Knights seek return to UMAC excellence
Trending
NEW ULM - After another year of setting records for the Martin Luther College Knights, junior quarterback Brady Turriff will be looking to continue raising the bar with his play this season while putting the Knights in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference contender conversation.
The 6-foot-3 2025 All-UMAC First Teamer threw for an MLC record 2,312 yards last year, breaking his prior record of 1,977 yards that he threw for as a freshman. He also broke his freshman record mark of 145 completions by completing 179 passes last year while adding 19 touchdown passes, second in MLC history behind Ben Kuerth, who threw for 20 TDs in 1999.
In front of Turriff, 265-pound senior offensive lineman R.J. Perry will also help lead the offense.
“Leadership role falls very specifically offensively on RJ Perry with the offensive line and then Brady at quarterback,” coach Huebner said. “Those two guys are definitely - if you ask our players who the leaders are, it would be the two of them they point to.”
Jude Peterson returns for his senior year at wideout after catching 46 passes for 675 yards and six touchdowns last season as a 2025 All-UMAC First Teamer. Taking some pressure off Turriff on the ground, however, will be returning junior running back Arthur Robinson, who was a 2025 All-UMAC First Teamer that rushed for 1,074 yards and eight touchdowns on 233 carries last year (4.6 YPC).
Last season, the Knights finished 5-5 overall and 3-4 in the UMAC with their strong and steady offense that helped them lead the UMAC in points per game (26.1 ppg).
Per the norm with the Knights, the team has talent but the number of players on the roster will bring the challenge of staying healthy again to the forefront.
“We have to stay healthy, we only have 44 guys on the roster,” coach Huebner said. “That’s not a lot of people to play Division 3 football with and so that’s just always going to be the case. That’s just who we are as a school. We’re going to have a limited recruiting base and options academically speaking, so we have to squeeze every last bit out of the players that we have now.
“The 44 that we have are talented and committed and have worked really hard in the offseason to prepare, so I’m excited to see what we can do if God blesses us with the health that we need to be at our best every Saturday.”
Offensively coach Huebner said the Knights will be using a lot of 11 and 12 personnel packages to spread the field with a couple of good tight ends in Noah Huebner and Trenton Heyn. Both players are physical, strong athletes that can also catch the ball and use their speed to make some noise vertically.
“That personnel package allows us to throw the ball effectively but also run it with a couple of tight ends in the box making holes for Arthur Robinson, who is a stud at running back for us,” coach Huebner said.
Defensively, the Knights will have to work through some things scheme-wise as they graduated elite pass rusher and defensive Andrew Esmay, along with standout linebackers Thomas Balge and Micah Koschnitzke.
“Those two, hybrid outside linebacker, safety position and then a game-wrecking defensive end, all three of those guys are gone, so schematically on defense, Tony Ortmann, our DC, has had to mix and match some things and go into his bag of tricks,” coach Huebner said.
As far as fresh faces getting more involved this year, coach Huebner said sophomore safety Carson Burow will be tasked with trying to fill Balge’s shoes. The Knights will also be happy to have veteran Daniel Reinke, a 6-2, 210-pound junior defensive end, back this year from injury, and will hope for some added pressure from defensive linemen Nathan Schmidt, Joseph Dahlberg and Daniel Biermann defense.
“Danny Reinke’s back, he broke his leg last year at Morris last year [in Week 4] and didn’t get to play the last six games of the season, so he’s back and healthy, which is good,” coach Huebner said. “Nathan Schmidt is a phenomenal football player. He was a freshman last year, leader on the defense. vocal, intelligent, great motor, he will be asked to do a lot. Joseph Dahlberg, hopefully healthy enough, and Dan Biermann, too, those are two big defensive tackles, and when they’re healthy, they’re very, very good.”
Coach Huebner expects a tough UMAC again this year with several teams vying for a spot at the top.
“Everybody in the conference is pretty even and that’s been the neat thing about the UMAC the last few years,” coach Huebner said. “I heard a stat last year watching Crown in the playoffs and when the announcer said it, it was like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s true, there has not been a repeat champion in the UMAC since 2018-19 when MLC did it. So, every year we’ve got a new champion, it’s been Crown, it’s been Morris, it’s been Northwestern, it’s been Greenville, it’s been us. Everybody in the conference has the ability to be at the top.”
Coach Huebner said Crown is very good, especially defensively, along with Northwestern, who was solid on defense last year and brings a lot of those same tough defensive players back. He also said Westminster College is improving with a new coaching staff and some new recruits.
The Knights haven’t won the UMAC since 2019, but there is belief they can get the job done this year if they stay healthy.
“We choose to pursue excellence over success,” coach Huebner said. “What that looks like in terms of wins and losses, we don’t know, but we will strive to be at our best every single week. I believe that’s good enough to compete for the conference championship.”
The Knights open the season with a nonconference game against Macalester College t 10 a.m. Saturday.