HELENA -- Carroll College opened up fall football practices on Aug. 11, and now the Saints are less than a month away from their season opener at Montana Western.
One of the main focuses of this set of two-a-day practices for the Saints is keeping up the tempo and not hanging their heads when something goes wrong.
"We're just looking forward to playing fast and with enthusiasm, that's the biggest thing. I think pulling together as a team, keeping each other accountable, keeping out heads up, just playing around and having fun," said senior linebacker Dylan Kresge. "I think that's the biggest thing that maybe we lulled on in the past, was getting our heads down a little bit. We just got to stay positive, stay focused, and just be hungry."
It's that mental toughness that coach Troy Purcell hopes his team carries into his first season at the helm.
"Effort, attitude, and toughness, you come out here with a positive attitude, coming out of meetings and then giving great effort and then showing me some toughness," said Purcell. "If (players) can do those three things as a football player, (they're) going to be pretty successful. (They're) probably going to be pretty successful in life if (they) can handle those three things."
Carroll's first game will be on the road in Dillon when they play Montana Western on Sept. 7.
