Northern football continues to make progress in spring ball

The Montana State University-Northern football team is now several weeks into its spring ball practice sessions. Over those weeks, the Lights have focused on conditioning and learning plays in order to prepare for the season. But MSU-N head coach Jerome Souers believes their biggest accomplishment this spring has been building a culture.

"The leadership structure is really starting to shape up. Guys are starting to step up and they're demanding more of each other and holding each other accountable," Souers said. "Out on the field, we're playing with more confidence. We have a better understanding of the scheme that we're trying to run with time to actually practice it now."

The Lights have struggled the past few seasons in the Frontier Conference. In Souers' first season last fall, the Lights went 0-10 to finish at the bottom of the standings. If the Lights want to work their way back into contention, building a strong culture will be key.

Last spring, the Lights could not hold a spring ball session because they did not have enough players on the roster. With spring ball this year, the Lights are already ahead of last year's preparation. So far this spring, Souers has liked how the defense has been progressing as a unit.

With two new quarterbacks joining the team this season, the Lights have had more work on offense. The offense is still adding players with the recent addition of two new offensive linemen. While the offense is still working out the kinks, Souers likes how they have developed this spring.

"We're starting to understand the scheme and the things that we're doing," Souers said. "I am really pleased with the attitude and the effort and the guys are figuring out how to prepare professionally."

In order to improve as a unit, the offense has been running more 11-on-11 drills against the defense in its most recent practices. The special teams unit is also getting more reps in practicing its punts, kickoff returns, extra points and field goal attempts. After not having enough players to run those drills last spring, it is a relief to get those reps in before this fall.

The Lights will cap off spring ball with a game-like scrimmage April 22 at Tilleman Field. With a few more practices before then, the Lights will look to get in as many reps as they can so they can be ready for the scrimmage.

"(We need to) continue to improve on our 11 on 11," Souers said. "We need to throw in game situations such as down and distance, red zone, those types of things. We're not there yet."

Even after that scrimmage, the Lights have plenty of room for improvement before beginning their season later this fall. If the Lights are going to be ready to compete in a tough Frontier Conference, Souers believes the players will need to put in the work over the next few weeks and then their practices later this year.

"The development of our program is on the shoulders of our players. How quickly they can pick up the scheme, how quickly they pick up some of the game situations," Souers said. "We have a long way to go but we're making really solid progress."

Turning around the Lights will be a tall order for Souers and his players. For now in the spring, they are just focusing as much as they can on developing as a team. While there is plenty of work ahead, Souers believes his players have shown that they are more than capable of handling it.

"I am just really pleased with the mentality of this group. Their understanding of what we're trying to do," Souers said. "Even when we fail with a fundamental or don't execute, they understand what they did wrong and there's a lot of peer coaching, peer encouragement. All that's very positive and that needs to remain that way."