UNI's Mark Farley anxious to get football season started

CEDAR FALLS — With five new coaches on staff and two more to be hired, the Northern Iowa football staff is playing catch up with their student-athletes.

However, potentially working in the staff's favor are new NCAA rules that prohibit two-a-day practices that have moved up the report date for fall camps across the country. The Panthers begin practice Wednesday, the earliest any team has ever convened in Cedar Falls for fall camp.

'The camp is critical this year just because the players are probably more prepared today than the coaches are,' said head coach Mark Farley during the Missouri Valley Football Conference's Tuesday teleconference. 'I say that because the coaches are adapting and adjusting to each other. Our players have been here, they know our system, they know how we operate, they know what the expectations and the standards are. (The) coaches are learning that. That connection, player (and) coach, I think needs to be developed as much as Eli (Dunne) needs to be developed as we go through camp.'

Five of the Panthers' six losses last season were by six points or less, four by four points or less. So, with Dunne set to begin his first season as the starter at quarterback — he started the last five games of the 2016 season — this year's fall camp is an important one for the quarterback position for a different reason than it has been in recent seasons.

'Eli needs consistency,' Farley said. 'Eli needs a pattern of growth that you get a continuation of where he starts and where he's going to finish.

'You can't have the valleys, the highs and lows. His development is critical to success — as is every player on this team — but he runs your offense. So you want him to be as comfortable as he can, as confident as he can, as quickly as he can. You just have to take a path and have a plan and stick to that plan. So that he can develop in a way that gets him where he needs to be by the time we're in the meat of this season.'

Part of Dunne's development as the starter will hinge on the protection his offensive line can provide. Dunne's play last season had those highs and lows Farley mentioned, as did the Northern Iowa offensive line as it transitioned from blocking for a scrambling quarterback in Aaron Bailey to the pocket-passing Dunne. Offensive tackle Bryce Sweeney, an all-MVFC offensive lineman in 2015, is set to return to the starting lineup after missing all of 2016 with a back injury, a boost the Panthers will most certainly need after hearing their head coach say multiple times last season the offensive line needed to play better.

'Offensive line has to get better,' Farley said. 'It's great to have (Sweeney back). You get him back so you feel a little more confident in the possibility.

'When you look at our offensive line you better have seven starters, and you better have 10 players. Because that's what you're going to need to get through a season with the type of league we play in. We need to create a whole unit, not just one or two guys, and then they have to have the ability to play to the standard we expect at UNI. I don't think we've played to that standard the last few years.'

Running back battle

After the graduation of Tyvis Smith and Michael Malloy, the running back position seems set for a classic fall camp position battle.

But Monday's all-MVFC preseason team listed sophomore running back Trevor Allen as an honorable mention.

Does Allen have a leg up on senior J'Veyon Browning and junior Marcus Weymiller?

'It just identifies that (preseason teams) mean nothing,' Farley said. 'I can't identify a kid with one carry if he's any good. I don't know how anybody else can and I'm with him everyday. I know this; he's a talented young man, and I hope that's a great standard and an expectation for him to live (up to).

'But he's going to have to work toward that everyday, as is everybody else.'

MVFC preseason poll

1.

North Dakota State

380 points, 21 first-place votes

380 points, 21 first-place votes

Last year: 12-2 (7-1 MVFC), FCS semifinals

 

2.

South Dakota State

379 points, 19 first-place votes

379 points, 19 first-place votes

Last year: 9-4 (7-1 MVFC), FCS quarterfinals

 

3.

Youngstown State

290 points

290 points

Last week: 12-4 (6-2 MVFC), FCS runner-up

 

4.

Northern Iowa

255 points

255 points

Last year: 5-6 (4-4 MVFC)

 

5.

Illinois State

246 points

246 points

Last year: 6-6 (4-4 MVFC), FCS first round

 

6.

Western Illinois

188 points

188 points

Last year: 6-5 (3-5 MVFC)

 

7.

South Dakota

182 points

182 points

Last year: 4-7 (3-5 MVFC)

 

8.

Southern Illinois

132 points

132 points

Last year: 4-7 (2-6)

 

9.

Missouri State

81 points

81 points

Last year: 4-7 (2-6 MVFC)

 

10.

Indiana State

67 points

67 points

Last year: 4-7 (2-6 MVFC)