2019 NCAA Division I College Football Team Previews: Central Michigan Chippawas
Central Michigan Chippawas
Location: Mount Pleasant, MI
Coach: Jim McElwain (0-0 @ CMU, 44-28 overall) 1st season at CMU
Stadium: Kelly/Shorts Stadium (Capacity 30,255)
CSJ Projections:
10th: MAC (6th MAC West)
9th: Michigan
121th: FBS
56th: Group of Five
161st: Division I
2018 In a Sentence: Last season was incredibly disappointing for all associated with CMU as the Chippewas posted just a 1-win season (1-11 overll & 0-8 MAC) that cost Coach John Bonamego his job.
Biggest Shoes to Fill: CB Sean Murphy-Bunting was the 39th pick overall in the 2019 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The press corner was an All-MAC selection in 2018 and won CMU’s Defensive Player of the Year award after posting 37 tackles, three for loss, two interceptions and two forced fumbles in 2018.
Key Player: RB Jonathan Ward had a productive 2017, rushing for over 1,200 yards. Unfortunately, injuries held the now-senior back in 2018, amounting just over 200 yards on the ground. He has fully-recovered for 2019, however, and his return will look to improve the Chippewa offense.
Fearless Prediction: With a lot of youth on defense and lack of firepower on offense, the expectations are not going to be very high. However, CMU under new Coach McElwain, who has a history of turning programs around (at Florida & Colorado State), should at least get 3-4 wins this season.
Originally from LaMoure, North Dakota, Kent is a 1996 graduate of North Dakota State University. His prior writing experience is over 15 years having previously worked with D2football.com, I-AA.org, and College Sporting News before coming to College Sports Journal in 2016. His main focus is college football is the Missouri Valley Football Conference within the Division I FCS. And in 2017, he began also to look at the FBS Group of Five conferences of the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
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