I just look back a year ago we lost Ryan Donahue, an excellent football player, and we weren't quite sure, and Eric Guthrie, a guy that didn't really look like a prospect a couple years before that, ends up not only punting well, but we lead the Big Ten in net punting, and Eric is still down Tampa Bay. I don't know if he'll make the team or not, but it's a real credit to him, the work ethic and just the dedication that he displayed to get where he got.
I think we have guys working hard right now. Somebody will fill that void, will find a way to get that done. We'll have to cover a little bit better than we have. We've done that pretty well for a long time. But I'm not going to minimize it. Obviously it's a very important position just like having a placekicker is, also, and we haven't been quite as consistent at that position as we'd like. But if this spring is any indication for what we're lacking at the punting position, Mike Meyer had a tremendous spring. He's going into his third year now as a performer and we really expect him to be playing at a higher level, and hopefully those things balance out a little bit. But that's how a team should work.
Q. Once you get past your first team wide receivers, who are some other guys you expect to make a big impact this year?
COACH FERENTZ: That door is wide open. We have several guys, I mentioned, who was I talking about earlier that made progress in the spring? Jordan Walsh. I can say the same thing about Don Shumpert. Don was kind of lost out there the first couple days, really didn't stand out, and then as the spring went on got a little bit better and then you're hearing feedback during the course of the summer that he was having a good summer, and so far it looks like he's doing a good job.
But again, it's opportunity. The door is wide open right now. Certainly Kevonte had an outstanding spring, and we're counting on him to play really well. Keenan was in and out in the spring. We're expecting him. He's had good production in the Big Ten, and there's no reason why he shouldn't have a great year as a senior.
So now we have to supplement that, and the door is wide open both to the guys on the roster right now, guys like Shumpert, Staggs, Cotton, players like that, but also younger guys that just came in. We've got four guys working at receiver in the freshman class, and so far, so good with those guys.
And the running back position, I think that's a position where freshmen can play. I think realistically they can go out there and if not start, at least contribute if we're smart about how we approach it with them and try to put them in situations where they can have some success, maybe not have to know 100 percent of what we're doing but maybe if we can pare it down to 75 percent, something like that, so they've got a little less on their plate mentally.
Q. We saw a light go on for C.J. Fiedorwicz at the end of last season. How has he progressed this summer?
COACH FERENTZ: Again, we don't get much exposure in the summer. I'm not a basketball coach. But I think he knows where he's at right now in terms of his career. I read the articles that come out, try to read as much as I can. And I think self admission, he said he could have worked harder in the last couple years, and that realization came to him, and that made him a better football player, and I think we've seen that.
He had a really good spring. I mentioned Kevonte a minute ago. CJ was out there all spring, did a really good job. And then right along with him, Zach Derby had his best football, 15 days of football, in our program.
I think both those guys are certainly climbing the ladder. Zach has done a really nice job throughout his career. CJ has a chance to be a really good football player, and I think he's intent on that, and so far he's been practicing well. Certainly you lose a guy like Marv McNutt, somebody has got to pick up some of that slack, and it can't always just be one person, but tight end is a big part of that equation for sure.
Q. Who's in contention for kickoff returner?
COACH FERENTZ: A lot of guys. The kickoff returner will move down the way, but that may be a freshman, too, you just never know. But basically anybody that wants to do it and shows that they can do it is going to get an opportunity. That's kind of been a hit or miss thing for us in recent years.
Q. With that freshman thing in mind, how many preferred walk ons do you usually take?
COACH FERENTZ: Boy, I don't know, probably a handful I'm guessing, something like that. We're allowed 105 players here right now. That's what we have on campus. Our roster will probably end up around 115, so we've still got a couple, handful of guys that are going to join us here when school starts.
Q. Just playing true freshmen. You played 10 last year and I think eight or nine the year before.
COACH FERENTZ: I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. I thought you said losing.
I think it's realistic, and I think, again, with our football team built the way it is, I don't know if that number will be 10. But we have a lot of positions open for grabs right now. Typically I think it's going to be the case this year, it's a little harder for guys on the interior lines, both lines, to be involved. But I think if you look around the perimeter, the running back, wide receiver, defensive back positions, I think absolutely, I think we have based on four days, I think that's a possibility, and our punter could be a true freshman. I'm not trying to drop any hints or foreshadow, but it's a three man race right now, and he's got equal claim to it as anybody else. We're wide open to whoever can go.
Q. How thin is that margin between the 9-10 win season you had a few years ago and the 7-win season you had last year?
COACH FERENTZ: It's always been 10. That's one thing I would say, maybe with one exception. I really think since 2001 going into the year we've had a chance to put a good football team on the field, and hopefully be in competition when November comes around. Certainly the way you compete now is a little different having divisional play. But that's been the goal, and it's typically a really fine line. There are a lot of things that go into it. The challenge is to try to control the things you can control and then deal with the things that you can't control as well as you can, probably better than your opponent.
It's like doing a puzzle every year. There's a lot of work that goes into it, and nobody can really as hard as you try, you can't predict what's going to happen. But all that being said, I'm standing up here today not giving any excuses why we can't be successful or why we can't be a competitive football team. That's our goal certainly.
I say that all of us fully realize how much work we have to do. We have a lot of things that have to improve and a lot of things we're going to have to get better at. But just looking at what I know, I think there's every reason to think that we have a good football team.
But that's the hard work that goes into it right now, and we'll we got it started, now we've got a lot more to go.
Q. New coordinators and the youth that you talked about, would you use the word rebuild or do you just lower your expectations?
COACH FERENTZ: I'm not a big one on expectations. Like I said, outside of the first two years, my expectations have been the same every year. We're going to try to make the most out of the opportunities in front of us daily and weekly, and with the season they all add up. That determines how a season goes.
We feel like we have a chance right now. You know, if you do something for 13 years there's a good chance something is going to change. And based on the national average I think we certainly outlived what the norms are, no pun intended. So that's part of it.
And I look at it as an opportunity. That's really how I looked at it. You hate to lose good people just like you hate to lose a guy like Riley Reiff or Bryan Bulaga to an NFL team. But that's where opportunity comes or when retirement comes, that's part of life. But it gave us an opportunity to bring some really good people in, and I think that's what we've done, just like when players graduate we have an opportunity to go out and recruit some other outstanding young guys and hopefully some good stories, and that's the fun of all this stuff.
It's been enjoyable. It's been a different off season certainly, and it's been enjoyable, and now we're doing what we really like to do.
Q. On that note could you talk about the relationship between Coach Davis and Vandenberg.
COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, James is no dummy. You probably are privy to his academic prowess. It's pretty good. He's a very impressive student, and he carries that into the common sense world. He was paying attention pretty closely to what was going on when we were searching, giving some thought to things, and then when Greg got here, nobody was closer to Greg right from the start than James.
This is James's senior year. I don't want to overstate it for him or speak for him, but he obviously wants to play his best football this year, like you'd hope. So part of that equation certainly is for him to get with Greg, get the jump on things, and I'd venture to say he's a couple steps ahead of all of us offensively as far as knowing what Greg is looking for, what he's going to do, how he operates, that type of thing. And flipping it over on Greg's side, how do you not love James Vandenberg? James is just an outstanding guy. I think it's been a pretty good marriage certainly already, and he's doing all he can to be on top of things.
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