HELENA — Carroll College is nearing the middle of its spring football campaign.
The Saints hit the field for their seventh practice of the spring at 5:15 a.m. Thursday. That early morning start can make it hard to be excited and full of energy, but offensive line coach Alex Kastens is exactly that. After two seasons of coaching the defensive line, the former Carroll team captain was asked to coach his old position, the offensive line.
“His expectations are just that much higher, you know, coming over to the O-line,” said junior Alex Hoffman. “He expects us to be dominant every play, and that’s something we’ve really embraced and a standard we hold ourselves to.”
Excellence on the field isn’t the only standard Kastens holds his players to. A former first-team all-conference and academic all-conference athlete, Kastens holds players to high standards in just about everything they do.
“You got to live it. To me it’s not just during practice, but it’s how you approach watching film, working in the weight room,” Kastens said. “Or as a student, in the class room and everything, it’s how you approach your life every day. It’s not just a two-hour practice, like I’m going to get up for that and then be down. It’s fourth and one, all the time.”
