Bobcats Open Camp Wednesday
8/9/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Montana State opens Mike Kramer’s sixth fall training camp as Montana State’s head coach on Wednesday, and the Big Sky Conference's third-winningest coach hopes his team puts the past behind it as soon as possible.
“We want to establish our identity, to regain our confidence and a modicum of defensive personality,” Kramer said. “We are mindful of what happened at the end of the season last year, and we’re anxious to get back to work.”
Montana State’s season-ending three-game losing streak dropped the Bobcats from championship and playoff contention a year ago. Kramer and his staff have retooled everything about the defense, moving to a three-four formation and scrapping the team’s trademark man-to-man coverage schemes for more zone. Offensively, MSU returns nine starters. That number includes Travis Lulay, who enters his senior season as perhaps the most accomplished Bobcat skill player in history through three MSU campaigns.
Kramer is anxious for his team to “unfold after four months of inactivity,” with his biggest concern easy to spot. “I want to see if we’ve regained our athleticism as a team through recruiting, treatment of injuries, and confidence.”
With considerable experience returning, Kramer said this year’s training camp won’t have a boot camp feel. “We’re going to be careful because of the plague of injuries that besieged us during spring ball,” he said. “As is the case on any good team, our good players are irreplaceable. We will take care to take care of ourselves during camp.”
Kramer said the stability in his program’s coaching staff provides a leg up entering the 2005 season. The stable part of our preseason camp is the focus and direction we gain from the return of both our coordinators,” Kramer said. “Don Bailey and Pete Kwiatkowski are veteran coaches who bring stability to the program and who really give focus to our direction.”
With camp opening on Wednesday, Kramer turns his focus to the team’s newcomers. During each of the first five practices, officially deemed an “acclimatization period,” the team’s rookies will begin practice at 2 pm daily, with the veterans joining the mix an hour later.
“We’re looking forward to taking an hour out of each day to work with the new players and get them oriented into our program,” Kramer said. “We’re entering the season with the idea that most of the new freshmen will redshirt, but we still want to get them up and going as quickly as possible. We’re all excited to get started.”
“We want to establish our identity, to regain our confidence and a modicum of defensive personality,” Kramer said. “We are mindful of what happened at the end of the season last year, and we’re anxious to get back to work.”
Montana State’s season-ending three-game losing streak dropped the Bobcats from championship and playoff contention a year ago. Kramer and his staff have retooled everything about the defense, moving to a three-four formation and scrapping the team’s trademark man-to-man coverage schemes for more zone. Offensively, MSU returns nine starters. That number includes Travis Lulay, who enters his senior season as perhaps the most accomplished Bobcat skill player in history through three MSU campaigns.
Kramer is anxious for his team to “unfold after four months of inactivity,” with his biggest concern easy to spot. “I want to see if we’ve regained our athleticism as a team through recruiting, treatment of injuries, and confidence.”
With considerable experience returning, Kramer said this year’s training camp won’t have a boot camp feel. “We’re going to be careful because of the plague of injuries that besieged us during spring ball,” he said. “As is the case on any good team, our good players are irreplaceable. We will take care to take care of ourselves during camp.”
Kramer said the stability in his program’s coaching staff provides a leg up entering the 2005 season. The stable part of our preseason camp is the focus and direction we gain from the return of both our coordinators,” Kramer said. “Don Bailey and Pete Kwiatkowski are veteran coaches who bring stability to the program and who really give focus to our direction.”
With camp opening on Wednesday, Kramer turns his focus to the team’s newcomers. During each of the first five practices, officially deemed an “acclimatization period,” the team’s rookies will begin practice at 2 pm daily, with the veterans joining the mix an hour later.
“We’re looking forward to taking an hour out of each day to work with the new players and get them oriented into our program,” Kramer said. “We’re entering the season with the idea that most of the new freshmen will redshirt, but we still want to get them up and going as quickly as possible. We’re all excited to get started.”
Wednesday, August 19
Wednesday, June 10
Monday, March 23
Friday, March 13
