Bowling Green State University Athletics
2004 Spring Football Prospectus
April 08, 2004 | Football
April 8, 2004
2004 Spring Prospectus in PDF Format
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The Bowling Green State University football team will play its annual spring game at Noon, Saturday, April 10 at Doyt Perry Stadium. Admission is free.
TWELVE 2004 FALCON FACTS YOU NEED TO KNOW
The Falcons, who captured the 2003 MAC West title, will return 16 players who were in the starting lineup at the Motor City Bowl. Nine of those were on offense and seven started on defense. BGSU finished the season ranked #23 in the AP and Coaches polls and were 24th in the final BCS standings.
With two schools (UCF and Marshall) leaving the MAC after the 2004 season, the MAC will be left with 12 teams (5 in the East and 7 in the West). BGSU did play in the MAC East Division from 1997-2001 before moving to the West in 2002 to accommodate the addition of Central Florida to the league.
Senior wide receiver Cole Magner set single-season BGSU record for receptions (99), receiving yardage (1,138) and all-purpose yards (1,592). He also has five career TD passes from his wide receiver position. He needs 74 receptions and 1,088 yards to break former teammate Robert Redd's BGSU career records in both categories.
Junior running back P.J. Pope is just the third BGSU running back to earn first-team All-MAC honors since 1985 (Bernard White-1985, Zeb Jackson-1993). He rushed for 1,005 yards and 10 TDs and caught 48 passes for 433 yards last season.
Senior center Scott Mruczkowski, who is a candidate for the Lombardi and Rimington Awards, will be looking to be the first player since offensive lineman Rob Fehrman (44, 1997-2000) to start every game in his career. Mruczkowski, a first-team All-MAC pick in 2003, has started 37 games for BGSU.
Senior cornerback Keon Newson led the MAC in forced fumbles with six, four of which came in the five games he played at cornerback. He played nine games during the season at safety.
The Falcon linebacking corps has 31 games of starting experience led by senior Jovon Burkes with 16, followed by junior Ted Piepkow with nine and senior Daniel Sayles with six.
Junior running back B.J. Lane has the highest yards per carry average in BGSU history (6.4 yards). He rushed for 498 yards last season.
The Falcons return 4,043 receiving yards and 29 TDs through the air. Junior Charles Sharon (887 yards and 10 TDs) and Magner gave the Falcons two players with double digit TD catches in the same year for the first time in school history last year. Overall, Magner (28), senior James Hawkins (26) and Sharon (24) have combined to start 78 games in their careers.
Senior kicker Shaun Suisham needs 35 points to become the school's all-time leading scorer surpassing Josh Harris who had 284 career points. Suisham has made 31 field goals (6th all-time at BGSU) and 157 PATs (a BGSU record). Suisham, who made 16 field goals in 24 attempts in 2003, needs 14 field goals to set a new school record breaking the old mark of 44 shared by Brian Lever (1991-94) and Gehad Youssef (1981-84).
The Falcons have won 13 straight regular season home games at Doyt Perry Stadium since November 2001. Since the 1999 season, BGSU is 13-0 against MAC West opposition at home.
The Falcon defense was second in the MAC with 33 sacks, the most for BGSU since the 1992 season when they had 38. Junior defensive end Mitchell Crossley, a second-team All-MAC selection, led the way for BGSU with nine. The Falcon defensive front four has a combined experience of 66 games started (Crossley-19, sophomore DE Devon Parks-14, junior DT Matt Leininger-19, and junior NG Mike Thaler-14).
