George Ferguson Column: Plenty to watch for this fall in MSU-Northern sports

The new school year at Montana State University-Northern is still close to a month from starting. But, for MSU-N athletes and coaches in fall sports, things are already heating up.

The Northern volleyball team began preseason camp this week, and the Skylights are just three weeks away from officially opening the season. Meanwhile, the Northern football team is about to begin fall camp, ahead of its season-opening game Sept. 2 at Rocky Mountain College.

Of course, football and volleyball are the two feature sports of the fall, but there’s also golf and cross country, and, by October, basketball and wrestling begin, too. So, there’s no denying, fall is a busy, busy time for Northern athletics.

So, with a new year of Northern sports about to begin, here’s five things fans might find interesting, and should keep an eye out for this fall.

1. Northern Volleyball: Rose Obunaga era begins.

For the first time in nearly a decade, the Skylights will have a new head coach. Veteran Bill Huebsch resigned last spring, and Obunaga was hired earlier this summer. Northern returns a talented roster this fall, many of the same players who helped achieve a much-improved 2016 season.

However, Obunaga, as with any new coach, will bring a different style and strategy to the program, and it will be interesting to see how that style takes shape, and how much of a transition period there is.

The Skylights begin the season with four matches at Johnson and Wales Tournament in Denver, Colorado, in three weeks, while MSU-N makes its home and Frontier Conference debut Sept. 16 against the UM-Western Bulldogs.

2. Northern Football: New stars need to emerge

For the Lights, a pair of names will be glaringly absent from the roster this fall in Zach McKinley and Tyler Craig. And, after years of both players truly shining as two of the best ever at their position, Northern must now go on without them.

McKinley owns every school rushing record there is at Northern, while Craig graduated as the all-time leader in sacks. Now, however, the Lights will need new players to fill those roles.

Running back looks settled with junior Jett Robertson tabbed as the starter this season, but Northern lost three starters on the defensive line, and a host of younger players will be battling to start in at a defensive end position Craig manned for four straight seasons.

So, for the past two seasons, Northern head coach Aaron Christensen has been building a new program at Northern, and building depth has been a key factor. Now, in year three, it’s time to see that new wave of Northern players step up at positions that were just vacated by two of the greatest football players to ever put on a Lights’ helmet.

3. Northern Football: Who is the next quarterback?

One thing that will be interesting to watch will take place on the practice fields at Northern over the next four weeks. And that’s the battle for starting quarterback job.

A year ago, Jess Krahn and Caleb McLaren were Northern’s two starters, with McLaren getting the nod the last six games. The only other player to throw a pass last season was now-junior Holden Maki..

Maki enters the fall entrenched in a four-way battle for the job, and that battle could literally last right up until game week against Rocky Mountain College. Maki and red-shirt freshman Dylan Cook were part of an intense spring ball battle for the QB job, but Christensen also brought in a pair of transfers to the competition as well, with junior college transfer Tommy Wilson and Washington State transfer Bryce Missey joining the fray.

At one time or another through in the spring, all four quarterbacks led the No. 1 offense, but that was spring where it wasn’t a must to settle on a starter. Now, however, the Lights are a month out from their season-opener, and, the quarterback battle will be the biggest battle in fall camp, and it should be a fun one to watch transpire.

4. Northern Golf: Lights will host a Frontier Conference Tournament.

Football and volleyball are the centerpieces of fall sports at Northern, but the MSU-N golf teams, headed by Dave Boles, will get an exciting addition to their schedule this fall.

The Lights and Skylights will host a Frontier tourney for the first time in recent years, though it will be held 91 miles west of Havre, as neither of Havre’s local golf courses are 18 holes.

Instead, Northern will host its Frontier tourney at the Marias Valley Golf Club in Shelby. The tournament will be played Sept. 11-12 in Shelby, and it, it will give the Lights and Skylights a chance to have a tournament to call their own.

5. Northern Football: Lights moving forward

Northern is now in its third year under Christensen. Admittedly, the Lights have struggled over the past two seasons, winning just once in that stretch. However, if the 2016 season was any indication, the rebuilding process at Northern is moving in the right direction.

The Lights played good football against good teams last season — especially with the record-setting McKinley and Craig leading the way. Of course, playing good and being competitive and winning are two different things, and winning while rebuilding, especially in the Frontier, is hard to do.

Now though, Northern’s goal isn’t to just be competitive. The Lights want to show their making progress by coming out on top on the scoreboard. And while the Frontier is stacked again, and the Lights have new starters and new faces all over the depth chart, there’s no doubt, the goal inside the Northern lockerroom is to make a big jump in the win column this season, and, watching Northern making a run at doing just that will be easily the most interesting thing sports-wise this fall in Northern athletics.