Northern Michigan's football team left the Superior Dome on Thursday, Aug. 13, and practiced at Marquette Senior High School, where the Wildcats watched the Sentinels run drills before taking the field themselves.
Janus called the move deliberate.
"I think for us, it's huge to be able to change the venue," first-year head coach Matt Janus told WBUP/WJMN. "As a coach, when you structure camp, I don't want it to be like Groundhog's Day. I don't want the same thing every day."
Janus said the off-site session also gave his players a chance to connect with the Marquette community and observe the Sentinels' offensive and defensive schemes up close.
The public gets its first look at the 2026 Wildcats on Saturday, Aug. 15, when NMU holds a free intersquad scrimmage at 5:30 p.m. ET inside the Superior Dome. The scrimmage will feature situational football, with the offense and defense squaring off in third-down and red-zone scenarios in a game-like format.
Janus described the scrimmage as a chance for fans to see "what the new offense is about, what the new defense is about." The schemes are new for a program that went 3-8 overall and 2-5 in GLIAC play in 2025 under former coach Shane Richardson, who resigned in November after a 1-30 stretch.
NMU hired Janus on Jan. 5 after he compiled a 45-14 record over six seasons at UW-La Crosse, including consecutive WIAC championships in 2022 and 2023 and five straight Division III playoff appearances. He was named WIAC Coach of the Year both seasons, according to the Mining Journal.
Fall camp opened Aug. 4 with close to 130 players and roughly 60 new faces on the roster, WLUC reported. GLIAC coaches picked NMU sixth in the conference preseason poll released July 24, and running back Noah Dobert was named a GLIAC Offensive Player of the Year candidate.
Janus said the team has about four more days of camp before shifting into game-week preparation. He wants his players at game speed heading into the opener.
NMU opens the season Thursday, Aug. 27, at Minnesota State Moorhead.
