WAYNE – As classes began Monday and following a week’s worth of workouts and lifting last week, the Wayne State College football team took the day off and a few spent time with the media.
August 19 marked fall media day for Wildcat football as head coach Dan McLaughlin and a handful of the players were in attendance from Bob Cunningham Field.
Coach McLaughlin, entering his 15th season, said the staff is pleased and there is competition for spots but he would like to start to see separation.
“We’d like to see the top one, certainly the top 1`s, but probably the top 2 just kind of separate themselves,” said coach McLaughlin. “And they’ve already started to do that.”
The team will be practicing at 7 p.m. the rest of the week until their next scrimmage Saturday afternoon.
Wayne State finished 3-8 overall and sixth in the NSIC South Division at 2-5 last season. The ‘Cats are tabbed 13th overall and sixth in the South in the 2019 NSIC preseason football coaches’ poll with senior linebacker Tyler Thomsen and junior tight end Conner Paxton listed as players to watch.
Thomsen added what the group did during the offseason while senior defensive lineman Kolbie Foster talked about what he’s most excited about to start the season.
“We just trained with (Grant) Darnell and got after it in the weight room, conditioned a little bit and just strive to be a better team than last year,” Thomsen added. “To see everybody come together, get it right, and have everybody on the defense know where everybody else is supposed to go to not just themselves,” Foster mentioned.
Senior offensive lineman Marquise Jones said he sees himself as a leader on the offensive line.
“So, a lot of times I’d have them come out here and work with me going under the chutes,” said Jones. “Working on snaps, or working on switches and working on getting that cohesion that we need to really be a successful team.”
Sophomore wide out and Wayne native Mason Lee talked about filling the void of Nate Rogers as USD transfer and redshirt freshman quarterback Andy McCance added what the offense has been up to.
“We have a good amount of talent on our side and I think we should be able to spread it between all of us and we should be able to make up for what was gone,” Rogers added. “Really just working on getting our pass plays down, having people in the right spots and just knowing where to set up at,” McCance mentioned.
The Wildcats open their 11-game NSIC schedule on Saturday, September 7 at 1 p.m. visiting Winona State University. The game will be aired on Big Red Country ‘KTCH’ 104.9 and online at waynedailynews.com with pregame coverage set for 12:30 p.m.