When Mike Dunlevy leads his Averett Cougars into the Cougar Den for Saturday's 1 p.m. contest with Guilford College, he will see a familiar face on the opposing sideline.
Whenever his defense takes the field against Guilford, he will be coaching directly against Dan Baranik, who he worked with at Waynesburg College a decade ago. Baranik is the offensive coordinator at Guilford and it will be against his former co-worker that Dunlevy and the Averett defense will try to solidify the unit that led the Cougars to a second-place finish in the USA South last season.
“It should be interesting going up against him in this football game,” Dunlevy said. “I think overall we played decent against Hampden-Sydney, but we still have some things that we need to get done over there collectively as a defense. We gave up 45 points, so I'm not sure we played too well at any position. But we had two weeks off and we're still working hard and trying to figure out who we are.”
At the center of a defense still trying to learn their identity as unit, the Averett linebacker corps will get a boost this week when
Logan Smyth, an All-Conference selection the last two seasons, returns to the weak side position after starting at running back against Hampden-Sydney. He will be joining
Mario Huffman, the team's leading tackler, and sophomore
Kyle Smith in the starting lineup and is excited to move back to the defensive side of the ball.
“I played there for three years,” Smyth said. “That is where I started at and where I feel like I have the most experience. The defense is good, and now that I'm back over there I hope that we can be even better.”
“We feel much better now,” Dunlevy said. “I think he'll strengthen us over in the linebacking corps. I think he'll bring some of the needed speed, size and strength to that position.
“Obviously, we're looking for the leadership part, knowing the defense and the experience,” he said. “He brings some good speed to our side and that is something we definitely need on that side of the ball.”
As a unit, Smith and Smyth both feel they are going into this game more prepared than against Hampden-Sydney. Smith, who is making his second career start, feels that the defense has made some changes that will benefit them against the Quakers.
“I feel a lot more prepared this week,” Smith said. “We've been working on a lot of new things that I think will help give us the advantage over Guilford. The game plan is there, so hopefully if we come out and execute the win is ours.”
“We've done a lot to prepare for their short game,” Smyth said. “That's really mainly all we've seen. With the defensive line we have and some of the packages we put in I feel like we can get enough pressure on their quarterback to keep them from throwing the ball long. We just need to keep putting them under pressure and keep our linebackers in the box. That will allow us to makes plays on the run.”
Guilford, formerly a pass-heavy team, now sports a more balanced offensive attack that will give Averett a chance to run their base 4-3 defense and allow the inside players to get involved. According to Dunlevy, the defense just needs to set a tone in the first half.
“We don't have any special goals this week,” Dunlevy said. “We want to make sure we're making an impact on the football. I think that is the biggest thing, just making sure we're around the football. We probably weren't making the biggest impact on the football in the Hampden-Sydney game until the second half, and that was kind of too late. We have to make sure we take that out in the first half.”
