Jan 19, 2025, 6:00 PM UTC
Dream Bowl

Luke Lehnen & Nine Division III Football Players To Watch In 2024

Luke Lehnen & Nine Division III Football Players To Watch In 2024

Here’s a look at 10 players to watch out for ahead of the 2024 Division III football season.

Jul 25, 2024 by Briar Napier
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In a college football landscape as of late in which rivals have been separated, schedules have been shuffled and conference regionality is quickly becoming a thing of the past, the “lower” levels of the game are some of the purest ways to watch it that we have left.

Plus, don’t think for a second that just because it’s called Division III football it isn’t good, fun, or exciting, either.

Denver Broncos offensive lineman Quinn Meinerz (Wisconsin-Whitewater) and Buffalo Bills linebacker Nicholas Morrow (Greenville) are just a few of the D-III alumni currently on NFL teams, proving that just because a player didn’t sign with a big-time program out of high school doesn’t mean that they can’t make a difference at the highest level of the sport.

While it is true that the already-slim chances for college football players to make it to the NFL are even more miniscule for D-III players, it is by no means impossible and some talents do eventually find their way to a pro roster.

And if you’re looking for a few D-III standouts to keep tabs on for the future, look no further.

Here’s a look at 10 players to watch out for ahead of the 2024 Division III football season, part of FloFootball’s coverage and analysis of D-III football all season long:

Luke Lehnen, QB, North Central (Illinois)

Let’s start strong here and lead off with the reigning and defending winner of the Gagliardi Trophy, the D-III equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. 

One of the finest players seen in D-III in some time, Lehnen’s career was already on an upward trajectory when he led the Cardinals to back-to-back national championship games in his first two seasons under center in 2021 and 2022, with North Central capturing the crown over Mount Union in the latter year. 

It was only after those two years that he proceeded to absolutely light up the stat sheet even further in 2023, setting himself up to potentially be the first back-to-back Gagliardi winner since Mount Union quarterback Kevin Burke did it in 2013 and 2014. 

Lehnen was responsible for 61 touchdowns (48 passing, 13 rushing) compared to just two interceptions a season ago as he also set career bests in passing yardage (3,407 yards) and completion percentage (73%), while he also ran for 850 yards in the meantime, too. Oh, and he was also the Cardinals’ top punter and an all-conference outfielder/pitcher who batted .351 for and earned six saves for North Central’s baseball team in the spring, as well. 

Only Cortland in the national title game was able to slow down Lehnen and the Cardinals last year, but good luck to the teams on North Central’s schedule in doing that, too, as Lehnen had at least two touchdowns in every game last season.

Kaleb Blaha, QB, Wisconsin-River Falls

There was only one player in D-III last season who threw for at least 2,400 yards while running for at least 1,000, and his name is Kaleb Blaha — who actually pulled off the feat for the second year in a row in 2023. 

The national leader in total offense this past year as he was responsible for an average of 388.2 total yards per game, Blaha scored 46 total touchdowns (24 passing, 22 rushing) and only threw six interceptions for the Falcons. Those numbers were made even more impressive because UWRF only played in 10 games as it missed the playoffs, partly due to being stuck in a loaded Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with two postseason qualifiers in league champion Wisconsin-La Crosse and at-large selection/household name Wisconsin-Whitewater. 

The Falcons haven’t won a WIAC title since 1998, but a run of three straight seasons of at least seven wins or more (including back-to-back nine-win campaigns in 2021 and 2022) makes it UWRF’s most successful three-season run since that last conference crown 26 years ago. 

Blaha’s prestige as one of the nation’s best gunslingers (having also been a Gagliardi semifinalist last season) going into 2024 should help the Falcons in their pursuit of history, even with a tough schedule that includes a reigning quarterfinalist in Alma, another team coming off a playoff appearance in Mount St. Joseph and the always-brutal WIAC slate.

Joe Sacco, RB, North Central (Illinois)

It’s a wonder how anyone managed to slow down the North Central offense last year (spoiler alert: most couldn’t) when defenses not only had to worry about the player given the top individual award in D-III in Lehnen but also the best running back in the country in Sacco. 

The national rushing champion with 1,818 yards to his name as he was named an Associated Press First Team All-American, Sacco had a breakout year in his first season as the Cardinals’ lead back as he ensured that there was going to be little to no dropoff at the position following the graduation of 2022 Gagliardi winner and three-time national rushing yardage leader Ethan Greenfield. 

He was absolutely devastating in combination with Lehnen last year, scoring 20 touchdowns on the ground as he helped North Central average a national-leading 58.6 points per game — over three points clear of the second-placed team in the country — and be just one point shy of a second straight national title and third in four completed seasons. 

The mission for the Cardinals this time around, now that Lehnen and Sacco are both back with a little extra motivation after the disappointment of 2023, is to score lots of points, terrorize defenses and finish the job to be the last D-III team standing once again.

Brandon Cade, RB, Berry

It’s already a big achievement just to win one of them, so how many times have you ever heard of a college football player going for their fourth conference Player of the Year award of their career? 

Sure enough, Cade is looking to capture the Southern Athletic Association’s top honor for offensive players for the fourth year running to give himself one more notch on his already-decorated legacy with the Vikings. 

Though he was a good tailback in his first two seasons as he scampered for a combined 1,413 yards and 19 touchdowns in all, Cade’s 2023 season was a standard-setter as he had more yards (1,459) and scores (24, tied for the most in D-III) on the ground in one year than he had in the prior two total. 

He was unsurprisingly named an AP Second Team All-American a year ago for his efforts and is back for more in 2024, being the focal point of a Berry offense that is looking to get back to winning the SAA title after going 9-1 last year but failing to earn an at-large bid to the playoffs as Trinity beat it in the regular season to snatch the league’s championship (and automatic bid) from the Vikings’ grasp.

Collin Brunstein, WR, Illinois College

There’s going under the radar and then there’s not even being in the same universe as the radar, but when you compare Brunstein’s pre-2023 and 2023 seasons, it’s a fitting way to describe his rise from seemingly out of nowhere into D-III’s best wideout. 

Brunstein’s first two full seasons with the Blueboys were solid but had nothing that would jump off of the page; he caught a combined 54 balls for 1,217 yards for 17 touchdowns total in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, numbers that indicated that he was seemingly bound for a decent career playing for his hometown college in Jacksonville, Illinois. 

Then 2023 happened, and Brunstein became so off-the-charts good that there’s little to no idea what to expect production-wise as he tries to follow it up this fall. 

Brunstein had one of the greatest individual campaigns in the history of college football for IC a season ago, hauling in 91 catches for an NCAA all-division record 2,200 yards and 31 touchdowns, the latter of which is a D-III all-time mark, in a beyond-belief year. Averaging 200 yards per game, Brunstein had at least four touchdowns in a game four times, with his eight-catch, 313-yard, three-touchdown outing against UChicago being especially eye-popping considering that he was averaging 39.2 yards per catch. 

Electric Blueboys quarterback Destin Chance (4,013 passing yards in 2023) is back for another go-round, too, meaning that something never before seen in college football — back-to-back 2,000-yard receiving seasons — is very much on the table for Brunstein.

Anthony Cikauskas, DL, Monmouth (Illinois)

No one had a better time in the trenches across D-III last season than Cikauskas, who despite being just a sophomore set himself apart as arguably the nation’s best defensive lineman going into the fall. 

Leading the country with 26 tackles for loss and tying for the national lead with 17 sacks (a Monmouth single-season record), Cikauskas was a menace to opposing offensive lines for the Fighting Scots, doing it all as he also forced five fumbles, broke up two passes and blocked a kick en route to being named an AP First Team All-American. 

Combined with another player who tallied double-digit sacks in also-returning defensive end Tevin Baker (10 sacks), Cikauskas made the Scots one of the most feared defensive lines in the country as they finished the year tied for eighth in the country with 37 sacks — with Cikauskas and Baker making up over half of that number. 

Seemingly the next in line as an elite-level D-lineman under Scots coach Chad Braun after two-time Cliff Harris Award finalist Korbyn Personett terrorized opposing quarterbacks before his graduation after the 2022 season, Cikauskas should be set to be among the national leaders in sacks and tackles for loss once again with another strong year.

Rossy Moore, DL, Mount Union

This wouldn’t really be a D-III players-to-watch list if there wasn’t a Mount Union player on it. 

The 13-time national champions are in a lengthy hardware drought by their lofty standards, having not hoisted the trophy since 2017, and the Purple Raiders should once again be in the thick of the title picture after an 11-1 campaign — which featured the program’s 32nd undefeated regular season — in 2023. 

Among those returning to try and get Mount Union title No. 14 is Moore, who has an awards resume going into his senior season better than just about any other player in the country. 

A two-time AP First Team All-American and a Cliff Harris Award finalist last season, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Moore is a versatile danger in the Purple Raiders’ defense who can and will often shift between roles on the defensive line and as a linebacker, having been named the Ohio Athletic Conference’s player of the year in both positions throughout his career. 

That ability to fly around the field and play different roles has seen him pick up back-to-back 10-sack seasons, acquire 45.5 career tackles for loss and be the cornerstone of a Mount Union defensive unit that allowed just 8.25 points per game last year, good for the second-fewest in the country. 

Pro scouts should be keeping an eye on Moore’s final college season, where there’s potential for him to join the likes of Pierre Garcon and Cecil Shorts as ex-Purple Raiders to make it to the NFL.

Jack Winey, LB, Cortland

How exactly was Cortland able to do the near-impossible by going from not hosting its first-round playoff game to winning the national title over one of the greatest offenses ever seen in D-III? 

There were a lot of reasons why the Red Dragons were able to make history and secure their first-ever national championship, but Winey and his play throughout the season (and especially through the playoffs) was a major one. 

He made an immediate impact with Cortland in his first season there after two years in the junior college ranks, finishing as the national leader in total tackles with a school-record 141 (53 solo) as he was named a second-team AP All-American. 

Winey additionally stepped his game up in moments across the postseason as had double-digit tackles in the Red Dragons’ playoff games against Grove City, Alma and Randolph-Macon, and in the Stagg Bowl against North Central, he had a crucial strip-sack of Lehnen inside Cortland’s own 10-yard line that he recovered to give the Red Dragons back possession. 

The spoiler team of last year’s playoffs, the target is clearly on Cortland’s back entering the 2024 season as no one is underselling them now, but Winey’s return to wreak havoc on offenses that the Red Dragons face this season will help them navigate the year as defending national champions.

Dalton Tjong, DB, Ohio Northern

If there’s anything you need to ask Tjong to do on the defensive end, the Georgia native is bound to pull it off. 

The Polar Bears might not have been world-beaters last season, going 4-6 while playing in the same conference (the OAC) as powerful programs like Mount Union and John Carroll, but Tjong has had a stellar past two seasons regardless, finishing third overall and first among defensive backs nationally in total tackles (122) last season for his second straight campaign with at least 110 stops. 

Throw in six combined interceptions in 2022 and 2023 and 11 pass breakups over that same timeframe, and it’s easy to see how Tjong got selected as an AP Second Team All-America nod despite playing for a team that finished the season under .500. 

And even with the fact that ONU has never had a winning record since he’s been on campus, Tjong has stayed with the Polar Bears and opted to ride out his career with the program even with the allure of the transfer portal, where a title-contending team could potentially make him a star piece as plenty of elite D-III squads would love to have him anchoring their secondary. 

Northern may be in an uphill battle to contend within the OAC this season, but it can at least take pride in the fact that its star player has a priority bigger than the largest NIL deal or the best level of football he can find — loyalty.

Parker Rochford, DB, Wartburg

Opt to send a receiver Rochford’s way at your own risk. 

The national leader in interceptions last season with eight, the playmaker from Edgewood, Iowa (population 909) has been crucial to the Knights making back-to-back trips to the D-III playoff semifinals, which were on top of two straight undefeated regular seasons and American Rivers Conference championships. 

He has 15 career picks with a school-record four of them being touchdowns, showcasing an ability to not just give Wartburg back possession but also take it to the house himself and give his team some scoring right away. 

His ability to defend the run when needed has been stellar, too, as he has contributed to Wartburg being the nation’s leader in rushing defense for each of the past two seasons, and scouts from NFL teams have been taking notice as he was announced Tuesday as one of just two D-III players (along with Lehnen) to be named to the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl 1000 Watchlist along with the very best names at all levels of college football. 

Wartburg can taste its first national championship appearance in program history after two straight trips to the final four, and it’s ranked No. 4 in the annual Lindy’s Sports National College Football Preview Magazine Top 25 rankings for D-III. That’s partly due to both the national respect it’s earned recently and partly due to Rochford being a type of difference-maker on defense that few other D-III teams have.

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