2025 Small College Football Season Preview: Nebraska Wesleyan

Nebraska isn't the only college football team that calls Lincoln home that will be playing games come this Saturday. Nebraska Wesleyan is too, as the Prairie Wolves gear up for their tenth season of competition at the NCAA Division III level and 30th season overall under the direction of head coach Brian Keller, an NWU alum.

"It’s been a lot of fun just working together throughout the offseason. We’ve really been rebuilding the culture and building the roster up as well," senior defensive back Caiden Rose said at Small College Media Days hosted by Doane earlier this summer. "In the past, it’s been like, these couple guys get hurt then we’re just out of luck there, but now we feel like we really do have the roster to compete, we have the depth in the key positions that we need it, and so we’re really excited, we’re hungry to get some wins, and get after it this season."

Throughout the spring and summer, the offense and the defense of the Prairie Wolves have been united by a common mantra: go 1 and 0 every play.

"That’s kind of our big philosophy on offense, is just 1-0 every snap, and you break it down from there," junior quarterback Connor White said. "Offensive line, you go 1-0, quarterback, you go 1-0, running back, you go 1-0, wide receivers, you go 1-0 – just breaking everything down just to 1-0, where you win this play, you win each quarter, you win each half, you win each game."

"1-0 means you have one play, you do it, and then you forget about it. You want to go 1-0 each play," fifth-year defensive lineman Hunter Hanke said. "And then we have more a physical mindset this year – we want to be more of a physical team, we want to be the hammer, not the nail, throw the first punch in the games."

"Our philosophy is we physically, we play relentlessly, and we play smart. We got 11 guys getting to the ball every time, we do that, we play physical, we create plays," echoed Rose, who was high school teammates with Hanke at nearby Waverly. "Doing that, doing your job, doing it physically to the best of your ability, that creates plays, that messes with the offense. We like to bring some pressure and we like to drop out of looks, so we bring a lot of different looks to keep the offense scrambling, get them on their toes, and that’s what allows our guys to make plays."

The Prairie Wolves players said they've had their goals set for this season since the end of last season: and at the top of that list is winning an American Rivers Conference championship.

"We’ve got really high expectations this season. Following last season we all came in and kind of talked about what goals we wanted to have this year, and we had them set this whole entire offseason, and day by day, we’ve been reminded of those goals and reached towards those goals," Hanke said. "Obviously the end goal is to win an ARC championship, and I think everyone has been bought in since day one since we’ve created those goals."

"Our goal is to win the ARC championship, and that requires going 1-0 every week, 1-0 every practice. So that’s the goal that we’ve set just to be better every day," senior lineman Owen Anthony said. "It all starts with working hard, work ethic, being consistent, doing your workouts, do what you gotta do every single day."

It hasn't always been smooth sailing for Nebraska Wesleyan since they made the jump up from the NAIA to Division III ahead of the 2016 season, but this season's crop of players believe they have the roster and the coaches to help them reach new heights at this level of college football.

"I think we have a really good run game and a really good passing game as well, so we got a lot of talent around us, and all of us just need to do our best," Anthony said. "And that's just what it comes down to: doing your best, every single practice, every single rep. We have the coaches that can coach us up and guide us, but at the end of the day, it comes down to us just giving our best effort."

"It’s easy to go into practice and be like oh, you had a bad drill or a bad play, OK, you have 17 more or whatever," White outlined. "In a game it’s kind of harder, because you have a bad snap and then you’re in your head and it keeps tumbling and tumbling. Our coaches are so good at, say I throw a pick and I’m in my head or something, they come sit me down, and be like, hey, we’re good. We look at it on film and then we’re good to go the next drive. So just being able to trust everyone around me has really helped."

Before kicking off conference play in two weeks, Nebraska Wesleyan will face a pair of NAIA foes to start the season, beginning with a trip to South Dakota to take on Dakota State this Saturday night.

"We’re just excited. We have a group that’s really hungry to win," Rose concluded. "Me and Hanke, we’ve been here the last four years, laying the foundation, building the culture, kind of rebuilding things, all the way from little things up, as far as warm-up, nutrition, habits, building everything into a strong program – so we’re just really excited to see the fruits of our labor."