Despite uncertainty at QB, Hillsdale offensive coordinator Shreffler confident

Before the start of the 2008 season, all of the talk surrounding Hillsdale College Football was based on how the team would ever replace a the school's most prolific passer in Mark Nicolet.

The kid who fought all of the comparisons for a season and then took Hillsdale to back to back NCAA playoff berths all en route to breaking all of Nicolet's records would be Troy Weatherhead.

Now the same type of questions surround the Hillsdale program as senior Matt Bryan and junior Anthony Mifsud battle daily in camp for the right to be the guy who gets compared (but I promise not on this blog) to Weatherhead.

When asked about starting over after losing the NCAA's single-season, all-division most accurate quarterback he will tell you that he feels a lot better than he did three summers ago.

"People forget that Troy got hurt in the offseason and never took a snap in Spring. We had no idea what we had really until that first game," Shreffler explains. "At least with both of these guys we know exactly what each can and can't do. That is a huge help in how we plan our offense."

Another huge help is the presence of one of the league's top running backs in junior Joe Glendening returning to the backfield.

"Having Joe back there helps to take a lot of pressure off of whoever ends up playing quarterback."

Last season "Joe the Show" led the GLIAC in rushing yards with 1483 and set a school record with 311 carries in a season.

Shreffler might be a little bias, being the team's offensive line coach as well, but he thinks he might something extra special up front this year.

"It seems like I feel this way every year, but this group is really good and may be one of the best overall units I have coached here."

That is a big statement but even if it's remotely true, the quarterback protection and zone run blocking for Glendening will make the task of breaking in a new quarterback much easier for Hillsdale.