Lights using summer to continue new start under Souers

Since it is the middle of summer, it would be easy to forget that college football will be starting soon, as in, next month. With the first kickoff less than nine weeks away, the Montana State University-Northern football program is continuing to build toward its first season under new head coach Jerome Souers.

The Lights plan on starting their summer drills July 11 to get themselves ready for fall camp, which will begin Aug. 3. While some Lights have been training already this summer, most of the players will return for summer drills in July as Souers tries to get them up to speed for the season.

"We're going to do as much as we can in July and as much as we're capable of," Souers said. "But we have to understand you got to walk before you jog and you got to jog before you can run."

So far this summer, Souers has been able to work on strength and conditioning with some of his players. Players such as Dylan Wampler, Colter Syzmoniak and Josh Rose have been working with the MSU-N coaching staff while they have managed other responsibilities. For now, the focus is getting them in shape for fall camp.

Souers is also getting adjusted to coaching a football program at the NAIA level. At Northern Arizona University, a Division I program, Souers was able to get all his scholarship athletes on campus during the summer to get them ready for the fall.

But at the NAIA level, the Lights do not have that luxury so their recruits have had to work on their conditioning at home. While he does not get the same chance to work with his young players like he did at NAU, Souers knows his young players are hard at work to prepare themselves once they get on campus.

"We're going to make do with what we got and make sure we got young guys that are motivated, willing to come up and make sacrifices," Souers said. "It's getting off on the right foot, but it's a process."

Looking toward summer drills, Souers plans on doing similar drills they did in spring ball. For example, the Lights will focus on their footwork and route running. With fewer players on campus than spring ball, they might not get to do all the drills they would like, so Souers should spend extra time in the film room watching tape and instructing his players. Souers also plans on getting his players to collaborate with one another.

"There will be a lot of teaching about how we do things, training to get ourselves in condition and a lot of the older players will be showing younger players this is how we do it," Souers said. "You get a lot of peer involvement with what we plan to do."

As Souers and the Lights get ready for their summer drills and later fall camp, they have continued to set the foundation for the program. While the Lights have had to deal with a late signing period and low numbers on the roster in the spring, Souers likes what he has seen from his players as they head into the preseason.

"A lot of the kids are chomping at the bit to get at it," Souers said. "We've had a really strong response from young people in the program that spend the extra time doing what they need to do to better prepare themselves for when Aug. 4 hits."

The Lights open their first season under Souers with a road game at the College of Idaho Aug. 27. Northern's home opener is Sept. 3 when the Lights host Southern Oregon at Tilleman Field.