Dragons host Wayne State in opener

Tiffin University might look a bit different Thursday, but the expectations and mentality aren't going to change with a new head coach. First-year coach Brett Ekkens will make his coaching debut Thursday night for the Dragons as they host Wayne State at 6 p.m. to open the 2024 football season. Former coach Cris Reisert left to coach Gardner-Webb, so Ekkens was hired in January to take over a TU football program after another stellar season on the field, including another G-MAC title and a playoff appearance. "When I got the job we really had three main things to do which was to make sure we recruit the kids that were here to stay here, hire a staff and recruit the 2024 class as well, so those first six weeks of the year were a whirlwind," Ekkens said. "Taking over a program that was coming off another really good season under coach Reisert, the first thing we had to do was coming in and valuating the talent and the people. "The great thing about here at Tiffin was that most of the guys here wanted to stay. We live in a transfer portal era, so it wasn't a surprise to me that we were going to lose some guys … we ended up losing 17 guys. So we had to see how we were going to replace those guys with either transfer portal guys or the guys that were here, which a lot of them that were already here will start Thursday night. We brought in 15 transfers, but the guys that were heare knew we would have to bring in new players and the culture here was set in the spring and it didn't change when we brought those transfers in."In 2023, the Dragons went 11-1 overall and won their third league title in the last five years. TU finished the season ranked No. 9 in the nation in Division II.This season is a bit of an unknown for the Dragons with the new coaching staff and some new faces on the field, but they were picked to finish third in the G-MAC and did receive votes in the AFCA D-II Preseason coaches poll. On offense, the Dragons return Bellevue graduate Keegan Ray at quarterback, who is in a battle with University of Washington transfer Alex Johnson for the starting job. That decision has not been made yet, Ekkens said. Ray, a junior, played in eight games and took over for an injured Kason Martin last season and led TU to the playoffs. In the 45-35 playoff loss to Slippery Rock, Ray completed 26 of 39 passes for 333 yards with two scores and a pick. He threw for 1,064 yards with eight Tds and only two picks. "Really Keegan and Alex Johnson have battled it out. It'll be a game-time decision and we've kept that close to the chest," Ekkens said. "Those two have done a fantastic job competing not against each other, but with each other. When one has a great throw or makes a good read, the other one celebrates right there with him and that's a great thing to see. "I've been a part of offenses that have (played two Qbs) before and really for us, when we decide who we go with, we are going with that guy. Now from what we do from there, we'll find a role for either Alex or Keegan in that second chair and that's one we develop like crazy and we expect him to play a lot of football. Plus, we could put in some packages for the other guy as well, so I don't expect the second quarterback to be sitting on the sidelines the whole season I'll tell you that."Other key returners to the TU offense are Ronald Blackman in the backfield as he ran for 865 yards and seven Tds last season as he was voted as a first-team all-G-MAC player. Two of the top four receivers from last season return in Jalen Thomas and Will Linkhart. Thomas had 531 receiving yards and six scores, while Linkhart added 311 yards and three scores for TU.Other key returners are Chucky Lewis in the defensive secondary as he picked off a team-high five interceptions last year and place kicker Grant Woodfin returns after converting 58 of 66 PATs and was 9 of 14 on field goal attempts in 2023.For Thursday's matchup with the Warriors, who are coached by University of Michigan great Tyrone Wheatley, the Warriors lead the all-time series against TU 7-4, but they haven't played each other since 2018 when TU won 27-13. "What I expect Thursday is not perfection, but for our team to play with effort and understand the game isn't going to go perfect and that they need to just play the best to their ability," Ekkens said. "We're playing a great opponent. Wayne State – I was at Saginaw Valley (State) last year and they took us to overtime. They played great against us and they could have easily been a .500 team last year. "Our guys are expecting a tough matchup and a dogfight. They certainly have our respect."