Behind Enemy Lines - Western Michigan

As we do each and every week, we go Behind Enemy Lines to get the thoughts and opinions of someone who covers Iowa’s opponent on the football field. This week we visited with the play by play voice the Western Michigan Football team, Robin Hook, to get the latest on the 1-1 Broncos under the direction of first year head coach Lance Taylor.

Q: Tell us about Coach Lance Taylor and the overall outlook as he takes over in his first year as the head coach?

HOOK: I think Lance has done a great job. He put together a great staff. He kept most of the defensive guys, including coordinator Lou Esposito, who has done a great job in the last few years. The offensive side was rebuilt. He kept one assistant, but brought in a new coordinator in Billy Cosh from Richmond. He runs an up tempo offense that has looked pretty good so far. They have a win over St. Francis and the result against Syracuse was not what they hoped for, but I think they are vastly underrated.

Q: You talked about the pace on offense and I saw in the first game they ran over 90 plays. Is that their thinking, let’s run a lot of plays and play with a quick tempo? How has that translated on the field so far?

HOOK: It worked very well in the first game against St. Francis when they ran close to 100 plays in the game and had over 500 yards of total offense, and over 300 on the ground. I think they want to establish the run.

They are still searching at the quarterback spot. They have played three different guys who were battling in camp for that position. I don’t think they have any decision yet, but we will see how it goes moving forward.

As far as the play calling goes, it will depend on the opponent and what you want to do to attack them. I really think they want to establish their running game. They had an outstanding performance in the opener from Jalen Buckley, who is from Illinois. He was a walk-on who they put on scholarship the day before the season started and then the next day he went out and rushed for 194 yards and was co-offensive player of the week in the MAC Western Division. He has been a great story. On the second snap against Syracuse, he took it 74 yards for a touchdown. He’s off to a great start and once they get in conference they will be very competitive.

Q: You mentioned the quarterbacks and trying to settle on a starter. Has any of them stood out to you?

HOOK: Jack Salopec was the starter in the opener. He played deep into the fourth quarter and led them to a win. He managed the game very well and got them into the right plays. He’s smart and knows the offense.

Treyson Bourguet started four games last year and led them to a couple of wins. He is young and still developing and down the road I think he’s going to be a really good quarterback.  Then they brought in an experienced guy in Hayden Wolff from Old Dominion. He threw for over 5,500 yards. He didn’t get here until the summer and he’s still learning the offense. He played the third quarter against Syracuse.

Q: On the defensive side of the ball, what does Western Michigan run? What is their style of play?

HOOK: Lou Esposito is the coordinator and he’s aggressive. He likes to blitz and get after the quarterback. Their base defense is 3-4, but they will change it up and go with a 4-3 at times, especially in the red zone. They do like to run the four linebacker sets where one of them moves up to the line of scrimmage.

Q: Who are some of the key players to watch on the defensive side of the ball?

HOOK: Tate Hallock is the leading tackler so far this season. He is a transfer safety from Michigan State. Marshawn Kneeland is one of the top players in the MAC. He is an outstanding player along the defensive line. They lost two defensive linemen in the transfer portal. One is starting at Florida State and the other is starting at Indiana. They lost two key players up front.

In the middle, the guy to watch at linebacker is Boone Bonnema. He was an outstanding special teams player last year and now he is a solid linebacker. Another good player at linebacker is Demari Roberson. He has had a great start to the season.

The other safety is Aaron Wofford, who has made a lot of great plays two games into the season. He has settled in and is a strong young player. Finally there’s Keni-H Lovely, a highly regarded cornerback from Florida. He is a really good player in the secondary.

Q: How is this team viewing this game coming out of the Syracuse game and playing back to back power five teams?

HOOK: It’s early in the week, but I know they were disappointed in the penalties. In the first game they ran almost 100 plays and had just three penalties. This past week it took a turn and had 9 penalties, which was surprising. In camp they were very disciplined, so they are going to work on limiting the penalties moving forward.

The team gave up 45 points in the first half and part of it was due to the penalties, but only three in the second half and it felt like they really settled in and started to play better football.