ALLENTOWN, Pa. – After a three-year absence, Muhlenberg earned at at-large bid into the NCAA tournament last season. They won their first-round game against Union before getting trounced by Mount Union 49-7, a setback that didn’t sit well with the Cardinal and Grey in the offseason.
“It just showed us where the top was and showed us we had a lot more to climb,” sophomore defensive back Leo Dauberman said. “So, we were working hard, as hard as we could to get there.”
The summer gave the Mules ample time to recover and refocus on the task at hand.
“We put so much emphasis on getting there,” head coach Nate Milne said. “Then when we were there, we were kind of flying by the seat of our pants, a little bit on a week-to-week basis, from a health standpoint, from a schedule standpoint in almost every way. So, it really helped us focus this off-season on how to build a program.”
Junior quarterback Luke Spang takes over full-time duties from Dante Mahaffey this season and believes the experience they have returning will result in a boatload of points.
“It’s a lot more relaxed, I’d say this camp,” said Spang. “I think last camp it was a little tense in a quarterback battle. I’ve tried to relax a little bit more this camp and just take one play at a time and if an incompletion happens, it happens and just move onto the next play. And we’ve got a ton of guys coming back with experience. So, we all kind of know the plan and we all know the goal at the end of the season.”
The Mules added 35 freshmen to their roster this Fall, and many will be asked to contribute right away.
“We lost 22 seniors last year. So, we’re always looking to bring in more than we lost during that. These freshmen are very talented,” said Milne. “We’ll see some guys in the rotation early on, which is maybe a little bit unusual here at Muhlenberg College. But they’re acclimating very, very well to the football program here, how we do things and really we’re trying to put them in positions to succeed.”