With the final spring scrimmage set for tonight at Blue Pony Stadium at 6 p.m., Montana State University-Northern football coach Walt Currie is pleased with the progress his team has made in the offseason.
"(The players) are getting there," he said. "We're running the ball a lot better than last year. They seem to be pushing the ball up the first pretty good."
Currie is hopeful his team will be able to establish a more effective rushing attack by next fall, and to do that he expects a lot from the men in the trenches.
"We're pretty good on the offensive line," Currie said. "We average about 270 pounds (across the front), maybe bigger."
Currie will also use tonight as an opportunity to gauge which quarterback will see a majority of snaps next season. The contest between sophomores Chris Jackson and Brandon Kerkes has been competitive during the spring.
"It's been a good battle, and it's pretty close yet," Currie said. "(The starter will be) whatever one emerges and moves the football and doesn't turn it over."
The Lights will be missing a few players tonight so they can rest some nagging injuries.
Among the absentees will be sophomore defensive end Kino Detrick, who had arthroscopic surgery on his knee this week to have some loose tissue removed. A returning all-conference player, Detrick will play a crucial role in the Lights' season next year.
"He's been playing for three years on that knee, and it's a little goofed up. He just got it cleaned up in there," Currie said, noting he doesn't expect Detrick's injury to keep him sidelined for an extended period of time. "
The scrimmage tonight will consist of the first-team offense playing the second-team defense for 30 plays before the second-team offense will face the first-team defense for another 30.
