The Frontier Conference held its football media day on Thursday afternoon. All nine programs had their head coaches and at least one student-athlete participate in gathering questions from the media and discussing the outlook of the 2024 season.
One of the angles for which the MSU-Northern Lights football team has struggled in years past has been lack of players. The question of whether the roster makeup fits that of a traditional college football team was answered by both head coach Jerome Souers and senior outside linebacker Lucas Thacker.
Souers spoke to the level of competitiveness the team will show this season through the strength in numbers and how the domino effect will allow each phase of the game to come together more naturally.
“Having this many numbers, it is refreshing,” Souers said. “Our last two seasons (in) our very last game on defense and even at quarterback, we came down to the last guy.”
“We had nobody on the bench that could play,” Souers continued. “So having more experience, having more guys that are capable of playing, creates a different competitive tension among the different positions.”
“We have a more productive offense we’ll be able to balance out the contributions we need from every unit,” Souers said. “Being an opportunistic team that has some big play players now, I think that we’ll be able to score some points.”
Thacker, who transitioned to this current coaching regime by staying on, said that the bond built amongst the 100 Lights players has been a tremendous help in improving the football operations. He was excited to be able to be around a full football team for the first time since his senior season at Columbia Falls High School.
“Obviously, we’ve struggled with depth in the past,” Thacker said. “It’s hard playing the whole game and not being able to get a rest here and there.”
“I’m more grateful about the fact that these guys coming in, they’re not just guys. They’re great guys,” Thacker continued. “Coach (Souers) always harps on camaraderie, one of our C.O.R.E values and I really see that building.”
“Now, we’re setting the foundation and these guys are going to take off,” Thacker said. “I’m super excited to see where this program is going.”
The Lights are currently in fall camp and will utilize these next few weeks to ramp up into game shape before hitting the road to face Mayville State at the end of the month.
