Gessner: talented WR with 'tude

Going into the Penn-Brown football game, there's quite a few intriguing storylines -- but only one true matchup of the day.

Can Penn quarterback Mike Mitchell torch the Brown secondary? Interesting, but nothing too special.

Will Brown running back Joe Rackley be able to crack Penn's staunch running defense? Sounds OK, but no.

Brown's ridiculously poor running defense trying to matchup against Penn's Stephen Faulk and Mike Recchiuti? Some would say it could be more of a given than a matchup.

There's only one question that matters in the Penn-Brown football game. Will the Penn secondary be able to stop Chas Gessner?

Or: How will the Penn secondary deal with cocky, taunting, preening, showboating and tremendously talented Brown wide receiver Chas Gessner?

Or: How will Fred Plaza, Vince Alexander, Patrick McManus et al. deal with the man who tied Jerry Rice's single-game Division I-AA record for receptions at 24?

Well, you get the idea.

"We're going to have to be careful with where Gessner is," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said.

Gessner is the latest in a long line of strong Brown wide receivers. Stephen Campbell, who set the record for Division I-AA receptions in a year with 120 in 2000 and Sean Morey, who spent the 2001 season with the Philadelphia Eagles before being cut this summer, are two of the previous standouts.

Gessner might be the best of them all, especially considering how teams now double and at-times triple team him.

He's been on a tear from the first game against Towson, where he caught 11 passes for 168 yards and three touchdowns.

In all, Gessner has caught 68 balls for 708 yards and seven scores. Week three against Rhode Island was where he tied Rice's 19-year old record.

He's been kept out of the end zone a bit after the week one explosion, but his 11.33 catches per game put him on a pace for about 111, nine short of Campbell's record.

Gessner is also among the best receivers statistically, as well. He's ranked fourth in yards per game, first in receptions per game and was named Division I-AA National Player of the Week after his record-tying performance.

No one questions Gessner's talent, athleticism -- he also plays on Brown's lacrosse team -- or heart, but some question his tactics on the field.

For example, after an early first-down catch in last year's game against Penn, he pointed to the sky and flipped the ball in the air in celebration.

"He's cocky, he's arrogant," Penn linebacker Travis Belden said. "Those are the guys you like to see get their helmets knocked off or their legs broken."

The Quakers aren't going to try to injure Gessner intentionally, but they definitely are going to try to stop him from helping the Bears pull off the upset.

"We're just not going to let one man beat us," defensive back Vince Alexander said. "He might get his catches, but on the whole we're just looking to shut him down."

Last season, the Quakers certainly didn't shut him down, but they certainly slowed him down.

Gessner caught only six passes, albeit for 109 yards, and he did score a touchdown. Still, the Quakers won a tough game on the road, 27-14. For Gessner, six catches for 109 yards and a score is a game where he struggled. He came into last year's contest averaging 161.8 yards per game.

"Last year... we weren't going to let the best player beat us," Bagnoli said. "They could get yards, but they couldn't get the ball into the end zone."

One thing that Penn will be trying to avoid is keying on Gessner too much. Last season, Travis Rowley found himself open throughout the game and caught 14 passes for 145 yards.

"We're going to have to continue to do well against the run and put them in a predicament of third and long," Bagnoli said. "And then hopefully we match up pretty well with the other receivers... we're going to try to take Gessner out and hope we don't get a repeat of another kid catching 14 balls."

Last year, Penn held Brown to negative-26 yards rushing, and that contributed to the Quakers' victory and their minor shutting down of Gessner. The Quakers hope to do that again this season.

"If we can keep him out of the end zone he can have as many yards as he wants," Alexander said. "He's a real cocky player. He's their go-to guy. He's in the spotlight for them, and we want to take him out of that."

For Belden, a senior, it's one last shot at his most hated foe.

"It's out last time around with Mr. Gessner -- with Chas," he said. "He's a great player, and they really find a way to get him the ball, but there's nobody more in this league who I'd like to knock the hell out of the game."

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