FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[hazzben]

Very sad to hear, I'll definitely spend some time praying for Jeff and the Thorne family.

[Crusader92]

No surprise to see NC at #1 in this preseason ranking. Wheaton (who has both #1 and #2 on its schedule) comes in at #17.

https://www.d3football.com/top25/2025/preseason

[Gotberg]

NPU News:  https://athletics.northpark.edu/news/2025/7/24/football-announces-2025-newcomers.aspx

[Gregory Sager]

This is a new style of newbie-rollout announcement for NPU football. In the past, Kyle Rooker has opted to announce them one-by-one on Instagram, albeit in a string over the span of a few days in late May or June, with late-commitment stragglers often missed. Now he's opted for the all-inclusive rollout in late July via the NPU athletics page (although I've seen some early commits announced on Instagram over the winter).

Not sure if there's any real significance to this change or not -- I haven't spoken to Kyle since commencement -- but it's worth noting. But this might just be shoptalk that interests nobody other than NPU fans such as Gotberg and I.

[CarollFan]

Carroll's TE Reed Breckheimer is on this East-West Shrine Bowl 1000 list.

https://shrinebowl.com/shrine-bowl-1000/

Other D3 players I saw on there are:
Hobart WR Ahmad Crowell
John Carroll WR Tyren Montgomery
St. John's WR Dylan Wheeler

May be others I missed.

[hazzben]

Please keep us updated on Jeff Thorne as you're able. I lost my dad to cancer in 2020 and have a soft spot for people in our football community going through these things. Will keep praying, but updates are appreciated.

[CarollFan]

I know in the past people reviewed rosters to see how many seniors, returning players to make predictions for upcoming season.

I noticed Logan has a spreadsheet "2025 Returning Production". He says he will update after rosters come out.  Maybe another data point for predictions.

https://hansenratings.github.io/

[CarollFan]

2024 CCIW average home attendance.

https://x.com/LogHanRatings/status/1950963894240882985

[GusD]

NCC held their final spring practice this past Saturday and it was open to fans, families, etc. 

Only helmets so I did not focus much on the trenches, lot of 1on1 and 7on7 work.

Demir Ashiru took all the 1st team reps at QB, Calvin Lavery took the 2nd team reps. 

Lot of ups and downs with Ashiru's performance, made some really great throws but also had a quite a few throw aways or sacks taken. Seemed to hold the ball for a long time frequently, which could mean he is still learning the offense or the defense was just playing well.  I think one of the incoming freshman have a chance to win the starting job in the fall, but hard to tell only seeing 1 practice. Ashiru was clearly the most talented QB out there on Saturday, for what it's worth.

The best player on the field by far was Thomas Skokna.  Made some really tough catches and was unguardable in man coverage.  I think he has an All-American level season as long as the QB can get it to him.

Offensive line is beginning to take shape, and my guess of the starting 5 will be Jerred Durian (started last year at center), John Golden (started a handful of games at G/C when guys sat with injuries), Tyson Cramer (was the swing tackle the past 2 seasons), and then Cortez Jones and transfer from Ohio University Maverick Ohle. 

Ohle was a 2-time all state defensive end in high school at Naperville Central before redshirting at Ohio last year. The coaches want his athleticism on the offensive line though.

Heading into the fall, settling on the QB will obviously be the biggest question to answer and ultimately determine how far this team can go.  All the other pieces appear to be there.

RE: NCC QB question...........

I've recently heard about the possibility of a new entrant into the NCC QB derby from 3 different sources with each furnishing separate parts of the entire rumor. I'll not name concerned individual at this time as I'm not sure if he is even enrolled as yet. He attended HS at an out of state Christian school where he was a three year starter who, as a senior, passed for more than 3,000 yards with 35 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He added 500 yards and 8 more TDs on 43 carries (11.6 average).
In addition, he started on a state championship basketball team and also played baseball. Despite holding offers from lower level programs, he choose to walk-on at a Big 12 school in 2024 where, as a redshirt, he began as the 5th string QB but ultimately ascended to 3rd string.
If he already is or ultimately becomes a member of the Cardinal team he will of course still have to win the starting job. However, it's an interesting proposition. Moving forward, we'll see what develops.

[Pat Coleman]

This isn't new -- we talked about Garrett Wilson in our June podcast, No. 381.

https://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/2025/06/29/atn-podcast-381-spicing-up-the-offseason/

[GusD]

Well, unfortunately, many of us had other things going on June 29th so we missed it, and I hadn't seen anything posted here so I thought it was worth mentioning.

Also, in the interest of accuracy, give me a T. One T only please. As in Garret Wilson. 😉

[CarollFan]

Well, unfortunately, many of us had other things going on June 29th so we missed it, and I hadn't seen anything posted here so I thought it was worth mentioning.

Also, in the interest of accuracy, give me a T. One T only please. As in Garret Wilson. 😉

On the podcast the guys mention he is a transfer from Oklahoma State.

[Gotberg]

Well, unfortunately, many of us had other things going on June 29th so we missed it, and I hadn't seen anything posted here so I thought it was worth mentioning.

Also, in the interest of accuracy, give me a T. One T only please. As in Garret Wilson. 😉

On the podcast the guys mention he is a transfer from Oklahoma State.

https://okstate.com/sports/football/roster/garret-wilson/12

[Pat Coleman]

Well, unfortunately, many of us had other things going on June 29th so we missed it, and I hadn't seen anything posted here so I thought it was worth mentioning.

Also, in the interest of accuracy, give me a T. One T only please. As in Garret Wilson. 😉

The podcast remains in the feed to be listened to at any time!

[robertgoulet]

This isn't new -- we talked about Garrett Wilson in our June podcast, No. 381.

https://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/2025/06/29/atn-podcast-381-spicing-up-the-offseason/

Cursory dive into OSU's coaching staff and I really cannot find an NCC connection there. D line coach was at Amherst and St Norberts. Maybe one of the analysts?