Daniels returns as Huskies football looks to improve offense

David Archambeau/For the Gazette
Michigan Tech quarterback Alex Fries leaps into the end zone during a game against Ferris State on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, at Kearly Stadium in Houghton.

By DAVER KARNOSKY

dkarnosky@mininggazette.com

HOUGHTON — In his first year at the helm of the Michigan Tech Huskies football team, Dan Mettlach saw the Huskies go 5-5, beating teams they should beat, and dropping games to the traditional powers of the GLIAC. As he begins his second season, Mettlach wants to see improvement out of the offense, which returns eight starters from last season, if for no other reason than to give the Huskies’ defense more rest between drives.

All kidding aside, Mettlach believes that the Huskies are positioned well to improve in multiple areas of the offense this season. Part of that excitement centers around the return of tight ends coach Jace Daniels. Daniels was previously a part of the Huskies’ staff from 2019-21 as the offensive line coach.

“Going into this year, we brought Coach Daniels back,” Mettlach said, “somebody who is familiar with how we do things, and what Michigan Tech is, so there’s better cohesion with the staff from that standpoint.”

With Daniels in the staff room, Mettlach feels like he has a cohesive group of coaches, which will help when addressing the players.

“The guys love him (Daniels),” said Mettlach. “He’s bringing a lot to the football field as well. But, the most exciting part is probably that everybody within our staff room around the team understands what the standard is, and there’s nobody getting surprised by anything.”

While they did not have the success on the field that Mettlach would have liked, he was proud of the way the team approached each game week in and week out.

“I love the way our guys approached every week,” he said. “I thought we were competitive. When you’re playing in this league, there are no weeks off. So, if you look back on Saginaw Valley to end the year, Ferris State, Grand Valley, Wayne State, with the penalties at the end of the game, every single game, we felt like we were in them, but we just did too many things to shoot ourselves in the foot.

“The competition’s too good in this league to make those kinds of mistakes, and still want to win, or still try to win, I should say. But, I loved how our guys approached it.”

Part of the plan this season is be better with the ball, as Mettlach puts it, which means protecting it when the Huskies have it, and make better choices to prevent turnovers.

“We went down to Grand Valley, we’re in a 10-point game with them midway in the third quarter, and we throw a pick on one series. They score the very next series. We fumbled on the first play. They score that.

“So, there’s things like that that we just can’t afford to do. We have to be better with the football this year.”

That better ball control starts with the quarterback. Senior Alex Fries battled injuries in his first full season in the position, but Mettlach felt like he learned a lot from the experience.

“A big part of his game is played with his feet, which I love,” Mettlach said, “makes us more dynamic if they have to account for the ‘Q.’”

Mettlach wants to see Fries get more used to playing the position traditionally, as well as be effective once he is outside the tackles.

“Early in the year last year, he went crazy against Hillsdale in Week One, and then was banged up for three weeks,” Mettlach said. ‘We had to change our game plan and keep him in the pocket, and he wasn’t as effective there. He’s not as comfortable there.

“Once he got healthy at the end of the year, I thought he played better, but there’s two things, one, as you mature at that position, you’ve got to be comfortable sitting in the pocket to let things develop, trust in your protections. That does come with game reps, and I think he is going to be better at that. The other part of it is he’s got to embrace the game management part of playing the position a little bit better this year. I thought we were a little bit careless with the football last year.”

A big factor in helping Fries be more comfortable in the pocket will be the return of Darius Willis for his senior year. Willis is the most prolific receiver in school history, and by having him back, Fries has a tremendous amount of experience to lean on.

While Willis is back, redshirt freshman Nic Nora was working his way into that top receiver position, only to suffer an injury that will take time to heal. However, that does not mean the Huskies do not have real depth coming into the season.

Junior Ethan Champney and senior Brandon Michalak will both be counted on to be leaders. Along with them, Mettlach also likes what he is seeing out of senior Matt Ojala and junior Collin Hicks, along with a pair of freshmen in Ethan Hull and Bryce Kurncz.

“Ethan Hull from Ithaca, downstate Michigan, and Bryce Kurncz from DeWitt, downstate Michigan, are both guys that have gotten themselves into a position that they will help us as well,” said Mettlach. “So, we love having DWIll back. At the same time, we feel like that position group, especially, has some depth in terms of the talent that we have there. We’ll mix and match some people. We’re going to play probably seven of them every weekend, but there are guys in a position right now that are ready to take that next part of the load.”

Last season, the Huskies’ running game improved, but not as much as Mettlach would have liked. However, he wants to see it continue to trend upwards this season despite the graduation of Will Mareno. Junior Patrick Kastner, junior Kolby Hindenach, and sophomore Jake Rueff all saw quality playing time last season, and return looking to build on what they accomplished. While Fries racked up the most yards among returning runners, Hindenach, Rueff, and Kastner all did some good things when they had the chance.

Part of what will help the running game this season will be the play of the offensive line. Mettlach feels that between what offensive line coach Jack Rustman has been working on with his group, and the return of Daniels, the line and the tight ends should be able to get themselves in better positions to protect the backs.

“We did take some huge strides last year in the run game, but again, whether it be what we did in the wintertime, in the spring, what Coach Rustman’s doing right now, of course, bringing Jace back to coach the tight ends, he’s got his hand in that as well,” said Mettlach, “we feel like we’ve come a long way in the last two years with what we have up front, and what we’re doing with our run game.

“The consistency of it, to not only be able to do it against some of the non-conference teams, but we have to be able to run the football against the guys in the league. Otherwise, they’re just too athletic in the back end to say we’re going to go throw it 50 times a game against everybody. So, what we are stressing to the guys right now is we’ve got to be balanced to the point where it doesn’t have to be even 25 throws to 25 runs, but we have to be balanced enough that the defense has to defend everything we’re doing, so that they can’t play a certain coverage, or load up the box, if it was the other way. We’ve got to be multiple enough, balanced enough, that they got to defend everything. We’re getting closer to it.”

Mettlach feels that a lot of that starts with the play of sophomore Brandon DeVries, who garnered all-conference honors last season as a freshman.

“He works his butt off,” said Mettlach. “He’s stronger than he ever has been, carrying good weight right now. We can count on him in the pass game. (In) the run game, (he) knows where everybody’s supposed to be. So, he’s a vocal guy in terms of checks on that side of the line of scrimmage as well.

“He’s got a little bit of that dog mentality where it’s, he doesn’t care if it’s 40 times in a row if we’re running behind him every time. He’s good with that. He’s not shying away from anything. So, that part of his game we love, and that’s what it takes up front.”

Mettlach said the next step is to get the rest of the offensive line to work just as hard, which he feels is definitely coming.

UP NEXT

The Huskies open their season Thursday with a game against Bemidji State on the road. The game is set to start at 7 p.m.