Photo courtesy of SMSU Athletic Communications Pictured above is the 2017 SMSU football team.

MARSHALL – Last season, the Southwest Minnesota State University football team kicked off the year with some excitement, with the Mustangs stormed back to defeat the ranked University of Minnesota Duluth 42-38 in front of their home crowd. Unfortunately for SMSU, the rest of the season was riddled by injuries as the Mustangs posted a 5-6 record.

This season, SMSU is back with a healthy roster and more experience and will look to bounce back to its winning ways in 2017.

The Mustangs return roughly 80 players from 2016, and will have 18 seniors on their roster. SMSU returns eight players on the starting offensive unit, including quarterback Blake Gimbel, wide receiver Nate Huot, running backs Ashanti Payne and Max Simmons and center Austin Hilgert. A key storyline will be the newcomers on defense, as the Mustangs lost nearly half of its defenders from a year ago.

Head coach Cory Sauter said each of these players will have a major impact and they will have to rely on their veterans to guide the way.

“Starting on offense, Blake is one of the premier quarterbacks and we’re very fortunate to have him back. He’s had a really good camp and we expect big things from him. At the running back position, it’s a deep spot; we have five or six guys we think can play for us there. Nate Huot has been an All-Conference type player for us for a long time and it’s his fourth year starting. He’s just one of those guys that’s consistent and he’s been very fortunate to stay injury-free. Austin Hilgert at center is one of the best centers at the Division-II level so we’re excited to see what he brings to the table,” Sauter said. “On defense, Alex Ney is playing at a high level, we think he’s a really good linebacker. As a whole our defensive line has good depth and size, and we need good production. All in all, I just like the way our group is working and it’s just time to play football and see how good we are.”

Sauter added their main focus throughout the first few weeks has been on teaching the young players their expectations and schemes so that they’re ready for any situation come game time.

“What we’ve done is we’ve installed our base offense and defense and special teams,” Sauter said. “When you have new players, you have to teach expectations and scheme and execution, so that’s the part that we do during training camp is that we understand what our identity is and try to expose them to a lot of different things so that when we get to the start of the season, we can pull from experiences and help us react to moments during the football game that you’re going to see.”

Sauter said he expects his team to compete hard and find ways to get better while not focus too much on their overall record.

“For us, we never really put up a win-loss number. I think it’s a big mistake to say we need to win X number of games because the problem with that is you can overshoot yourself in a hurry,” Sauter said. “Our expectations are that we expect to play hard, physical and good assignment football while at the same time staying aggressive. We don’t be a passive team or play to lose, we want to be aggressive and play to win. Each day we need to find a way to get better because the alternative is you’re going to worse. That’s a conscious decision each and every day we step onto the field and as the season gets deeper along, it becomes harder to maintain that intensity and focus.”

The Mustangs kicked off the 2017 season with a home loss to St. Cloud State before hitting the road against MSU Moorhead, where they won 51-35. Sauter said he’s looking forward to just getting the team out onto the field and playing some football again.

“I think it’s just the fact that college football is back, it’s the time of the year where it’s for real. It’s just fun to see full-speed football plays. The game has gotten a lot safer the way it’s coached and practiced, so we’ve had very few guys get injured over the course of training camp so that’s been a positive,” Sauter said. “But it’s about the thrill and excitement of an actual college football season and allowing our guys to express themselves during that 60-minute game.”