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Rudolph pleased with progress

By MICHAEL LINNELL, Sports Editor mlinnell@minotdailynews.com

Minot State University head coach Paul Rudolph believed his team needed its Saturday's scrimmage.

“I thought we were making pretty good progress in practice until about mid week,” Rudolph said. “Then we went through a little lull. We were hitting the same dudes every day.”

While the scrimmage wasn't against another team, it did offer at least a different color jersey for a change of pace.

“I am pretty happy with how things went overall,” Rudolph said of the scrimmage. “We are continuing to condition and trying to stay healthy, especially because we don't have a lot of depth.”

The Beavers went through the first of two controlled scrimmages Saturday at Allen Field, MSU's practice field. The second is scheduled for Thursday at 6 p.m. also at Herb Parker Stadium.

In Saturday's scrimmage, the race for the starting quarterback became a little muddier as junior Ryan Jutras extended a week of good practices and is pressuring Jon Meier for the starting signal caller position.

“Over the first 12 or so practices, it was clear that Meier was the frontrunner,” Rudolph said. “Ryan continues to make progress and over the last five practices he has made a big jump. It will probably be the week before our first game (Sept. 1 against Rocky Mountain College, Mont.) before we make a decision.”

Senior receiver Josh Kringen believes that a so-called “quarterback controversy” is good for the team.

“It is great to have two guys who have experience coming back,” Kringen said. “They push each other every day and that will only make them both better.”

Rudolph also liked the progression of his offensive backfield through the first half of fall drills.

“Andre (James) and Nick Banks really compliment each other,” Rudolph said. “We all of a sudden seem to have some depth back there. Lance Hollinger is a tough back who never seems to miss a hole and Tyson Schatz is really going to be good.”

On defense, Rudolph was especially pleased with the progress of the linebackers as a unit.

“They have made a tremendous jump,” he said. “They have come a long ways since our spring workouts. The D-line has been steady. The secondary has really bought into the fundamentals and has made a jump.”

Depth will be a concern for the Beavers as the roster is dominated by freshman and sophomores.

“We will have to take it one day at a time, look at film of this scrimmage to get better mentally, give the guys a day off and get back at it,” Rudolph said. “The key is to get through the fall healthy. Healthy teams beat hurt teams and No. 1s normally beat No. 2s.”