Wagner Scouting Report/Prediction

Wagner Scouting Report

Offense: The Seahawks list themselves as a conventional offense formation-wise (2 RB’s, 2 WR’s, TE), but they run the majority of their stuff out of the spread. Wagner, who averages a league-best 33.8 pts. per game, will run very similar stuff to what Colgate and ODU did with multiple-receiver sets and the QB in the shotgun almost exclusively. WC runs the ball two-thirds of the time, and they run a heavy amount of QB-RB zone read, as evidenced by the team’s two leading rushers being RB Dominique Williams and QB Nick Doscher, both freshmen. Williams leads the team, and ranks seventh in the league, with 427 yards on the ground and leads the league with seven rushing TD’s. Doscher ranks second on the team with 186 rushing yds. and five TD’s, while also ranking second on the team with 323 passing yards. Junior QB Tyler Newberry leads the team with 377 yards passing and three TD’s, while also rushing for 76 yards. Lon Woods is the team’s best receiving threat, with 15 catches for 270 yards and two TD’s. Two other receivers, Morgan Mizell and David Crawford, both have over 100 yards receiving this season.

Defense: Wagner is a 4-3 defensive team, and has shown a propensity for giving up big plays. The defense allows a league-high 33.6 points per game, while also surrendering 369.8 yards of total offense per contest. The Seahawks surrender 221.2 rushing yards per game, and they have also given up 42, 59 and 48 points in a game already this season. Sophomore safety Jeremiah Brown leads the team in tackles with 34, and also has 2.5 TFL and a forced fumble. Fellow safety Chaz Legette is second on the team with 30 stops, while nose tackle Joseph Harkins leads the club with six TFL. Wagner does have 31 tackles for loss as a team this year, but only six sacks. The unit, which gives up only 148.6 passing yards per game, does have 22 passes broken up, but only two interceptions. Last week, in the Seahawks first NEC game of the year, they only allowed six points to Bryant, but did give up 340 yards of total offense.

Special Teams: Wagner lists David Lopez, a freshman, as its kicker. He is 0-for-3 on field goals this season, including 0-2 from 20-29 yards outs, but he is a perfect 21-for-21 on extra points. Junior Kyle Muir is the team’s punter, and is averaging 40.7 yards per kick on his 21 attempts. He has put 12 punts inside the opposition’s 20-yard line and has a long of 60 yards this season. Frantz Placide and Lon Woods return kickoffs for Wagner, and each player 240 yards this season for two very good averages (26.7 and 30 ypr, respectively). Placide also has an 89-yard touchdown return to his credit this season. RB Williams leads the team in punt returns with 64 yards and a 10.7 yards per return average.

My take: Wagner has shown the ability to put up points this season, having scored over 40 points on three different occasions, despite being outgained by almost 80 yards per game. The Seahawks have one of the conference's rising stars in Williams and three very dynamic wide receivers, led by Woods. If Monmouth can force WC into third-and-long situations by shutting down the zone-read option game on first and second down, then I think they can be successful. I look for Sinisi to have a typical David afternoon (150 yds. or so) and get in to the end zone a few times. How Frazier handles being the every-series QB will play a huge roll in the game, and as often between these two teams, whoever wins the battle at the line of scrimmage will win the game. I think Wagner will hit a few big plays to its WR's, but in the end, MU's running game and improved defensive play will win out to the tune of a 34-21 Hawks win.