Program Profile: St. Anthony Village Huskies

This weekend, I had the chance to speak with Head Coach Todd Niklaus from the St. Anthony Village Huskies who has been the head coach for the Huskies since 2001. The Huskies are coming off a 6-3 season, and have a large amount of talent back this year to hopefully make another big push in 4A. Huskies Offense To start the St. Anthony Village offense, you have to start off with all conference wide receiver and offensive MVP, Troy Ellison. As a junior, Ellison gave quarterback James Wald an outstanding target to throw to week in and week out. With Wald graduated, Ellison will see a little more time at the quarterback position for the Huskies which with his speed, should be just as damaging as he was at wide receiver last year. Ellison currently holds one D2 offer from Bemidji State, and has recently attended camps at North Dakota State and Northern Iowa where he's played well. I definitively think he will be utilized in both capacities at receiver and quarterback. At tailback, the Huskies will be explosive with the return of Jonathan Kieran, who moved to St. Anthony Village from Collierville, TN a suburb of Memphis last year. Don't let his size at 5'9, 175 pounds fool you, Kieran just won a weight lifting competition and has a squat number of 500 pounds, which means this kid is getting stronger and stronger. Aside from strength, Kieran is pretty fast too, as he runs 4.5 40 yard speed, which will ramp up the tempo for the Huskies this year. What's even more dangerous about the Huskies and Kieran? They are returning 80% of their offensive line from last year, and the one that wasn't a starter, played a large amount of snaps last year. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="254"] Troy Ellison, St. Anthony Village. Hudl[/caption] Huskies Defense The Huskies will return all four defensive linemen upfront including Jeremiah Lucas and Jackson Mack who are your strength and power to their front line. Lucas has some great strength and really pushes upfront extremely well. Lucas is a two way player on offensive line as well, which gives the Huskies someone who understands both sides of the line with great sight. What I've seen on film from Mack, is his vision in between the tackles and knowing exactly where the ball carrier at all times. Similar to Lucas, Mack plays center on the offensive line as well. At middle linebacker, the Huskies will return freshman surprise standout Charlie Stoeckel as he gets ready for his sophomore season in the middle of that line-backing core. Stoeckel isn't huge, but his tackling ability is excellent and he has potential thru the roof for St. Anthony Village. Niklaus's Coaching Mentors When asking Niklaus about his coaching mentors in Minnesota football, he had two Minnesota Football Coaches Hall of Famers in his mind. Steve Fedie who coached Orono from 1980-2001, was first from his coaching mindset that stated "Remember this is someone's kid your coaching, treat them like they are your own" that quote has stuck with Niklaus throughout his time at St. Anthony Village. His second mentor is Merrill Pavlovich of Delano, who has coached the Delano Tigers since 1975, and is the 6th coach in Minnesota high school football history to surpass 300 wins in his career. Niklaus has worked hard on adapting Pavlovich's "tough" mentality his programs have brought for years to place it into the St. Anthony Village football landscape. Goals of the Huskies, 1-0 With such a large amount of players back from last year, St. Anthony Village obviously has one goal in mind, that is winning a section championship and a state title. On the other side of the coin, Coach Niklaus told me one thing that really stood out with the program. "1-0" he told me in everything we do. Whether that's in the classroom, on the football field winning by a ton or losing by a ton, the Huskies goal is to always go 1-0 on or off the football field. They carry the same aspect to practices and getting better, going 1-0 at every opportunity they can. Huskies Alumni Coming Back to Teach Coach Niklaus has been with the program for now, 18 years and he stated the best thing he's seen from Huskies alumni is their giving back to the community. In their Section game last year, he stated he had players from 16 of his last 18 seasons attended the game against Fridley. When you can build a culture like that where alumni want to come back and see how your program is doing, that means you're a building a strong program. He stated a player that has really donated his time recently is Josiah Johnson who plays college football at Wisconsin-Eau Claire and was a quarterback for the Huskies here recently. Offense, Defense, and Special Teams, No Brakes. Coach Niklaus stated to me that is very common in 4A that players play on both sides on the ball. "most play specials teams as well" he stated. The Huskies maintain a "foot on the gas" mentality and try to avoid "applying the brakes" on all sides of the field, which shows you what kind of work ethic this Huskies team always bring to the table every Friday night under the lights. The State of the St. Anthony Village Huskies "We're not-self promoters" Coach Niklaus told me. You know what you get when you play St. Anthony Village and that's tough a football team. Having a coach that has been around the program that Todd Niklaus has, I see no reason the Huskies can't compete for a 4AAAA title this year, especially with their non issue of not having many seniors leaving last year. You can follow the Huskies season on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/St-Anthony-Village-HS-Huskies-Football-146614345362525/ and on Twitter at @stafootball13.