The third-year assistant at Wartburg has the unenviable task of providing a scouting report on Monmouth College’s offense in advance of Saturday’s season opener for both teams at Bobby Woll Memorial Field. Kickoff for the Community Day game is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

Making Louis’ job extremely difficult is the fact that there’s more reliable footage of the Kennedy assassination in existence than there is of Fighting Scots’ starting skill players in action.

Heading into his eighth season as Monmouth’s head coach, Steve Bell has never had to rely on as many unproven players to drive his well-conceived offense. The two-deep chart for Saturday includes four wide receivers and two tight ends who have never caught a collegiate pass, a starting tailback who has never carried the ball at Monmouth and a quarterback who is yet to throw an official pass as a Fighting Scot.

Only fullback Jess Miller, who had two carries and five receptions, and second-string tailback Jeff Davis, who ran the ball 23 times, posted offensive statistics during Monmouth’s 7-3 season last fall.

Making Louis’ job somewhat easier is the game film from last season’s Monmouth-Wartburg contest, when the host Knights topped the Scots 20-0. The game was actually closer than the final score indicated, though, as Monmouth standout Dante Daniels fumbled the ball at the end of a long third-quarter run with Wartburg leading 6-0. The Scots went from knocking on the door of a go-ahead TD to watching the Knights slowly drive 93 yards the other direction for a game-deciding score.

In fact, said Bell, the Wartburg coaching staff might not be worried at all about Monmouth’s new blood, simply choosing to stick with their regular game plan of flying to the football and playing fast.

"Wartburg is coached extremely well in regard to getting a lot of hats on the ball," said Bell of the Knights defense, which never yielded more than 17 points in a game during last fall’s 8-2 campaign. "They play at a very high tempo defensively. They bring guys from all over the place and do a good job of stopping the run. Last year, they did what they do best, and we didn’t see anything from them that we didn’t expect. They feel confident in the schemes they run. They feel they can stop people, and I don’t think the fact that we’ll have a freshman quarterback will determine what they do."

And, despite his pedigree as a high school all-stater on the gridiron, the son of a Monmouth College Hall of Famer and the brother of a professional quarterback, Alex Tanney is just that, a freshman.

"He’s still a freshman," Bell replied, when asked if Tanney’s considerable football experiences might help him shed that rookie status. "It’s a process. You don’t just jump in and it all happens for you. It’s going to be a game-to-game, even a snap-to-snap learning process for him."

That being said, Bell clearly thinks the son of Don Tanney and the brother of Mitch Tanney is the right man for the job.

"He had a consistent level of play in the preseason," said Bell. "He did a nice job of picking up what we want our quarterback to do. That allows his physical talents to come out. From the first scrimmage on, you could tell the job was going to be his."

That was not the case at the other skill positions, but former Bushnell-Prairie City star Clay Bricker has won the No. 1 tailback spot, sophomores Nick Wright and Robert Garcia are the top receivers and Orion freshman Kramer Matzen will start at tight end. Sophomore Kyle Wantland and freshmen Michael Blodgett and Matt Shepherd will also see plenty of action in Bell’s multi-receiver sets, while Alec Harrison is the No. 2 tight end.

"No one’s earned the respect that (career receiving leader Evan) Haffner had," said Bell, when asked if one of those receivers had emerged as a go-to guy. "They’re all talented in their own way. We’ll try to get the football to as many different receivers as possible."

Of Matzen, who leaped over Harrison during the preseason to take the starting spot, Bell said, "We think he’s going to be a very, very good one. He’s a very good athlete. Let’s throw him into the fire now. Why wait?"

Wartburg’s offensive coordinator, head coach Eric Koehler, should have a much easier time deciphering his Monmouth game film. The Scots have plenty of returners on that side of the ball, including all-conference end Wes Levy, tackle machines T.C. Olsen and Danny Weiden and a veteran secondary, led by corner Aaron Payette.

"We feel pretty good about our defense," said Bell. "One of the big keys is going to be our defensive line play. We are also telling the guys that we’re going to need to be very physical. We’ll have to be ready to strap it up, because Wartburg will bring it."

A year ago, reserve running back Josh Van Rees rushed for 124 yards and a score vs. the Scots. He will team in the backfield with Neil Suckow, a transfer from Coe who ran for 445 yards for the Kohawks last fall.

Junior Dan Bauder returns at quarterback after throwing for 801 yards and four TDs, and his top receivers, Kyle Duchman and Justin Vetter, are also back. On defense, the top three tacklers for the Knights return, including safety Jason Lansing and linebackers Ryan Gerardy and Kyle Goodchild. Josh Faaborg, who picked off four passes last fall, is also in the starting lineup.

"It’s going to be a challenge," said Bell. "We’ve got to play our best game if we want to beat a team like this. I look at it as a 50-50 game, but I’d rather play teams like this. It’s fun."

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