2015 U.P. Football Preview : Northern Michigan
MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan Wildcats are a week and a half into camp, and the players are definitely in the zone. The vibe of Thursday’s practice was different than others in the past and the coaches and players spoke about how camp has been so far.
“Fantastic. It’s been a great camp to be around. I think the culture of the players is the real difference for us. It’s been really enjoyable just to see how they’ve meshed, have bonded and the work they’ve put in. It’s been a great ten days,” coach Chris Ostrowsky said.
“You can train all summer. You can work out all summer. You can run, you can lift. You can do whatever it is that you want to do. But ultimately, the pace is so fast in our practices that you got to get accustomed to it. No one is going to come in here and just be accustomed to the pace in which we go about our business,” said wide receiver Marcus Tucker.
NMU finished last season with three wins so this year, the coaching staff will rely heavily on the team captains and one of them talked about what he wants to work on to help the team improve.
“Just being a vocal leader as much as I can and just having everybody in the right position. Me being the only defensive captain…I take a lot of pressure on that. If someone messes up, it’s my fault and I’m OK with that,” linebacker Levi Perry said.
“I think it’s the little things, the intangibles. The little things that get you ready to play a game. And now we’ve got two weeks left until we open…about two and a half weeks. So we’re going to work as hard as we can to get ready and fix the little things to ensure that we make that move to the right or that move to the left a little bit that wins games,” said Ostrowsky.
The Wildcats open the season on the road on September 5th at Northwood.