The Ashland University foot- ball team started off the season 1-3 in 2010 and is looking to get off to a quick start in 2011.

“We can’t start like that again,” head coach Lee Owens said.

The Eagles finished the 2010 season with 7 wins in a row but that was not enough to capture the GLIAC title. The Eagles are looking to ride the momentum from the end of 2010 and take it into the 2011 season.

Ashland lost a lot of key seniors at the end of last season, from the receiving corps and the offensive line in particular. The Eagles are now faced with the proposition of replacing receiver Joe Horn, who is currently in training camp for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League. There may not be anyone who can truly replace Horn, but some of the younger guys will need to step up and work as a collective unit to fill the void left by one of the greatest receivers that Ashland University has ever had.

Losing a guy like Horn is never a good thing for a football team, but it will allow some of the other players to shine. Coach Owens plans on running the ball more in 2011 with star running back D.J. McCoy.

“If you got a cannon, you shoot it,” Owens said. McCoy will be a senior in 2011 and is expected to have a career year.

This year’s recruiting class is full of potential.

“This is by far our best recruiting class,” Owens said.

It is a thick class with good students and the new football facility had a lot to do with the amount of quality players Ashland was able to recruit. The impact that they will

have in 2011 is up in the air, but this is definitely a recruiting class to look out for in the near future.

At the end of the day, you can talk about how D.J. McCoy is going to have a big year; how quarterback Taylor Housewright has a year of experience under his belt; how this is quite possibly the best defensive unit Ashland has ever seen. But the bottom line is: win baby, win.

“That ring has eluded us,” Ow- ens said. This team’s expectation is to win the GLIAC, flat out. The first championship is always the hardest one to get, but 2011 is the perfect year to grab it.

The expectations are high at Ashland University for the 2011 season, as they should be. Ashland keeps improving year in and year out, and there is hope fueled with optimism in everyone surrounding the football program. Now we will just have to wait and see if it trans- lates into wins on the football field.