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Friday, September 06, 2002

By Phil Axelrod, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

This has been a week of horrors for Duquesne Coach Greg Gattuso, whose football team has had a major facelift because of injuries and an NCAA ruling.

The Dukes will be without tight end Craig Westrick (bruised kidney) and 310-pound offensive guard Hakim Carroll (health reasons) and might not have All-America wideout Jeremy Conley (back spasms) when they open the season against Bucknell at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Rooney Field.

That's not all the bad news Gattuso endured:

Josh Rue, a 6-foot-3, 235-pound fullback/defensive end who possibly was the most gifted athlete on the roster, is ineligible because he lost his appeal to the NCAA for an academic waiver that would have given him a fourth season of eligibility. Rue, a senior from Gateway, sat out under Proposition 48 as a true freshman.

Cecil Howard, a former star quarterback at McKeesport who left Syracuse two weeks ago, is headed to Northeastern University. He will sit out this season and have three years of eligibility. Howard, who enrolled and practiced for three days at Youngstown State, received a release from Youngstown State Coach Jon Heacock to talk to Northeastern. Heacock didn't give Howard a release to talk to Duquesne.

Howard expressed some interest in playing for the Dukes.

"Youngstown never gave us a chance to get into the mix for Howard," Gattuso said. "I don't appreciate that Heacock didn't release him to Duquesne, too. I don't know why he didn't."

Despite the setbacks, Gattuso is looking forward to playing Bucknell, a perennial contender in the prestigious Patriot League that is much stronger than the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, which Duquesne has won the past three seasons.

"We'll try to do what we do with different personnel," Gattuso said. "Bucknell is a big challenge. They're the best team we play all year."

Although Duquesne and Bucknell are under the NCAA Division I-AA umbrella, Bucknell offers football scholarships. Duquesne offers only aid based on need. Bucknell has eight full-time coaches; Duquesne has two.

Bucknell is 4-0 against Duquesne, with an average winning margin of 21 points.

"Their size wears us down," Gattuso said. "We haven't played our best game against them. They take us seriously, I have no doubt in my mind. We need to get our talented kids to shine. We have a lot of good football players.

"We aren't begging-poor on talent."

Bucknell features a number of players from Western Pennsylvania -- senior wide receiver Jim Horan (Central Catholic), junior running back Jess Brinson (Ambridge), sophomore offensive tackle Justin Gibson (Greensburg Salem) and junior tight end David Gibson (Greensburg Salem). Horan had a team-high 59 catches for 714 yards and three touchdowns and Brinson rushed for 570 yards and four touchdowns last season.

"Bucknell plays very basic, solid, fundamental football," Gattuso said. "They play very intelligently against us with their size and strength."

Buffalo State (0-0) at Robert Morris (0-0), 1:30 p.m. -- Shawn Martin, a converted wideout who was the team's second-leading receiver last season, will start at quarterback for Robert Morris. A 6-2, 190-pound junior, Martin hasn't played quarterback since high school. ... Colonials are on a six-game winning streak. ... This is the sixth consecutive season the Division I-AA mid-major Colonials will open against the Division III Bengals. ... Buffalo State leads the series, 3-2, and is the only team other than Dayton to have a winning record against the Colonials (minimum of five games).

Ursinus (0-0) at W&J (0-0), 1:30 p.m. -- The Presidents, ranked among Top 10 teams in NCAA Division III preseason polls, features quarterback Brian Dawson (3,207 yards passing, 12 TDs), wideout Todd Fry (94 catches, 1,631 yards, 16 TDs) and running back Joey Nichols (1,577 yards rushing, 19 TDs). ... W&J won last year, 16-7.

Slippery Rock (0-0) at Eastern Kentucky (0-1), 1 p.m. -- The Rock has 10 players making their first start, including quarterback Jeff Valentino, a transfer from Kent State and graduate of Sharon High School. ... This is the ninth consecutive season that Division II Slippery Rock will move up to play a Division I-AA team. ... Eastern Kentucky opened with a 49-10 loss at Oregon State.

Bloomsburg (0-0) at IUP (0-1), 7 p.m. -- IUP, which hasn't been 0-2 since 1962, is coming off a 37-34 loss against Findlay. The Indians, loser of two in a row dating to last season, never have lost three consecutive games under Coach Frank Cignetti.

Bethany (0-0) at Carnegie Mellon (0-0), 1 p.m. -- CMU, which begins its quest for a 28th consecutive winning season, has won 12 of the past 13 meetings against the Bison.

Phil Axelrod can be reached at paxelrod@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1967.