Aug. 28, 2004

Charleston, SC - At a recent Citadel football scrimmage, new Bulldogs coach John Zernhelt sat by himself, halfway up in the stands at Johnson Hagood Stadium.

"You can see better from up here," Zernhelt said.

In his first head-coaching job in 28 years in the business, Zernhelt has had to pull back his focus -- for years locked on to the smallest details of offensive line play ñ to look at the big picture.

"You just deal with different things other than football," said Zernhelt, who took over for former Citadel coach Ellis Johnson last January, after one season as the Bulldogs' offensive coordinator. "You have to worry about administrative things or whatever. You are an overseer, you get to watch things and get a feel for how you want things to look."

When Citadel athletic director Les Robinson chose Zernhelt over a handful of other candidates -- including ex-defensive coordinator Les Herrin and several former Citadel players -- he wanted things to look pretty much as they had under Johnson. Johnson pulled the Bulldogs out of a spiral of five straight losing records to a 6-6 mark last season before leaving his alma mater to become defensive coordinator at Mississippi State. The choice of Zernhelt was designed, in part, to create the least disruption possible to Bulldog players and coaches.

"This is a good staff, and the more I talked to them, the more I liked them," Robinson said when he made the hire. "We were still looking outside, and that's what I was wrestling with. If we bring somebody else in, and all these guys leave, it would take a month to get a new staff. Then recruiting is a crapshoot, the players still have to start over with a new coach, and you are losing a year or two. But if we didn't have the guy on the staff who could lead them, we couldn't make this decision. And that's what we have with John."

By all accounts, the transition has gone smoothly. Zernhelt, a 1977 Maryland grad, retained six assistant coaches from last year's staff, and one of the new coaches is tight ends coach Kevin Olecki, who played offensive line for the Bulldogs last season. The new offensive coordinator is Toby Strange, elevated from quarterbacks coach.

"The biggest result of that is for the kids, so that they know what to expect when they come out here," Zernhelt said. "It's not so much for the coaches, they are experienced and adaptable. It's for those 90 or 100 other guys out here, and that's where you see it. As long as that transition has been smooth, that's where it's important."

Despite the smooth handoff, Zernhelt faces a challenge at least as daunting as Johnson did three years ago, when he took over a program coming off consecutive 2-9 seasons. With Johnson Hagood Stadium undergoing renovations, the Bulldogs will play in what amounts to half a stadium. And the schedule, already ranked the second-toughest in Division I-AA with back-to-back games at Auburn and Duke, will be even more challenging as Southern Conference powers Appalachian State, Furman and Georgia Southern seek atonement for losses to The Citadel last season.

"We don't think that just because (Johnson) left, we're not going to continue our improvements," senior linebacker James Greene said. "We've gotten better each year, and we think we can do it again."

KEYS ON OFFENSE

With a fifth-year senior starting for the first time at quarterback and a young offensive line, the Bulldogs will rely more than ever on senior tailback Nehemiah Broughton, the 6-0, 240-pound "Nemo-sapien" who is coming off knee surgery. The Bulldogs were 3-0 when Broughton ran for at least 100 yards last season, 3-6 in games when he did not reach 100 yards or did not play.

QB Justin Hardin has watched the last two seasons as grad-student transfers Jeff Klein and Willie Simmons swooped in to take the starting job. Hardin has thrown only eight passes in his career, but has shown enough in spring and fall practices to inspire confidence that he can run the offense. If he struggles, freshman Duran Lawson of Conway will be first off the bench.

Elsewhere, the backfield is stocked with experience in junior fullback Porter Johnson and senior tailbacks Ern Mills and Chris Gibbs, as is the receiving corps of senior Jermaine Anderson, sophomore Rontreal Tyler and senior tight end Ross Armstrong.

It's up front where the Bulldogs are crucially young, having lost four fifth-year starters. Sophomore guard Dusty Benefield, who started nine games last season, is the most experienced of the group that includes sophomore tackles Caleb and Cliff Conant, junior guard Adam Hastings and junior center Jay Thomas.

KEYS ON DEFENSE

With eight starters back, the Bulldogs have one of their most experienced and fastest defensive units in years. That's good, because the D might have to carry the load early as the offense finds its way.

New defensive coordinator Dick Hopkins has reconfigured the line to take advantage of that speed, with senior Michael Ballentine (six sacks last year) and sophomore James Wilson (four sacks) starting at the ends. Junior Fred Townsend (44 tackles) has moved inside to tackle, where it looks like true freshman Jacob Bryant (6-1, 273) will join him as a starter.

The linebacking corps is perhaps the top unit on the team, with seniors Greene and Julian West and junior Shawn Grant backed by a trio of talented sophomores. Greene and Grant totaled 184 tackles and 14 tackles for loss last season, and the 6-3, 235-pound West seems primed for his best season.

The secondary is less stable, with senior cornerback Marcus Cohen the most experienced defensive back. Junior Andrew Henderson, who has played in eight games as a backup the last two years, heads a list of corners in the rotation, including redshirt freshmen Travis Gentry and Vince Hill and sophomore Justin Matherson. Junior strong safety Avery Dingle steps into the starting role with plenty of experience, and junior free safety Brandon Hawkins played well at corner last season.

SPECIAL TEAMS

It will take two players to replace kicker/punter Travis Zobel, who averaged 40.2 yards per punt and made 10 of 17 field-goal attempts last year. Sophomore Blake Vandiver handled point-after duties last season and made 25 of 27, but missed his only field-goal try. Freshman Mike Adams of Orlando is the new punter.

SCHEDULE

Thank goodness for Benedict. The late addition of the Division II Tigers to the schedule gave the Bulldogs a fifth home game and broke up what was a fearsome six-game stretch -- at Appalachian State, at Auburn, at Duke, at Furman, Georgia Southern and Wofford. Each member of that SoCon foursome is a consensus top 20 team in I-AA, with the last three in the top 10. A strong finish against the SoCon's bottom division (Chattanooga, Elon and Western Carolina) is a must.