ADM’s football team and coaching staff continues to distance itself from the season that ended a couple weeks ago now, but that doesn’t mean accepting that it’s the offseason is an easy task.

Offensive coordinator Steve Stanley says letting go of the season that was is always difficult, and he reflects on his team’s 2013 campaign.

“Even it was a 4-6 (season), hopefully they can look back and I said this a few times throughout the season… you’re going to look back on this, you might not think about it now but in whatever 10 or 20 years or 30 years, hopefully they can remember the great things that we did.  As a coach, I can worry about the things to get better (at), the difficult times and the things we didn’t do well.  They shouldn’t have that burden on their shoulders.”

Stanley, like just about everybody in the ADM community, noted the miraculous Creston win as the highlight of the season.  Stanley was also quick to praise captain Tate Jensen as the leader on his offense who always drove his teammates to get better, and he’ll leave huge shoes to fill.

“Tate Jensen is probably one of the best receivers that ADM’s ever had, and with that being said, his attitude is just… You don’t have to look and see if he’s doing the little things to get better, he just does everything the right way.  He’s going to be missed a lot, not even as an athlete but as a leader and just a kid that you like seeing around.”

As ADM looks to replace Jensen’s high level of production for next season, there are other areas where the Tigers need to get better if they want to make a deeper playoff run.  Stanley says his biggest key moving forward–improving the strength and blocking ability of the offensive line.