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Legendary Hermantown football coach Mike Zagelmeyer on his team, top players and upcoming 2024 season: "I don't put a lot of stock in preseason hype, as there have been some years where I thought we could have been better than our record disclosed and vice versa. But I believe we will have a very competitive team this year, which, as always, will be led by our seniors.
The Northeast Red District will be competitive again this year, but any contender must go through North Branch. Until someone knocks them off, they are the team to beat.
I don't think a Hermantown team will ever be pass-happy as long as I am the coach. Coach (Greg) Aker (offensive coordinator) and I believe we need to be balanced on offense. I think we will have a strong run game to go along with our senior captain/quarterback Alex Schott in the passing game. He will be a third-year starter for us, which is truly unheard of for our program, and we will shoulder him with a lot this year. Whatever Hermantown record Alex doesn't own in the passing game, he should own by the end of the year.
I also look for big things from Mason Humphreys (captain-OL/DT), Aiden Adamski (FB/DE), Evan Senst (OL/DT), Kale Smith (CB/WR), Andre Morton and Michael Worthington (CB/WR).
Like every year, the beginning of camp is tremendously exciting. I look forward to seeing how the chemistry of this year's team comes together."
