Cougars football resumes workouts

With just 60 days to go before the Nikolas Blume era of Niwot football kicks off, the first-year head coach expected to be well on his way to implementing the rebuilding project he was hired to undertake back in February. Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic made a hash of those plans, and so it wasn't until last week that Coach Blume was able to watch his players in action for the first time. So far, he's been pleased with what he's seen, but there's no denying that the long layoff has taken its toll on the Cougar football program and its hopes for a new beginning.

"We had the meet and greet, I met with the [incoming] seniors, and we talked about what spring football was going to look like as far as getting together, and we had some leadership courses planned," Blume said about his plans for spring 2020. "And then Covid happened pretty quickly, and we didn't get to spend a lot of time together and had to put that stuff on the back burner. I think that's been the biggest struggle for myself and the staff-we should have had a lot of time by now to be building relationships already. Our culture is 100% based on being a highly relational environment, and every coach wants to get to know their kids, and we all want to get to know the whole team together. Covid really put a stranglehold on that."

Blume and the football team finally held their first in-person workouts during the week of June 15th, under new safety guidelines released by St. Vrain Valley Schools earlier this month. For now, practice is limited to two 90-minute sessions a week, with part of that time reserved for temperature screenings and entering and exiting the field. There are also restrictions on group size and mandatory face coverings when six feet of "social distance" can't be maintained, a rule Blume and other coaches have questioned.

"Working through the mask situation has been a little difficult," Blume said. "I just don't think it's understood that high intensity exercise with those things on is, really, in our opinion, pretty unsafe. We're doing everything we can to follow the guidelines placed in front of us, and give the kids a break here and there when they need it."

Referring to the first week as "transitional," Blume said the early focus has been on conditioning and getting players into camp. Attendance averaged around 30 players, a number the coach expects to see grow as word spreads about the new schedule.

"We're just trying to ease our way back into it," he said. "Even if they've been training on their own, it's a little different when you have a coach after you, and they've all admitted it's been a challenge to get back into it full-tilt."

Assisting Blume this season is Matt Martz, who will serve as associate head coach and offensive coordinator. Martz was formerly an assistant at Prospect Ridge and Northglenn, and Blume said he will be a good fit for the Cougars. Coming with him is John Seidel, an experienced special teams coach who stays in his lane, according to Blume.

"John's a great special teams guy, and that's hard to find because special teams is a stepping stone usually, to try and become an offensive or defensive coordinator," Blume said. "But John just has a ton of energy for special teams. He loves it, it's his focus, and so I feel blessed to find a guy who wants that to be his job full-time."

Blume is also excited about assistant Ryan Younggreen, who has previously worked with Niwot track coach Mo Henriques and his Real Training club. Younggreen is a former multi-sport athlete from Holy Family High School, who won back to back state championships in 110-meter hurdles in 2014 and 2015.

"Ryan was a great prep standout at Holy Family as a running back and as a cornerback, then he ran hurdles at Ohio State and was at Wyoming for a while," Blume said. "He's a young guy with a lot of knowledge, and the kids loved him right out of the gate, just because he's been on the big stage at a big-time level, and he can explain to them what it's like to be an athlete at that level. He brings a lot of good stuff to the table."

Also joining Blume's staff for the upcoming season are Niwot High staff members Scott Thomas (phys. ed.) and NHS alum La'Mar West (campus supervisor), as well as wide receivers coach Shane Tow, the only coach left from the 2019-20 season.

The team will be practicing offense on Tuesdays and defense on Thursdays, and players are expected to attend both, even if they don't have experience on one side of the ball or the other. Blume is hopeful that restrictions will be further eased in the coming weeks, giving players even more chance to find the right spot.

"In our system, with our coaches, we focus on kids playing an offensive position and a defensive position," Blume said. "That's not something they're used to either, really, so we're just encouraging them to pick a side, and we'll help them find their place here as we can be together more."

The prevailing health restrictions have limited the Cougars' chances to participate in college camps or even cross-town scrimmages before the upcoming season, so Blume and his staff plan to stay "focused on being together as our team through July and into August." The team is planning to launch a fundraiser later this summer, but Blume said it will be modest in size and scope.

"We'll set a decent sized goal, nothing outrageous. Because with the economy and the situation in the country, we're not going to pressure anybody. ...I think that's the best approach for this fall."

Among their needs are an end-zone camera and funding for upcoming events such as Senior Night and Huddle in Heels, a new initiative that "gives moms a chance to get plugged in with their sons and learn about the game." Blume is also introducing a teacher appreciation night, in hopes of promoting strong relationships between the players and the school.

"So, similar to senior night, each player picks a teacher or administrator who has been a massive influence in their career at Niwot over four years. They pick the person, and then we'll honor those individuals either before or at half-time of the second-to-last home game."

Blume is clearly confident that sports in general and football in particular will be allowed to proceed in the fall of 2020, though much is still unknown about the specifics. However, as more states allow their seasons to proceed, he said it will be hard for Colorado and CHSAA to stay on the sidelines, especially as the pandemic continues to subside statewide.

"I think July tells us a lot," Blume said. "Could the 'no spectator' thing be a possibility? On the extreme end of it, yeah, possibly, but, my personal belief is that there is no reason for us not to play, and there's no reason for us not to have fans."

Until then, he and his staff are looking forward to spending more time with their players and working to achieve some lofty goals.

"We're stoked to maybe make a shift in culture and see where it goes," he said. "We hope to get Niwot football, the program, back to a place where we're not only winning regularly but get football and the academics to match up. It's such an amazing place academically-can we get our football culture and program to a place that matches up with what the school accomplishes academically? That's the goal for this year."