Wildcats ready for breakout season

Spread offenses in football tend to thrive on two things: speed and tempo. If you have a good mix of both of those qualities, chances are you will be able to put up points in a hurry on the scoreboard.

In Marquette, the Wildcats are hoping to do just that this season. After failing to score more than 20 points in just one of their first six games last season, the Wildcats scored more than 30 points per game in four of their final five games to end the season.

Cody Scepaniak stepped in for the injured Ryan Morley at the quarterback position midway through the season, and the offense took off. With Scepaniak back for his senior season, along with fellow senior wide receiver Christian Jessie, NMU believes they have the pieces on offense to give opposing defenses fits all season long.

“The program is definitely heading in a good direction. Everyone around here is really excited about this season, so it’s a good thing,” said Jessie. “The new guys are doing a good job getting a lot of stuff done. The tempo is where we need it to be, but execution wise we still have a little bit more to fix before Findlay.”

“I’ve never been a part of a team here that’s looked like this,” said Scepaniak. “I feel like every year we say that we’ve just gotten better each year under Coach O (Ostrowsky).”

“Once we started clicking it didn’t matter who was in, whether it was our first or second team (offense), it was unbelievable to watch how fast and physical these guys are playing and catching the ball, so I’m pretty excited,” added Scepaniak.

“Cody is going a great job, he’s had a great camp,” said head coach Chris Ostrowsky. “I think we’re getting a great understanding of where the ball should be thrown and when. I think we’ve been real conscious of ball security more so than ever. You are what you emphasize, and we have been really emphasizing that.”

The Wildcats have plenty of motivation to be more efficient on offense this season. They finished at or near the bottom of every major offensive category last season among all 16 teams in the GLIAC.