Chad Courrier: Spring football seems to have kept Mavericks on track
Apr. 28—When the college football season kicks off on Aug. 31, there's a good chance that Minnesota State will be the top choice in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference preseason coaches poll.
The five-game winning streak to end the regular season caught a few eyes, as did the relatively easy win over Wayne State in the opening game of the NCAA playoffs.
But the biggest attention-getter was the close game at highly touted Colorado School of Mines in the region semifinals, a game that wasn't decided until the fourth quarter, to finish a 10-3 season.
"I think we're used to (being a favorite), but not so much last year," coach Todd Hoffner said. "Coming off (a 6-5 record), we were a little disrespected, but we came on and competed for a (conference) championship and won it. It's hard to go from 6-5 to 14-1 so I think last season was a good step to getting back to where we were."
The spring practice period ended Saturday. Spring is more about backups and young players who are trying to break the starting lineup or two-deep. The proven veterans are there to refresh their memories and develop some chemistry with the newer players.
Hayden Ekern is clearly the No. 1 quarterback, maybe in all of the Northern Sun, but redshirt freshman Jack Rutz was impressive in the spring game, passing for two touchdowns. Grant Guyett, Jeremiah Howard and Mason Perich will help the receiving corps.
Hoffner said that there are eight offensive linemen that he's comfortable with, and the tight end group is solid. Top rushers Shen Butler-Lawson and Christian Vasser are back.
Defensively, linebacker Jacob Daulton and Dakota Smith are two of the top returning tacklers. Jack Schoor, Caleb Paulus and Zach Krause emerged in the defensive line.
The secondary took some hits from graduation and injury, so there's likely to be a transfer or two coming to Mankato this summer.
"There were lots of positives," Hoffner said. "We still have a lot of work to do in recruiting. We're still on the hunt for guys who can play."
New defensive coordinator Todd Taylor had a chance to install some of his concepts, and there were a couple other coaches in new positions, getting kinks worked out now so they don't interfere in the fall.
There is still no word on a possible 11th game next season. Because Upper Iowa fled the Northern Sun, each team in the league will have an open week and Minnesota State has been unable to find a willing partner to play on Oct. 14, though it sounds like there might be an announcement on the future schedule coming soon.
It's a sign of respect, and a bit of fear, that a couple of nonconference programs chose to play other opponents on that weekend instead of tangling with the Mavericks.
There's only four months until the opener, which gives Hoffner and the staff a chance to patch a few holes on the roster and worry about how much work the players are doing during the summer.
"If we want to be a dominant team, we need to find a couple players who can come in here and compete for a starting job, and summer development for the young players is going to be huge," Hoffner said. "(The players have) seen what 6-5 looks like, and hopefully they don't want to go back there."
Chad Courrier is the Free Press sports editor. He's at 507-344-6353, ccourrier@mankatofreepress.com or on Twitter @ChadCourrier.
