Tommie football marches onto the field for scrimmage. The team held its annual spring game Saturday, May 10 at O’Shaughnessy Stadium. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest) 
UST has its toughest schedule of the Division I era in 2025. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest) 
Coach Glenn Caruso expressed surprise at how smoothly special teams went after difficulties throughout the season. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest)
St. Thomas football showed glimpses of promise during its intersquad spring game midday Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.
Promise is exactly what the team will need to not only fight for a top spot in the Pioneer League in 2025, but to be competitive in the tough bookends of the season.
“Tumultuous is not, does not define in any way– I mean, it’s tough. It’s as tough as it gets,” coach Glenn Caruso said.
The Tommies open by hosting Lindenwood, which has beaten UST 64-0 in 2024. They then play No. 8 Idaho. In the final game of the season, Caruso’s team takes on reigning Football Championship Subdivision national champion North Dakota State.
Kickoff is still over three months away, so the team celebrated its progress before the May breeze blowing through O’Shaughnessy Stadium turned into August heat rising off the turf.
The present and future of Tommie football came out for the spring showcase in front of friends and family.
“We had almost 25 of our recruits in the stands, and it was good to see them be able to watch the team that they’re going to be playing for come August,” Caruso said.
Even with a dinged and bruised roster, Caruso said that the team accomplished goals on both sides of the ball.
“We needed to be able to operate in a faster manner and distribute the ball quicker, and we did that. We were able to become more dynamic,” Caruso said, “ On defense we needed to build depth and we did both those two things … we had I think 12 or 13 starters that did not play today.”
Junior Michael Rostberg and Senior Amari Powell both got reps at quarterback throughout the two-hour scrimmage.
Caruso said he was surprised that special teams also went well for the Tommies, something that caused woes all season.
“We have not been smooth the last two scrimmages, and it actually went really smoothly from the kickoff and the punt reps, to the field goal, PAT,” Caruso said.
Caruso said that it will be tough to replace the players that graduated and transferred.
“When those guys leave, those are big shoes that have to be filled by someone else,” Caruso said.
The 2025 season kicks off Aug. 28 against Lindenwood at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.
Adam Mueller can be reached at muel7541@stthomas.edu.
