Leadership, accountability main offseason focus for Marquette

During the Marquette football team’s 7-on-7 scrimmage with La Salle-Peru last week, the words leadership and accountability were talked about a lot when asking about the main focus of Crusaders’ summer workouts.

“My biggest goal for this season is to be the best leader I can be,” senior three-year starting quarterback/linebacker Anthony Couch said. “That’s not only on the football field, but also the school and my community.”

Fellow senior Grant Dose had the same thoughts on his mind.

“I want to be a leader,” said Dose, a returning starter at running back and linebacker. “Without a strong core of leadership, a team has no bond. We have to be a team that every one of us is playing for everyone else, and in that we have to have guys that are going to lead that effort. I want to be one of those guys.”

First-year head coach Ken Carlson said the program has adopted a competition to help with that leadership growth.

“Our main focus has been about accountability,” Carlson said. ”We have drafted four teams with four senior captains for each of those teams [in our] Relentless Effort League, where they get points for attendance, personal records in the weight room and speed training. It’s been going really well."

Couch said being a leader can be tough at times.

“Sometimes you have to get on a teammate a little,” Couch said. “It’s mainly getting on them because you know they have more to give. You believe in them, and you want them to be the best they can be. It’s been a fun competition so far and one that I think everyone is taking pride in.”

“It’s been a great motivator for sure,” Dose said. “You want your team to win the competition, so the harder you work the more points your team gets. It’s been a great tool for all of us to stay accountable.”

When asked about goals he set for himself in the offseason, Couch said for him it was just working to be a better all-around player.

“I hate the feeling of losing, so I want to do what I can to help all of us not have that feeling,” Couch said. “We have a few new things we are going to be doing on offense, so while I’m just working to do the things we have already done in the past better, I’m also working on picking up the newer things as well.”

For Dose, the goal is to make more of an impact on the defensive side of the ball.

“I felt like I did a good job of getting to the ball to make tackles, but my goal this year is to do that again and also look to make strips and cause fumbles,” Dose said. “I want to make the other team’s running back have that thought in their mind that not only am I going to get hit hard but also worry about hanging onto the ball. I want to make bigger plays this season, momentum-switching plays.”

Marquette, which finished 6-5 overall last season and made the playoffs for the 12th straight campaign, opens the 2025 slate Aug. 29 on the road against Aurora Christian, a team it dropped a 24-19 decision to in 2024.

The Crusaders will then host Madison, hit the road at Edgar, Wisconsin, and Dwight, before hosting St. Bede and Seneca.

The final three weeks of the regular season will be at Elmwood/Brimfield, at home against Knoxville and at Morrison.

“We still have a lot more to work on, obviously, but [the 7-on-7 with L-P] was good for us,” Carlson said. “Our workouts this summer have been mainly working on the fundamentals and being relentless in everything we do.

“We have some new things we are going to try and do on both sides of the ball, and I like what I’ve seen so far on how the guys are adapting to them.”