NEW ULM — New Ulm Cathedral head football coach Denny Lux hopes to see his team take a step forward from last season’s 2-7 mark with the return of three key players in the backfield in senior running backs Jon Adema, Luke Gieseke, junior Eric Furth.

The Greyhounds will also see the return of now-junior quarterback Sam Knowles, who missed last season with a knee injury.

“We also bring back junior guard Luke Mages, our left tackle Cole Schwartz and our right tackle, David Wilfahrt,” Lux said.

Defensively, the maroon and white have Mages, Wilfahrt, Noah Wilmes, Gieseke, Adema, Schwartz, Jacob Berg and Furth.

‘We have a good number of players returning on defense,” Lux said.

“We do have some holes to fill,” Lux said. “Last year we had Jon Zinniel and Chris Knowles at tight ends on offense and they also played defensive ends so that is where we are working on the hardest. We want to make sure the edges on offense and defense are solid.”

The Greyhounds take a lot of pride in the play of their offensive line and Lux feels that the experience of both Wilfahrt and Mages will show this year.

“They have that year of varsity experience under their belts and they are both just juniors,” he said. “Right now we are working hard with our center sophomore Brody Kirschtein. In a trapping game like we have the center is a such a valuable player in what he does. We want to get him as much experience as we can in our two week practices.”

Lux thinks that the strength of Cathedral will be the leadership provided by the six seniors that dot the Greyhounds’ roster.

“They have been doing a super job in practice and have done a great job leading the team so far,” he said.

But perhaps the biggest key for the Greyhounds this season is the return of Sam Knowles, who will be handed the keys to the Cathedral offense.

“Even though he could not play last year, he watched more film than anybody on the team,” Lux said. “He knows our [Michigan T] offense in and out and he knows a lot about the teams that we are playing. He just brings so much leadership — guys look at him and feel confident with him. And we are too. We feel good for Sam that he can come back and play this year. He is a great guy to be around.”

And Eric Furth adds speed to the backfield.

“He is real aggressive and we have a good companion for him in Luke Gieseke and Jon Adema,” Lux said. “These guys have run this Michigan T offense now for three years so they understand if and that should be our strength.”

And that ground-and-pound offense comes because of the success of the offensive line.

“Our guards are really running backs playing guards,” Lux said. “We always tell our guards that they are the best athletes on the field because there is so much they have to do for us. Mages is our left guard and then on the right side we are working senior Matt Brehmer and a junior Owen Pyan. That spot [right guard] is the big spot to fill right now.”

Lux said that on defense, the Greyhounds wil be moving players around.

“[Defensive coach] Jesse Nosbush has some plans for players,” Lux said. “We will need to help some of our younger players out.”