ST. PAUL, Minn. – Concordia-St. Paul football opens the season at home on Thursday, September 5 with a 6 p.m. kickoff against the University of Sioux Falls on St. Paul Day. The game will be an NSIC South Division matchup.
 
In advance of the opener, cspbears.com will roll out multiple season previews aimed at providing fans of the program a closer look at the team heading into the season, through the eyes of head coach Shannon Currier. Part one will focus on a program overview as well as a look at the special teams units, part two will cover the defense and part three will dive into the offense.
 
FOLLOW ONLINE
All Concordia football games, home and away, will be streamed online as part of the NSIC's league-wide agreement with Presto Sports (formerly Stretch Internet). All CSP football games can be viewed in Concordia's online video portal.
 
Home games will be produced by UltimateX Displays, complete with a 15-foot by 8-foot MAX XL LED screen in the stadium.
 
The broadcast is complete with the play-by-play call from Dan Flanagan, the voice of the Golden Bears since 2008. The St. Paul native is a graduate of Fordham University in New York, where he studied broadcasting including working as the voice of multiple Rams sports teams including basketball and football.
 
Games can also be followed with live stats and by keeping track of the NSIC live scoreboard.
 
COACH CURRIER SHOW ON CSP BEARS PODCAST
The Coaches Show with Shannon Currier hosted by Wally Langfellow of Minnesota Score returns for a second season in 2019. The show airs in the MSP radio market on 1440 AM KYCR following the Minnesota high school football game of the week, typically on Friday of each week. The show is also distributed via the CSP Bears Podcast and is available on most podcast subscription services such as Apple iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music and Stitcher.
 
This week's guests include senior quarterback Maxon Hutton and senior wide receiver Jabril Clewis.
 
Subscribe to the podcast, which will also return for a second year this fall. This year, the podcast will be co-hosted by CSP baseball alumni Andrew Shotwell and Alex LaPorte and will continue to tell the story of CSP athletics in an interesting and engaging way to help people get behind the scenes of various people associated with Concordia – including Comets and Golden Bears!
 
DOWNLOAD THE CSP BEARS FAN APP
Also back for a second year is the CSP Bears fan app, provided by From Now On. The app features a customizable experience, users can select their favorite sports teams and select their affiliation (fan, student, alumni, etc) to receive tailored notifications. The app provides easy to follow live stats along with links to watch games live on their device. Keep up with the latest with the new 'news' feature which combines stories from cspbears.com with the social streams from CSP athletics.
 
TAKING THE NEXT STEP
Head football coach Shannon Currier enters his fourth year back with Concordia football in 2019 and his eighth year overall. In his second stint leading the Golden Bears, Currier finds the program continuing to be in a position of success.
 
Following a 2-9 first year in 2016, Concordia repeated the 2-9 record in 2017 but made significant strides with three contests decided by a possession (8 points or less). The team showed its proximity .500 was for real in 2018 by producing a 5-6 campaign that once again included three games decided by a single possession.
 
Armed with endless energy and enthusiasm and a staff who embodies his determination, Currier and the Golden Bears will set out to once again prove that their proximity to a winning campaign and status as NSIC contenders was no fluke in 2019.
 
"We talk about details. People say it's a game of inches and there's a lot of illustrations of that when you watch football. Games are won and lost in the last seconds and we had three of those last year including the first game of the year. A couple more plays were the difference from being a 2-9 team and a 5-6 team. Last year, we made those plays, we ran the ball at a little higher average, for example."
 
Currier knows the leap from a 5-win team to a league contender is a steeper climb, and he also knows what it takes to make those strides.
 
"To take the next step, its better ball security, making one more stop in a game and it boils down to details," Currier explained. "We are focused on minimizing mistakes and having a greater attention to detail. We're trying to reduce our penalties, a few more guys making plays and cutting down on turnovers. We need to cut the margins on those things, and that can add up to a few extra points scored per game and allowing a few less points."
 
He noted that the personnel has also improved, "We've added a few more tools to the roster, specifically on offense we've brought in a few more weapons to help make some of those additional plays."
 
And while Currier understands what results are necessary to add to the win total as the team aims for its first winning season since 2011, he is far more concerned about the process of what it takes to accomplish those tactics.
 
"The objectives haven't changed since we've been here, and that's to get better today than we were yesterday and it's really important that we continue to make those strides every day. I firmly believe that you are either getting better or you are getting worse. Over the four years we've been here, everything has improved: equipment, staffing, continuity, facilities. But most importantly, the number of players who are dedicated, not missing workouts, contributing in meetings – the overall buy-in."
 
It transcends football, too, and with Currier that message has always remained consistent. Since day one upon his return to the program, Currier has instilled in his program an overarching message of creating character and developing his players into leaders ready to make an impact in society after their football careers come to a close.
 
"Everything we've done in four years has increased. The desire and character have increased, our team GPA went from 2.53 in 2016 to 3.0 in the spring of 2019. We've taken strides forward in everything we are doing."
 
The end result, Currier believes, is a better overall football team.
 
"It has led to progress in our schemes offensively, defensively and on special teams and I'm excited about the progress we're making."

He concluded, "I do believe we will have a better product on the field this year. When people watch us play, they're going to say 'they're a better team.' I'm not saying that guarantees wins. I do believe it all leads to more wins, but we're really focused on improving our processes, our organization, our accountability to players and I feel like our best is certainly yet to come."
 
MEET THE BEARS: SPECIAL TEAMS
For the past 10 years, Concordia football has featured a kicking game capable of producing points shortly after crossing midfield with the legs of Steven King, Tom Obarski and Jonas Schenderlein who have set and continually broken records for longest field goals, most field goals made in a game, season and career.
 
While Schenderlein has graduated and is now working with the specialists in an instructing role, Coach Currier feels as if the special teams as a whole will be improved despite the loss of one of the nation's top kickers.
 
"We're in a bit of uncharted territory, Jonas has been a mainstay for four years and one of the best in the country and I still think he'll get a chance at the next level. But when you talk about special teams, it's an ultimate team concept and something that strong programs can thrive in because it comes from overall program depth and contributions from the success of all of our position groups."
 
He continued, "Our first couple of years, we had some struggles filling out the travel roster, but we're at the point in our program now where as coaches we're having a hard time making decisions on who makes the bus because we have so many guys capable of performing. We have a number of guys who traveled last year who won't make this year's travel squad, which makes us better overall on special teams."
 
Players who are expected to make plays downfield in kickoff and punt coverage include linebackers Dalton Smerchek and Gabe Nkumu, defensive backs Lorenzo Kendricks, Dez Bassett and Rhett Sheehan and running backs Lajuan Preston, Shaq Johnson and Ethan Falaniko.
 
From the specialists side, senior Danny Laudet will continue the tradition of booming legs in the program. Primarily a punter, Laudet is praised for not only his ability to send a ball soaring for distance, but his hang time and directional kicking allows the coverage unit to limit return yardage and maximize field position.
 
Laudet assumed the lead punting role midway through last season and averaged 39.0 yards while forcing five fair catches and six inside the 20 on his 19 punts, including a pair of 50-plus yarders and a long of 60.
 
He'll also be in line to handle placekicking in his senior year. In the spring game, Laudet cashed in a pair of field goals including one from 42 yards and although he misfired from 46 yards, he has the strength and accuracy to deliver from that range.
 
"Danny has shown great things, he has a big leg and with him back our punt team will be better. We'll also be better on protection and coverage to support him. We also like our incoming freshman Collin Hartley, and he's getting better every day as a true freshman."
 
The snapping will be handled by incoming transfer Alex Matheson, formerly of Minnesota State which means the coaching staff can allow former long snapper Dalton Smerchek to focus on his role as a starting linebacker with the defense entering his junior year.
 
In the return game, Currier stated that "we're more dangerous and we continue to have more athletes each year. Improving our field position is one of those small details we're focused on that we think will be an ingredient for more victories."
 
On the punt return, backup quarterback Jared Olsgaard will get a shot, and Currier insists that Olsgaard's athleticism and versatility will make him an asset in multiple ways on the field this season. "He is a big, athletic quarterback who can run. He's not afraid, wants to do it and is ready to make plays."
 
Other guys in the mix for punt returns will be running back Shaq Johnson and wide receiver Jabril Clewis, who both figure to have significant roles in the offense.
 
The kickoff return will likely be handled by a pair of starting members of the secondary, cornerback Lorenzo Kendricks and safety Dez Bassett while others such as Shaq and Clewis, running back Lajuan Preston and wide receiver Isaiah Koran will also be in the mix.
 
"We have more possible returners this year than we've had in the past and we're also looking to coach this up better this year. We had too many returns in poor situations last year, and we've been working hard at making the right decisions to start at the 25 if a big return isn't available."