HELENA — With less than three weeks to go until Carroll College football’s regular season kicks off, the offense is starting to take shape.
Granted, the No. 1 question facing Carroll’s offense right now is who will win the job of starting quarterback, a decision head coach Troy Purcell said he’s yet to make.
“Yeah, it’s a great battle, great competition. Those guys are battling, battling,” said Purcell. “We haven’t decided yet — we’re going to work our way into this. It’s still some highs and lows for all of them. (But I’m) just excited about the depth in the room, the competitive spirit.”
Two Big Sky Conference transfers — Kaden Huot (Montana) and Hogan Carmichael (Idaho) — lead a four-way competition for the title of QB1. Regardless of who’s under center come Week 1, Purcell said to expect this year’s offense to be explosive.
“You’ve got explosive guys, you can expect a little more explosive plays and breaking tackles and making things happen,” said Purcell. “So the Xs and Os were there. Now we got some Jimmies and Joes that can make this thing pop.”
Last season, Carroll ranked sixth out of nine Frontier Conference teams in terms of total offense (391.7 yards per game). That’s something the Saints’ senior leaders told MTN Sports they expect to change.
“Our goal this year, our motto, is throw the first punch,” said redshirt-senior offensive lineman Andrew Devine. “And that just means we’ve got to be the aggressor this year. (We) can’t be passive. We’re going to dictate the pace of the game.”
Carroll’s regular season officially kicks off Aug. 30 at MSU-Northern. And these Saints expect to come out firing.
“I like the passion that we’re playing with,” said redshirt senior tight end Carson Ochoa. “And we’re coming out with fire every single day. We’ve got energy. We’ve got juice. And we're really confident this year. Got a lot of speed, lot of power, lot of explosiveness.”
