After six straight outright conference crowns, Grand Valley State University has had to settle for shares of the North Division title in each of the last two seasons. Coach Matt Mitchell and his crew look to break out from their back-to-back 8-3 finishes and return to the playoffs in 2013. They will have the luxury of selecting from a pair of experienced quarterbacks in Heath Parling and Isiah Grimes. Parling led the nation in pass efficiency in 2011, but the 2012 season was cut short for him due to an early-season injury. Grimes then stepped in and proceeded to replicate Parling’s 2011 feat, leaving the Lakers with a pair of nationally-rated passers at their disposal. Aerial attack aside, this could be a run-first Laker team in 2013, as the sources of all but twelve of their rushing yards from last year return, and they lose top receiver Charles Johnson.
Whatever the Lakers do on offense, it’s hard to expect them not to be potent, as they led the league in scoring last year with nearly 42 points per game. What needs to be fixed is a defense that was next to the last in the GLIAC last year. Top tacklers Charles Hill and Brad Horling are back, and they will need to help fix a run defense that allowed 237 yards or more on six separate occasions.
Grand Valley will have their difficult North slate, but in total, it may have as favorable a schedule as anyone in the division. Seven home games help to that end, the team will not have a U.P. trip, and it will face both Hillsdale College and Saginaw Valley State University at home. The Lakers open the season with three seemingly winnable home contests against Asuza Pacific University, Truman State University, and Tiffin University. We may know by a stern test at Ohio Dominican University in week four whether the coaches were right to have them as their pick to take the North in 2013.