2020 Team Preview: Princeton Tigers

PRINCETON-- Prep Redzone Minnesota said it best today on Twitter when they said it was #TeamPreviewSzn as I started my team preview trail just 30 minutes north of home last night. The Princeton Tigers were right at 500. last season at 5-5 after ending their season to the Becker Bulldogs. Princeton graduated 16 starters from last year’s roster including ranked Class of 2020 WR Colton Malecha Colton Malecha 6'1" | 180 lbs | WR Princeton | 2020 State MN  who after committing to St. Cloud State, had to recommit to the Defenders of Dordt University in northwestern Iowa. This year’s Princeton team has to overcome a lot of lost starters, but these "underdogs" look to compete at the highest level they can in the 2020 season. College Football Talent from the Tigers We will start off with three names from the Pizza Barn trio. if you’ve ever been to Princeton you will understand what I am talking about as our first three prospects all work at the famous Princeton pizza place when they aren’t playing football for the Tigers. What do pizza and the Princeton Tigers have in common? They play an annual game with Milaca each year and call it the Pizza Bowl, as Milaca is home to Heggie’s Pizza and Princeton is home to the notorious Pizza Barn. That is a football rivalry I can relate to! Thomas Rush, LB/TE (2021) We got a chance to interview Thomas Rush back in March for his recruiting report that I wrote in the link below. Since then he has generated mostly Division III interest including strong interest from Valley City State University in Valley City, North Dakota. Rush has a strong motor and although not the biggest linebacker you are going to see, has good vision in getting to the backfield and can bring the heat at the quarterback if you don’t have a block on him. Thomas Rush Recruiting Report Junior Tape from Thomas Rush  Ben Westling Ben Westling OL Princeton | 2021 State MN , DT/OT (2021) Westling, a 6’3 285 pound is another motor player from Ryan Fay’s bunch of Princeton Tigers. When you watch Westling on both sides of the line he shows off a burst of speed that you may not expect from someone of his size. Westling will be playing on both sides of the football, even though a position switch moved him to defensive tackle last for the first time for him since grade school but the Tigers only are returning 2 offensive linemen from last year’s team and have put in a new offseason for multiple years starting QB Ben Arseneau who we will talk about more in the coming minutes. Westling is currently entertaining interest from the likes of Division II from Sioux Falls and MSU-Moorhead, and Division III from UW-River Falls and the Concordia Cobbers in Moorhead in which they like also like his quickness as we do at PRZ Minnesota. Westling was an All-District performer last year also for the Tigers. Ben Westling Ben Westling OL Princeton | 2021 State MN Recruiting Report Ben Westling Ben Westling OL Princeton | 2021 State MN Junior Tape Haydn Stay Haydn Stay 6'4" | 220 lbs | ATH Princeton | 2022 State MN , OLB/TE (2022) Stay has to be one of the most intriguing prospects to come thru this Tigers program in a while. Stay, a top 10 prospect in our Class of 2022 rankings is built like a Dodge truck, like a rock. Standing at 6’4, he looks like he got even bigger from the 220 pounds from when I watched him last season against Big Lake where he was listed as of one my "Big Dogs of the Week" in last year’s section game. Stay as a tight end has glue hands and runs like a versatile wide receiver when you get him the football which should draw the Tigers to throw the football more this. At linebacker, he can just lay the wood as a tackler and if you leave him unblocked, let’s just say you are going to have problems all night. Stay going into his junior year is already a two-year starter, two-time all-District as just as 16-17 year old. Stay, unlike most kids that live on Twitter and post every offer and interest possible, he has a Twitter but isn’t extremely active like some. I would be in pure shock if Stay isn’t getting Division I interest, as with some development he could be also an elusive defensive end for some lucky Division I program that takes the 55-minute drive out of Minneapolis to watch him and the Tigers in 2020. Haydn Stay Haydn Stay 6'4" | 220 lbs | ATH Princeton | 2022 State MN Sophomore Tape Ben Arseneau, QB (2021) Arneseau, played in mostly a rushing offense last season for the Princeton Tigers which will change this season. Another prospect that could end up with some college football opportunities because he has good arm strength from what I saw yesterday and is a 6’5 215-pound quarterback that has decent mobility as well. Unfortunately no individual football film available for Arenseau but he does have some game film below. Arneseau versus Little Falls Summarizing the Tigers in One Word While interviewing Thomas Rush, Ben Westling Ben Westling OL Princeton | 2021 State MN , and Haydn Stay Haydn Stay 6'4" | 220 lbs | ATH Princeton | 2022 State MN , they all had very different answers when describing their fellow Tigers teammates. "Underdogs, a lot of new guys, but I think we can impress people too," Rush said in his summary about Princeton football this year as a whole. Westling used "athletic" as his word to describe the Tigers, which certainly checks out from watching various drills from their practice on Wednesday. As for Stay, he called Princeton "persistent" in his summary of the Tigers. A Strange Offseason Just like other programs in the state, Princeton’s offseason has been a strange one. With not being able to go to the high school weight room to work out in the last few months, this Tigers team had to find other options to keep their football bodies in check. "A few of my buddies have a weight room in their house and I’ve gone over there and lifted and done some agility work," said Haydn Stay Haydn Stay 6'4" | 220 lbs | ATH Princeton | 2022 State MN about his unique offseason work out plan. Rush had more of a focus on "speed and agility" with his workouts this offseason. As for Westling, his response was very similar to Stays’, as he too has worked out at friend’s houses versus the usual Tigers weight room this offseason. Filling in the Gaps With only having two returning offensive linemen, Westling said it was the "offensive line," that was filling one of the biggest gaps into next season. As for Stay, he said the running back position will be a question mark, as the Tigers will replace their main man at running back in Cole Carlson and it will be up to Jake Whitcomb and others to carry the load for the Tigers this season. Biggest Must Watch Games For Princeton Week 1-3 are tested and checked out to be the biggest games on Princeton’s schedule next season as they have a very tough first three games: WEEK 1: at Annandale, Friday, September 4th, 7 PM Princeton will get a date with one of the most massive lines in the state in Week 1 when traveling to Annandale to play against Minnesota commit Logan Purcell Logan Purcell 6'7" | OL Annandale | 2021 State MN , Drew Conte Drew Conte OL Annandale | 2021 State MN , Isaac Hagstrom Isaac Hagstrom 6'5" | OL Annandale | 2021 State MN , and others. WEEK 2: at Milaca (Pizza Bowl), Friday, September 11th, 7 PM Right away in Week 2, we will get to see  Ben Westling Ben Westling OL Princeton | 2021 State MN go after it against the Milaca Monster and Sioux Falls commit  Jack Olson Jack Olson 6'4" | OL Milaca | 2021 State MN in the battle of who has the better team and better pizza in Minnesota. WEEK 3: home vs. Dassel-Cokato, Friday, September 18th, 7 PM Can you stay a battle of Minnesota’s top Class of 2022 prospects? Haydn Stay Haydn Stay 6'4" | 220 lbs | ATH Princeton | 2022 State MN vs. Eli Gillman Eli Gillman 6'0" | 195 lbs | ATH Dassel-Cokato | 2022 State MN looks to be my game I need to attend in Week 3 in Princeton. The Chargers are coming off as state runner ups in Minneapolis in 2019 and look to be competitive again this season. Plus they have another Gillman coming up the ranks at DC, in 2024 prospect Monte Gillman who is a kid with some hops! WEEK 5: home vs. Zimmerman, Friday, October 2nd, 7 PM I don’t think anyone has ever given a name on this game yet so I’m going to start one. Let’s call this one the "Battle of 169" as these two towns separate each other by 10 minutes on Highway 169, and Zimmerman finished 7-2 last season and will look a lot different without 6’6 St. Thomas commit Carter McEachern at QB1. Princeton Tigers Football on Hudl Go Tigers!