Coach Dan Mettlach spent much of the day directing children around the floor, between various stations, which gave each child a chance to try their hand at drills for several different positions.

For him, and for the team, the camp was a great opportunity to connect with the community.

“It’s an awesome opportunity, not only for us to get some of the local youth on campus around our program, but it’s a great experience for our guys that are on our team to mingle with some of the kids that they probably don’t get to see a whole lot,” he said. “(We can) also give back a little bit to these families that are coming to our games on Saturdays. It’s a great opportunity for our team.”

For players like quarterback Alex Fries, who earned the starting job last season, the camp reminds him of his experiences as a child.

Michigan Tech coach Dan Mettlach directs kids to their station during the Huskies’ youth football camp Saturday at the SDC Multipurpose Room in Houghton. (Daver Karnosky/Daily Mining Gazette)

“It’s awesome,” he said. “It reminds me of when I was young, doing these camps back downstate. Just fun, seeing all the guys, all the kids, so excited to be here, especially on a Saturday afternoon in early March.”

For Fries, the camp was an opportunity to help make sure that he holds himself to the standards that Mettlach sets for the football program.

“I think just all goes back to Coach Mettlach and what he’s been teaching us, we want to leave this place better than what we found it,” Fries said. “So, that’s just part of the process. All these guys that are out here helping really enjoy it, too, because 10-15 years ago, we were in the same spot as these kids. So, it’s pretty cool to see.”

Mettlach knows that his players were once in the same position as the children they were interacting with Saturday.

“All these kids ourselves were in this spot at one point when we were younger, and looking up to the college athletes,” he said. “It’s a cool thing for the older guys, knowing that they were there not too long ago, and had to go through it themselves. So, our guys have fun with it.

“I think the kids have fun with it. They obviously have a lot more fun being with the college kids than they do the coaches. We give our guys a chance to coach the drills, and it’s good for everybody.”

Camp attendees had a chance to see how the Huskies open practice, what types of stretches they use to first get warmed up, and then they moved on from those to position drills, where players who play a given position, like wide receiver Nick Nora, worked with them to run specific patterns before throwing them a pass.

Fries said that the kids love getting that chance to talk to the Huskies while also learning from them.

“They love it,” he said. “They love to talk about their favorite pro sports teams or college teams, too. We like to poke fun at just like the rivalry we have with Northern Michigan, too, because some of these guys are from the surrounding area.”

Over the course of the day, the players get a chance to find out about what excitement there is in the area for the sport they love.

“It’s cool to see how they feel about football, because some of these guys aren’t playing yet, but they’re playing other sports,” said Fries. “It’s good to see the kids.”

With spring practice having started Tuesday, the Huskies’ players are focused on building their own skills while also working on securing starting roles by the time the August comes around, so Saturday was a chance for them to have a little more fun before they have to bear down.

“I’m very excited for spring ball, regardless, but it’s good to see the kids just move around,” Fries said. “We’ve been doing quite a bit of workouts, trying to get us prepared, so now it’s good to take a little, I guess, a weekend off, spend some time with the community, before we springboard (into our own practices).”

With the new friendships made Saturday, Fries and his teammates hope they have made new friends for life in the camp attendees.

“Hopefully, we’ll see these guys at some of the games during the fall,” he said. “We have, I think, six home games, which will be cool. Hopefully they’ll come out and support us just for making little relationships with these guys right now.”

The culture in the Huskies’ locker room is very positive, and that gives players like Fries a lot of excitement to see what this coming season holds.

“You can never be satisfied with where you are, whether that’s in the weight room, or on the field,” he said. “I think our team has such a good culture where we want to get better each day, which is going to push us to, hopefully, win some more games this fall.”

Fries learned a lot from last season, so he, like his teammates, is excited to put those lessons to work.

“Confidence is high,” he said. “I think I had some great experience, just some learning curves from last fall, but man, I can’t wait to play again. I’m so excited for this season.”