Dan LeFevour’s junior year in 2008 saw a statistical decline when compared to the previous year.

The standard he set for himself in a 46-touchdown sophomore season was too high to eclipse in 2008. LeFevour passed for 3,652 yards and rushed for 1,122 yards, becoming only the second player in NCAA history to pass for more than 3,000 yards and rush for more than 1,000 yards in one season. He led the Chippewas to their second consecutive Mid-American Conference Championship.

But last year, CMU’s star quarterback came back to earth. An injured ankle forced LeFevour to miss two games and a part of another. That contributed to statistics that paled in comparison to the year before.

CMU also lost the MAC West Division late in the season, failing to make it to the conference championship game. The Chippewas lost their last three games of the season to Ball State, Eastern Michigan and Florida Atlantic in the Motor City Bowl.

“It’s just nice to have a fresh start and have everything that happened last year behind me,” LeFevour said. “Everyone in the conference starts out with no wins or losses.”

Depth chart

With the graduation of former backup quarterback Brian Brunner, who won two games in reserve duty last season, LeFevour’s health will be in the spotlight.

Sophomore Derek Rifenbury is competing with redshirt freshman Ryan Radcliff for the number two position on the depth chart. Neither quarterback has any game experience, but the battle is heating up.

“Last year, with Brunner being here, everyone knew he was the number two guy, and there wasn’t as much of a pressing issue,” Radcliff said.

“Now with him gone, we’re both battling for that number two spot, splitting reps. The competition is definitely there.”

Rifenbury repeated a similar statement his coach said: Every rep counts, especially with the limited reps each backup quarterback will get during practice.

Coach Butch Jones said he does not want to get caught up in being overly protective of his starting quarterback, however.

“The one thing I don’t want to do is (let) keeping him healthy become such the focal point that he loses his edge,” Jones said. “His edge is his instincts.”

LeFevour said part of staying healthy is to avoid taking unnecessary hits.

And if he can stay healthy, LeFevour will have a chance to do what he has yet to accomplish. LeFevour is winless against teams from conferences which receive automatic Bowl Championship Series bowl bids. While injured last year, Brunner beat Indiana, a Big Ten team, on the road, 37-34.

The focus will be on the first part of the schedule, LeFevour said.
“Arizona and Michigan State, (it’s) like a left-hook and then an uppercut,” he said.

E-mail the author: Andrew Stover