With spring ball underway, Coyotes prepare for next season

After an off-season that saw the retirement of head coach Joe Glenn and the addition of new head coach Bob Nielson, the Coyotes are beginning to adjust to a new system.

This spring has been all about implementing and adapting to coach Nielson’s new way of running things.

“I think the implementation of the new offense has played to our strengths so far this spring,” said senior running back Trevor Bouma. “We’re starting to catch on, this last week and a half, I think the offense has played really well.”

Bouma was a fixture in the Coyote offense last fall before having his season cut short by injury for the second consecutive year. Bouma, now healthy, has been back in practice, but is taking things slow before fall camp.

“Personally I’ve just been seven on seven and individual drills, but I’m feeling good, feeling healthy,” Bouma said. “Just want to be precautionary before the season comes up.”

Another returning Coyote is senior signal caller, quarterback Ryan Saeger. Saeger and the other quarterbacks have been working to get acquainted with the new offense.

“I think the quarterback group has done a pretty good job transitioning,” Saeger said. “We’ve been getting with coach Schlafke for a while now, before spring ball even started. So we felt more comfortable with the plays going in.”

Now that spring ball has come along, the entire team that is learning the new system.

“A lot of learning right now, big learning curve for both sides of the ball, but I’m pleased with where we are at,” Saeger said. “I think the coaches are seeing us improve every day, which is what we said the goal was going into camp. Just a lot of improvement, I think, and we’ve got to keep striving for it.”

The Coyote offense is boosted by the strong group of returning players.

Along with Saeger, Bouma comes back from his strong season cut short by injury. In his absence, then true freshman Michael Frederick stepped up and went on to lead the team in rushing. Along with Bouma and Frederick, junior Khorey Kilgore has also showed strong this off-season.

“The running backs have been playing great so far this spring. I thought Mike-Mike and Khorey have both played really well and that comes with experience from both of them,” Bouma said. “Both have gotten good action during the season.”

Nielson’s new system will call for a faster tempo, which will help the Coyotes to utilize all three backs.

“With this new offense we’re going to take a lot of running backs because of the tempo, so all of us will get plenty of reps this coming season and I don’t think it’ll be a problem with the rotation,” Bouma said.

With Nielson came a number of new staff. Assistant head coach Brian Mohnsen, run game coordinator Bill O’Boyle and pass game coordinator Ted Schlafke, to name a few.

One staff member who’s stayed on from the Glenn squad is wide receiver coach Matthew Middleton. When the question of staying on with coach Nielson came up, Middleton said it was a no-brainer.

“(It was) easy. You’ve got a great university, you’ve got a team that’s hungry and then you’ve got a coach that comes in here with a winning track record that knows how to win,” Middleton said.

The transition with the new coaching staff has been no sweat for Middleton, he said.

“It’s easy, it really has been,” Middleton said. “Obviously you’ve got to adjust to different ways things are going, but new ideas help spark your ideas and you kind of bounce things off of each other.”

As the team prepares to enter their fall camp, they’re keeping their longterm goals in mind. Winning the conference and getting into the playoffs seem to be shared goals among the program.

“That’s our player’s goal and the coach’s goal. Last year is last year,” Middleton said. “You’ve got a different team, you’ve got different players, you’ve got a different system and schemes, so that will definitely be the goal, it always has been.”

The Coyotes had a strong showing last season, with the win over North Dakota State in Fargo being the team highlight.

“We don’t want that to be the precedent here,” Saeger said. “The one big win, obviously against North Dakota State, that’s great and all, but we’ve got to strive for more than that now.”

Despite the advances made last year, Saeger doesn’t want the team to be known for one win. With the close games last year, the Coyotes look to get over the hump.

“The bar is there, I guess you could say, and we were in some close games,” Saeger said. “It’s just about finishing and having that mindset to finish.”

The Coyotes will host their spring game in the DakotaDome Saturday, April 23 at 2 p.m.