post

ATN Podcast 414: Setting the stage for the 2026 season

We’re wrapping up the offseason, one in which we’ve now dropped 11 podcasts for you, including 24 coach and/or student athlete interviews, a commissioner and a collector of college football helmets. And we are here to get you into preseason camp, into your full pads and helmets and much more with Podcast 414.

This edition of the D3football.com Podcast is sponsored by GameStrat, the most reliable & fastest in-game video replay system on the market. Find out more at GameStrat.com.

Johns Hopkins is the preseason No. 4 team in our Top 25 poll, and coach Dan Wodicka was glad to talk to us during the middle of the Blue Jays’ preseason camp. Find out who the new JHU starting quarterback will be, where he came from, what else he does at Johns Hopkins, and what made his teammates vote him a captain before he has ever started a single football game for the program. Why do the Blue Jays carry just 100 players this year, and how does that compare to previous seasons? Who is wearing the honored No. 3 for Johns Hopkins this season? How well will the team reload at offensive line, where they lose four starters. And how well has JHU transitioned to new quarterbacks in the recent past?

We also chat with Wes Dodson, head coach at LaGrange. The Panthers had a breakthrough season, going 10-2 and winning a first-round playoff game, and are looking to continue to push the program forward, just a few years after Dodson inherited a team which would go 0-9. The football team is a huge part of the campus culture at LaGrange, which is growing but still had under 650 full-time undergraduates last year. Secondary is the biggest spot to fill for the Panthers, while Henry Broadnax is a veteran returning at quarterback for LaGrange, coming back after playing hurt last season.

Plus, how will the Top 25 poll react to the big games in the first two weeks of the season? Which Week 1 games between unranked teams do we have a particular eye on?

That and more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is a weekly conversation during the season, twice monthly in the offseason, about NCAA Division III football, and has been running since 2007.

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

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:

Photos: David Hilbert, d3photography.com; Marty Corcoran, Johns Hopkins; Rachel Staub, Washington & Jefferson

 

post

ATN Podcast 411: New-look SCAC, longtime Lion, brand-new Prairie Wolf

The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference has made a lot of waves since last we talked, what with Millsaps and then Southwestern electing to rejoin the SCAC starting in 2027. So, at the risk of there perhaps being a third member of the Southern Athletic Association returning to the SCAC before we could get the podcast out, we sat down with Dwayne Hanberry, commissioner of the SCAC, to discuss the changes, the status of Gallaudet in the conference, and more.

This edition of the D3football.com Podcast is sponsored by GameStrat, the most reliable & fastest in-game video replay system on the market. Find out more at GameStrat.com.

In addition to that breaking news, we also discuss the recent announcement that the Monon Bell game will be played at Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana, at a price of $50 a ticket plus Ticketmaster fees. There will be words, for sure. We also talk too early about the preseason Top 25 poll, which should come out within the next week.

Our coach interviews in this edition of the podcast each represent opposite ends of the experience spectrum. That includes Tyler Hopperton, who has been the head coach at Mount St. Joseph going on a decade and has been at MSJ as either a coach or player for half the lifetime of the program. Hopperton talks about his team going to a bowl game last year after a string of three consecutive NCAA playoff trips, the high points in Cincinnati’s Division III program and the benefits of Skyline Chili.

We also have Jacob Donohoe, the new head coach at Nebraska Wesleyan, coming over after spending time as an offensive coordinator at Coe. He takes over a program which was coached by Brian Keller for the past 30 years, was a longtime member of the NAIA and in a whole different conference.  Donohoe talks about reconnecting with alumni, changing the terminology within the program, what he learned at Coe and more, including the famous Runza sandwich.

Plus we answer mailbag questions about the future of Trinity (Texas), and about the best quarterback performances we’ve seen in covering Division III.

That and more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is a weekly conversation during the season, twice monthly in the offseason, about NCAA Division III football, and has been running since 2007.

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

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:

Photos: Nebraska Wesleyan athletics; Eduardo Moll, Southwestern Athletics; Millsaps athletics; Mount St. Joseph athletics

post

ATN Podcast 402: Welcome to Canton!

Coming to you from Canton, Ohio, it’s our Stagg Bowl preview edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast. Patrick Coleman and Greg Thomas are joined by Keith McMillan, as well as Seth Howard of the Left Hash Podcast and D1 Rejects, a former UW-River Falls quarterback and assistant coach who will be our sideline reporter for our audio broadcast of Stagg Bowl 52. (Watch on ESPN, then mute the sound and listen to us!)

Patrick, Greg and Keith talked with a number of players and both head coaches at Friday’s media day, and we bring a sampling of those conversations, of which you’ll hear or see more on our pregame coverage. Hear what UW-River Falls safety Andre Hall thinks about the pace of the game compared to the pace of practice. Cortez Jones and North Central coach Brad Spencer talk about what you’ll see when the offensive is playing well. Falcons Gagliardi winner and quarterback Kaleb Blaha talks about how it felt to get a few extra days off between games and our panel discusses both the mental and physical benefits of getting that time back.

North Central’s J.P. Sullivan talks about carrying on the tradition of great Cardinals defensive linemen. River Falls receiver Blake Rohrer discusses the Falcons wide receiver group. Cardinals receiver Thomas Skokna talks about the possibly unexpected way he and quarterback Garret Wilson built their chemistry. Falcons linebacker Gage Timm talks about how the UW-RF season has prepared them for this moment and coach Matt Walker talks about the important thing he had to do before he could commit to the Top Gun offense.

UW-Oshkosh coach Peter Jennings joins us to talk about coaching against each of these teams this season, and how you can’t play the comparative scores game when looking at his Titans’ games against North Central and UW-River Falls. Plus, we take your mailbag questions, talk about coaching changes and much more.

That and more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is a weekly conversation about NCAA Division III football, and has been running since 2007.

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

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: Power 2 by DJmentos.
File photo