ST. PAUL, Minn. – Concordia-St. Paul football turns the page on the first fall camp in head coach Shannon Currier's second stint with the program, turning its sights to opening week and the University of Mary. The Golden Bears will host a t-shirt promotion for Saturday night's 6 p.m. game against the Marauders at Sea Foam Stadium.
 
T-SHIRT GIVEAWAY IN WEEK ONE
The t-shirt giveaway is presented by Concordia University Alumni Association and CSP Athletics. The first 500 fans will receive a FREE white t-shirt featuring the new CSP monogram. The t-shirts and new CSP logo will match the style worn by the team in the opener, as the football team is debuting its new white uniform combination and white CSP helmet.
 

BY THE NUMBERS…

CLASS BREAKDOWN

True Freshmen: 32

Redshirt Freshmen: 17

Sophomores: 16

Juniors: 22

Seniors: 17

Roster Size: 104

High School: 79

Transfers: 5

46 Newcomers

33 FR / 13 TR

Off 25 / 21 Def / 0 ST

54 Returners

Off 26 / 28 Def / 4 ST

BY POSITION

OFFENSE: 51

Quarterbacks: 5

Running Backs: 7

Wide Receivers: 17

Tight Ends: 7

Offensive Line: 15

DEFENSE: 49

Defensive Line: 18

Linebackers: 13

Defensive Backs: 18

Specalists: 4

Kickers: 2

Punters: 1

Long Snappers: 1

BY GEOGRAPHY

STATES: 14 + INTL

AZ: 2

CA: 7

CO: 2

FL: 18

GA: 1

IL: 10

IA: 3

INTL: 1

MA: 1

MI: 1

MN: 33

NJ: 1

NV: 1

TX: 2

WI: 21

FUN WITH LETTERS

ABC: 18

9 C's

6 Johnsons

9 M's

8 R's

10 W's

3 Z's

CURRIER RETURNS FOR A 'NEW ERA OF PROMINENCE'
Currier begins his second head coaching stint with Concordia on Saturday, looking to build on his school record .727 winning percentage while his 32-12 record places him third on the all-time wins list in just four seasons. He's the only coach in the program's history (1969-present) to produce four consecutive winning campaigns, and captured the team's first NSIC Championship and postseason appearance (Mineral Water Bowl) in 2003 when he was named the NSIC Coach of the Year.
 
The landscape has changed, with the additions of former North Central Conference members St. Cloud State, Augustana and Minnesota State joining the league while Minnesota Duluth left for the NCC before rejoining with the other three members. Also entering the league since Currier left the program after 2003 are Sioux Falls, Minot State, Upper Iowa and Saturday's opponent U-Mary.
 
While the Northern Sun has developed into one of the top football (and overall athletics) conferences in Division II featuring four nationally-ranked teams by the AFCA (all four appearing on CSP's 2016 schedule), Concordia has had substantial growth on campus and in the football program since that time as well.
 
"Overall, the program is in much better shape than it was when I left, and I'm really excited about the changes we've had on campus. We have more scholarships, have increased our staffing commitments and have a stronger schedule. Football-wise, Sea Foam Stadium is easily our biggest upgrade but we also have the Fandrei Center with more office and meeting space, a locker room, training room and weight room that all open up to the stadium."
 
Currier is also quick to point out how Concordia's campus enhances the football program, "Major campus improvements like our modern new apartment style dorms, new dining hall and library technology center make campus an appealing place to be. Academically we've grown exponentially since I was last here with many new and relevant offerings including the ability for our athletes to leave in five years with a master's degree along with the tuition reset really makes Concordia a value for our players. I'm excited to work in this environment and look forward to giving back to a campus that has provided our program with so much."
 
SPRITED COMPETITION A KEY FOCUS OF CAMP
Concordia's fall camp was eventful, as a mostly new coaching staff worked with a roster of 105 student-athletes nearly split between returners and newcomers. The roster composition features a mix of strong returning starters along with position battles between incumbent starters, returning backups and redshirts, along with incoming transfers and true freshmen looking to make an immediate impact.
 
"We have a lot of tight races, you can make a case for either guy or multiple players in some positions and we make it clear to our players that it's in their hands to stand-out to make those decisions easy on us," said Currier in an interview held on the final Friday of fall camp before the team's last scrimmage.
 
At the time, a number of starting roles, key backup and special teams and travel roster spots were still up for grabs.
 
"We want our starters to earn their roles, and we do expect a lot of new guys to earn playing time and that's tough on the veterans who've been here. We are evaluating everyone with the goal of making decisions that are best for the program. We have a lot of variables to factor into that equation when we look at building the depth chart."
 
He expanded on the recruiting class that featured roughly half of the group announced on signing day, with many others committing throughout the spring and summer, "We felt really good about this class when we evaluated them through video and scouting in the recruiting process, but you really don't have that certainty until they are here showing it in person at this level. But evaluating the team throughout fall camp, a lot of our new players are exceeding our expectations, and many of them are further along than we anticipated. It really validates the scouting and evaluation we've conducted in the recruiting process which is a great sign for how we expect to build our program."
 
'BUILDING ON THE ROCK' AT CAMP RIPLEY
Fall camp took a completely new format in 2016 under Currier and his staff, heading to Camp Ripley near Little Falls, Minnesota for a full week that included practice and team meetings in unconventional settings as well as plentiful opportunities for team bonding and life experiences.
 
"Our players and even our staff are getting used to the process of how we conduct our business in this football program. Camp Ripley was even more beneficial to establishing our process this year in particular, so our players could get to know each other, our staff could continue to strengthen our working relationships with each other and the overall team cohesion between players and coaches could really develop."
 
Hired in December, Currier attacked an abbreviated recruiting session before National Signing Day in February, and continued the momentum in building the 2016 roster well into the summer while starting to work towards establishing a normal timeline for building a 2017 recruiting class.
 
"We've had quite an extended learning process with a mostly new staff and being late in recruiting. But we feel like it's been a really good process, and it's led to a productive fall camp that we feel our players have really enjoyed. Year one has been a lot of work, and it has taken a lot of dedication and commitment from our coaching staff. The most important piece of this has been establishing relationships with the players, and instilling a foundation based on a sincere for our players' overall well-being."
 
Currier describes the process of the staff committing to the players as important to creating well-rounded student-athletes, and consistently reinforces the importance of ensuring high graduation rates and job placement for their future.
 
The result is a resounding commitment from the players, allowing the staff to push them harder on the football field physically and mentally as there is a mutual understanding that striking a positive balance is a high priority.
 
"It's been a great process, the players have adapted well and it's amazing to be part of this team that has such great diversity in terms of age, race and backgrounds. We are becoming a family and it's a really unique atmosphere. We are building a team, everyone will have a role and be important to this program. Some roles will be more glamorous, but every role will be crucial to building a successful and winning program. Right now, the hard part is making sure everyone has that role and identity on this football team, and understands how to execute it to build team success."

ROSTER NOTES:
Among the team's 25 transfers, five hail from North Dakota State College of Science ... the team comes from 14 different states with an international flavor as sophomore kicker Jonas Schenderlein is from Germany, although he played prep football in Tennessee ... among the 18 players from Florida, three freshmen recruits played together as preps at Miami's Carol City High School: running back Darnell Rolle and defensive backs Brian Lanier and Jonas Dorvil, Carol City is known for a strong football tradition in the state with the Chiefs winning three 6A state titles from 1996 to 2003 ... among the 33 in-state players on the roster, five come from the backyard in St. Paul with two hailing from Cretin-Derham Hall (Ricardo Johnson & Eli Wright), one each from Harding (Ntsemeng Yang) and Highland Park (Ethan Aune) and another from outside the city at Irondale (Victor White) ... additionally, four players call Burnsville their hometown with three players on the team coming from the Blaze program: Shelly Johnson, Jesse Orak and Keenan Winge with the fourth, Erik Madryga from Minnehaha Academy.