By Daniel Gretzner
A brand new college football season is close at hand. Because of that, I’m focusing on Central Michigan University in the Mid-American Conference, because Dan Enos, a Dearborn native son and former Edsel Ford prep star, is head coach of the Chippewas grid program.
Enos has moved through the college coaching ranks, serving as an assistant coach at Michigan State, before landing the job in Mount Pleasant a year ago. The ex-quarterback no longer throws or runs for touchdowns at Edsel. He is currently keeping quite busy going over the Chippewa playbook in anticipation of the coming season. Enos, in a recent interview, expressed his feelings about the MAC in these terms: “Most all of the teams in our conference are only about an inch apart in level of competition. We should be a better team than last year.”
One of his players hails from Dearborn. That is Kevin King, who played his varsity ball at Edsel Ford a few years back. King is a 5-foot 11-inch, 191-pound sophomore at Central. He has made a position change during his first year with the Chippewas squad.
“We switched (King) from offense over to defense this past spring,” Enos said. “He is a tough kid and should do well at his new defensive back position.”
The Chippewas went 3-9 in 2010, after appearing in four consecutive bowl games from 2006 to 2009. The team went 11-2 in 2009 with a top 25 Associated Press and Coaches poll rankings. Where will the Chippewas football team wind up at the end of the 2011 season?
“On the field, we plan on being ready, playing hard and putting the focus on one game at a time,” Enos said.
Central opens its 2011 season at home on Sept. 1, against South Carolina State. The Chippewas will travel to East Lansing on Sept. 24, when they play a strong Michigan State Spartans team. The Chippewas have managed to defeat their Big Ten rivals over the past few years.
(Focus on Sports is a weekly column — future ideas for subject matter are welcome. Daniel Gretzner can be reached at [email protected])