WAVERLY, Iowa—The Wartburg football team opens the 2023 season against Monmouth College Saturday, Sept. 2 at 7 p.m. There will be fireworks during the National Anthem and after the game. This marks the first time since 2010 for post-game fireworks, as that display was in celebration of the 75th anniversary of Wartburg football.
Last Season
The Knights went 13-1 overall and 8-0 in American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) games under second-year head coach Chris Winter. Wartburg had a school-record five named All-American, a school-record 10 named All-Region, and swept the conference MVP honors in Hunter Clasen and Owen Grover. The Knights advanced to the National Semifinals for the first time in school history.
In addition, Winter was named D3football.com National Coach of the Year, which marked the first national coach of the year honor in program history.
Season Preview
Wartburg returns 16 starters and 12 All-Conference selections.
"The theme of our preseason camp is 'one day at a time'," said Winter at the annual preseason media day. "I know it's cliché and I said this last year, but that's how it is. All the polls that are out there and the preseason honors, all that stuff is great, but if we start getting caught up in that, we'll get ahead of ourselves and fall into complacency.
"Humble, hungry, and smart are the three areas in our program that we need to be great at to be a great teammate," he continued. "Humble is being coachable, having things we can always improve on. Hungry is a relentless pursuit to be our best and reach our goals. Smart is how to get the most out of the people around you. I want to serve the guy next to me, in that he knows I care about him and want to help him to be his best."
"The defense, once again, is going to be a strength of what we do as a team last year," said Winter. "We led all NCAA levels in only allowing 45 rushing yards/game."
Some of those returners include:
Clasen ranks eighth in career all-purpose yards (3,826), ninth in rushing TDs (31), 10th in total touchdowns (33) and kick return yards (866). He set the season record for rushing yards (1,584) and finished second on the single season leader list in rushing TDs (21).
Nile McLaughlin ranks third in career pass completion percentage (61.7), seventh in pass efficiency (142.5), ninth in passing yards/game (139.2), and 10th in pass completions (285) and passing TDs (30). He set the season record for pass attempts (412), pass completions (254) a year ago.
"I'm really excited about the turn we took in the last half of the season last year," said Winter. "A lot has to do with Nile, and when you hand Hunter the ball, a lot of good things happen. I think he's the best running back in the country at our level. Our offense can't be successful without the offensive line doing their job."
Tucker Kinney and Alex Lahmon return to anchor that position group.
Ben Bryant ranks third in career punt return yards (666) and 10th in punt returns (47).
Jordan Downing is fifth in forced fumbles (3), and sixth in career sacks (20.5). He tied the season record with 12.5 sacks last year.
Owen Grover is 10th in total tackles (250). Cael O'Neill is sixth in career field goals (15) and 10th in PATs (60). He made a school-record 14 field goals in 2022.
Drake George has led team in receptions for the last two-straight year.
Winter sees the schedule as "being as challenging as it's ever been. If you start overlooking any team, that's going to be a problem. A lot of people think that week two matchup with Bethel as our big game. For me, Monmouth College is coming in here Sept. 2 and that's what we're worried about."
Not becoming complacent was a theme throughout his remarks, as Winter and his staff looked back at the record books and researched what happened the next season after 10-0 regular season finishes. "Any team that finished the regular season 10-0 in Wartburg history, that next year we either missed the playoffs, or we went 8-3 and lost in the first round of the playoffs," he said. "We've got to keep an eye out this year, so we don't get complacent."
The Orange and Black will host Monmouth in the season opener on Saturday, Sept. 2 at 7 p.m. Wartburg is 14-0 in night home openers in the Walston-Hoover Stadium era (since 2001).
