Quote from: pradierguy on March 09, 2025, 10:14:10 PMNice article about Echeverry's draft preparation. If he gets to 4.3 at the pro day, he might get a look

https://t.co/ulMJHzrjkq

Article also points out that he is preparing/working out at Per4orm, which is owned and operated by former NCC football alum Nick Hicks.  Nice D3 connection there.  Rooting for him to get a chance!

Ok finally had some time to put together the commit list for NCC.

Up to 35 commitments from what I have found, mainly from players posting on X.

5 QBs have committed, 2 transfers and 3 coming out of high school

For the accolades column, tried my best to just go off what each player had in their X profile, not sure how accurate it is.

NCC 2025 Commits

EDIT: I'll continue to add players as I see their commitments announced, another 3 committed yesterday to bring the total to 38 players.  36 from Illinois, 1 from Colorado, and 1 from Florida (Wittenberg transfer)

Quote from: HansenRatings on February 13, 2025, 10:20:01 AM

Quote from: DriftlessDuhawk on January 29, 2025, 03:54:02 PMA few schedules have started being released.

UD: https://udspartans.com/sports/football/schedule

NWU: https://nwusports.com/sports/football/schedule

UD stepping up to the plate with some heavy hitters out of the WIAC. NWU going the NAIA route and I don't know much about either team.

Both schools are ok. UWL played a couple games against Dakota State recently, and UWL won pretty handily. Mayville State has played NWU recently, too, and won a close one. Mayville also played BVU a few years ago, and split a home & home. Dakota State's usually a little above 0.500 in a pretty solid conference, and Mayville State usually a bit below 0.500. I would say the expectation for NWU-Mayville St. would be a close, competitive game, with Mayville St. slightly favored. If NWU beats Dakota St., that would be a sign that they've improved quite a bit over the offseason.

Looks like UW Stout will also be hosting Wartburg in 2025, that's a great matchup

Glad the rumor I saw ended up being true. Also nice that they released the schedule this early this year, last year it was not released by the NCC website until way closer to the season.  As RG noted, my assumption is this is a home/home agreement with UWO especially when you consider NCC needing 2 OOC games starting in 2026 with the departure of WashU.

It also appears they already updated the roster partially for 2025.  couple of things to note, Demir Ashiru is already listed on the roster and is the only "freshman" listed.  Brandon Bell a redshirt sophomore transfer from Winona State is also listed.  They appear to be the only 2 transfers that have been added.

And Danny Nuccio and Isaac Banker are both listed as Graduates.  I thought both were done playing so very exciting to see they are both going to be back for 1 more season.

No idea if true or not but I saw on X that NCC will be playing Oshkosh for their out of conference game next season.

https://x.com/dshot1992/status/1880390257717440675?s=46&t=2LpDHlmLWW7A7c0oIFbv5Q

https://x.com/dshot1992/status/1880680732122911047?s=46&t=2LpDHlmLWW7A7c0oIFbv5Q

Quote from: GusD on January 17, 2025, 06:46:41 PM

Quote from: robertgoulet on January 06, 2025, 10:41:39 PM

Quote from: USee on January 06, 2025, 10:37:47 PM2019 NCC won their first Stagg and Gagliardi QB Broc Rutter was done and Cardinal fans were crying about the next year, which was Luke Lehnens freshman year. Boo hoo.....

NCC just got a commit from Ferris St QB Demir Ashiru. Maybe he can continue the run I'm sure you'd love that USee 😂

A second QB is also now in the fold. NCC has received a commitment from 6'1 190 pound All-State QB Lane Wheelwright of  Farmington, IL. This season he completed 60% of his passes (128 of 214) for 2,097 yards and 15 touchdowns while rushing for an additional 10 touchdowns. He missed the final two regular season games due to injury, but returned for the playoffs.

I don't have any additional details at this time, but I've heard that two more QBs have committed, or will likely soon commit to NCC.

The other 2 QBs that I am aware of are Alex Graham, transferring in as a redshirt freshman from D2 McKendree and Kellen Davis, an incoming freshman out of Champaign Centennial high school.

I am keeping a running list of recruits who have "committed" via social media and was going to post later in the offseason if other NCC fans are interested. 

Quote from: D3fanboy on January 17, 2025, 03:04:51 PM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on January 17, 2025, 02:50:13 PMPeak competitiveness among two top teams, anyway.

I'm sure that you'll use Logan's stats and and PR type of answer, but you really think that today's national champs would stand a chance against those UWW/Mount teams from the decade plus of dominance?

Imagine the UFL signings from those teams if it was a thing.... you'd be tweeting non-stop

This is completely anecdotal evidence on my part but I played against UWW in 2010 quarters when they won the title, we ended up losing 20-10 after entering the 4th qtr with a 10-7 lead.  Same amount Mount lost by in the Stagg a few weeks later, granted we were at home and not neutral field like Mount. I also played @ UWW in 2007 but that game was not as competitive. 

IMO, the NCC teams of the past few years would've crushed the teams I was on, in part due to the fact they had a bunch of 22-24 year olds.  Not saying they would beat those Mount or UWW teams but I at least think it would've been competitive given that these teams since 2020 have had a bunch of 5th/6th year players and it was pretty rare back then.

Fully agree both Mount and UWW were amazingly talented during that era, just offering my personal experience for comparison. 

It appears Luke Lehnen has signed with the Arlington Renegades of the UFL.

https://x.com/ufl_pr/status/1880027276911489060?s=46&t=2LpDHlmLWW7A7c0oIFbv5Q

https://x.com/byanthonymiller/status/1880030299259850993?s=46&t=2LpDHlmLWW7A7c0oIFbv5Q

Quote from: Pat Coleman on January 15, 2025, 10:52:13 AM

Quote from: NCC2010 on January 14, 2025, 04:18:14 PM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on January 14, 2025, 11:42:05 AMIf he played in four or fewer regular season games, all of them in the first half of the season, and ended the season injured and unable to play or practice, then he would generally be able to get a medical hardship season of eligibility.

FWIW, NCC's best defensive player in 2023, Dan Lester, was unable to get a medical redshirt for 2024 because he played in games 1, 2, and 4 of the 2023 season.  I believe if you play in any game after the 3rd game you are unable to get a medical redshirt. At least that is what Coach Spencer told Pat/Greg in the podcast interview leading up to the 2023 Stagg Bowl.

For what it's worth, I believe it is any game after four. It's one-third of the season, but rounded up, so the fourth game.

from a quick internet search, the NCAA rules state "must not have participated in more than 30% of games", so with a 10 game season I would assume you could not play after the third game?  Otherwise, not sure how Lester did not get it considering he only played in 3 games, one of them being a game against an NAIA team, and all games played were by the 4th game of the season. If you remove the NAIA game, then he only played in 2/9 games which is still lower than 30%. 

Since he was a great player I am assuming the staff looked into this pretty thoroughly.  Could be wrong though, the eligibility rules these days are very difficult to track.

Quote from: Pat Coleman on January 14, 2025, 11:42:05 AMIf he played in four or fewer regular season games, all of them in the first half of the season, and ended the season injured and unable to play or practice, then he would generally be able to get a medical hardship season of eligibility.

FWIW, NCC's best defensive player in 2023, Dan Lester, was unable to get a medical redshirt for 2024 because he played in games 1, 2, and 4 of the 2023 season.  I believe if you play in any game after the 3rd game you are unable to get a medical redshirt. At least that is what Coach Spencer told Pat/Greg in the podcast interview leading up to the 2023 Stagg Bowl.

Rewatched the last scoring drive for NCC last night and two things popped out. 

On the first 3rd down and 1 from the 17, Sam Pryor drove an All-American DT 7 yards off the line of scrimmage and almost to the sideline before the play ended.

And then on the crucial 4th and 1 from the 32, I noticed they moved Pryor from RG to LG so he was next to Maples, and they ran right behind both of them. 

Them moving Pryor for whatever reason reminded me how both Pryor and Maples played defensive line on the big stop against Wartburg last year in the semis, when Wartburg brought in Owen Grover to be a blocker on offense.

Not sure if either has the measurables to get a look from NFL but hope they get a chance, both Sam and Jeske were dominant all 4 years here.

Ya I'm not sure if injury was involved or not, a medical redshirt would make sense as to why he stated on X that he has 4 years left.

I'm rooting for him because I'm from Plainfield originally so always love to see Plainfield kids at NCC. He's also very talented or at least was when I saw him play in high school. 

Quote from: robertgoulet on January 06, 2025, 10:41:39 PM

Quote from: USee on January 06, 2025, 10:37:47 PM2019 NCC won their first Stagg and Gagliardi QB Broc Rutter was done and Cardinal fans were crying about the next year, which was Luke Lehnens freshman year. Boo hoo.....

NCC just got a commit from Ferris St QB Demir Ashiru. Maybe he can continue the run I'm sure you'd love that USee 😂

Excited for Demir. I've seen him play a few times live, he is a local kid. Played high school 15 minutes down the road at Plainfield North. His younger brother is a currently a sophomore at North so I'm sure that played a role in the transfer. Former NCC DL Anthony Imbordino ('05-'07) is also the head coach at Plainfield North and I'm sure he nudged him towards NCC as well. 

Demir was first team All State in Class 8A (the largest class size in Illinois) his senior year at North during the '22-23 season while leading them to their only 9-0 regular season in school history. 

He redshirted at Ferris in '23-24 and then this past year was listed on the roster, although his post on X says he has 4 years of eligibility of left, which I thought would only be 3 as I assume next year he would be considered a redshirt sophomore.  Never really know with the eligibility these days

Quote from: USee on January 06, 2025, 10:34:53 AMCongratulations to North Central.

My pregame checklist and report card for a Mt Union win:

-100 yd rusher-after starting strong the running game faded and Echeverry finished with 87 yds
-Zero Turnovers--check. They were in it because of this
-Move the defensive front and create TFL--UMU had just 2 TFL and Rossy Moore had only 5 tackles for the game. He really wasn't a factor
-Take advantage of opportunities--after getting the early (and only) turnover and taking a 7-0 lead, Mt Union ended up 1-4 in the redzone.
-Tackle well-I though the Raiders did a great job tackling for the most part.
-Stay close through 3 quarters--1st team since last year's Stagg to do this but they couldn't finish.

The two biggest reasons Mt Union didn't complete the upset was their failure to capitalize on the opportunities they created in the redzone and their inability to disrupt NCC's offense with their athleticism on defense.

I understand the criticism of the coaching for the first failure (clock management, play calling, etc) but the second was definitively due to NCC being the better team and executing their plan.

And my pregame focus for NCC to win:
-Run for 200 yds and Lehnen to throw for 200 on less than 20 attempts rushed for 197, Lehnen threw for 298 on 26 attempts
-Win turnover battle after the early fumble, NCC got 2 turnovers on downs as well as the end of half debacle, all of which ended Mt Union opportunities
-Get off the field on 3rd down The Cardinals held Mt Union to 5-13 on 3rd down, well below their season average
-Limit Raider run game After calling 11 runs in their first two drives and gaining 73 yds (6.6 ypc) NCC held UMU to just 34 more yds rushing on 17 more attempts (2.0 ypc). Mt called less than 10 runs in the 2H
-Keep their composure NCC was called for 6 penalties for 75 yds, most of them of the 15 yd variety including an ejection of Paradee for 2 taunting penalties. Mt Union couldn't capitalize.

NCC stuck with their plan. Mt Union stacked the box early to take away the run and Lehnen punished them through the air as the Raiders couldn't pressure him. Overall the NCC OL dominated the LOS with their pass protection and 2nd half running game. That and their defense limiting Echeverry is a big reason why they won.

I believe you also called out how 2 NCC OL were starting in their first Stagg Bowl.  One of which was the center, who by my count had 3 errant snaps on the first drive, one of which Mount ended up recovering. Clearly were some nerves for him but glad he was able to settle down. 

D3FB Huddle got a good pic of the snap that was fumbled, it went almost directly to the RB.  Have to zoom in to see it

https://x.com/D3FBHuddle/status/1876073137051455557

Congrats to all the coaches and players on the win last night!  Going to miss watching that group of 38 seniors play.  They certainly took the program to a new level.

NCC ends the season having only trailed for 3 minutes and 55 seconds total, during the first quarter of last night's game.