The tenth season of St. Thomas football under head coach Glenn Caruso is underway, with a new team looking to build upon the success of last season.
The Tommies will enter the season as the defending MIAC champions and have the chance to improve a 23-game regular season winning streak, which dates back to Nov. 1, 2014.
Though regular season success has come regularly for the team, they have yet to get over the hump in the playoffs. Last season ended abruptly in the quarterfinals of the NCAA playoffs against Wisconsin-Oshkosh, a game in which the Tommies committed eight turnovers but lost only by three points.
Even though coach Caruso likes his team to focus on the present moment, last season’s lone loss will be hard to shake until the regular season. Caruso, however, has turned it into a positive.
“There’s no reason we should be in a game like that,” he said. “The main reason why we were still in that game was our belief in our system. I can’t come up with a better way of quantifying (belief) than being in a playoff game with the second or third best team in the country … down eight turnovers and still having a shot in the end.”
The team has talent across all positions and grade levels, but it relies heavily on veteran and senior players to get the new and younger players to buy into its culture and system. Over 20 players from last year’s squad have graduated, leaving a large hole in team leadership that needs to be filled.
“People are asking ‘How do you replace the Fenskes and the Aladas and the Reeds,’” Caruso said. “What I think people forget is that a year ago none of them had a college football start. They were one-year, senior starters for us who worked tirelessly over a long period of time for their opportunity to come.”
This year’s senior class is the largest the program has seen in at least a decade at 30 players. Caruso said it’s the “widest array of leaders and different types of leadership styles” the team has had in his tenure, and the result has been a tight-knit group of teammates.
“We’re really gelling and bonding earlier than other camps,” senior running back Jordan Roberts said. “The last couple of years it took us into Week 3 or 4, but this year I feel we’re really close to firing on all cylinders here.”
One result of getting close to peak shape sooner is close position battles and significant improvement from specific position groups. Both Caruso and Roberts believe the offensive line is one of the most improved groups of the team.
“Not just have they literally grown over the offseason and become faster and more athletic,” Caruso said, “but they’ve gelled quicker than most of the offensive lines we’ve had including the last couple of years, so I’m very proud of their growth as a group.”
“Our offensive line is doing phenomenal, especially our ones and twos,” Roberts said. “Last year there was a lot of shifting around last year in camp, but this year … they’re just a very close group. They know the offense really well and they’ve just impressed me a lot.”
As training camp begins to wind down, players and coaches both can now start looking toward the regular season. The team plays its first game Saturday, Sept. 2 at 1 p.m. against Wisconsin-Eau Claire at home.
“We’re excited, but it’s still a long ways away,” Roberts said. “Camp everyday seems like a long time for us, so we’re just taking it one day at a time here.”
Noah Brown can be reached at brow7736@stthomas.edu