Football | 03/13/21 | 9:47 AM

HELENA, Mont. -- The last time the Carroll College Football Team laced up the cleats and strapped up the pads was November 16th, 2019, and the world looked a lot different. It was Head Coach Troy Purcell's first season at the helm, and none of us had any idea what covid was. All throughout the Summer of 2020, everyone crossed their fingers for a football season. Then it was postponed in early August. Now, the wait is over, as the Saints prepare to travel to Billings on Saturday and face the Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears.

Saturday's game between Carroll and Rocky will take place at Herb Klindt Field at 1 p.m. 

This will be Carroll's first of four games. Their other three opponents are Eastern Oregon, Montana State-Northern, and College of Idaho.

Let's take a look at the 2020-21 Saints, starting with the offense. 

Over the summer of 2020, wide receiver coach and recruiting coordinator, Alex Pfannenstiel, was promoted to Offensive Coordinator after his help with the Saints' explosive offense in 2019.

With seven starters returning on offense, Pfannenstiel will have a lot of familiar faces to work with. However, a couple of those losses from the 2019 season were key players. Wide Receiver Shane Sipes and Guard J.D. Lyle, most notably, were first team all-conference selections in 2019. The Saints will also have to replace the production of Wide Receiver Joe Farris.

But as previously mentioned, this Saints offense returns a number of explosive players. It all starts at Quarterback with redshirt freshman Devan Bridgewater. Bridgewater accounted for 23 total touchdowns in his first year under center and completed 50.8% of his passes.

Joining Bridgewater in the backfield will be Running Back Matthew Burgess, who was a first team all-conference selection as a true freshman. In 2019, Burgess ran for 1076 yards and 15 rushing touchdowns while boasting an average of 6.2 yards per carry.

With the loss of the aforementioned Farris and Sipes, you're probably wondering who the Saints will look to in the passing game. Look no further than Tony Collins. The junior tight end was responsible for 346 receiving yards and 6 receiving touchdowns in his sophomore campaign, earning his way to second team all-conference honors. Other pass catchers to keep an eye on for the Saints include Jaden Harrison and Kyle Pierce.

In the trenches, Carroll returns two bookends who earned their way onto all-conference teams in 2019. Alex Hoffman, the Right Tackle, was first team all-conference, and Tanner Steele, the Left Tackle was second-team all conference. Andrew Carter is also returning on the o-line after starting all 10 games in 2019.

On the defensive side of the ball, Carroll also lost some key players from 2019. Some notable losses include Cole Greff, Brian FauntLeRoy, and Dylan Kresge. Cole Greff was a first team all-conference selection in 2019 at defensive tackle while Kresge (at linebacker) and FauntLeRoy (at safety) were both voted second team all-conference. 

Much like the offense though, this Saints defense returns many explosive playmakers and also has a new Defensive Coordinator. Coach Purcell announced the hiring of Wes Nurse as D.C. in the summer of 2020, and while this is Nurse's first job as a Defensive Coordinator, he has been coaching at the Division I level for 15 years including recent stints at UC Davis and Cal Poly.

On the defensive line, the Saints return Garrett Kocab. Kocab is one of the most explosive playmakers you will find on defense in the Frontier Conference. Last season, Kocab was a second team all-conference performer, tallying 5.5 TFLs and 2 sacks. 

Returning at linebacker for the Saints is senior captain Nate McGree. McGree is entering is third year as a starter on defense. Last season, he had 47 tackles and 6.5 TFLs. McGree was tied for the team lead in TFLs. 

In 2019, Zach Spiroff started at cornerback as a true freshman and he did not disappoint. Spiroff is back for his sophomore campaign and ready to continue making a difference on the back-end of this Carroll defense. Spiroff was second on the team in tackles in his freshman season with 51, and had two interceptions.

Over the off-season, Coach Randy Bandelow was promoted to Special Teams Coordinator in addition to his role of coaching the linebackers. Bandelow is really excited about what this Carroll team will bring to the table.

As far as the kicking game goes, the Saints lost one of their kickers, Josh Kraft, and their punter, Matt Kvech, from 2019. Stephen Powell, who did a lot of the kicking in 2019, will be the starter at kicker. Transfer Brock Paldi, from Whittier College, will look to make an impact flipping the field as the punter.

Another returning impact player on Special Teams will be Jaden Harrison. Harrison is a lynch-pin on a few different aspects, serving as a returner and holder for the Saints.

Other key Special Teams contributors include T.J. Abraham, Zach Spiroff, and Dawson Zebarth who will continue to be valuable within their roles, while also playing key roles on defense.

Here are some other important notes on the Saints heading into this Spring Season:

- Head Coach Troy Purcell is in his second season at the helm. In his first season, the Saints were 6-4, which was the program's first winning record since 2014.
- Over the summer of 2020, Alex Pfannenstiel was promoted to Offensive Coordinator in addition to his duties as wide-receiver coach and recruiting coordinator.
- Wes Nurse was hired to replace  as DC in the summer of 2020. Nurse has previously coached for 15 years at the D1 level, most recently at UC Davis and Cal Poly.
- Carroll returns 7 starters on offense, including 3 on the offensive line.
- Captains are Alex Hoffman (T), Tanner Steele (T), Devan Bridgewater (QB), Rex Irby (LB/S), and Nate McGree (LB)

Saturday's game at Rocky can be streamed online here: https://www.meridix.com/live.php?liveid=BattlinBears

John Kemper will be on the call for the radio broadcast on The AM KCAP at 950 AM with the pre-game show starting at 12:30 p.m. You can listen online at https://network1sports.com/station/espnradio.