Question Marks

omeone should give Rip Scherer a Riddler suit. You know -- the outfit worn by the Batman character with all the question marks on it. As he enters his third season as head football coach at the University of Memphis, Scherer sees question marks at almost every turn.

That's not to say the 1997 Tiger football team will not be improved. It well could be. But if this year's squad is to better the 4-7 mark posted by the '96 team, a bunch of unknown players will have to make their mark.

Start with the offensive line, a weak spot in the Tiger program going back at least four seasons. Veteran Ron Sells says the line will be improved. "I think the attitude on the offensive line is that we've come a long way and we're going to come an even longer way," the junior says. "The attitude is good right now. I know it's easy to have a good attitude right now, but we're bigger than we were, we're stronger, and we worked harder over the summer. I know we'll be better."

Sells is listed as the Tigers' starting center despite having not played that position since high school. The center position was decimated during the summer as three players who had been listed at that spot either quit or were kicked off the team. If Sells can stay healthy and polish his snapping technique, the Tigers have a chance to be better up front. Newcomer Travis Whitaker (6-5, 315), a junior-college transfer, could join Sells and senior Daniel Gomez (6-5, 295) as anchors on a line that should be bigger and deeper than any in recent memory.

But the offensive line is just one question mark. On the other side of the ball, the defensive line has to replace standouts Tony Williams, Marvin Thomas, and Tim Hart.

No problem, says line coach Wayne Weedon, who says he doesn't believe in "rebuilding years."

"We've had Chris Hobbs, Pat Jansen, Brian Barnett, Tim Hart, Tony Williams -- there has always been somebody who has stepped up and carried on the tradition here and kept our defense alive," Weedon says. "I expect this group to step up."

Weedon mentions returning lettermen Marquis Bowling, T.J. Frier, Tramont Lawless, and Manny Santibanez, along with redshirt freshman Calvin Lewis and Jarvis Slaton as he anticipates the group from which someone must emerge as a big-time player.

"We'll have just as good a line as we've had since I've been here," Weedon says. "We've been here eight years so I look for us to be as competitive as ever. We may be better. We may be a little quicker than we have been in the past."

Weedon's linemen are usually among the most intense players on the team. "What do you expect?" asks Bowling rhetorically. "We've got the most intense coach. It has to rub off a little bit."

Ask any d-lineman and he will regale you with stories about playing for Coach Weedon. "You don't know the half of it," Bowling laughs. "Coach Weedon gets off on punishing us during individual drills. When I was a true freshman, I was the only redshirt player who had to get his jersey sewed up after every game. I never touched the field, but Coach Weedon made me the official tackling dummy for that year. It made me tough. Anything that doesn't kill you can only make you tougher."

Because the Tiger defense has been versatile under defensive coordinator Jim Pletcher the last two years, Weedon expects his troops will handle whatever the coaches throw at them. "We've got guys who have run angle-slant defense and we've run a base defense. Right now we're not afraid to do either one."

As usual, Weedon is pumped up about the upcoming season. "I'm excited about this group," he says. "I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised."

One position coach who isn't facing questions this season is wide-receiver coach David Lockwood. "It's the first time since I've been here that we have quality depth at the wide-receiver positions," Lockwood says. "We're excited. We've got some skill, some speed, some size, a little bit of everything. If the guys continue to work hard, as they did over the summer, we have a chance to be as good as we want to be."

Despite the change in offensive coordinators, with Sparky Woods leaving for a similar job at Virginia and Rusty Burns and Dave Magazu sharing coordinator duties for Memphis, Lockwood expects the offense to be similar in style if not execution. "We haven't changed the offense too much," he says. "If anything, we've probably made it a little more simple."

Senior Chancy Carr, junior Richie Floyd, and sophomore Damien Dodson provide plenty of experience at the receiver position. Lockwood is especially happy with Carr. "I can't say enough about Chancy Carr," he says. "He ran the 110s today and he was out in front. He was running and running and running. He's one of the best-conditioned athletes out there. That's what you want to see in your seniors."

Lockwood hopes the upperclassmen will lead this team. "We'll go as far as our seniors take us. They've been here the longest, they've got the biggest investment in the program. The young guys have to jump on their coattails and come along for the ride."

Some Tiger fans may have been disappointed with Dodson's freshman season. The 5-9 speedster finished his high school career at Westwood as the nation's most prolific pass-catcher ever. He had 21 catches for 231 yards and one touchdown as a freshman last year.

"I don't think he had a disappointing season at all," Lockwood argues. "It is tough at the Division-One level to come in and be a standout right away. That is very tough."

Lockwood argues that many of Dodson's accomplishments take place out of sight. "What he did in the weight room, in the class room. He's got over a 3.0 for both semesters. He got stronger during the offseason. I'm excited for Damien this season," Lockwood says. "He takes his size very seriously. He's the shortest one out there, but he thinks he's the tallest. You call him `short man' or `little man,' he doesn't like that."

After catching three passes for 67 yards and a touchdown in the spring game, Al Sermon, the lanky redshirt freshman looked like a player who could see some playing time in 1997. But Sermon spent his summer in Florida and, according to both the player and coach, he didn't come back to school in top condition.

"Al didn't do what he was supposed to do in the summer. He didn't have the off season that he needed to have," Lockwood says. "He's got to do an awful lot in a short period of time to even crawl back up there and get in the thick of things."

With junior-college transfer Kenny Coutain joining the receiving corps and junior Boo Blevins returning to his first love, Lockwood would like to play as many receivers as possible this year. "Boo did a heck of job working out this summer. He's excited to be back home, that's what he calls it, being back at receiver," Lockwood says. "Playing at running back was a sacrifice he made for the sake of the team. He's a big kid who can run. He'll block. He'll get after you. That's the kind of player they look for at the next level."

Wide receiver is one of the few positions that is settled on this Tiger football team. Almost every other position has question marks. Rip Scherer has three weeks to answer those questions. Then comes the first test at Starkville against Mississippi State. The coach has to hope he won't need that Riddler suit after that one.