Head coach Frank Haege leads his Augsburg Auggies into Clemens Stadium to battle the Saint John’s Johnnies this Saturday. Haege, a former head coach in the Arena Football League, coached his team to a hard-fought 31-26 victory over Northwestern College last week.
Offensively, the Auggies put up some impressive numbers in their lone contest of 2007. Junior quarterback Jordan Berg returns from a 2006 season where he threw for 2107 yards. Versus Northwestern, he completed 26 of 39 passes for 276 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. He spread the ball around quite a bit, but his favorite targets were junior Royce Winford (7 receptions for 103 yards), freshman Muneer Al-Hameed (7 receptions for 69 yards), and senior Ryan Schroeder (6 receptions for 70 yards). Prior to 2007, Schroeder played football at Southwest Minnesota State. Junior running back Jason Potts handled the bulk of the running duties, carrying the pigskin 24 times for 131 yards. On the line, seniors Alan Mueller and Jason Weber return at the tackles, but the remainder of the line is still relatively untested.
On the other side of the ball, the Auggies return 8 starters from 2006, and interestingly enough, former head coach Jack Osberg returns to coach the defensive line. Osberg lead the Auggies from 1991-2004. The defensive line returns a handful of starters, but none stood out from their first-game stats. Junior linebacker Donovan Bates, a transfer from Central Lakes College in Brainerd, led the Auggies with 15 tackles last weekend. He plays alongside sophmore Andrew Bergeson, who finshed the Northwestern game with 8 tackles. The defensive backs recorded 4 interceptions last weekend–2 for sophomore Rodney Powell and 1 each for sophomore Tyler Judkins and junior Garret Adamson, a player who for some reason transferred to Augsberg from Saint Johns.
Sophomore Luom Seidenkranz handles the kicking duties. He was 4 for 4 on extra points and 1 for 2 on field goals in their first game. Augsburg’s punting game looks pretty weak though, as they only averaged about 24 yards per punt.
Personally, I think the stats make Augsburg look tougher than they actually are. They played a tight game with Northwestern College, but Northwestern traditionally is a cupcake team. If Kofoed establishes himself early and the defense sets the pace, the Johnnies should have no problem sending the Auggies back to Minneapolis with their first loss of 2007.
Auggie Roster
2007 Auggie Preview
Auggie vs. Northwestern Game Story
