HAVRE — Montana State-Northern's football team hit the field for spring drills this past Thursday under fourth-year coach Jerome Souers, with some of the players calliing it "crucial" to take advantage of these workouts.
"I just want to see everybody work hard every day," incoming senior Devin Shelton said at Friday's practice. "We can't waste days. We get like 15, 16 practices in the spring. So no wasted days."
"I see a lot of work, I see a lot of confidence starting to build," incoming senior Jeremiah Benson said.
"This spring, just seeing everyone get better every day," incoming redshirt junior Colter Woldstad said. "Everyone having that drive to want to win, you know have that drive to be out here every day getting themselves the best they can be."
"It's very crucial just because we need everybody to see where everybody's at," incoming redshirt sophomore Michael Watkins said. "See who's really here, who's really locked in, and I just feel like this is a great starting point for us to go in to the season."
"It's very crucial just making sure that all the puzzle pieces all fit before you start the season," incoming senior Spencer Lehnerz said. "Making sure that everybody's on the same page."
The Lights ended last season on a positive note, taking down Rocky Mountain College 19-13 to end what was then an 18-game losing streak and a 28-game Frontier skid.
Shelton, Benson, Woldstad, Watkins and Lehnerz all emphasized how important ending the season with the win was, and how its given the team a confidence boost to get better in this current offseason.
"It was huge, we just took that as a stepping stone forward," Shelton said. "If we would've lost that last game of the year, would have been hard to work out all (offseason) but we got faith in ourselves and faith in the team that we're building."
"We've grown from the losses," Benson said. "That's helped us. But with this spring, I think (the win over Rocky) is going to help us a lot."
"It was huge getting a conference win, just to see our young guys see us get a win," Woldstad said. "They haven't experienced that yet, and seeing us get a win is huge. Gives them confidence, gives us confidence as a whole program."
"It was good for the morality of the team just to like bring us together," Watkins said. "It was a long season, just going through a lot of trials and tribulations, and I just feel like everything that happens, happens for a reason."
"Ending like that losing streak and just ending off on a good note, you know, like just moving forward in to the next year on a positive note is just super huge," Lehnerz said.
MSU-Northern aims at finding some substantial growth over these spring practices, as preparation for the 2025 season is officially under way.
