UT Preview: Austin Dantin named Rockets starting QB

With the 2010-11 season about to kick off on Friday as the Rockets face Arizona in the Glass Bowl at 8 p.m. on ESPN, the Rockets have one goal in mind—playing on Dec. 3 in the Mid-American Conference Championship.

"Dec. 3, we want to be in that game," Toledo head coach Tim Beckman said. "That's everybody's goal is to be in Ford Field on Dec. 3. You take one [game] at a time and we open up with a really good Pac 10 team. They beat USC at USC and beat Stanford and Oregon. Those are three pretty good football teams right there. Coach Stoops has done a great job. Then we have to win on the road at Ohio U and Western Michigan."

On Friday Beckman told the IC that Austin Dantin would be his choice to quarterback the Rockets, with senior Alex Pettee second on the depth chart. Dantin played in seven games last season completing 79-of-119 passes (66.4%) for 962 yards and four touchdowns and four interceptions after replacing Aaron Opelt, who suffered a torn rotator cuff.

"Austin Dantin will be the starting quarterback," Beckman said. "Austin will get a majority of the snaps."

Also at quarterback are sophomore David Pasquale and freshman Terrance Owens. Beckman said that likely all four quarterbacks would see action against the Wildcats and that Pasquale may get some plays at running back.

"You will see all the quarterbacks in the [Arizona] game," Beckman said. "David [Pasquale's] got his package that we do and Terrance Owens is still in the hunt for taking snaps."

The major story of last season was the success of hometown Toledo product Eric Page, who led all freshmen in the nation with 82 catches for 1,159 yards, both school records. Page also ranked ninth in the country in receptions per game (6.8) and 15th in the nation in receiving yards per game (96.6).This season, however, Page will not have 1st team All-MAC receiver Stephen Williams taking pressure off of him.

"The toughest thing for Eric is we don't have the weapons around him, he is the one that's returning," Beckman said. "We don't have Stephen Williams who's probably going to make the Arizona Cardinals and we had Aaron Opelt throwing him the football. It's all about the team and about taking care of what we take care of and so everybody's got to do their part of making sure we are successful on offense and Eric will be one of those major factors. He's got to play well for us to be successful."

Without Williams, the Rockets are looking for someone to step up and fill his role, but so far no receivers have stood out.

"When you look at the receivers they are all freshmen," Beckman said. "Other than Eric Page there really haven't been a lot of caught balls."

With Williams gone, the Rockets will have to rely more on the rushing attack, which Beckman wants to utilize more often this season. Toledo attempted 445 passes compared to 409 rushes last season.

"As close to 50-50 (rush/pass) the better off you're going to be as a team," Beckman said. "We had to get into a situation last year where we had to throw the ball a little bit more than we would like to, so we are going to have to count on Morgan [Williams], Adonis [Thomas] and David Fluellen to be the guys that carry the load for us."

That rushing attack will be even more important to install, especially as the Rockets try to overcome a defense that has struggled in recent years. Toledo ranked 116th out of 120 teams, giving up over 37 points per game in 2009.

"We've challenged them," Beckman said. "It's another year in the system and I think it's something that we've still got to strive to get better. We've got a lot of guys that have only been here a year and a half playing. Archie Donald has stepped up, Alex Johnson has stepped up, Malcolm Riley has stepped up and played extremely well so those guys that are the veterans I think will step up and lead us."

One major bonus to the defense will be the return of senior cornerback Desmond Marrow, who missed the last two years with a torn ACL and meniscus. Last season the Rockets started three true freshmen in their secondary.

"When you start three true freshmen in the secondary, nobody in Division I had that," Beckman said. "So those guys have a year underneath their belt so hopefully their game has gotten better."