Krahn's experience helping him progress

There are a lot of places where the Montana State University-Northern football team needs to be better this coming season, and one of those places is at quarterback.

Last season, the Lights offense was a work in progress, with youth and inexperience everywhere. Quarterback Jess Krahn, who was in his first full season as a starter, was one of those inexperienced players and at times last season, it showed.

For the season, Krahn completed just 45 percent of his passes. He also threw eight touchdowns compared to 13 interceptions. However, as the season wore on, Krahn improved. In his last four games, he threw five touchdowns and averaged 226 passing yards per game.

"I thought that I got a lot better as the season went along," Krahn said. "I think coming into this year, having a year in the system under my belt is going to help me and help the whole team."

Northern still didn't manage to win any of those games, but the offense was much more productive. After averaging merely seven points per game during the first seven games of the season, over the last four, the offense put up close to 16 points per game. And in their last two home games, the Lights averaged 25 points per game.

"I think that was us finally meshing," Krahn said of the final games of 2015. "I wish that it would have happened sooner, but, hopefully, we can keep that going and keep putting points on the board."

Krahn, who started a handful of games for Northern at the end of the 2014 season, does have a win under his belt as a starter, engineering an upset of Rocky Mountain College in the final game of that season, so he knows how to win. And after surviving the gauntlet that was MSU-N's schedule last season, he is ready to prove it again.

"On the offensive side of the ball, we just need to do our jobs and execute and put points on the board," Krahn said. "Then, the defense needs to their job, but really, it's about all 22 guys on both sides of the ball doing their jobs. If we do that, we will find a way to win games."

Of course, if the Lights are going to win, it's going to take more than just Krahn making strides as a still young quarterback. The offense as a whole will need to take a dramatic step forward. Yet, one thing that makes that much more likely is the fact that Krahn is surrounded by two of the best running backs in the Frontier Conference in Zach McKinley and Mario Gobbato.

The depth and talent in the running game is nice, but the Lights are still working on building it at wide receiver and along the offensive line, although holdovers like receiver Jake Messerly and tackle Pete Morales exist at both positions, there is work to be done.

"At the end of last year, we were down to four healthy receivers," Krahn said. "And this year already, we are two or three deep at every receiver spot and that's going to help us a ton. We have a deep backfield, our offensive line is a couple deep at each spot, so that depth will help us a lot."

At this point, Krahn, who will be a junior, is not the starting quarterback for the 2016 season. Not yet anyway. Head coach Aaron Christensen said he is not naming any starters during spring drills, which the Lights have been at for over a week now. But, with a season of starting experience already under his belt, if Krahn can put together a strong spring, he could put a stranglehold on the starting spot, which wouldn't be a bad thing for the Lights or the quarterback heading into fall camp.

"It's very important to me to play well," Krahn said. "I am just trying to come out every day and play my best. But, I think that experience is going to help. I feel much more prepared this year and I think that is because of that experience. Last year, we were completely new to our system and having a whole year under it now will really help me out."

Krahn and the Lights continued spring practice Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning.