Review, fundamentals at forefront as Marquette begins football camp

The Marquette football team began its initial week of summer camp Monday evening on the practice field just west of Gould Stadium.

Crusaders veteran head coach Tom Jobst said this year’s camp is much different than last year in which the graduation of a number of players meant a rather young and inexperienced group.

“We have more experience coming back this season than we had to start last season for sure,” said Jobst, who has complied a 107-39 record in 15 seasons at Marquette. “We have our quarterback, an end, a couple guards, a halfback, and a couple other guys that saw time at running back returning. We feel, as far as guys that have playing experience, we are in a better situation than this time last year when we had so many young players.”

“The kids have also done an excellent job in the weight room since the start of the year. We’ve had a really good offseason and a great summer so far. We have a lot of guys who are pretty strong. ... I feel like we are a pretty balanced team in that regard. Like in years past, we have really good leadership from our seniors.”

Marquette finished 7-3 overall, (6-1, second place in the Chicagoland Prairie Conference) in 2023 and earned an 11th consecutive trip to the IHSA playoffs, losing in the Class 1A first round to Forreston.

“It has become the expectation here, and that’s not a bad thing at all,” Jobst said of reaching the postseason every fall. “Each offseason and season the kids here work toward that goal because it’s expected of them, and they expect it from themselves. It’s not easy to make the playoffs. It’s a long season.”

The Crusaders will, like in the past under Jobst, feature the buck sweep, the belly, the jet and the trap in the wing-T offense. They also will have a few plays designed to keep teams off-balance away from the core offense. Jobst’s defense will be one that flies around and is aggressive.

“We had them last year, and will again this year, different offensive wrinkles we will have outside our main plays,” Jobst said. “We are a wing-T football team, but we also want to have some other things we can go to if we feel they can be successful. From year to year, as a coach, you are always looking at the talents your players have and there are times those talents allow you to do a little more or a little less.”

Jobst said how he handles and what he hopes to accomplish in summer camp has changed over the past few years.

“The last few years we’ve done less when it comes to summer camp, and I don’t think it has hurt us,” Jobst said. “We used to come out here and maybe do too much, and go too hard. Now we come out here for two weeks, and it’s more review, fundamentals and just for the kids to get a feel for how practices will be when they officially start. We just want the guys to be ready as far as knowing the plays and being fundamentally sound so we can just get at it.

“Like other schools many of the kids have baseball stuff, basketball stuff and jobs. We want kids to have an enjoyable, fun summer. I don’t want them spending all their time down here with me. We want to get some things accomplished in our camp, but we also want to give kids the opportunity to enjoy the summer months away from school.”

Marquette opens the regular season Aug. 30 hosting Aurora Christian.