all right well welcome to the first ever uh Viking press pass I'm Matthew niichel the voice of Augusta football and joining me today is Cole bardwall the quarterback for the Vikings so thanks for joining me Cole on this inaugural interview here oh of course I'm very excited very excited for it hey well just do a quick intro a little bit about yourself you know your major and your hometown and and a little bit about uh Cole yeah no so uh I'm Cole uh fifth year uh come came back for a fifth year this year um my major is accounting so uh that's the goal after this season and then um yeah no I mean just in I interned and stuff in this past spring so I kind of got a good feel of what I'm gonna be doing eventually for my job here in a couple of months um after the football season but uh but yeah like I said back for a fifth year can't wait um lucky to have the opportunity to come back for a fifth year honestly I know a lot of people you know down the road in life even from older people I've heard even my dad he said you know if he go back in time and play one more time he absolutely would and that's that's kind of the thoughts I've gotten from pretty much everybody is that if they could play one more snap they would and you know me being granted that extra season for a fifth year it it seemed like a no-brainer to me yeah absolutely and you know this is way the last year um you know kind of that Co year playing into effect and um yeah talk a little bit about how was your summer I mean you know I was talking to your dad at the uh Ambrose co-practice you know and it's like you you know you had a a full-time opportunity you know um you know if if you wanted it but obviously early last year you committed to the fifth year um so tell us a little bit about you know what did you do this summer and and what did you do from an internship perspective yeah no this summer uh so I guess we'll start off in the spring I I interned at a place out here in the Kat cities um for at tax position so I did a I did all sorts of taxes business returns personal returns stuff like that so um I got a good taste of what the accounting world is going to be like in terms of a tax position which is which is what I want to pursue um post this fifth year season um so I'll have a good idea of what I'm going to do in terms of an internship or from that internship uh for a job and then this summer it was really uh you know I I uh I worked I worked a lot this summer and uh I'm I'm gonna end up working for my neighbor who whom owns his own accounting firm so uh I'll be doing that this fall um you know in between class and stuff like that and then uh but no this summer was really like you know my my goal was to physically be in better shape and another main one was kind of adding adding the speed element to me that hasn't necessarily been there in the past I I think it's very clear knowing that me going on year guess three and a half of being the quarterback here I have been deemed as the pocket passer and I think I'm probably one of maybe two or three in the conference that are legit pocket passers that I'm not going to leave the pocket unless I absolutely need to and when I leave the pocket it's more going to be about throwing the ball away than it is trying to run so um that was really my main focus uh was you know get get a little stronger be able to you know take take some of those hits that I'm gonna end up having that I'm gonna end up taking this year um but mainly it was you know can can you know I'm not wanting to run a four you know I'm not gonna run a 44 now that I ran a little bit in the summer but you know if I can gain a few yards with my feet that's a few yards that we didn't have in previous season so that was really the main focus of this summer was you know adding that speed adding a little bit of strength and ultimately you know keeping my arm in shape and not necessarily just taking a two-month vacation in terms of growing yeah absolutely I mean anytime we can we can stretch those kind of you know broken plays into you know three four five yards um you know can be uh be tremendous so um now coming into you know your fifth year I mean what does that look like kind of balancing academics in football um that you didn't necessarily have you know last year yeah um you know last year last year being on a uh typical class because I don't have as many classes as all these others guy all these other guys do so you know it is uh I have a lot more free time for me um but you know being being in that fifth year position now um you know you your life is football now like that that is pretty much how I am right now is that my you know my my time is being spent doing football things it's either watching film or you know I could even be in the weight room you know on days that we're not supposed to but I have nothing else to I I don't if I got nothing else to do you know I can go lift I can go stretch I can go to the ATR um I can even be with Jones like um I know during some of my during the weeks now like you know on days I'll I'll be I'll just be in the meeting I'll be in doing fil with Jones um so so yeah that'll definitely uh big difference in being fifth year versus typical student you know lot more free time versus you know freshman sophomore Jr you're taking you know 16 18 credits and you're s you've got you know three classes on Monday Wednesday Friday and two on Tuesday and Thursday and you're sitting in class for an hour and a half so I mean as they're learning about whatever you know studying for tests my thing is is you know I'm solely focused on the opponent we're playing I don't need to worry about my chemistry test that I have next week so yeah definitely uh definitely a lot better in my opinion in terms of the academics and how I am with football right now well you can't you know you can ever be nervous going into a game because you know you feel like you're you have all the plenty of time to be prepared you know kind of moving forward I think a lot of times you know nerves comes from a lack of uh preparation so um so it' be interesting you know as we go into this year and and how that continues to kind of evolve and like you um you know Ruckus hunkins you know is another fifth year as well um so from a defensive perspective um he's also you know the captain for um the defense um hopefully continues to to put him in a in a good position right to you know with Tim swy gone on that end so um now we hosted a a scrimmage game um you know this past Saturday we had Loris come down um you know how did you feel about getting some you know some real time you know kind of game reps and and how overall did you feel like um that scrimmage went I thought it went really well um you know and that had really been the first time that this our whole offense had been together because we we do so many rotations during Camp you know like so for example I might be out there for four plays but those you know the the starting receivers may only be out there for two so then my next two reps are with the twos which is totally fine and then but when I when we make that rotation again after you know uh you know Crawley comes in and then Brown comes in and then Nick gu comes in for reps at quarterback when I eventually get back around I may not even have the ones or twos I might be with the you know I might have the our fourth re receiver our fourth group of receivers so really that that that scrimmage was the first time that we had been on the field together for a good amount of snaps and I thought we were I thought we were pretty successful in my opinion um you know we had score I think we scored three out of five drives um and even the two drives we didn't score it was easily fixable things very easy fixable things you know um you know either you know a bad throw which a bad throw can always be fixed or you know they just happen to run a blitz against a you know a pass protection that you know it's that's the only Blitz that they can run that can screw that play up and that's what they did so you know um but all in all I thought we had a great scrimmage offensively and defensively um all both all three phases of football played really well I know special teams we didn't have a whole lot because it was only there was no returns but um offense and defense phenomenal job uh I thought we played fast and ultimately I think the main thing was we played confident and um you know and it's also one of those things where we are coming off of success last year and our whole Focus was to forget about last year last year happened a but we got it's time to move on from last year and get off the high horse but at the same time you know it is hard to forget last year for how successful we were but the one thing I enjoyed was that we walked into that scrimmage with a whole lot of Swag that you know we were we were one of the top dogs last year in arguably the top conference in division three probably number two behind the wak and we we we were one of the top three teams so we walked in a lot of Swag of we were expecting to win that scrimmage not hoping to win that scrimmage and ultimately we came out successful so yeah I'm very very very happy with how that scrimmage went in in All Phases yeah I mean you know right out of the gate um you know one thing that um you guys committed to a lot more last year was being you know a lot more successful on on the Run um you know you had Tyler rellia last year than Mike dejoya you know um kind of backing him up and you know Mike dejoya is the the main guy you know coming into this year um and he popped off some big runs I mean um I thought he looked great um I thought we had great running Lanes um you know Josh Lim came in he got the um um I think he's the one that had the touchdown there as well um you know there's some of the route combinations I can see you know certainly you and Braden Smith you know had a lot of continuity you know coming over from last year since he's you know worked himself into the offense last year um especially after inarah you know went down injured um but Sean sancer nice job you know pushing the boundaries up there as well you know then a few others that are starting to you know Ethan Bray back you know as well starting to work themselves in so you know overall it felt like um you know we're at least in the the initial scrimmage right the the eye test we'll just put it to that felt like we didn't take a step back it felt like man we really continue to kind of move the ball forward a little bit um which is exciting so now without giving away any secrets I don't need Belle yelling at me um what can we expect to see you know from kind of the Vikings you know this year um I think if you take a look back the last couple of Seasons I think uh you know I think my junior year which would have been 2021 I think we were a um yeah sorry 2022 if you take a look back at fall of 2022 we were a very pass heavy team very very pass heavy and I think I think everybody from that team will probably tell you that is that we felt that we had to throw the ball to win the game and which was obviously fine by me I love throwing the ball but I think if you look back we we we threw the ball a whole lot more than we ran and we were stronger at that passing game than we were the running game if you take a look back at last fall we were a much stronger running team than we were a passing team um and you know it kind of flipped essentially from 2022 to 2023 and I would say in this year you can expect it to be a very very balanced offense I think that coming into this year we know that we can run the ball we know we can run the ball um and especially effectively with Mikey Lam Lim doesn't matter who's in the game um we're going to run the ball effectively and I think with how well we run the ball it will open the pass game kind of similar to how it did last year with our Run game being so successful that really did open up our pass game and I think and I also think this year it can also be vice versa I think our pass game can on days can be really well and that will open up our Run game so I I would say the big thing is that in terms of offensively um we'll be pretty balanced I think I think we'll have a good balance attack on whatever we choose to do and then defensively I mean I you just go I mean you can just see it on paper or our DBS or um you know even even Ruckus at you know that Sam linebacker spot that he'll be in coverage for a decent amount so you can kind of consider him like a nickel type DB um you know Hugh keeni in the middle um Ronde RS who's moved to Edge um so you know we've got a lot of experience coming back on that side of the ball and you know they're not quite as young as the offense is but the defense very seasoned and I mean I I think our DBS are going to are really going to carry us um carry that defense along throughout the season I mean because you got Darren who's an allconference returner Johnny and Dakota will be four years starters and then um Hoin had a good camp um I know he got a little bit of playing time last year but he really stepped up and you can see the maturity level um kind of raise from last fall to from to throughout this Camp so so yeah that's what I that's what I would expect is good uh great DB crew and then a very balanced offense attack yeah I agree I think you know on the the secondary this is probably the most talented secondary the Vikings have had in a long time um cohesive group um you know it's hard to replace allamerican you know Nick Harper um but Hoin I think did you know um a formidable job coming in last year as a freshman um you know he got kind of brought into that Spotlight um but he grew quickly and and he looked really good I think he was playing the maybe the boundary Corner um in that Lura so um yeah so I'm I'm very high on this Vikings secondary um so look certainly looking forward to that and now you know we talked a little bit about I we talked about you know raybeck and and schaner and Braden Smith are gonna be you know your uh um three kind of primary go-tos um you know who's had a really strong camp that the Vikings can keep an eye out for you know this year on the offensive side of things yeah from the offensive side um two guys have really stood out my Stapleton for one um I can't remember what high school he is but I know he's sophomore uh big tall lanky guy um and he's got good speed too um he's you know six4 guy he's he can run he can run any route you tell him and you know especially in a one-on-one it's very advantageous for us with his length and for how well he how well he can coordinate his body when the ball's in the air and you know make the plays and catches that he needs to make and um the second one is John Bolton um you know Bolton was Bolton was a guy the past couple of years that like you know he was Mr funny man you know if you had a bad day go talk to John Bolton because he'll cheer you up with something that he's gonna say um you know it wasn't necessarily in Bolton's eyes to um you know I gotta be the best player but you know Bolton was always I'm gonna be the best teammate and just have as much fun as I can and this Camp he really had a phenomenal Camp he just how fast he he was in the slot and just ultimately just doing his job he wasn't he's not flashy like you know some like other receivers try to be and stuff like that but he he just does his job if the if the if the route tells him to run an out route he's gonna do whatever he can to get himself open on the out route and he's just gonna ultimately do his job and that's what I that's what I loved most about Bolton this year um in this Camp so see I would say but definitely those two Stapleton and Bolton those are definitely two names to account for and then I actually have one more that just came to mind uh Brett hul so uh hul was a linebacker that we transition to tight end and Brett had a Brett had a really good camp too especially you know kind of making that switch and having to learn the comp the complexity of this offense and having a short time to do it and you know not only learn the routes that he'll have to run and the blocks he'll have to make but also having to learn every signal that's being thrown at him in the in the high paced we try to run this offense he did a phenomenal job learning and you know you can you started to see you know as Camp went on how comfortable he would get each day in terms of the different things he had to do so yeah but definitely those three definitely those three for sure Stapleton Bolton and hul yeah Bolton's an athlete um so certainly looking forward to him you I saw him rotating in with h Braden you know in that Loris scrimmage there slot um you know it's interesting we were talking a little bit before we we kicked this off just around the size I mean you mentioned from a tight end perspective you have Jake Miller you know who was the clear number one last year 63 Brett Hulk coming over he's 63 um you know you got Bray back at 64 schaner 62 Stapleton 64 Nate Henry 64 so um you know blad Murdoch 62 Grant Zack 64 I mean tons of high that the Vikings you know traditionally has not had um and and those are a lot of a lot of young you know young players I mean you know freshman sophomore junior so um you know they're going to be able to compete you know um up in the air which we've we've struggled with you know in that 19 and and 21 and and little bit in 22 season um and you know you think about some of the other folks across the cciw that's where they've they they've had success so I think uh I think it's the Vikings time so now um The Motto this year um unfinished business um is what I keep hearing so what does that mean for you and kind of for this program no I mean so like when I hear the term unfinished business and I relate it to our team the way I take it in my head and people could you know think the same thing or think differently and take it a different way this is how I this is the way I interpret that motto with this team and unfinished business is we we achieved a lot of goals last year a lot of goals we got over the hump of wasu last year and we hope to continue that you know um and it's kind of been a yearly thing I mean back in 21 unfinished business we got over the hump of Wesley and 22 we continue to get over W 23 and then last year we finally get over the hump of wasu but ultimately that motto is we got to that 11th game what we wanted we wanted 11th game no matter what whether that have been the isus bowl or the playoffs the 11th game was great but we didn't win it we didn't win and ultimately the job wasn't finished I mean we strung out six straight wins last year and but we ended the season with two with back-to-back losses and a and a bowl loss so unfinished business we in my opinion it was great to experience the ism bowl that was a great experience um do I want to go back not really I I want to go to the playoffs I I truly think that you know the ismus bow is a great thing to do you know and experience that 11th game but we should be focusing on trying to get an 11th and a 12th and a 13th 14th 15th game um and you know but if we do go back to the is Bowl this year you know it's that's an extra game of football and then you know if we you know we really earned it but at the end of the day we should be gunning for the playoffs and you know if if if we were to have the same exact record this this upcoming year as we did this past year I I would really hope that we would make one of those additional eight spots into the playoffs but unfinished business yes we the job wasn't finished last year when we when we lost to Platville in that 11th game absolutely yeah it's um well and there's some unfinish business in the isos ball from the cciw perspective because it's 0 and three now so um so lot a lot of opportunity there and I'll be curious to see with those additional spots coming in the 40 team playoff and you know the the NPI ranking I think is what they're using um you know to see how it how it really kind of shakes out and how it impacts you know folks within the cciw and and a few others so um now so let's turn to Saturday we're home uh we're opening at home against Simpson so the storm now you played them once you know we opened last year out in uh um out at Simpson with it was a 4927 win um what do you kind of expect to see defensively from them this Saturday as you uh up yeah no um you know I it'll be a mix um last year we saw a lot of man coverage from them last year and um you know it's tough to kind of figure a team like this out right because it's not a team we play every year so it's a team we got to go off of you know what they did US last year and how they defended us last year and you know we've got a couple other games of film uh on them um but it seems to be a pretty a pretty heavy heavy mix of stuff like you know um I think we're pretty pretty good that it's pretty nice having other film of other teams because if you were to ask me you know five days ago what what do you expect from Simpson I would say complete man coverage that's what we're going to get we're going to get our one-on-one matchups but after looking at these other how they played against these other schools um you know they played a lot of Zone coverage so I would expect a pretty I think I I'm expecting a pretty healthy mix of Zone You Know cover four um and manto man coverage uh but I I personally I I think they're going to go a little bit more manto man than than 50% I think we'll probably see about 70% man coverage out of out of Simpson and then um but their coach their coach is a smart guy uh Hoskins from Wesley and so he knows he knows how we are as an offense he knows he probably knows a lot of players that are on our team he probably recuited a lot of people on our team so you know he knows a lot of these players how they are as football players and he knows coach Bell and Coach Jones and Coach regone he knows all of them pretty well from having to play them every single year um so yeah I mean we'll kind of see if Hoskins has any kind of you know say in terms of their defense um I know Hoskins is an offensive guy so um we'll have to see but I guess all in all I'm I'm expecting a little bit of both but mostly man coverage let's switch maybe um little nonf football to to a certain degree here uh question so um I was talking to your mom um and at at Ambrose and she was telling me about Sunday breakfast with the offensive line so um you know what what tell me a little bit about that like you know when and how did you start it and then what's your favorite bre breakfast spot so far in the QC yeah so it kind of started in high school so well when so when I was in high school um I didn't I started my first varsity football game halfway through my junior year due to an injury so I guess you could say you know I I technically wasn't supposed to start a varsity game until I was a senior I had a kid I had a kid ahead of me he was a year older than me and very good football player and you know I that's just that's just how it that's just how it was you know I was stuck behind him with him being a year older but it kind of started in high school my senior year and I just told my offensive line I go look you know if you guys if if we win and I don't get sacked I'll take you guys out and it's on me wherever you guys want to go Sunday morning for breakfast and so it kind of started there and then eventually when I got here um I told the guys I gave them the same deal I was like hey I go you know if if I don't get sacked and we win the game I'll take you guys wherever you want you know and it could be Sunday breakfast it could be Sunday dinner it could be Monday dinner it does it doesn't matter when we do it but you know that is my way of showing my appreciation to the offensive line um because you know when and when you watch a lot of football the offensive line aren't the guys who get the recognition when I throw a good ball it's because I got the time from the offensive line and we won a lot of games last year because of our offensive line for how dominant our offensive line was off up up front they were a dominant offensive line so that that was my way of showing my appreciation to them and kind of thanking them for what they do um so like I know last year like uh I think last year we kind of moved we we went to Monday dinner because a lot of them prefer dinner but I know we uh you know and I do make it very clear they can go wherever they want they they choose wherever they want so I know last year we went to JY Rib Haven for once uh to Texas Roadhouse once um and of course these happened in like back-to-back weeks so like it was just kind of piling up week after week but I know after the Texas Roadhouse one that was pretty expensive I think the week after they like go we'll take it easy let's just go to Portillos um so yeah it's kind of a wide mix of stuff but uh in my favorite breakfast spot definitely I want to say it's called flips it's in Molen yeah yeah I Pancake House yes yes flips great place that's probably my favorite place breakfast place for sure nice might uh I need to get some some uh food sponsors on here um you know another one it's always a good one to to go take a look at his Iowa Machine Shed um so could be could be a good one here this year and if you go maybe I'll maybe I'll come join you guys it's right by my house that's Theon why uh um well good so really the only last thing I'm curious um on what your response would be but what what is maybe your most memorable game um so far you know of your of your Viking career oh you know I think my most memorable I I mean I got a lot of memorable games for different reasons but I think my biggest memorable game game was probably Illinois Wesleyan in 21 because that was the year that I had taken over and I I mean I started the year as the third string quarterback and I had two injuries two two injuries and then I had to take over against weaton and weaton having a very good defense that year you know I I I got my welcome to college football uh moment from them throughout the entire game and then at weaton on their homecoming uh but you know and then I had my first start the next week against wasu and it it wasn't a very good start and then the week after that it's like okay like you know we're we're two and four right now what can we do to turn this around and we play Carol and I we lose an overtime to Carol and it's like oh man and then finally I get we get that first I guess I could say I get that first win I had in college against Carthage the next week and then we beat elur the week after that on senior day to make and we're now we're four and five but I think the most memorable was by far that wesling game no because I mean I was never recruited by wesling I know the game was very very personal for everybody on that everybody on that roster that year um everybody on that team hated Wesleyan even freshman and even people in my class sophomores in my class hated Wesley and hated you know the the coach they've got over there for their reasons and I never real knew about that rivalry you know I I I never got recruited there I didn't didn't know about it prior so and then me learning the history that we had not won that game in you know six seasons until that game um you know it was nice and you know it was it was great because I became so close with that class um that were seniors that year and you know I we were able to beat Wesleyan for the first time in six years we did it in dominant fashion we got those seniors out there to celebrate what was their last ever game of their life and they did something that no class above them had done in six years and that was be Illinois Wesley and much less they got in their last game and to me that's most memorable to me also is because that was to me that was one of the biggest wins of my career here and you know I we were able to pull off the last three games of the year and turn what looked like an upside down season into a look of what could be in the future and coming in knowing that next year we're coming on a hot streak and going to try and build off those three wins so I think for sure that was probably my my most memorable win and you know I think ultimately I think ultimately that game had to me I guess I'll say I think that game had a lot to do with my future at this school like I think if that game goes a different way who knows if I'm sitting here right now as a fifth year talking about you know Simpson and that what I'm thinking of what they're going to do and this that and the other you know I I might not have been the quarterback beyond that point so I think really that was probably the most memorable and to because to me that will always be probably the most important win of my Auggie football career here yeah no absolutely I mean um I I would agree too and that wesleying game and just being so pivotable and pivotal excuse me as go into you know the following year and but um but hey it's I think overall it's it's worked out well um you know you built a good career here within the within the Vikings I know you you know set a few records last year and and eyeing um think you're about a little over a thousand yards off um oh gosh uh 1025 I think is is the official count so um number four spot overall to move into that number one so um you know in a rich history of Zack Fuller David Lee Ken Anderson um you know as well so it's you're in really good company this year and uh excited to see how the Vikings play this year so and again I think um you know I think uh probably a little understated you know in the in the cciw and um you know but it's a little bit of a recency effect and it's who you beat when you beat them and you know we we got pass that wash you point but I think you know if we look at it this year we've got to beat them a second year in a row um and the cciw doesn't you know doesn't start any harder when you lead lead off uh at weaton and then you mix in north central there you know kind of Midway through the schedule so well uh I'll uh actually I'll be calling the game obviously on on Saturday so it's a it's a night game a kickoff game so you you know playing under the lights will be a lot of fun inside Lindberg stadium so well appreciate you taking the time here um and uh joining me here you know today on my my lunch hour and the in the inaugural interview here so um other than that we'll connect with you again here this week and we'll talk to you and we'll see you Saturday yeah for sure appreciate it thank you