FB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[Captain_Joe08]

CUW- Pretty sure they return a bunch on both sides of the ball and will most likely have the best offense in the conference...

WLC- Had a great defense last year, not sure how many of those guys they bring back... They did not impress me at all offensively...  However, they did get a new OC, which I think is more O-Minded, correct me if i'm wrong, but he came from CUC? This could be a difference maker if the offense can gel quickly, however they have to have the personnel to run his style of offense, I don't know if they have that just yet!  I see BU and WLC slugging it out for this spot...

BU- Returns a nice number of returning players on both side of the ball... Should be tough defensively, offense will have to get there act together if they are going to compete for conference.  They do bring back a returning QB and a playmaker in Monaco, but after that I don't see much fire power... I hope they were able to bring in more fire power this off season.

AU- This is a team that I really have no clue about, I know they lose their QB due to graduation, as well as their stud TE, in my opinion, he was their best player! I also know they had a stud FR receiver, i believe he was #1...  Defensively they lose their best DL, other then him, I really don't know much about their defense.  In all fairness to AU, they usually get a nice new crop of transfers in the off season, so I am going to keep them here for now until I hear more about what they have coming in.

CUC- They just lose WAY to much talent due to graduation, and I am sure they lost some more due to the coaching change.  I think this may be a tough year for CUC...

RC- I will rank them here for a long time until they show they can win on a regular basis...  They did have some nice players last year though, If they were able to hold onto those key players they may surprise a couple teams this year!

Correct Janousky was the former Offensive Coordinator for Concordia Chicago. WLC loses Shaw which could possibly a good thing because there were times where he would have a great game and times where he was misfiring. Dyrssen figures to be the starting QB for them heading into the season.

I agree it will be a three team race this season with CUW, WLC, and BU leading the charge.

My thoughts on the other NACC Teams....

Aurora: Been up and down since winning the first conference title in 2008. It figures that they may be having a down year but I think this year they repeat last year's record.

Concordia Chicago: CUC came a two point conversion away from giving the conference their first ever playoff win. However they not only lose their Pries who looks to build NAIA Concordia (MI) into a solid program but a lot of production from graduation. Coach Awrey will have his work cut out for him in year one.

Lakeland: Kinda hard to move them upward after last season. I think it will be another rebuilding year up in Sheboygan before the Muskies climb back up the standings.

Rockford: Could challenge Lakeland and CUC for position in the conference but I agree they will be near the bottom again this year. They have been steadily improving and could have a better team again.

[Captain_Joe08]

Wisconsin Lutheran has there roster updated.

http://www.wlcsports.com/sports/fball/2013-14/roster

Freshman Class by State

WI: 18
IL: 6
CA: 5
FL: 3
MI: 3
AZ: 1
TX: 1

By Position

WR: 7
RB: 7
OL: 6
DB: 4
LB: 4
QB: 4
DL: 2
S: 2
CB: 1
TE: 1
DE: 1

[RFMichigan]

Wisconsin Lutheran has there roster updated.

http://www.wlcsports.com/sports/fball/2013-14/roster

Freshman Class by State

WI: 18
IL: 6
CA: 5
FL: 3
MI: 3
AZ: 1
TX: 1

By Position

WR: 7
RB: 7
OL: 6
DB: 4
LB: 4
QB: 4
DL: 2
S: 2
CB: 1
TE: 1
DE: 1

I counted 117 on WLC's pre-season roster. That's a pretty healthy number.

[Captain_Joe08]

Wisconsin Lutheran has there roster updated.

http://www.wlcsports.com/sports/fball/2013-14/roster

Freshman Class by State

WI: 18
IL: 6
CA: 5
FL: 3
MI: 3
AZ: 1
TX: 1

By Position

WR: 7
RB: 7
OL: 6
DB: 4
LB: 4
QB: 4
DL: 2
S: 2
CB: 1
TE: 1
DE: 1

I counted 117 on WLC's pre-season roster. That's a pretty healthy number.

The roster has been growing over the last few seasons (enough to have some JV games) which shows how far WLC's program has come since joining the NACC.

[Captain_Joe08]

Concordia Chicago gets three votes in the Preseason Top 25...They are tied for 44th with Monmouth (IL) from the Midwest Conference.

[Captain_Joe08]

Concordia Wisconsin Junior Guard Sean Jones makes the D3 preseason all-american second team list.

[Captain_Joe08]

Wisconsin Lutheran Junior RB Michael Reeves and Senior LB Eric Zeitler make the USA Football Network Preseason All-American list.

http://www.wlcsports.com/sports/fball/2013-14/releases/20130724jbx1ad

[d3fan1515]

I just counted 31 returning players on CUC's roster... I know they graduated a few key guys, I also know that they have not uploaded their recruiting class yet, but just to have quality depth they will have to have an extremely large recruiting class... Where did the rest of their roster go??? How many players transferred out?

[baseman201]

So, I was just looking at some rosters and only see 31 guys on CUC's team?

Am I missing something?

[Pat Coleman]

Nope, that's the reality -- that's how many players were left after last season. A lot of seniors on last year's team but can't really say where the rest of the non-seniors went. More than 50 letterwinners from last season are not on the roster any longer.

[baseman201]

Nope, that's the reality -- that's how many players were left after last season. A lot of seniors on last year's team but can't really say where the rest of the non-seniors went. More than 50 letterwinners from last season are not on the roster any longer.

Yikes, could be a tough year for CUC...

[Captain_Joe08]

Preseason Poll is out and here is what the coaches think how the conference plays out this year.


1. Concordia Wisconsin 90 (10)
2. Wisconsin Lutheran 85 (3)
3. Aurora 66 (1)
4. Benedictine 53
5. Concordia Chicago 49
6. Lakeland 31
7. Rockford 18

http://www.naccsports.org/sports/fball/2013-14/releases/201308123oe82w

[RFMichigan]

Preseason Poll is out and here is what the coaches think how the conference plays out this year.


1. Concordia Wisconsin 90 (10)
2. Wisconsin Lutheran 85 (3)
3. Aurora 66 (1)
4. Benedictine 53
5. Concordia Chicago 49
6. Lakeland 31
7. Rockford 18

http://www.naccsports.org/sports/fball/2013-14/releases/201308123oe82w

I would agree with this, although I might flipflop Aurora and BU. BU lost their top couple of players, but they still have a number of returning starters. Also, (I hate to say it) CUC might be slotted too high. They only have a couple of starters returning. And speaking of which . . .

Nope, that's the reality -- that's how many players were left after last season. A lot of seniors on last year's team but can't really say where the rest of the non-seniors went. More than 50 letterwinners from last season are not on the roster any longer.

Yikes, could be a tough year for CUC...

You could see that this might be a problem about two or three years ago. They had a core group from two or three classes, the last of which graduated last year, which brought them to the best stretch in their history. In the meantime, they were not only losing freshmen to attrition (generally about 50% - about average for many dIII programs - but last year they only kept about 43%), but they were losing upperclassmen and some freshmen who were playing major minutes.

Looking at last year's roster one could see that they weren't going to have many seniors this year, but even then they lost three or four rising seniors who started last year.

A good example of their situation is at quarterback. In the last four classes, they have brought in no less than nine quarterbacks. Only two of them - Jacob Koehler and a current sophomore who saw no varsity action last year - lasted more than one year on the roster. (Lucky for them that Koehler was so durable.)

[WLCALUM83]

It'll be interesting to see how Benedictine compensates, having lost Borsellino to graduation.

[d3fan1515]

I agree, I am looking forward to seeing what the BU offense will look like this year, it will obviously look much different without Borselino in the backfield...

I can't believe camp is already upon us, I am very curious to see what the BU recruiting class looks like, it has not been updated yet on their roster, but I have heard good things.

Did any NACC teams start camp yet? I believe BU checks in tomorrow but do not officially start until Thursday.