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Five things to watch when MSU football opens next week

Garrick Hodge/MDN Minot State quarterback Zac Cunha surveys the field during a college football game last year at Herb Parker Stadium.

This might be the most optimism surrounding Minot State football in years. MSU is coming off a three-win season, and while that may not be something to puff their chest out about, it’s a sign of progress that things are trending in the right direction after two straight one-win campaigns.

Factoring in several local recruits and a new head coach that has a history of winning in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, it can be easy to see reasons for the newfound optimism.

Here’s several things we’ll be keeping an eye on as players report to practice on Wednesday.

1. Quarterback competition:

The quarterback is arguably the most important position in sports, so it’s no surprise Minot State will be having an open competition when camp starts. It’s likely the starting job is sixth-year senior Zac Cunha’s to lose, but coaches are also high on Southern Utah transfer Andy Jones and University of North Dakota transfer Ben Bolinske.

In his career with MSU, Cunha has had his ups and downs, throwing for 39 touchdowns, 37 interceptions and 6,016 yards. Health has been an issue recently, as the Rocklin, Calif. native has played three games the last two seasons. Cunha is probably the most experienced quarterback throughout the entire Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, but first-year MSU coach Mike Aldrich probably feels fortunate to have quality depth in Jones and Bolinske just in case Cunha suffers another unfortunate setback.

2. Run defense adjustments:

In 2016, there was both good news and bad news for the MSU defense. The good: the Beavers led the NSIC in pass defense with 198.82 yards per game. The Bad? MSU allowed a league-worst 271.4 rushing yards per contest.

Aldrich has long been lauded throughout the NSIC as a defensive-minded coach, so it will be interesting to see his solution for improving a suspect run defense. Will the Beavers run a 4-3 or a 3-4? How much will he dial up the blitz? We’ll have to wait and find out.

3. Running back competition:

Following the departures of Jarvis Mustipher (graduation) and Ben Zahniser (left the school for personal reasons), the Beavers are fixed with replacing a combined 1,199 rushing yards, 274 carries and 13 touchdowns in production. Senior running back Hunter Tyree has the most experience from last year, but it’s not much (22 carries, 71 yards). There’s eight running backs on the roster and all of them will have a chance to compete for carries. Freshman running back Lucas Butts could be a candidate to play right away, as he brings a sturdy, 6-foot-2, 220-pound frame to the table.

4. Finding under the radar impact players:

Good examples of this from last year’s team were Zahniser and safety Donnell Vercher. Zahniser was the offense’s best player in the second half of the season and Vercher just might be the player the Beavers can least afford to lose to injury in the 2017 season. An early guess for a 2017 breakout candidate includes University of North Dakota transfer linebacker Matt Marler, as Aldrich has confirmed Marler will have a chance to start at inside linebacker right away

5. New leadership with some familiar faces:

While Aldrich has been around his fair share of NSIC schools the last few years, this will be his first head coaching stint since 2012 at Augustana. Aldrich is well-above .500 (22-13) as a head coach in his career, so it will be interesting to see what changes he makes over the next few years. Yet, Aldrich retained a decent amount of Tyler Hughes’ assistant coaches, so perhaps it’s possible some of the old schemes remain in place.

Garrick Hodge covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @Garrick_Hodge.

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