UWW Football

Meet: The Wesley Wolverines


The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks flew to Dover, DE Thursday evening for the National Championship Semi-Final game at 11:00 AM Central time on Saturday against the 13-0 Wesley Wolverines.  The Wolverines are the number one overall seed in the tournament. UW-Whitewater has been ranked number one in the nation by D3football.com all season long.  Here is a look at the Wolverines:


Coach
Head Coach Mike Drass is serving in his 18th year as Head Coach and 20th year overall for Wesley College.  His career record is 156-44-1.  He has won 5 of the past 6 Atlantic Central Football Conference Coach of the Year awards.  Under his leadership, Wesley College has advanced to the National Semi-Final round 3 times in the past 5 years.  


Offense
Up front the Wolverines are led by Anthony West, a 6'2" 307 pound Senior and 6'1" 266 pound sophomore, Tim Putman.  West and Putman both collected first team all-ACFC honors this year.  Joining them up front are second team selections James Buettner, a 6'6" 282 pound junior and sophomore Brian Cranmer, who is listed at 6'2" and 273 pounds.  Rounding out the starting offensive line is Ben McDonald, a 6'4" 250 pound Junior.  This unit has paved the way for the nation's 42nd ranked rushing offense and yielded only 11 sacks all season.  


Junior QB Justin Sottilare took over the reigns of the Wolverine offense just three plays into the season, when Shane McSweeny went down with a season-ending knee injury.  Sottilare has fit into the role just fine, throwing for 3128 yards and 37 TD's.  Sottilare was named the Atlantic Central Football Conference Co-Player of the Year.  He is ranked 4th in the nation in passing efficiency.  


Sophomore tailback Brandon Wright carries the load on the ground for Wesley.  Wright has gained 1072 yards and scored 11 rushing touchdowns. Wright averages 5.8 yards per carry.  Wright is a physical runner, who is listed at 202 pounds with 4.5 speed in the 40 yard dash.   Askia Jahad (5.8 ypc) is the backup. Chris Cummings, the backup QB, can also be expected to get some carries.  Overall, Wesley averages 193.8 yards per game and 5.0 yards per carry.  


Ellis Krout, a 6'4", 200 pound senior from Dallas, TX is the top receiving threat for the Wolverines.  Krout has caught 58 balls for 1041 yards (17.9 ypc) and 18 TD's.  He provides Sottilare with a potent red zone target and has the speed to get deep as well.  Leonard Stevensen is the number 2 receiver with 40 catches (16.6 ypc) for 664 yards and 8 TD's.
   


Defense
Defensive End Chris Mayes, a 6'3" 253 pound junior, provides rare speed and explosion to the Wolverine defense.  Mayes has 17 sacks and 32 tackles for loss. Mayes was the ACFC 2010 Defensive Player of the Year and the 2009 D3football.com South Region Defensive Player of the Year.  Also anchoring the defensive front are  first team all-ACFC honorees  Paul Gilstrop, a 5'10" 272 pound junior defensive tackle and Jeffrey Dorsey, a 6'2" 252 pound senior defensive end. 


Mike Asiedu, a 6'3" 221 pound junior and Jeff Morgan, a 6'2" 222 pound junior lead the Wesley linebacking unit.   Asiedu and Morgan are the top two Wesley tacklers and each were named to the all-ACFC first team defensive unit.  


Senior Aaron Benson and Marcus Wilson lead the defensive backs.  Each were also first team all conference selections.  Wilson leads the Wolverines with 7 interceptions.  


Wesley currently leads the nation in total defense and is ranked 5th Nationally in scoring defense.  The Wolverines have allowed opponents 192.83 yards per game and 11.22 points per game.


Special Teams
Placekicker Dan Tryon has made 13-20 field goals attempts, with a long of 46 yards.  Punter John Smicklo has averaged 37.3 yards per punt with 10 punts placed inside the 20 and no touchbacks.  In the return game, the Wolverines have averaged 17.6 yards on kickoff returns and allowed an average of 18.1 yards per return.  In the punting game, Wesley is averaging 9.7 yards per return and allowing an average of 10.4 yards.