"Wagner's First Hurdle - Stay Healthy" - Staten Island Advance, Aug. 16, 2012
QB Nick Doscher's Discusses His Improved Health and Teammates David Crawford, Dom Williams
Staten Island, NY – Wagner College football fans will get their first peak at the 2012 Seahawks at the annual Green & White Scrimmage on Saturday at 4:00 pm.
It's been nearly a year since Wagner fans have had a chance to root for, when healthy, three of the Northeast Conference's top offensive threats in senior quarterback
Nick Doscher (Staten Island, NY/ Moore Catholic, redshirt-junior running back
Dominique Williams (Bridgeton, NJ/ Bridgeton) and fifth-year senior wide receiver
David Crawford (Carrollton, TX, Hebron).
The last time this lethal trio of weapons was healthy and on the field together was in week three of last season, a September 17, 2011 home encounter with Central Connecticut. Towards the end of the down-to-the-wire 28-24 loss to the Blue Devils, Crawford suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. Minus their top offensive perimeter threat, and with the mobile Doscher enduring several jarring hits over the ensuing weeks, Wagner found itself with a 1-7 record and saddled with a seven-game losing streak.
Undaunted, the Seahawks rallied, summoning a 27-21 home win over Sacred Heart on November 5 which kick-started a season-ending three-game winning streak, capped by impressive road wins over Robert Morris and Monmouth. Buoyed by the three consecutive wins the closed the 2011 campaign, Wagner is brimming with optimism on the eve of the 2012 season opener, an 8:00 pm clash at Florida Atlantic on Friday, August 31.
Doscher, a dual threat who can win games with his arm or his legs, enters the 2012 season having already secured the No. 1 spot in Wagner history in total offense (running and passing) with 6,037 yards. The 25-year old, who spent four years playing professionally as a catcher in the Kansas City Royals farms system, is also third all-time in the Seahawk record books in completions (324), and touchdown passes (31). In addition, his 16 TD passes in 2010 are tied for fifth on the Wagner single-season list.
The rugged 6-2, 225-pounder, who burst onto the scene in 2009 as a 21-year old freshman by earning First-Team All-NEC honors, has been out of the lineup just once due to injury in his 32-game career but he has sat out the last two spring practice sessions following off-season surgeries.
The rangy and athletic 6-4, 215-pound Crawford is one of the top returning talents in the NEC. A Second-Team All-NEC selection as a sophomore in 2010, he enters the 2012 campaign with 72 career receptions which leave him 34 shy of cracking the Wagner all-time Top-10.
While Doscher and Williams were minus Crawford for most of last season, it was Williams was on the sideline the year before, sitting out the entire 2010 campaign while rehabbing a knee injury suffered in preseason camp after serving notice of potential great things to come by rushing for 642 yards in 2009.
In the 2011 season opener, the 5-9, 200-pound Williams left no doubt that his knee was sound as he rumbled for 180 yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns to lift Wagner to a 38-28 victory over Saint Francis (PA) (9/3).Williams, meanwhile, has developed into one of the household names in the NEC as well as on the national stage. For his efforts, Williams was named NEC Player of the Week, and
CollegeFootballPerformance.com National Running Back of the Week. His 1,388 yards rushing last season rank sixth in Wagner history and he enters the 2012 season eighth on the Wagner all-time rushing list with 1,982 career yards.
All told, Williams has rushed for 100 or more yards in 12 of 19 career games, topped by a career-high 32-carry, 216-yard, four-touchdown effort on Nov. 11, 2011.
It obviously takes more than three players to have a successful season, but having the “Big Three” of Doscher, Williams and Crawford on your side is a great place to start.
