About this episode

The episode discusses the upcoming NFL Draft, challenges for Division III players, coaching changes at Loras, and the success of Franklin & Marshall's new head coach.

The NFL Draft is coming up this week, and Division III has had only three players drafted since 2012, all of them offensive linemen who were thought of quite highly and drafted quite highly: Ali Marpet of Hobart, Ben Bartch of St. John’s and Quinn Meinerz of UW-Whitewater. If Division III has a player drafted from any position other than O-line, it’s probably most likely to be Ty Montgomery of John Carroll, who we talked about back in Podcast 404. Why has it been so hard for D-III guys to get drafted lately? We bring in a player agent to talk about what he’s seen in two decades of representing Division III football talent, what NFL teams are looking for and what the prerequisite is before one ever even gets to a Pro Day. John Perez, who played D-III ball at William Paterson, talks us through it. It’s a new day at Loras, as the Duhawks have a new head coach in former St. John’s defensive coordinator Brandon Novak, are hoping to generate some buzz of their own in Dubuque, Iowa, and looking to take a step forward for a program which hasn’t won more than five games in a season since 2008. Novak has filled his key assistant coaching slots with some…

People in this episode

Guests: John Perez, Mike Phelan

Topics covered

• NFL Draft
• Division III football
• player representation
• coaching changes
• college football success

Keywords

• NFL Draft
• Division III
• player agent
• coaching
• football
• Loras
• Franklin & Marshall
• Ty Montgomery
• Brandon Novak

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: William Paterson, Loras, Franklin & Marshall, Duhawks, Centennial Conference, Hobart, St. John’s, UW-Whitewater, John Carroll

More episodes of D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast

• ATN Podcast 405: New faces, new places in D-III · March 30, 2026 · 1h 33m
• ATN Podcast 404: The aftermath, the return, the revival · February 4, 2026 · 1h 21m
• ATN Podcast 403: A year to remember · January 5, 2026 · 1h 3m
• ATN Podcast 402: Welcome to Canton! · January 3, 2026 · 1h 16m
• ATN Podcast 401: One semifinal for the ages · December 22, 2025 · 1h 31m
• ATN Podcast 400: A final four for No. 400 · December 15, 2025 · 1h 22m

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast podcast page.