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ATN Podcast 281: Could spring games lead to spring practice?

There is so much here to talk about as we are midway through March in Division III football, and one of the things that Division III football coaches are pointing to right now is how all of the old excuses given for why D-III can’t have pads in practice in the spring are being proven wrong.

They said it would be impossible to find field time, that athletic training staffs would be stretched too thin. Well, here we are having had coming up on 100 games in Division III this spring — and we’re not talking about asking for games: We’re talkin’ about practice.

We’re joined by three head coaches who each give their take on renewing the drive to add pads and helmets in the spring, as we hear from Hendrix coach Buck Buchanan, Lake Forest coach Jim Catanzaro and Whitworth coach Rod Sandberg. Plus, we talk with Berry coach Tony Kunczewski about his team’s 4-0 spring, and with Trinity (Texas) coach Jerheme Urban about what his team accomplished with its spring football as well.

But the best part of this podcast may well be our chance to catch up with former Berry defensive back Justus Edwards. You may remember his name because in 2018, he suffered a catastrophic spinal injury during the Vikings’ game at Centre. He has continued to inspire his classmates and former teammates on the sidelines, and he was at the team’s appearance at the SAA championship in Little Rock, Arkansas. We talked with him about the work he is doing to get stronger, plus the foundation he has started to help people who have suffered similar injuries and have nowhere to turn.

That interview starts just before the 40:00 mark, if you are so inclined to skip ahead.

Meanwhile, we talk about the big games from Week 6, hand out two weeks’ worth of game balls, and bring back a well-known name to talk about Montez Archer and offer some advice to the Bluffton freshman who has intercepted six passes over the past two games.

Plus, we tackle a listener question. All that and more in Podcast 281.

Pat Coleman and Greg Thomas talk about it all in the latest D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast is a regular conversation covering the wide range of Division III football.

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Theme music: DJmentos. Trinity/Birmingham-Southern photo by Hendrix athletics, Justus Edwards photo from Instagram

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ATN Podcast 276: Running toward the spring?

With the fall championship all but called off, schools that haven’t called off their fall sports already will probably be doing so soon, and those who are looking to potentially play football in the spring may be starting to make plans.

We talked to all three of our interview subjects on the day that the Division III Management Council said it was recommending the 2020 fall championships in Division III be canceled, and although that hasn’t formally happened yet, it almost certainly will. So we talked to three people who are all in different stages of the 2020 season:

First, we talk with TCNJ coach Casey Goff. His school was one of the first to say they would not be fielding fall sports teams, so he has known for more than a month that there wouldn’t be a 2020 fall season for his program. With that perspective, Goff talks about whether it was good to know early in the process, what he thinks of his school’s plans. And, is spring football possible? We’ll get his take on that.

We also talk with Centre wide receiver Jordan Gunter. He would have been playing his senior season for the Colonels this fall, and his school is in a conference which is pushing publicly to get football moved to the spring. Is he looking forward to playing football in the spring? No — because he also is a starting outfielder for the Colonels, and he’s already lost a baseball season to COVID-19. He’ll explain why he would play baseball in the spring, given the choice.

And we have a conversation with Illinois Wesleyan coach Norm Eash. IWU and the CCIW have yet to make any announcement on their plans for the fall, so we get the perspective of a coach with a program that still has hopes of playing football. In the fall.

We discuss that and more in Podcast 276.

Pat and Keith talk about it all in the latest D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast is a regular conversation between Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan and guests covering the wide range of Division III football.

Hit play, or subscribe to get this podcast on your mobile device.

Full episode: [display_podcast]

You can subscribe to the Around the Nation Podcast in Apple Podcasts, and many other places. You can also get this and any of our future Around the Nation podcasts automatically by subscribing to this RSS feed: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/?feed=podcast

Here’s how to find us on some of the major podcasting apps:

Theme music: DJmentos. Jordan Gunter photo by Kyle Piercy, Centre athletics; TCNJ athletics photo; d3photography.com

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ATN Podcast 248: The one with fourth-quarter comebacks

We’ve often said in the course of writing about and covering Division III that you can find everything in Division III. That is definitely true in football, where when you have more than 110 games, there are bound to be interesting and unexpected performances.

For example, Pat and Keith this week bring you multiple games in which teams rallied from fourth-quarter two-touchdown deficits to win. But there are also big games that are not surprises, such as Wheaton and North Central playing another classic, and some that are, such as Texas Lutheran’s unexpected prowess scoring with its defense.

Plus, the most surprising result for one of these two was a game in the MIAA, but not the one you think it is, and we have another classic no-broadcaster Division III highlight where anyone who knows the rules about offside can have a laugh, or shake their head. Plus, find out which Super Bowl head coach performed the ceremonial coin toss at a D-III school, and where, and we definitely invite you to assemble the Around the Nation Podcast drinking game. Or just give us a thumbnail sketch.

This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life.

Plus, the guys hand out their game balls, find the off-the-beaten-path highlights and more from Week 5.

Pat and Keith talk about it all in the latest D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast is a regular conversation between Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan and guests covering the wide range of Division III football.

Hit play, or subscribe to get this podcast on your mobile device.

Full episode: [display_podcast]

You can subscribe to the Around the Nation Podcast in Apple Podcasts, and many other places. You can also get this and any of our future Around the Nation podcasts automatically by subscribing to this RSS feed: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/?feed=podcast

Here’s how to find us on some of the major podcasting apps:

Theme music: DJmentos. Photo by Union athletics