Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Q&A with BCU coach Alvin Wyatt


By BRENT WORONOFF, Staff Writer, Daytona Beach News-Journal

With Eric Weems (1,408 all-purpose yards) moving on, who do you anticipate as possible impact players on offense this season?

"McKinson Souverain (quarterback transfer) is going to make a big impact. (Receiver) Victor Johnson, and if Paul Neufville gets his medical redshirt from the NCAA, we should have us a great receiver corps. (Slotback) Phillip Kirkland is definitely going to be Eric Weems-like as well as Corey Council. Justin Brannon is a B-Back who can now take it the distance with a 4.4 (speed in the) 40 and is very strong, tough and durable."

With Travis Roland redshirting to recover from shoulder surgery, who is in the mix to replace the former Mainland standout at strong safety?

"Michael Williams started at corner last year and we moved him to strong safety in the spring, but he hurt his Achilles (last week in practice). He will see a doctor (today), and we're fearful that he's probably going to have to have surgery. That's going to be a big blow to us unless (incoming freshman) Arkee Smith and (junior) Cedric Mason, who did not play with us last year, can come around."

Who has been the most promising freshman so far?

"Brian Sumlar, No. 5. We gave him No. 5 (Weems' number) because we felt like he could bring the type of impact that No. 5 brought to the table. He had two touchdowns in our special teams scrimmage (Saturday morning). He took a kickoff return back for 96 yards and a punt return for 57 yards. We expect him to run back kicks and punts and play in the B-Back position. He has 4.29 speed. He can flat-out fly. We just need to get some weight on him."

The offense proved last year that it was not one-dimensional. After finishing second in the conference in passing (202.7 ypg), why are you re-emphasizing the basics of the Wyattbone?

"Our game is not passing, but we have quarterbacks who can pass the football. If we're leading the conference in throwing the football and Eric Weems is leading in receiving then we'll almost always have a losing record, because that's not who we are, because we don't recruit those type of athletes. We can't get the big, speedy wide receivers. We can't get the big Xavier Lee-type quarterback, and we can't get those big pass-blocking offensive linemen. We've got aggressiveness (on the line). We attack people at the line of scrimmage. When we're throwing the football, we're doing something that's out of our jurisdiction that we're not accustomed to doing.

"Our goal is to take our opponents out of the things they've been doing week in and week out when they get ready to play us. And it seemed last year after the third game people had us in that situation."

Like last year, you plan to play two quarterbacks. How do senior starter Jimmie Russell and junior transfer McKinson Souverain compare?

"Speed-wise, McKinson has the edge. Throwing the football McKinson has the edge. Running the Wyattbone offense, Jimmie is way over the top on that. And that's the offense, the offense is the Wyattbone. But Jimmie came out of that type of program in high school, so it was a natural for him. McKinson is a thrower, he's a pocket passer."

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