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When Wilmington takes the field 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Williams Stadium against Baldwin Wallace, the Fightin' Quakers will have a new signal caller as freshman Brandon Mitchell will make his first career start.

Mitchell (Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) is pressed into duty as sophomore Austin Jarbo (Gratis, OH/Preble Shawnee) was lost due to an injury before halftime of last week's game. The 6-6 signal caller has completed 66 percent (10-of-15) of his passes for 156 yards and one touchdown in his limited action.

However, don't expect Wilmington to change their offensive approach.

"Whenever we have an injury, it's next man up. I am not going to bat a lash about it and we the next guy has a job to do; do the best he can," said Wilmington head coach Stacey Hairston.  "I still feel we have to be able to run and throw the ball. I don't think we can rely on Chase anymore than we have. He has had over 20 carries the last few games, and he can only carry the ball so much before he wears down.  Whoever is in there as to step up and run the offense to the best of their ability. Our goal is to try to be effective running and throwing the ball."

As a team, Wilmington should rush for more than 1,000 yards as a team for the first time since 2008. Coming into Saturday's contest, the Fightin' Quakers have racked up 998 yards on 244 carries. Sophomore Chase Manica (Shelbyville, KY/Shelby County) leads the team with 487 yards on 100 carries and four touchdowns.  WC does lose Jarbo's rushing ability as the sophomore accounted for 335 yards on 82 carries.

Finding ways to block All-OAC performer Luke Riemenschneider, who has earned OAC Defensive Player of the Week in the last two weeks, is imperative for the Fightin' Quakers.  The senior defensive end won the Marietta game with his pick-six with less than two minutes remaining in the game.

"They are going to be aggressive upfront and dare us to throw the ball," said Hairston. "They will run their stunts, put pressure on us and sit back in their quarters coverage with man-to-man outside. They are going to dare us to beat them on the outside."

Senior linebacker Dan O'Brien leads the team with 44 tackles, including a career-high 15 stops against Marietta last week. Junior linebacker Tyler Burdorff is second with 38 tackles.

Getting the ball to junior Jeremy Duncan (Cincinnati, OH/Archbishop Moeller) will be beneficial to the Wilmington offense.  Duncan has just 12 catches for 195 yards and two touchdowns in five games. Junior Justin Lee (Middletown, OH/Madison), who was forced into emergency action at quarterback Saturday, leads the team with 22 catches for 249 yards and three scores.

Baldwin Wallace features a run-based offense as running back Isaac Reed III and quarterback Tyler Moeglin have combined for 752 yards and seven touchdowns. However, most of Moeglin's yards have come from scrambles – not designed runs.

"Their quarterback, if he sees an opportunity to take off running, he is going to take off running," said Hairston. "Sometimes he gets a little impatient in the pocket, and if his first read isn't there, he takes off running – probably a lot sooner than they want him to. So he is a guy we have to be aware of scrambling, and taking off running. Their running back is very good, and shifty. He runs very hard, so we have to bottle him up."

Hairston added, "When our guys are at the point of attack, we have to make the plays. Our first initial contact, we have to be a little better at getting them to the ground because we had people in position to make plays."

Getting a healthy Tarrell Starckey (Richmond, VA/Highland Springs) back in the lineup could help. Starckey was second on the team in tackles, behind OAC leader Nick Williams (Cleveland, OH/Fairview), before missing the last two games with an injury.