Northern football hitting its stride in spring ball

As spring moves along, so does spring ball for the Montana State University-Northern football program. On Tuesday at Tilleman Field, the Lights held their most recent practice of spring ball. While they are still dealing with the small roster, new head coach Jerome Souers believes they handled things well on that day.

"I was pleased. We put some different things in today that might have been challenging," Souers said. "We grew today."

With the small roster, the Lights continued to focus on small, individualist drills like they have done through most of their spring ball. The Lights continued to work on their conditioning to improve their strength and speed.

The Lights also continued to work on the fundamentals of the game, which Souers believes will be important to build a foundation that will lead to a turnaround for the program. Through the afternoon, the Lights worked on tackling, striking, blocking, passing and catching. Quarterback Kaymen Cureton is one of several players returning for the Lights and he believes his new coach and his staff are helping the team come along well in their fundamentals.

"Coach Souers is a blessing to us. I think this is the infrastructure we needed and the leadership we needed," Cureton said. "All the coaches are doing an amazing job and I think we're all buying in and we respect them and we love them."

Near the end of practice, the Lights ran some drills with the offense going against the defense. The Lights could not quite run 11-on-11 drills due to their small size, but they were able to allow the quarterbacks and wide receivers to practice their passing concepts against the defense. After a few weeks of spring ball, Cureton believes the Lights finally got some momentum in the passing game in their drills on Tuesday.

"I feel like this was the first day collectively that we were able to execute basically in every facet of the passing game," Cureton said. "Quick game, intermediate game, we're just hitting on all cylinders."

Over the past week, the Lights have had to deal with inclement weather during their practices. On Saturday, they had to deal with the snow. On Tuesday, they still had to deal with high winds, but Cureton did not mind this week's weather.

"It was a blessing to be out here with some sun so it was fun," Cureton said. "We needed to adapt anyway and make sure our energy is the same no matter what the environment has for us."

The Lights should have a few more weeks of practice before they wrap up spring ball. This Thursday and next week, Souers plans on beginning work on special teams. He believes they are developing well and hopes to see that continue over the rest of the spring. The Lights still need to build up their roster in order to be ready for the season this fall, but players are already buying into what Souers is trying to do with this program.

"The camaraderie is present and we love each other a lot more," Cureton said. "We're coming out here doing a lot more things with intent."