BEREA, OHIO -- For the past three years, Baldwin-Wallace College senior safety Ryan Dugan (Mentor) has been regarded as one of the best pass coverage specialists in Division III. He enters his senior season within range of breaking the Yellow Jacket all-time record of 18 career pass interceptions by Dave Coad (1968-71).  But Dugan could care less about records, his goals are much more team-oriented.

"Records are great," said Dugan, "but they are statistics that can be appreciated long after graduating. I want to win championships -- the OAC [Ohio Athletic Conference] and DIII [NCAA Division III] titles. The reason I came to B-W five years ago was its reputation and the opportunity to be a national champion."

Dugan has a lot of familiar faces on the team. He is joined by four other players who all hail from Mentor.  Seniors linebackers John Harasyn, J.J. Laseak, senior tackle Max Wagner all will look to be major factors on the Yellow Jacket defense. In addition,  freshman defensive back Joe Kasper will look to learn from Dugan at the safety position and push for playing time.

Laseak will anchor the linebackering crew this season after leading the team with 81 tackles, including two quarterback sacks, in 2010. Harasyn will be counted on to play a major role. He had 31 stops last season, including a sack, an interception and four pass breakups.   Wagner will return to the starting lineup at defensive line after missing eight games due to an injury last season. 

"Ryan is definitely the leader and was the start of our pipeline to Mentor," said 10th-year Head Coach John Snell. "J.J., Max and John followed and now we have Joe here.  The Mentor program is outstanding and we are definitely reaping the benefits of that success."

This year, Dugan and his teammates have a great deal to be excited about.  The football team is already ranked 13th nationally in two Division III preseason polls by a pair of national publications -- The Sporting News and Lindy's Sports. 

The Yellow Jackets, 7-3 overall a year ago, returns 42 lettermen and 17 fulltime starters, including 10 on offense and seven on defense, and two of the most electrifying return specialists in Division III in sophomore speedsters Kevin Johnson (Garfield Heights/ St. Ignatius) and Josiah Holt (Grafton/ Midview).  The offense will be led by returning quarterback Ryan O'Rourke (Avon), and the defense will be led by Dugan.

"We return a lot of key people, but we also lost some outstanding student-athletes and leaders," said Dugan, who maintains a fine 3.011 grade point average in the classroom and majoring in exercise science. "Many of us have been here and playing on the varsity the past three or four years. We feel that this is our time to make a statement. 

"With that said, it is not as easy as it sounds when you play in the best Division III conference in the country -- the OAC," continued Dugan, who enters this season with 129 career tackles and 11 career interceptions, leaving him seven shy of Coad's mark of 18.  "We know if we play well and we beat the right opponents that we'll get a shot in the playoffs. We know who we have to beat -- every team we play. We play 10 very strong opponents. We need to respect each one and play one game at a time."

Spoken like the true leader that Dugan is.  His coaches speak volumes about the four-year varsity starter.

"Ryan Dugan is a tough-nosed, strong-willed leader of our Yellow Jacket football family," said Snell, who enters the campaign with a 56-36 career mark and one NCAA Division III Playoff appearance (2003).  "Ryan is a leader by the way he conducts himself in the classroom, as a leader in our program and on-campus and every day he comes to practice and continues to give 110 percent.  We are extremely lucky to have Ryan and a number of other outstanding senior leaders." 

"Ryan leads by-example every day," said third-year Assistant and Defensive Backs Coach Tom Watts. "He understands the game by top-to-bottom. He knows what needs to be done, how to make the adjustments and how to be the leader of our secondary.  Having Ryan Dugan at safety is like having another coach in our secondary."

After missing his initial freshman season in 2007 with an injury during the preseason, Dugan played in all 10 games at cornerback in 2008 and recorded 41 tackles, intercepted two passes and broke up four others and recovered a fumble. 

As a sophomore in 2009, Dugan moved to safety and had the first of two straight All-OAC-caliber seasons. He had 49 tackles, led the OAC with six interceptions and 12 total pass breakups and was rewarded by being named second-team All-OAC to the second-team of the ohiocollegefootball.com honor squad. 

Last season, Dugan began slowly as he missed one whole game and parts of two others due to a preseason injury but picked up the pace and had 39 tackles and a team-leading three interceptions and 14 total pass breakups. 

"We all have been working hard in the offseason and summer," said Dugan. "We want this season to be a special one for all involved."

The Yellow Jackets open the 2011 season on Thursday, September 1 when they travel to Wooster, Ohio to play The College of Wooster at John Papp Stadium at 7:00 p.m.  That game will be taped and televised by SportsTime Ohio on Friday, Sept. 2 at 6:00 a.m. and on Monday/ Baor Day, Sept. 5 at 4:30 in the afternoon.  The home opener is B-W's annual Community Day/ Night celebration on Saturday, Sept. 17 when it hosts its OAC opener against Heidelberg University in The George Finnie Stadium at 6:30 p.m.  That game also will be taped and aired by STO as part of a five-game TV schedule this fall.

FOR MORE B-W Sports Information, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu and Assistant SID Jeff Miller by telephone at 440-826-2780 and e-mail at jefmille@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest B-W athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.