrett saw less ball carrying opportunities than either f Russell or Hopkins last season, but I he still managed to scramble for c 864 yards at an amazing 6.7 yards p per trip. Other than Garrett the E only experienced back is Gary t Johnson, also a senior. 1 Guiding the veer will be one of three quarterback hopefuls, I juniors Chuck Ramsey and Kit I Basler and senior Jim McMahen. I None saw much action behind the ? proven Russell. Coach Harper Intends for his 1972 E Deacons to employ the forward f pass more often this season, but ' any hopes to use it more suc- E cessfully would rest entirely on the j unknown talents of the trio of I T HE DIFl DR UM Only Adult it's Kind in 3630 Rosev Party masks & ) Giant Stuffed An Exotic Novelties Chinese Lamps HEAn SHnO ve 4-7 mark des on itrock will be last years leading usher, halfback James Barber, vho gained 501 yards. The other ialfback spot is manned by two etterman Jim Polito. John Dobbins and Doug Coyner ire competing for the fullback pot. At tight end Mike Burnop is back ifter leading the team in receiving vith 46 receptions, a . Gobbler ecord. The wide receiver is Donnie teel, who grabbed 37 passes for 705 rards, another Gobbler record, mnd 3 touchdowns. ayers veer juarterback candidates. The Demon Deacon receivers ire not a standout crew with only ight end Kevin Brynes displaying mny outstanding ability last year. rhe inexperience of the quar erbacks and the lackluster eceiving corps should tend to ndicate to Wake opponents that [salting the advances of Garrett is he formula to snuffing out the )emon Deacons offensive attack. On defense, the line appears trong and may lend a few of last rear's members to the lacking inebacker positions. Starters John lardin, Randy Cox and Steve Comondorea return to their line sitions of a year ago. In the secondary only Sam tothrock returns as a starter but ophomore Norris Thomas has ndicated that he may arrive as the iremier back this year. Jonetheless, Wake would appear o be extremely vulnerable to the orward pass this season. The strong point of the Deacon ootball team is apparently its :icking game, which may find onsiderable time to further im rove itself should the running ame faulter this season. Quar erback hopeful Ramsey punted mimself to a national ranking of hird place last year with a ooming average of 43.5 yards per uint. The 6-2, 190 junior also mandles the field goal chores and ucceeded on six of 12 attempts. Equaling last year's record of 6 would be quite an achievement or th 19r72 Deacons, as the 1971 ersion appeared to be stronger in very phase of the game, with the ossible exception of the defensive ne and kicking game. 'ERENT ME R Store of Columbia rood Drive Idult costumes Imals JOKES Strock' Returning at the tackle position are Terry Stewart and Tom Reynolds. John Schneider, a starting guard, is back at that position along with lettermen Pete Horoszko and Steve Maguigan. Rod Sedwick is the probable center. The defense, which coach Coffey termed as "the weakest part of our execution last season has 13 let termen returning. John Sprenkle, a starter last season, and letterman Bill Ellenbogen are returning at defensive tackle. Tony Bertovich is a returning letterman at end. The linebacking corp, which should be stronger this season, has five lettermen returning, Kent Henry, Dennis Dobson and Tommy Carpenito, who were starters, and Bob Karlsen and Donnie Sprouse. Starters Bobby Dabbs and Jerry Scharnus, along with letterman Randy McCann, return to the secondary. Coffey has some fine sophomores up from the freshman team who should see action. Larry Berarkman appears to be a starter at defensive end. Another sophomore who should start is John Bell, who started most of the spring at defensive back. Richard Easterling could see action at linebacker this season, as could David Halstead and red-shirt sophomore Tom Mikus, who are challenging for a defensive back spot. Another promising sophomore is i... a4 Familiar Wide receiver Jackie Br defensive back after one of fia Clemson, 17-7, win over USC Zip KLEEN 1320 Main Street 1-hour cleaning 4-hour Laundry Service Monday - Saturday S arm Howard Keyes, cousin of Leroy Keyes (All America at Purdue) who moved from running back to defensive back last spring. The kicking game is in able hands with punter Andy Hromyak who averaged 39.3 yards per kick returning along with place kicker Dave Strock who connected on 22 of 26 extra points and 7 of 14 field goals. "We're still not dealing in crystal ball gazing as far as predictions are concerned, but we've definitely made more progress in the early stages of Phase 11 (1972) than we had at a comparable moment in Phase 1 (1971)," said Coffey. "Our defensive performance, which quite obviously was the weakest part of our execution last season, during the Spring showed some signs of starting to come of age. We still have a long way to go, but our linebacker situation in particular is stronger than last year, and I'd have to say that our total picture has been shored up appreciably." "Offensively, during the spring we forged a balance by working extra hard on the running game. We started with the assumption and belief that we could throw the ball well enough. Progress we made in the running game served to make the passing game even more effective." "Despite our confidence in having at least a somewhat im proved tean in '72, we feel that the schedule is similarly strengthened, and it remains to be seen how equal we are to the challenge." Scene wn reaches to stop Clemson 'e Tiger interceptions in the last Thanksgiving. BLOOD DONORS NEEDED! IMMEDIATE CASH PAYMENT Age L Imitations, 18-60 NEW HOURS 3:30 a.m. 'il 6 p.m. Mon.-Fri. 9:30 a.m. 'til 6 p.m. Sat. CAROLINA BLOOD BANK 1317 Taylo- o2534232