Tabor football preview: Expectations high for 2002 years ago
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Dealing with pressure shouldn't be anything new to Bluejay head football coach Tim McCarty.
It started right away in 1998 when he took over a Bluejay program that was virtually in shambles.
Four years later, McCarty and his team is about to find out what it is like to begin a season as a team that few will no longer underestimate.
Being selected as the fourth place finisher in the fairly- balanced KCAC, the Bluejays are inching one step closer to being where McCarty hopes for them to be.
That turns the pressure-cooker in Hillsboro up full-blast, way hotter than the climate the Bluejays are adapted to.
Tabor made a giant stride last season, finishing the season at 5-5 and 4-5 in the KCAC, its best record since 1978.
Going 5-5 won't draw a lot of votes for the NAIA Top 25, but for a team that was once known as the doormat of the KCAC, 5-5 means great progress.
It wouldn't be foolish to expect better progress in 2002, especially with 20 starters returning with 10 on each side of the ball.
Plenty more of the returnees have experience with 50 lettermen back, giving foes more reason to fear Tabor.
Tabor's offense ranked third in the KCAC a year ago, trailing only league co-champion Bethany and Southwestern, respectively.
That was done with a team made up of mainly sophomores and freshmen.
Now it's the daunting junior class that McCarty's crowing about.
It all starts offensively with senior gun-slinging quarterback David Hernandez.
Hernandez was 107 for 257 a year ago, throwing for 1,780 yards and 18 touchdowns, the fourth best passer in the KCAC.
He opened 2001 second on the depth chart to Willie Lopez before taking over as the starter the third game of the season.
Despite starting eight games, Hernandez still finished third in total offense in the KCAC and 10th in the NAIA.
Depth and experience at quarterback could be a concern for McCarty if Hernandez goes down.
Lopez switched to the defensive secondary during the offseason, the position he played at Itawamba (Miss.) Community College.
