Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Quotes from Patriot League Media Day
8/1/2006 8:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 1, 2006
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Patriot\ League\ Preseason\ Poll\ Release
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Head coach Tim Landis, co-captains Dorian Petersen (Rahway, N.J./Rahway) and Stefan Niemczyk (Broomall, Pa./Malvern Prep), and senior offensive lineman Michael Boccella (Dunmore, Pa./Dunmore) represented Bucknell at the annual Patriot League Football Media Day held Tuesday afternoon at Green Pond Country Club in Bethlehem, Pa.
The Bison contingent is less than a week away from opening preseason camp, which begins this Saturday. The Patriot League announced its preseason poll, voted upon by the head coaches and sports information directors, and Bucknell was picked to finish sixth. Colgate earned 68 poll points and was dubbed preseason favorite, followed by Lafayette (61), Lehigh (57), Holy Cross (35), Fordham (33), Bucknell (27) and Georgetown (13).
Colgate's Jordan Scott and Geoff Bean were named Patriot League Preseason Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively, while Fordham kicker Micah Clukey was named Preseason Special Teams Player of the Year.
Below are a sampling of quotes from Landis and the Bison co-captains.
Tim Landis on the upcoming 2006 season:
"We want to come out and show immediate improvement. I feel confident we can do that given two facts--one being a lot of the guys who were injured last year at some key positions are healthy and will be back with us, and we're really excited about that. The other silver lining to a difficult season is you get the opportunity to play a lot a people. Last year we played a lot of people. I believe at the end of the season we were starting eight freshmen and I think when you look at it on paper we're going to return 18 starters. It's a good starting point and we're excited about that. A new year always brings new optimism and a new opportunity."
New strategies:
"We've tweaked some things offensively, defensively and in the kicking game, but we really have a belief in what we've done. This will be my 14th year coaching at the collegiate level and I believe in the systems that we run and we are going to stick to what we do. We certainly always try to do things better, add some things to it here and there but stick to our philosophy of running the football, try to do a lot better job taking care of the football, being good on defense and making things happen on special teams."
OL Stefan Niemczyk on overall outlook for 2006:
"I feel very confident. Seasons like last year will happen and we've learned from it. I've had a chance to look at all the game film from last year and the other guys have too. We're ready for this season."
Niemczyk on protecting the ball:
"I think it's just a whole mentality that we need to hold on to the football. The offense that we run the ball is moving around a lot. I think it just starts from being very conscious of the fact that we need to hold on to it. Guys don't go out there and fumble on purpose. They do it because they forget to hold on to it tight or things like that. I know in the spring we really stressed on protecting the football. It's something that we definitely worked hard on this spring and improved on."
LB Dorian Petersen's perspective on the defense:
"I think after a season like last year you always have to go in and see where you're struggling and then make overall changes. We addressed everything as a whole as a defense and made some adjustments."
