Augustana Head Football Coach Jerry Olszewski is heading into his 3rd season at the helm for the Vikings. The man known by many as "Coach OJ" has amassed 4-7 and then 6-5 records in his 2 seasons in Sioux Falls. The Vikings will look to improve on their first winning season since 2011 this coming year as they bring back a lot of offensive firepower and key leadership defensively.

At the start of the month of May I made some time to head over to Coach's office and asked him about his thoughts regarding the upcoming 2015 campaign.

MW: Coach, this is the first time we've spoken. Digging into your roster there's something that I've been meaning to ask for a while now. What's the relationship Augustana has with the Lakeville High Schools in Minnesota? Some of the top players in the program like Trey Heid, Dajon Newell, the Andreas brothers, and others have come from Lakeville and it seems like quite a pipeline for you. It seems like any kid who's going to play college football automatically comes here to Augie..haha.


(Trey Heid)

Coach OJ: We've been very fortunate there. We've gotten some great players from Lakeville in the past and currently some of our better players are from Lakeville. It's well coached football. Coach Thompson at Lakeville South has been there for a long time and understands what it takes, and Brian Vossen at Lakeville North has seen incredible success. Brian played for me at Mankato and done a great job there in Lakeville. Some of it that past players have had great experiences here at Augustana and they go back and share that and that gives us a little bit of help. We signed another young man out of Lakeville this year in Jordan Cardenas (DB) and we are excited about what he might become. Zach Richter (DL) has worked his way up after being a walk-on and will be on our depth chart this year. Charlie Hayes (WR) came in as a walk-on and came in and played huge for us last year when injuries came up. Certainly Trey's (Heid) evolution as a player is something I knew that was coming. It's something we look to keep going. They enjoy their experiences here and the cycle continues.

MW: Speaking of Charlie Hayes, you guys have some backfilling to do at the wide receiver with some key contributors graduating like Gerry and Gebhardt. Who so far this spring has looked like they can fill those roles?

Coach OJ: Charlie for sure. He proved some of that last year. We knew he'd be a good player. Matt Heller, who's been held out during the offseason due to a shoulder injury. He's an explosive player for us. Trevor DeSchepper has really come on from Harrisburg, here locally. There are other guys who are stepping up and I think we will know more in fall camp.

MW: At the running back position you bring back the battering ram, CJ Ham, so his role is obvious. However, with Newell gone now there are plenty of carries available for the next guy up. Many here in Sioux Falls would naturally look to local standout Caden Quintanilla given what a storied career he had at Lincoln HS. Is there a real shot that he gets a lot of those carries here as a redshirt freshman?


(Caden Quintanilla)

Coach OJ: Well..that will be determined by game flow. I will say that Caden's had a great spring and he offers us something things CJ doesn't have. CJ runs downhill and has better foot-speed than people give him credit for. He will not be our fullback this year but instead our feature tailback. Outside of that Caden and Jackie Davis give us some burst and figure out the rest of the reps, along with Justin Greenway who gives us some speed to get to the edge. He's not so much a slasher but more of a zone and outside runner. The back who steps up and gets hot will best complement CJ and they all offer some different skills.

MW: Those backs offer you guys smaller players who have some wiggle. On the flipside, there are some fellas that choose to take the path that leads to going out of bounds, but CJ Ham is not one of those guys.

Coach OJ: Haha. Certainly not. He's a different running back at this level. He's got a big frame and runs a 4.6-40 yard dash and is a real challenge to defenses with running style.

MW: With a guy like Sam Lee returning to the Offensive Line, and your depth in the backfield, is there a chance that you guys will look to pound the football a little more than in the recent past?

Coach OJ: We really want to be a balanced football team. Now if teams want to stack up the box, we will throw on that. Last year we had a very good 50/50 ratio with run and pass, along with setting a school record for yards. If you would've told me that at the end of last year I would've told you to write it in pencil, because we are going to be better offensively this year with our improvement on the line.

MW: If anyone ever wondered about the impact of good O-Line play, look no further than Mankato last year right?

Coach OJ: Very much so. Makes for a long game, playing that football team. I didn't think we played poorly against them, they just played better and we couldn't get them off the field. They made some mistakes, we did too. Their offensive line really set the tempo in football games last year.

MW: I mentioned Caden Quintanilla earlier, speaking of him and his recruiting class, it was pretty big group of 30 plus guys. Who are some names that are starting to break through sooner than later from that group?

Coach OJ: Those kids were all red-shirted except for Trevor Naasz (DB) and he saw significant time last year for us and he's another one of those guys who will have a direct impact on our success this year. Kirby Hora (LB) from Roosevelt HS here in Sioux Falls will get plenty of chances to make plays on Special Teams and will be competing at Linebacker. Some of the younger Defensive Lineman in that class, someone's got to be ready to step up. We lose a player the caliber of Jake Lee and a host of others upfront, so we will need guys to step up right away. As a staff we were just commenting yesterday, we are going to be young in the front.

On the offensive side of the ball obviously Caden. On the line we have Cody Rofshus from that class that can play 3 different spots and has handled it extremely well. Paul Herbes (OL) from Minnetonka will also be ready to go. Montrell Moore (WR) is another guy who's physically ready.

MW: With some of the losses you have at Linebacker with guys like Skelly and Kirby, guys who were difference-makers, is it safe to say the defensive side is a greater concern coming into this season?

Coach OJ: Honestly, I don't worry about it. I think we are pretty balanced. I think our young kids who will be coming in will be ready but unproven. We are probably a more athletic team coming into the year. Just athleticism. Now experience, you bet. That's the difference. That's where coaching comes in. Athletically I feel extremely good about our football team. Our back half is as good as it's been in a long time. That helps us. Our new faces are hungry. We realize you don't replace guys like Jake Lee, Ben Skelly, and Nate Kirby just like that. Those guys had a lot of snaps behind them. But we have guys like Brandon Mohr in the middle and he's a great leader. Our front four is the area where we need guys to most step up.

MW: You mentioned Brandon Mohr as a leader. Who else do you see as the leaders in the locker room for this squad?


(CJ Ham, Brian Long, Coach OJ, Chad Curry, Brandon Mohr) Photo Courtesy of Jon Klemme

Coach OJ: First off, Brandon Mohr is a prime example of what we expect with our leadership on this football team. We have multiple guys who I've been waiting to see step up as leaders with our football team. My concern has not been with the defensive leadership of this football team. Our newer offensive leaders I'm seeing our guys like Matt Heller and Charlie Hayes. Guys who are becoming vocal leaders. Trey Heid now has success behind him now, he's shown how to walk the walk. Guys like Sam Lee and Brian Long at center are both guys who lead by example. Guys who aren't afraid to call someone out if they aren't doing things the right way. CJ Ham, is a fantastic leader for not just our football team but on this campus. People look up to CJ and want to be like him. Those are the type of guys who I see leading us. Some of younger guys are natural leaders, like Trevor Naasz.

MW: Taking a look at your schedule earlier, it would seem that one could make a case that Augustana will be favorites to win its first 5 games and come into Mankato at 5-0. I know you don't want to hear me say that, but when you look at the schedule is it hard not to get ahead of yourself?

Coach OJ: We do not get ahead of things. We are a 1 and 0 football team. We don't need to look back too far to see times when we should've won games and did not. In this league you need to be ready for your weekly opponent or you will lose that game. Our thoughts with this football team are to be hungry but be humble. As young as we are, we won't get ahead of ourselves.

Bemidji (Week 1) will be better than they were last year. Jeff will have them ready to go. I can guarantee that St. Cloud will be back. Last year they had new coordinators on both sides of the ball. They will get it dialed in for this year, great players and coaches. I would've loved to play those teams last year because they will both be better. Moorhead will be better and they've recruited heavily towards their defense to go with that great offense. We will get to Mankato when they are on the schedule and I'm excited about that opportunity when it does present itself. We are a better football team than when we went there 2 years ago, I can tell you that.

MW: When a D2 fan takes a glance at the different power rankings that are out there online, Augustana gets looked at in a very favorable light due to your ability to compete against some of the teams that are near the top (Mankato, UMD, USF). Last year you end up at 6-5, and it felt you were more like an 8-3 type of team. You lose at Upper Iowa in a very close game but you are playing a backup quarterback. The real letdown game in the eyes of most is the poor showing at Concordia. The question then becomes how do the Vikings get themselves from a 6-5 team to an 8-3 or 9-2 type squad?

Coach OJ: First off, great question. Agree 100% with the comments. I think Bennett Rank had it exactly right (10th ranked overall). They did a good job of laying that out, if we had played other teams. The bad part is at the end of the day it's all about an L or a W. My most disappointing game by far last year was Concordia. I didn't think we competed very well, I didn't think we played very hard. We bounced back well though against Southwest and finished well.

Basically, we need to finish. One possession different in many of those games. Finish is our key word this year in games, drills, homework, and everything you do in life. Secondly, don't hope to win but instead expect to win. That's tough for a young football team, but we are recruiting a lot of state champion and all-state type football players who've had success. We need to expect success.