The Catawba College football notebook...David
Bennett must have known what he was doing when he put Ryan Millwood in as the Catawba
College punt returner.
Millwood doesn’t drop balls.
“He wants to be a professional hunter,”
said the Indians coach. “He looks up there and sees skeets or birds or something and
watches it all the way into his hands.”
Millwood, a junior from Irmo, S.C., loves hunting,
whether it’s deer or birds. But that’s in the offseason. Right now, he’s
the hunted.
He takes off from his wide receiver position and
quarterback Mitch Ellis is looking for him. Defensive backs are looking for him. And when
he takes in a punt, the entire opposing team tries to hunt him down.
Millwood is one of several talented receivers this
season, each with a different speed and different role.
“It started out slow with all the
wideouts,” Millwood said, “but Mitch is coming along real well.”
Bennett said he has more depth at receiver than
any position. With Millwood, Damien Bennett, O.J. Lennon, Derek Spencer, Cedric
Squirewell, Arnold Gaither and Derrick Stokes, he has plenty of options.
Saturday, seven different receivers caught balls
from Ellis, led by Millwood’s three grabs for 81 yards.
“We can spread the field and open up the
running game.” Millwood said.
As far as being a punt returner, it can be
hazardous to his health. In Catawba’s 17-14 win over Winston-Salem State, a swirling
wind made it fun.
“It can get kinda tough back there,”
said Millwood. “But with the team we’ve got rushing the punter, I feel pretty confident that we’re going to block the
kick. I hope they block it every time.”
Catawba recruited Millwood after he played in the
North-South All-Star Game. Bennett knew Millwood loved football but he quickly found out
about his love for hunting.
“I do
a lot of hunting out of state, like in Arkansas, for birds,” Millwood said.
“Football season takes deer hunting out of the way but bird hunting is usually in
February so I have time.”
Bennett pointed out that a new sporting goods
store just opened in the Carolina Mall.
“They could hire him and he’d be happy
just unloading boxes of dadgum hunting and fishing equipment.”
When you think about it, hunting and football kind
of go together.
Millwood said the biggest deer he has bagged is a
7-pointer.
Bennett isn’t expecting that much from his
receiver on the football field.
A few 6-pointers will do just fine.
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BACK AS A BACK: Eric Westbrook started his Catawba career as a running back. Last year, he
was a receiver. Now he has returned to the backfield.
“We needed him there in the spring because we
didn’t have enough depth there,” Bennett said. “We felt he had enough speed
and we had enough depth at receiver.
“Eric has always done everything we’ve
asked.”
Westbrook rushed 10 times for 46 yards. His
longest run was 19 yards.
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NEWCOMERS: Bennett hated losing his seniors from
last year but as he puts it, more players get to step in and prove themselves.
“We knew the coaches would have them ready
but we didn’t know if they’d be ready to step up to the plate.”
Two freshmen linebackers did. Todd McComb of
Thomasville and Danny McLeod of Florence, S.C., backed up starters Jason Cross of South
Rowan and Steve McKnight of Kannapolis ably, leaving linebacker coach Curtis Walker
smiling.
“Before this year, Coach Walker had those old
guys, Ronnie Harrington and Josh Osteen,” joked Bennett. “Now, he’s having
to coach those young bucks.”
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IMPRESSED: Osteen certainly likes the new
linebackers. In fact, the West Rowan graduate told Bennett so at lunch earlier this week.
“He said, ‘Coach, these guys look pretty
good. They can run too,’’’ said Bennett. “I said, ‘Yeah, like you
and Harrington.’”
Osteen’s reply?
“They’re not that good yet.”
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TOP PLAYERS:
The coaching staff chose their players of the week:
Offense: Millwood won the honor.
Defense: DeVonte Peterson won the award.
“It’s great to see him do that,”
Bennett said of Peterson’s six-tackle performance, which included a sack.
“It’s probably a long time coming but he is bigger and stronger. He stayed in
Salisbury over the summer and worked hard.”
Peterson is a 6-foot-4, 250-pound defensive tackle
from football-crazy Clinton.
Special teams: Matt Gross hit a 44-yard field goal
and averaged 38.7 yards on six punts.
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REMEMBER ME?
Last year’s punter Chris Dinkins, has transferred to Winston-Salem State where he is
the backup punter for the Rams.
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EXCITING DEBUT:
Bennett unleashed a secret weapon against the Rams Saturday: tailback Kevin McKenzie, a
junior college transfer out of Mississippi and a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“He’s a real excitable guy,” said
Bennett. “He was clicking his feet up in the air and shaking his head. He seemed to
get the fans excited.”
McKenzie finished with 67 yards on 13 caries.
“He’s getting close to what we thought
he could do,” said Bennett.
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AROUND THE SAC: How about those Lenoir-Rhyne Bears?
The Bears have started 2-0 for the first time
since 1993. After losing 14 straight at home, they have now won three consecutive games in
Hickory.
Lee Daugherty and Chris Kotish, both of South
Rowan, are playing at L-R.
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Ronnie Gallagher
is the sports editor of the Post. |
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