Derek Sandstedt is a junior offensive lineman on the Augustana Football team. He is an out of state athlete here at Augustana and is an important part of the teams success in the past and in these upcoming seasons. 
Q: How has your spring football season been going in comparison to your guys’ fall season?
A: The biggest differences that we are facing in the spring football season compared to the fall season is scheduling. This spring season is significantly shorter than a normal fall season, and because of everything going on our game schedule, even our daily practice schedule is always in flux and changing. So compared to a fall season, there has been a lot less consistency when it comes to how we would normally organize a full football season.
Q: What do you hope your team accomplishes in the next year or so before you graduate?
 A: One thing we always talk about as a team is that we want to be able to compete with and surpass some of the top tier teams in our conference. With the coaching staff and current group of guys we have on the team over the course of the next year, I think we have a big opportunity to accomplish our goal and become one of the best teams in the CCIW. 
Q:  The game against Millikin went into four overtimes, what was the team’s attitude during and after that game?
A: The team’s attitude during a game is really optimistic, going into overtime in any sport is always a really exciting thing. You realize that you get one more chance to win the game and have a fair opportunity to do so. With a game that goes into not just one but four overtimes, no matter how well either team plays, one has to break in the stalemate eventually. Unfortunately, we were not the ones to be able to finish the game the way we would have liked to. The attitude after the game becomes quite a bitter thing for a short time. After losing a game that was so close for so long and especially after going back and re-watching the game, everyone begins to realize that there were many different points in the game that would have put us in a much better place to win if only we did a few things differently.
Q: How has being an out of state athlete impacted your college football experience? 
A: With most of the guys on the team being from a relatively short distance away from campus compared to me, it definitely makes me kind of an outlier when it comes to certain things. The thing that I have to deal with and work around the most is convenience. Being from Colorado, it can be hard to be available to work with my teammates and coaches when I’m not on campus. But by far the biggest impact on my college football experience that being an out of state athlete has had is that I have really loved the opportunity to be able to live in and explore a brand new place with brand new people while also being able to play my favorite sport.