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StumbleuponChannels drops pounds, secures starting spot
Thursday, August 21, 2008
OXFORD — Martin Channels appears to be winning a losing battle for the Miami University football team.
The 6-foot junior nose tackle from Huber Heights Wayne High School was instructed by his coaches to lose weight, and he does appear to have pushed off a few pounds.
"He's come a long way," Miami head coach Shane Montgomery said of Channels, who was listed a 335 pounds last season but at last check weighed 320. "He did not do much in the spring. We wanted him to lose a lot of weight before we put him back on the field."
Channels has returned to practice and is expected to start in Miami's season opener against Vanderbilt, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, at Yager Stadium.
"He can be a disruptive force for us up front," Montgomery said. "He's very aggressive off the ball."
Channels, who started the final four games in 2007, had 5½ tackles for loss, all coming in the last three games.
Phelan moves up
Several RedHawks have moved up on the depth chart since the beginning of summer practice.
Brandon Brooks, a 6-5, 335-pound redshirt freshman from Milwaukee, began the summer as the backup center and right guard. Now he is the starting right guard.
Sophomore Bob Gulley, who had been listed as the starting right guard, has been moved to right tackle.
Lakota West High School graduate Andrew Phelan, a 6-4, 285-pound true freshman, has moved up to the second string at left tackle.
Players who have slipped on the depth chart are redshirt freshman Ken Staudinger, who has moved from first string to backup at right tackle, and sophomore Nate Williams, who started the summer No. 2 at left tackle and now is not listed on the two-deep.
Heavy-duty linemen
Miami's offensive linemen, according to Mike Pearson, assistant athletic director for media relations, averages a whopping 296 pounds per player.
And that includes Turpin High School graduate Steve Bray, a redshirt freshman center who is downright puny at 255 pounds. Eight of the linemen surpass the 300-pound mark.
Go back in time to the 1960s, and you'd find only a handful of players in pro football — such as Ernie "The Big Cat" Ladd — who were 300 pounds.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.
