GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — “I don’t feel any more pressure just from being back to back national champs. Because that’s all in the past,” said Ferris State Head Coach Tony Annese.
The 2023 football season is just days away and kicked off with GLIAC media day in Grand Rapids on Monday. Ferris State, the reigning two time national champs say there’s no pressure for them to go for three.
“Me personally, I say no. But I can’t speak for everyone. If I did feel pressure I love pressure. So yeah,” said Grandville alumni Ian Hall.
“Pressure is always going to be pressure so. Pressure makes diamonds.
The Bulldogs may have won the natty, but they didn’t win the GLIAC. Grand Valley State was represented by new Head Coach Scott Wooster who says their three point quarterfinal loss to Ferris makes them hungry to get better in 2023.
“It makes you want to get back out there and do it again. You want to get back and go again. There’s a sense of urgency but the bitterness, no.
“You see that game, you watch that game over and over again. You see a couple plays, a couple game changing plays that could be made. You want to do things a little differently but it doesn’t really change that much because every year is a new year. Every game is a new game. Every day is a new day. So you just attack it the same way that you’ve been attacking it and put your best foot forward to continue on with it,” said Abe Swanson.
Jumping from last to third in the coaches pre-season poll was Davenport. The Panthers also earned 1 first place vote. They made the playoffs for the first time ever last year and accomplished much more than Head Coach Sparky McEwen thought they could’ve.
“It was one of those deals where we knew we had some veterans returning but you just don’t know how well and how fast those guys were going to bond. But any time you have talent you have a shot so therefore we leaned on our talent and it got us through. And it was a successful year for us,” said Sparky McEwen.
Fall camp for these three West Michigan teams starts next Monday, with their first games kicking off in just four weeks.
