Wartburg College is set to start the 2013 football season this weekend when they travel to MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois. Last year’s Knights team finished 6-4, in a five-way tie for second place in the Iowa Conference.
Wartburg head coach Rick Willis says they are deep at quarterback and each player can do a lot of different things for them. Thirteen starters and 27 letterwinners are back from last year’s team, including the conference’s top-ranked defense. Headlining that group are a pair of seniors, linebacker Ryan Billings and lineman Ben Bentil.
Junior lineman Chris Brinkmeier will lead the Knights’ front five on offense, but Willis says that position group will need some time to continue developing and improving. He says they took a heavy hit on the offensive line to graduation and they will rely on some second year players this year and it will take some “growth and growing” by them to become good.
Wartburg’s Iowa Conference slate starts in three weeks against Simpson.
(Reporting by Austin Draude, KLMJ, Hampton)