BOZEMAN — The 2021 season has officially begun for the Montana State Bobcats. On early Friday morning they hit the practice field in preparation for their game in almost two years.
“Today was about seeing everybody, just getting a pulse for where we were as a team,” said head coach Brent Vigen.
Today, the first year head coach was making sure everyone was doing what they needed to be doing and giving feedback. It's a role he got used to in the spring after being an offensive coach for most of his career. The Bobcats also don't have a special teams coordinator, so he's helping out there as well.
“I think it’s important that I’m able to give all our coaches feedback," he said. "Give as many of our players feedback. The role relative to specialists has changed, so giving those guys feedback. We didn’t do a lot with them today, but will as time goes on.”
Overall, Vigen liked the level his guys were playing at.
“I think it met expectations as far as day one tempo," Vigen said. "Guys are excited. "Have a real bounce in their step. I think the biggest thing between today and last spring is the guys know what expectations are. They certainly know the playbook better.”
The new head coach credits director of strength and conditioning Sean Herrin for getting the players in shape for camp.
“Again, it’s one day, but they were rolling," he said. "We were going at a good clip. You could just tell guys weren’t having to slow down.”
Now the Bobcats need to build off the first practice, because they don’t have much time before the Wyoming game sneaks up on them in less than a month.
“This camp has to be about daily improvement," said Vigen. "We’re better today than we were in April. I think that’s very clear. Now it’s just a matter of stacking these days up, keeping that energy up. It’s easy to have energy day one, but where are we going to be day 8, day 9 as it gets a little bit harder.”
