Page 16 Fall Football Preview • Thursday, August 27, 2026 sailor. mnsun. com
BLOOMINGTON JEFFERSON JAGUARS
Dorian Ward to roam the defensive line
JASON OLSON jason. olson @ apgecm. com
Now entering his third season as head coach, Marc Bachman added two assistant coaches with plenty of experience in former Burnsville head coach Vince Varpness and former Orono head coach Jeff Weiland, who served as the defensive coordinator at Wayzata most recently.
If momentum built through offseason participation and enthusiasm is a sign of a healthy football program, Jefferson is in good shape.
Jefferson hosted more than 60 middle schoolers for a spring youth camp where they went through workouts with the high school players on Mondays.“ We know some of them will go to Kennedy, but we want to make them all better football players because we have a lot of athletes in Bloomington,” Bachman said.“ Football is good for the kids and this is one way we can keep them excited and offer up a positive experience before they go into high school.”
Captains this season include Vinny Smith, Gus Vollmuth and Dorian Ward. The team voted to add center Will Houle and junior quarterback Joe Moore as captains this season at the end of summer practices.
The program once again participated in the flag distribution at Fort Snelling National Cemetery for Memorial Day and volunteered at the ninth annual Minnesota Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride in late July.
The Jag Power program continued to be a focus of the offseason training to get stronger, increase agility and speed, which wrapped up the final Wednesday before coaches’ practice marked the official start to the season.
The team took part in the 7-on-7 passing league in June, which rolled into the team camp in July, which is when more of the football-like drills occurred and gave Bachman and the coaches a chance to help everyone understand what to expect once team practice begins.“ And we wrapped it up with a scrimmage on July 28 against Holy Family. The kids did a lot of good stuff and also showed us a few things to work on,” Bachman said.“ The scrimmage is a reward for the kids who were here all summer and a chance to not just go through more one-on-ones, but where we can really line up as a team.”
Bachman was pleased with the work put in during the captains’ practices, based on how well they played in the scrimmage— both units, offense and defense.
The Jaguars return senior defensive end Dorian Ward, who is committed to North Dakota State. Bachman considers Ward the top athlete in the program given his size and speed.“ He really physically matured and put the time in to improve his technique,” Bachman said.“ It’ s hard to get better in the offseason and he looks so much better than last year. He took it seriously and it showed.”
( SUN PHOTO BY JASON OLSON)
Jefferson captains pictured from left are Dorian Ward, Vinny Smith and Gus Vollmuth.
Junior Joe Moore took over as quarterback midway through last season, relieving senior Ethan McIntosh. Moore completed 49 passes for 492 yards, two touchdowns and six interceptions. Moore was the second-leading rusher with 184 yards and two touchdowns. The Jaguars will need to replace the 1,263 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns by Abe Bruggeman. He caught six passes for 55 yards in four games.
“ Having experience with Joe will help the offense,” Bachman said.“ Ideally, we’ ll be a balanced offense and defense. On offense we’ ll need to establish the run, control the ball and then on defense turn the ball back over to the offense. We have a tough job trying to replace Abe. We’ ll determine who that will be based on what fall camp tells us.”
Senior Marcus Dinkins tore his ACL midway through last season. The starting offensive lineman also served as the placekicker. He happened to convert a 40-yard field goal just before learning the knee ligament was torn.“ He’ s cleared to play now and we’ re excited to see what he can do now as a kicker.”
Part of that improvement as a kicker can be attributed to adding Gary Zauner to the coaching staff. Zauner stopped into the activity office, looking to help the Jaguars.
A Bloomington resident, Zauner was the special teams coordinator for the Vikings, Baltimore Ravens and Arizona Cardinals. He runs kicking camps between Arizona and Wisconsin and was a tremendous asset as a volunteer.
QUICK HITS
Head Coach
Marc Bachman Third Season
Last Year’ s Record: 3-5
Key Returning Players
Senior defensive lineman / receiver Dorian Ward( All-District Defensive Lineman of the Year, NDSU commit), senior offensive lineman Will Houle( veteran starter), junior quarterback Joe Moore, sophomore offensive lineman Gavin Sturz, junior defensive lineman Paulo Espinosa, senior receiver / outside linebacker Gavin Vanoverbeke, senior linebacker / running back Vinny Smith( leading tackler), senior lineman Mason Sathre, Senior receiver / defensive back Gus Vollmuth, senior defensive back / receiver Roman Estes, senior free safety / receiver Max Meier.
Schedule
Sept. 4 Minneapolis Washburn Sept. 11: At Hastings 6 p. m. Sept. 18: At Cretin-Derham Hall
( St. Thomas) 7 p. m. Sept. 25 Tartan Oct. 2: At Mahtomedi 7 p. m. Oct. 9: St. Louis Park Oct. 14 BSM Oct. 21: At Kennedy 6 p. m.
Game times 6:30 p. m. unless otherwise noted