The Tech Tigers will have many new faces when they take the field in Collegeville for their season opener against Apollo on August 31st, including a new head coach in Jon Benson.  The Tigers will lose 19 seniors from last year’s 8-3 team.

Benson previously served as defensive coordinator under coach Gregg Martig. He says that being around the younger players in that role should give them an idea of what to expect under his tutelage.

“We have a lot of new kids,” Benson said. “These guys know my style, that I am a high-energy guy and the kids know what the expectation is, that we are going to fly around a lot and be physical.”

Senior safety Matt Schmitt says he is really looking forward to playing for Benson as head coach.

“We are all really excited for him to be head coach,” Schmitt said. “We will do anything for him, and we know he will do anything for us so I am really excited for him.”

Despite losing a bevy of players to graduation, including standouts Brevyn Spann-Ford, James Kaczor and Trent Meyer, the Tigers do return a handful of players at key positions. One of those players is quarterback Nate Trewick, who will be entering his junior season.

“I worked with (the younger players) a lot my freshman year,” Trewick said. “We also threw a bunch this summer so we should be all right… we will be good.”

Trewick says that adjusting to the new coach shouldn’t be an issue.

“We will be doing about the same thing as we did with coach Martig,” Trewick said. “Benson has been around, he doesn’t do a ton with the offense, but he will come over and give us some ideas.”

Senior linebacker Drew Kiffmeyer says that while there may not be a ton of seniors on this year’s team, there is an exciting crop of juniors who gained experience last season as sophomores.

“We have a lot of juniors coming back that started last season,” Kiffmeyer said. “Isaiah Green, Kedrik (Osuorah) and Nate Trewick will be a good contribution to the team.”

Benson says that he is looking forward to seeing his young team improve as the season goes on.

“We have a very strong football team and our kids have been working their butts off in the weight room,” Benson said. “We lose a lot of big, high-impact guys from last year’s squad but I think people will be surprised.

“We expect to start with all cylinders firing, but no matter how we start we will be a much better team in October than we were in September,” Benson said.

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