IN THEIR 10TH SEASON AS A FRANCHISE, CONSISTENT MUSTANGS WIILL BE VERY GOOD AGAIN… BUT
WILL THEY BE GOOD ENOUGH?
Team
Preview by: Jared Neumeier
IDAHO FALLS – For the Idaho Falls Mustangs, the year 2000 was an extremely pivotal season. It had very little, if anything to do with their accomplishments on the field…which were related.
That season saw the teams first season of outstanding local media coverage.
It was the media coverage from that season that vaulted the Mustangs into an era of more and better players through better recruitment. An era which saw the Mustangs win 2 of the next 3 championships and play in 3 of the next 5 championship games. Quite an accomplishment considering they have continued to be a top team even as the league has expanded from 4 (1997) to 22 (2006).
The 2006 Mustangs may even be a little better than the 2005 Mustangs, however, with the league separating into a AAA category, with the Madison Lionz , the 2005 Championship runner-up just a short drive up the highway one direction and an entirely re-tooled, turbo-charged Pocatello Predator team just down the highway in the other direction, the Mustangs may be losing ground in the Eastern Idaho arms race.
It will be difficult, however, to feel sorry for, much less count out in any way a team that boasts the last two RMFL’s Fastest Man winners in Josh Roth (2004) and Brandon Reed (2005) who will hold down the cornerback spots for the Mustangs AND so much veteran talent in Sean Powell (9 years), Scott Worthington (8 years), Justin Weaver (7 years), Jason Carlyle (7 years), Jeb Harrison (6 years), as well as the league’s 2005 rushing champion and animal-out-of-the-backfield, Travis Boden (6 years).
Yes, this Mustangs team is certainly stacked, especially on offense where quarterback, Donavan Ard takes over in his second season as the Mustangs trigger-man. Ard had a very solid season in 2005 taking over for 4-season quarterback, Cody Jackson…who took over for myself after running the offense for 4-seasons (1997-2000) in 2001. So, historically speaking, Ard is on his second season of at least a 4-year contract and the RMFL should expect an even better season in 2006.
There are, however, two factors which concerns me the most with this years version of the Mustangs. For the first time since 1997, the Mustangs will not have right guard, Doug Brasier to rely on every game. Brasier was a consummate all-star and utilized his 6’6” frame and 360+ pounds of size to anchor the Mustang line since the team’s inception. Having moved out of the area, Brasier intends to attempt to make it to enough games to keep himself playoff eligible, including the big clash scheduled in Logan with the Cache Valley Bears, however, two offensive line wild cards in Ryan Lingenfelder and William Liebert must step up for Brasier and the re-retired, Steve Elfering along the Mustangs front to clear the way for Boden and Ard to “do their thing”.
A remodeled defensive front seven also has a few question marks which I will address below, however, backed up by arguably the best starting 4-man secondary should keep the Mustang defense sound in what will be an extremely challenging season for the RMFL’s version of the Silver and Black.
Ryan Lingenfelder – Offensive Line
William Liebert – Offensive Line
Austin Shawver – Linebacker/Running Back
OFFENSE:
Even with the loss of Brasier and Elfering for what may be much of the regular season, the Mustangs do probably still have a few more things going for them in 2006, they may not even have had in 2005. First of all, quarterback Donavan Ard has already had his first season of learning the league and what it is going to take. The Mustangs return all of the same offensive weapons they relied on in 2005. Ard will not only have Travis Boden in the backfield, but Dusty Hawker returns at fullback and will be not only a bruising lead blocker, but another significant game-breaking threat with the football. The RMFL’s reigning “Fastest Man”, Brandon Reed continues to be Ard’s primary wide out threat. Reed finished 2005 eighth in the RMFL in receiving and is joined by the team’s all-purpose offensive threat, Scott Brown. Brown is also the team’s back-up quarterback and back-up tailback and , in a pinch, chief chef and bottle washer. The venerable, Todd Johnson will be back at tight end, blessed with the ability to catch anything, anywhere just gives opposing defenses one more weapon to worry about. But what it will all boil down to for this offense is the performance of the slightly re-tooled offensive line. Returning from 2005 will be Vince Barzee (6’0, 265), Rye McAffee (6’1, 265) and center, Tyson Poulson (5’11, 280). Last season’s Mustangs offensive line finished #1 of all of the offensive lines in the 21-team RMFL. It is safe to say that that was not all of Elfering and Brasier’s doing. These guys are pretty good, too. But offensive lines are like chains, only as strong as the weakest link. It will be up to new additions, Ryan Lingenfelder (6’3, 290) and William Liebert (6’4, 290) to re-shore up this unit that last season yielded only slightly more than 1 sack per 15 pass attempts and blocked Boden and company to more than a 6.5 yard per carry average. Former Snake River Rebel/Pocatello Predator star, Dennis Rinehart is also listed on the Mustangs roster and could contribute some key offensive line support as well. Facing the level of defenses they will, however, week after week will be a challenge and the Mustangs must be prepared with some solid depth at their offensive line as they have with their skill positions to keep the competition level up all season and roll into a 10th consecutive playoff appearance. Projected Offensive Ranking: 4th.
DEFENSE: In last season’s preview, I made the comment that it would be the
Mustang defense, if anything that would worry me about keeping the team out of
the championship game. After they allowed the Helena Titans to drop 47 points
on them last season, many in the league began to agree with me. Well, I don’t see this season being any
different. The Mustangs finished a
humbling 14th of 21 teams last season defensively. Teams that
finished ahead of them included Helena, Magic Valley, Missoula, Vipers and
Muddogs… all currently AA teams. To the
Mustangs’ defense’s defense, they did face the top offenses in the RMFL in
Helena, Madison and the Rhino-Raiders, they did better than the stats might
indicate. However, this season there is
more of a concern. The Mustangs list
Rayce Bird, TJ Bingham and Jason Lawson as players lost from 2005. The problem is that these may have been
their top 3 linebackers on that 14th ranked ’05 team. Along the defensive line front, Scott
Worthington (5’11, 255) and Mike Brown (6’2, 230) return as team’s defensive
ends. Josh Swatzenberg (5’11, 320) and
Clint Williams (5’11, 290) will be back and promoted to more full-time duty at
defensive tackle. The Mustangs also list big Blaine Berger (6’3, 325) and
ex-Rebel, Matt Chidester (6’5, 250) and if they are able to play any at all for
the Mustangs will be big helps along the front 4. The new… and old linebacker corps will include long-time Mustang,
Jason Carlyle, who has been back and forth from linebacker to d-end for years,
a leaner, meaner, Jeb Harrison, listed at a sleeked down 230 pounds and has a
great instincts from the linebacker position and new addition, another ex-Rebel
(counting 7 total on the roster) will be Austin Shawver, who is also an
outstanding running back and shared the Snake River Rebel backfield at one time
with Travis Boden. There are certainly
no “chinks” in the chain of the Mustangs secondary, however. With speedsters Reed and Roth at the corner
slots, the team can afford a lot more man-to-man coverage than most teams
can. 10th season veteran and
former 2-time Offensive MVP winner, Sean Powell and the experienced,
hard-hitting, Justin Weaver hold down the safety spots. I know Weaver hits
hard, he separated my shoulder once… in practice. The Mustangs would also hope to see more of Ron Holyhoak, who
could play outstanding linebacker or safety and Jared Hawker, Dusty’s brother
and another fast, hard hitter. What
concerns me the most about the Mustangs is their front 7. What concerns me most about their front 7 is
an overall lack of great team speed.
I’m also concerned about their ability to pressure the passer with their
front 4. There are a lot of great
defenses in the AAA division, most of them do will not have nearly the
defensive backfield speed or talent of the Mustangs, but they will have the
players that will make things happen up front that will make their secondary
look better. Fortunately, the Mustangs
do not have the hardest schedule of the better offenses, helped by the fact
that they play western Idaho teams for 4 games and they don’t have to play
their own offense.
Optimistically…. Projected Defensive Ranking: 8th.
COACHING
The Mustangs will be in their second season without long-time head coach, Jack Kline. Kline lead the team from 2001 thru 2004 with good results, however, the players themselves will tell you that although they fell a game short of the championship last season, they enjoyed their season better than the 4 previous. The attitude in Mustang country is extremely positive. Players feel as if their fate is in their hands AND they have all the talent they need to win the title. They are right. I’m not pre-ranking the Mustangs into the top 5, but there is plenty of reason to believe that they will finish there anyway. If they can sweep their western Idaho games, split with Madison and pick up 2 of 3 wins from either home against Pocatello and the Wolverines or away against the Bears, they could even conceivably gain a top seed and a smoother road to another RMFL Championship game appearance.
OVERALL RANKING:
