Rockets fire up for Thursday
August 31, 2006
When the Toledo Rockets step out onto the field Thursday for their date with the Cyclones, the Rockets will dive head-first from a long offseason into another grueling season of college football.
“I think this is the best game around and the best time,” said Rockets coach Tom Amstutz. “Iowa State is an outstanding team and they have one of the best offenses we’ll see all year long.”
The Rockets, who return 16 starters including seven on defense from their 2005 Mid-America Conference West Division championship team, will be faced with stopping a potent ISU passing attack led by preseason Maxwell Award and Davey O’Brien Award watch-list quarterback Bret Meyer and 6-foot-5-inch receiver Todd Blythe.
“Iowa State has an outstanding attack and they feature some outstanding wide receivers,” Amstutz said. “They have a quarterback who can run and throw and a great group of running backs.”
How to stop Iowa State won’t be the only question the Rockets have to answer on Thursday, however. The Rockets have to replace 2005 starting quarterback Bruce Gradkowski, who threw for nearly 2,500 yards and 29 touchdowns last season and nearly 9,200 yards and 85 touchdowns in his three-year career.
Sophomore Clint Cochran will take over for Gradkowski, earning the start against Iowa State.
“Clint is a great young man, a really sharp guy,” Amstutz said. “He’s the smartest guy at our camp, including all of the professors and coaches.
“He’s a 4.0 student and understands our offense.”
The 2006 edition of the Rockets has a lot to do to live up to its 2005 counterparts who finished first in the MAC in total offense, total defense, scoring defense and rushing offense. Even without returning a starting quarterback or the top two running backs, Amstutz said he is confident in his players.
“We have a lot of great young men and outstanding talents on this team,” Amstutz said. “They’ve been waiting a long time [for the season] and they’re fired up.”
The Rockets are also looking to start off the 2006 campaign on the right foot to continue their recent run of success.
The Rockets are coming off back-to-back MAC West championships and have won the West four times in the past five seasons, including the MAC Championship in 2001 and 2004. A winning season would be Toldeo’s 13th consecutive such season.
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