JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - This is the final part in a 10-part series breaking down each of Carson-Newman football's opponents for the 2014 season. This feature breaks down the Eagles' week 11 contest – Nov. 15 and a senior day contest against Wingate.
Carson-Newman will wrap up its 2014 regular season by welcoming in the Wingate Bulldogs. Wingate returns a hefty portion of its 2013 roster, including seven starters on offense, nine on defense and a pair of specialists.
Wingate's biggest hole to fill is at quarterback where Robbie Nallenweg departs after graduating magna cum laude from WU. His statistics line in 2013 included 281-of-400 passes for 3013 yards and 24 touchdowns. Nallenweg completed 24-of-28 passes for 273 yards and four TDs against Brevard, passing the career 5000-yard mark in the process.
Nallenweg posted 334 yards and three scoring strikes at Tusculum. The two-year team captain recorded a season-high 460 passing yards at Mars Hill. In his final collegiate game, Nallenweg completed 32-of-48 passes for 434 yards and four scores against the then No. 21 Eagles. His pass efficiency rating this season was 147.32.
In 2012, Nallenweg set school records for passing yards per game (331.3), completions in a game (43), completions in a season (326), attempts in a season (491) and completion percentage for a season (66 percent). His yards in a season (3644) and touchdowns in a season (29) are both second-most in a season at Wingate.
Kyle Johnson is poised to be Wingate's next QB. Johnson saw only spot duty a year ago and was 2-for-7 through the air with two picks in five appearances. He did have good escapability when he did see the field. Johnson was Wingate's fourth leading rusher last year.
Speaking of rushers, Wingate will look for production out of its running backs in Nestor Lantigua and Mycah Gaylord. The Bulldogs ground game was an issue at times last year. The Eagles held WU to minus seven yards rushing in the regular season finale last year.
The receiving corps should be stout with the return of Jordan Berry (an All-SAC performer) and his 700 yards and seven touchdowns.
Defensively, Jon Jiminez and Eric Mapoles are the two standouts. Jiminez picked up 88 stops a year ago in the defensive backfield (46 of which were solo tackles). Mapoles followed with 84.
Nick Napolitano is the leader on the offensive line. He had 59 tackles last year with five sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss.
Carson-Newman opens up its season a week from Thursday at 7 p.m. under the lights of Burke-Tarr Stadium against Edinboro. Fans can catch the game on the Eagle Sports Network on 106.3 ESPN Radio The Zone (Sevierville, Tenn.) and Joy 620 (WRJZ-AM, Knoxville). A free high definition video stream is available at cneagles.com/live.
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