By Richard Smith

Independent Newsmedia

They started without a field, locker rooms or dorms — with a coach pointing to a dirt plot and leading practices preparing them for a game that would not come until 2018.

Yet, of the 125 players who started the Ottawa University Arizona football program in August, 108 remained in early November after the final practice. That is how important continuing their football career was — and a testament to a strong bond formed by the new team.

“You have to commend these kids on being able to stay with a football program where there’s nothing to play for at the end. There was no Saturday night,” Ottawa football Coach Mike Nesbitt said.

The thing we had to look at, as a coaching staff, was making sure we didn’t burn them all out. We didn’t practice so much — because the kids knew they weren’t going to play a game — because all they had was a couple scrimmages to look to at the end of the camp.” he said. “That was the hardest thing for us as coaches, looking at how you were going to develop guys and get them where they need to go without a carrot at the end.”

In essence, it was a redshirt year for the entire program. And the Spirit emerged from it with a leadership core for the next few years.

Ottawa football starts play in the Sooner Athletic Conference next season, along with teams in Oklahoma and Texas, as well as future crosstown rival Arizona Christian. The chance to get in on the ground floor inspired Surprise resident and 2017 Shadow Ridge graduate Nate Johnson.

“Being part of something new, from the base up, kind of inspired me. I wanted to be part of that. It’s a kind of a cool story to tell,” Johnson said.

I was going to leave town and go out of state based on the offers I got. When this opportunity came up at home, it inspired and motivated me to come here.”

A former teammate in the same defensive backfield at Shadow Ridge, Triston Mitton entered the spring believing his career in competitive football. Suddenly, an opportunity opened up in his home town.

“Once we got going we noticed the coaches really care about you. We noticed a camaraderie within the team. That helps.” Mitton said.After his career was over at Laveen Betty Fairfax, Shamar Moreland heard of Ottawa football at a track meet.

Former Liberty fullback Jackson Crean was prepared to go the junior college route and hope, a route traveled by many Arizona kids without the ideal height and weight or volume of game film. A week before he graduated, a new opportunity opened up 15 minutes from his Peoria home, as Spirit coaches reached out to Crean on Twitter.

“I was going to go to a juco (Phoenix College) before I came here. I’m really happy. I like it here,” Crean said.

At first, that opportunity and a legitimate coaching staff were all Nesbitt had to sell. Ottawa football hired him in January, a few months after his four-year tenuare as West Texas A&M head coach ended.

He laid out a plan that included three full time assistants and graduate assistants.

“When every one of these guys came in for recruiting, we would take them on top of the (City of Surprise) parking garage. There were parking lines drawn out there for spring training. And they just happened to be in the same shape and same alignment that our field was going to be,” Nesbitt said. “There was dirt parking lot with rocks and cactus. You talk about guys having a lot of faith in what was going to go on. These kids have been amazing and we are so proud of them.”

A lot of them bought in, probably more than even the university’s most ambitious initial projections.

Nesbitt sold the Ottawa leadership on a roster double the size originally proposed, not easy since a partial athletic scholarship is attached for each player

“Initially, they told me when I first got the job that they wanted 60 guys. I knew we would have more because there were so many quality football players in the city and state. That number was also too low if you’re going to develop a roster. You also want that number so you can practice without beating each other up every day. If there’s only two good tailbacks and one or two good quarterbacks, then you don’t have enough competition throughout your team,” Nesbitt said.

Ottawa football coach Mike Nesbitt speaks to players after the team’s second scrimmage on Spirit Field Oct. 28. Most of fall drills had a temporary feel. Surprise letting the team borrow the 8 Acre Park for morning practices. Players carried their own gear, dressed in portable locker rooms and used the Valley Vista High School weight room for workouts.

Those that did not stay at home were put up in university housing — which for now is nearby hotel rooms and rental spaces while Ottawa’s first dorms are built at Surprise Civic Center.

“I love where it is. It’s away from home, but it’s home at the same time. I’m a good distance away from everybody else, doing my own thing. But If I need something, it’s less than an hour away. I’ve never been to Surprise, so it was a new part of the city I could go explore,” Moreland said.

Other players also discovered Surprise, which is somewhat off the beaten path in the Valley high school football scene. But for kids like Johnson and Mitton, this was another opportunity to represent the young city.

“When you play the game of football, you play for your city or your town. At high school, you play for the people you know. So it’s kind of cool to kind of still play for the people of Surprise,” Mitton said.

It would not be easy. Players learned the amount of work and the intensity of effort expected at a college preview. Many were not used to having film study every day.

As Moreland essentially put it, in high school, players can coast a bit. But if a player in college slacks on his academics or displays bad work habits, he’s gone and other players are lining up to take his spot.

“Everyone’s competing for a starting position, and they’re competing for money too. That’s the biggest difference from high school. It’s more intense,” Johnson said.

That intensity kicked up a notch on Oct. 21, when Ottawa opened Spirit Field, right next to its downtown Surprise campus. The 97,000 square-foot competitive athletic field was installed by General Acrylics of Phoenix, using AstroTurf’s Astroflect. Musco Lighting provides the LED lighting.

“Once the field was down and we started practicing on it, it started feeling real. It was our place. And I think it motivated everybody to practice harder and go hard in scrimmages,” Crean said.

Nesbitt said players were smiling at the first night practice.

“The field was kind of a reward for all the hard work we put in. We moved to night practices, so we got to sleep in during the mornings. We had some scrimmages and everyone got to come out and watch us practice,” Moreland said. The coach said Spirit football now is full of who can work and train at a college football level. Now they know what full speed in college is.

Coaches were able to install the offense, defense and special teams. They’re now on the road and will recruit through May.

When the newcomers arrive, more than 100 new leaders will show the younger guys how everything is done for Ottawa football.

“They’re going to understand the standard of what we’re looking for in our football program. They can say, ‘Look, that’s not going to work.’ They can stop a problem and protect the program,” Nesbitt said.