Tommies Blog: St. Thomas Holds Spring Game, Preps For Italy Trip
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- St. Thomas football coach Glenn Caruso got a glimpse into his immediate future last weekend as his squad hosted its annual spring game.
St. Thomas was actually the first Division III program to host a spring football game back in 2009, ahead of a foreign trip to Canada. It's a contest that's scored, but bears absolutely zero meaning as far as winning, and gives die-hard program followers a chance to see what's ahead for the future of the program.
The Tommies will enter the 2015 season coming off an appearance in the NCAA Division III Playoffs, one they might just as well forget. They traveled to Iowa to face Wartburg and were down 13-0 early, then rallied to take a 14-13 lead before Wartburg took a 20-14 lead at the break.
St. Thomas, ranked No. 18 in the country at the time, trailed Wartburg by nine points on three occasions in the second half. They cut that lead to two points twice and trailed 37-31 with a chance to win late in the fourth quarter after recovering an onside kick. But John Gould had a pass intercepted and Wartburg took the victory.
The Tommies finished the season 8-3, with the other two losses coming to Bethel and St. John's.
The 2014 season marked the fourth Division III playoff appearance for St. Thomas in the last five years and the sixth in the program's history. In six seasons under Caruso, the Tommies are 11-5 in the NCAA Division III Playoffs. They'll be looking to contend for the MIAC title for the first time in three years. St. John's won it last year, and Bethel won the title two years ago.
St. Thomas is in a much better spot than it was when Caruso took the football program over in 2008. He's accumulated a 65-10 record since that time. Caruso took a team that went 2-8 the year before he started and went 7-3 in his first season.
Now back to the spring game and what's ahead. It's pretty clear, though official statistics either weren't kept or aren't available, that St. Thomas offensively will center around Gould and running back Nick Waldvogel. They'll have depth running the ball between Waldvogel and Jack Kaiser. Waldvogel scored two touchdowns in the spring game.
Gould finished last season with 1,425 yards passing and 16 touchdowns, and it's all but a lock that he'll be the starting quarterback when St. Thomas takes the field at UW-Eau Claire in September. Matt O'Connell had the option for a fifth year after a medical redshirt, but opted instead to graduate. Injuries and inconsistency led to Gould taking over behind center for the second half of the year.
They should also feature a physical defense up front and a talented secondary that will be tough to move the ball on. The Tommies graduated a lot of playmakers on their defense, six of their top nine tacklers to be exact, but that's just another chance for somebody who didn't see the field much last year to get a chance.
That starts with reps in the spring game, staying healthy and conditioned over the summer and being ready when fall camp starts in late August. The St. Thomas defense did its part in the spring game with two forced fumbles, and two interceptions, one that was brought back for a score. The special teams also had a blocked extra point.
The team is also looking forward to an upcoming trip to Italy. While football will be involved, the trip is a about a lot more than just sports. There will be plenty of team-building activities and community service projects to go along with practices and a few scrimmages. It's a trip the NCAA allows schools to do every three years, so that each class gets to go on at least one foreign trip if they so choose. The trip will last 13 days, and they'll visit as many as seven of the country's major cities.
It will be capped by a game against the Torino Jaguars. Caruso and his squad will also host youth clinics and even a few coaching clinics as the popularity of football grows in Italy.
Caruso announced his 2015 recruiting class earlier this month. It's a group that includes 56 freshmen and three transfers from seven different states. I'll take a deeper look at that as the football season gets closer. The Tommies' season opener is Sept. 5 at UW-Eau Claire. The home opener is Sept. 12 against UW-La Crosse and the MIAC opener is Sept. 26 at St. John's.