Martin Luther Season Preview

You never really know what you are going to get from Martin Luther. They don’t run a traditional offense and they surely don’t have a normal depth chart. In 2012, Matt Olson played QB, S, and ended up at RB. Luke Rothe played DB, QB, and a little bit of WR. Expect the same kind of shuffling to occur this season. The Knights take their 50 something players that come to camp, and shift them all over until they play halfway decent football. The problem is that by the time they get it figured out on one side of the ball, the other side of the ball loses nearly every starter.

Last year, the defense kept Martin Luther competitive, but the offense was horrific as they tried to find a starting QB. If the offense had even been decent, they probably could have pulled out victories against Morris and Eureka. Finally, towards the end of the season, QB Luke Rothe and the offense started figuring things out. Nobody can be sure, but we have reason to believe the breakthrough on offense coincides with simplifying the play calling to the renowned note-card-in-the-pants system. Whatever the cause, they gave Greenville all they could handle, were competitive against Northwestern, and won their final two conference games. In their first 5 conference games, they averaged 10.6 points a game (I am not counting the game against the last ranked team in D3 football coming in at a solid 244…drum roll please…Maranatha Baptist. They are a disgrace to college football everywhere. Nay, a disgrace to all levels of football both at home and abroad. Seriously, I say 7.5 is the over/under on victories in their entire history). In their final four conference games, the Knights averaged 34.0 points a game. See the difference? In fact, they were playing so well at the end of the season that I had the balls to pick them third in my way to early power rankings at the end of last season (I will never visit that bar again, and picked them to finish 6^th this year).

This year, there are a lot of question marks again. I’ll do my best to sift through some of the key issues surrounding this year’s version of the Martin Luther Knights.

Big Losses

The entire defense. I’m almost positive this is legitimate. At first glance you think, hey even though they lost like 8 seniors on defense, at least they have UMAC Central outstanding S Galen Holzhueter and DE Derek Loewen to provide leadership and experience. Wrong. Holzhueter will apparently be saving his last season of eligibility for 2014, and Loewen is not to be found on the 2013 roster. A myriad of questions come to mind. Did Loewen change his name and number? Did he transfer? Does he have a medical condition? Did he get kicked out of school for violating Martin Luther King’s code of civility? Was Holzhueter thinking the Knights will win the UMAC championship in 2014 and wants to be an integral part? I have no answers. The defense that ranked 67^th nationally last year will have some major holes to fill—and by holes I mean the entire defense.

The only loss of concern on the offense is leading WR Scott Henrich.

Key Returners

QB Luke Rothe returns to lead the offense. He is a dual-threat QB, but is much more adept at running the football. He was the second leading rusher on the team with 581 yards and 3 touchdowns on the season. He threw 11 touchdowns to 11 interceptions last year, for a mediocre 1:1 ratio. Hopefully, with an offseason dedicated to working on his technique, Rothe will be a much more accomplished passer in year two. In addition, last season’s leading rusher, RB Matt Olson returns. He will also benefit from having a solidified position, although I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they played him and Rothe both ways a little bit. The offensive line remains mostly intact from a season ago, and the Knights will once again mix and match to find the other wingbacks and offensive skill players.

Keys to 2013

1. Will the Martin Luther Knights be able to mash together a defense in time to play the better teams in the conference? The Knights play that 244th ranked squad and MacMurray to start the season before they play Northwestern and Greenville in consecutive weeks. They have two games to figure it out because Northwestern, while not likely to be lethal on offense like last year, should have a solid rushing attack and Greenville should be a monster this year.

2. Will QB Luke Rothe take the next steps and become a proficient passer? In my opinion, he has the tools to be a great player. Athletically, he can do it all, but he needs to refine his technique big time. Footwork, mechanics, the works. Last year, he was just winging it, and using his athleticism to his greatest advantage. If he can really learn the playbook, know opposing defenses, and work on the passing game, he could really become a big time player this year. Maybe even offensive player of the year...

3. Turnovers killed the Knights last year, and it started with the QB's. Anyone who has watched Martin Luther play knows they option a lot and there are tricky angles when handing the ball off, but they have got to hold onto the football better. RB Matt Olson fumbled 10 times last year. As a team, they lost 21 fumbles. That's absurd. They have to clean that aspect of their game up.

Prediction

The Knights ended the 2012 season playing very well, and looked poised to take a jump in 2013. The offense should be potent with playmakers at QB and RB, however, the upheaval on defense leaves major question marks. It will be very interesting to see how creative Martin Luther coaches get with the depth chart considering the lack of everything on defense. After they play the weenie boppers from Maranatha, they face a motivated, albeit young, MacMurray squad. This will be a good litmus test for both teams, and will tell us if we have overhyped QB Luke Rothe or not. Realistically, this team should be better than last year and will be competitive against most teams. In fact, everyone in the UMAC should take notice if they have to make a trip to New Ulm. Martin Luther plays differently at home than on the road, and the Northwestern and Morris games are definitely winnable this year. If the defense can be solid, and the offense produces like it did at the end of last year this team could really sneak up on people. However, I just don't see that happening quickly enough to crack the top four.  UMAC Central has spoken: We have the Knights finishing with a 5-4 record, good enough for a fifth place finish.