CFB PREVIEW: New coaches, new season at USD
VERMILLION – The University of South Dakota’s first year under new coach Bob Nielson has plenty of intrigue attached to it as the Coyotes attempt to move upwards in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
It hasn’t been an easy ride for the Coyotes, who left NCAA Division II after the 2007 season and began MVFC play in 2012. In 2015, a 3-5 record in the conference and a win in Fargo over five-time national champion North Dakota State showed signs – in Joe Glenn’s last season – that USD was moving in the right direction on getting out of the bottom of the Valley.
Even a subtle step up in such a highly regarded FCS conference would mean talk of playoffs right to the end of the season, but it almost has to start with at least a .500 record against the rest of the league.
That’s a project for the Bob Nielson-coached version of the Coyotes as the program attempts to continue to advance in 2016.
“We got a really good group of young men,” said Nielson, who was the MVFC coach of the year last year at Western Illinois. “We have some positions where we certainly wish we were deeper and some positions where we have some good depth but over the first few weeks of the season we’re going to be continuing to try to find out what our identity is.”
Coaches are not known for making bold statements this time of year but it’s pretty obvious as the Coyotes continue to get comfortable with the spread offense that he’d like things to be moving along in a little faster than they are.
At quarterback, USD continued to rotate returning starter Ryan Saeger, Minnesota transfer Chris Streveler and redshirt freshman Austin Simmons with the first team on into the end of the week. As of a week before the opening game against New Mexico, the staff had not announced a starter.
So while it was not clear who would take the first snap, it was clear that Nielson wants to see better out of the offense than he’s seen so far.
“There have been some things that, honestly, we haven’t been really pleased about,” the head coach said. “We haven’t been very consistent and it’s something we’re going to have to get a lot better at. New Mexico is a team that does a lot of things defensively – multiple fronts and blitzes – so what we’re going to do over the next week or so is hone-in on the handful of things we can do consistently.”
The players continue, however, to be excited about the possibilities of a no-huddle spread attack, even though the coach has indicated there is plenty of room for improvement.
“Everyone has high hopes about what we can do,” said Nile Banks, a starter last year at guard who will play center this year. “We need to reach our potential with it. It’s a fast and aggressive offense. Once we get it rolling at full speed we’ll be scoring a lot of points on people.”
Senior Trevor Bouma returns as the unquestioned No. 1 running back after seeing his season cut short last year with a broken arm. Whoever plays quarterback will have veterans Brandt Van Roekel and Riley Donovan to throw to, in addition to JUCCO transfer Alonge Brooks and reserve returnees Tacari Carpenter and Shamar Jackson. Several true freshmen may be getting playing opportunities as the team attempts to get more speed in the lineup more often.
The Coyotes are set at punter and kicker where Miles Bergner heads into his senior season among the best in the league at both jobs.
Defensively, the team will be hampered by the temporary loss of senior John Wessel at middle linebacker. The four-year starter has a broken bone in his hand and will be out for the first month. That means junior Jim Litrenta, who would be on the field quite a bit anyway, will take over at that spot.
The Coyotes will use four down linemen much of the time with tackles Jon Maag and Sean Bredl flanked by Colin Mertlik and Jake Leohr. The secondary will have two of their most experienced and most talented players in Jacob Warner and Tyson Graham at safeties with Alex Harris and a combination of Danny Rambo and Doug Lewis working at cornerback.
“We feel really good about our base package stuff,” Nielson said. “But I’m not sure with New Mexico we could have a more difficult opening opponent. They’re going to force us to do things a little different that we normally would because of the option component. The opening game is going to be a great challenge from a coaching standpoint and from a player standpoint.”
Unlike the offense, the defense has not had to adjust to a completely different system. Either way, what they do will go a long way toward establishing the kind of team identity Nielson is searching for those first few weeks.
“We talk about it in meetings a lot – we want to be an aggressive and sound defense, good with our assignments, but also play loose,” Mertlik said. “I think we’ve done a good job of that so far in camp.”
Follow Mick Garry on Twitter at @MickGarry .
ABOUT SOUTH DAKOTA
Coach: Bob Nielson (1st year, 24th overall)
2015: 5-6
RETURNING STARTERS: 7 offense/5 defense
STRENGTHS: Depth at quarterback, veteran running back, kicking/punting
WEAKNESSES: Lack of depth on offensive and defensive lines
TOP RETURNERS: OT Nick Jensen (So., 6-6, 290), RB Trevor Bouma (Sr., 5-11, 220), WR Brandt Van Roekel (Jr.,6-4, 215), C Nile Bank (Sr., 6-5, 280), QB Ryan Saeger (Sr., 6-4, 220), MLB John Wessel (Sr., 6-2, 230), FS Tyson Graham (Sr., 6-2, 210), SS Jacob Warner (Sr., 6-0, 205), DE Colin Mertlik (Sr., 6-2, 245), DT Sean Bredl (Sr., 6-4, 275), K/P Miles Bergner (Sr., 6-0, 220)
OUTLOOK: The Coyotes will be running the spread offense this under new coach Bob Nielson, which will definitely add a twist to a 2016 season that will have plenty of curiosity attached to it regardless of what offense the Coyotes run. Depth is going to be an issue on the front lines on both sides of the ball.
SCHEDULE
Sept. 1 at New Mexico, 8 p.m.
Sept. 10 WEBER STATE, 2 p.m.
Sept. 17 at North Dakota, 4 p.m.
Oct. 1 at Youngstown State, 3 p.m.
Oct. 8 NORTHERN IOWA, 2 p.m.
Oct. 15, at Indiana State, 2 p.m.
Oct. 22 ILLINOIS STATE, 2 p.m.
Oct. 29 WESTERN ILLINOIS, 2 p.m.
Nov. 5 at Southern Illinois, 2 p.m.
Nov. 12 at South Dakota State, 2 p.m.
Nov. 19 NORTH DAKOTA STATE, 2 p.m.