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Western Michigan Football excited for 2018 season

Posted at 11:41 PM, Jun 18, 2018
and last updated 2018-06-18 23:41:52-04

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Western Michigan football's first year under head coach Tim Lester was filled with a number of injuries that included quarterback Jon Wassink.

At the annual WMU Alumni golf outing, Coach Lester said Wassink is back and ready for fall. "He looks great. He had a great spring. He's having a great summer. The second year, speaking from a quarterback, is totally different than year one. The game slows down. There's no stress. You're just out there executing play by play. So, I'm excited. I think every coach in America would be excited to have experience coming back at the quarterback position. I think it's the important position. So, to have that experience is comforting going into a new year."

To help guide Wassink on offense, Lester will now be filling the role as offensive coordinator as well. With one year under his belt, he said he's now comfortable installing an offense himself.

"It feels totally different. Obviously I know my players now, I know our strengths, and I know our weaknesses. You know, I'm running the offense now and back to doing what I've done my whole life, and my first seven years of being head coach, I ran the offense. So, last year was a little different that way. Coach Johns did a great job, and he's at Texas Tech now, so it gave me an opportunity to slide in and do what I love to do."

And despite losing a number of players like running back Jarvion Franklin, Coach Lester said he's confident in WMU's offense abilities this season.

"We're all back and healthy. We're gonna miss Jarv, but we have three or four other guys that I really like. Our receivers that were brand new last year -- they didn't have a great year. But they learned, and they evolved and got experience. Some of them got hurt later in the year, but Keishawn is coming. They're all coming back. Obviously, we're gonna miss Donnie. Donnie was a special player, but we're really deep tT both tight end and O-line, so we have great guys that have been playing to replace him, and I feel really good about what we should be able to accomplish on offense."

Western Michigan football opens up their season with Syracuse on August 31 at 6:00 p.m.