NAPPANEE — Nate Andrews in many ways is about as old school as a football coach gets, but that doesn’t mean he can’t adapt to a new world.
The relaxed IHSAA transfer rules that have been implemented in the last couple years certainly qualify as a new world, and around the Elkhart County area, nobody in this new world is seeing as much come-and-go traffic among notable players as Andrews and NorthWood.
The Panther boss isn’t ecstatic about the ease with which individuals can transfer, but neither is he ripping it. Mostly, he just points out that it’s “a bit odd” that losing players suddenly seems to be drawing more media interest.
After all, Andrews says, he and other coaches have lost them for years to all sorts of things, like a student needing to take a job, grades, injuries, and obviously graduation. You adjust, you move on.
“It’s tough in a lot of ways, sure,” Andrews says of overcoming key players exiting and blending others into an existing team, “but there are situations with families and kids where the kid may need to or want to try something different. Personally, I’m a believer that if things aren’t necessarily working out the best where you are, you try to work through some of those trials and tribulations rather than guessing the grass is going to be greener somewhere else, but I understand that socially, academically, athletically, for a lot of reasons, someone may need to move.”
Cutting to the chase in NorthWood’s case, yes, the Panthers have lost last fall’s dynamic sophomore quarterback, Braylon Monroe, and last fall’s surging freshman wideout, Jaron Allen, to Concord, in addition to lineman Beau Blessing to Jimtown.
But likewise of note, they’ve added two-way Goshen standout Spencer Elliott and fellow junior Brandt Sark, the latter from Fairfield, and regained receiver Darrien Bew, who spent last year at Elkhart. Bew, as a senior and second-time transfer, won’t be eligible until Week 5 under IHSAA stipulations.
Elliott, an All-Northern Lakes Conference selection, decidedly led the 2-8 RedHawks last fall in both receiving (89 catches, 876 yards, seven touchdowns) and tackles (82). Sark accounted for more than half of ground-oriented, 3-7 Fairfield’s receiving yards with 353 on 27 catches to go with two TDs.
The new QB throwing to those guys and others will be sophomore Gage Lechlitner, senior Micah Persing or freshman EJ Riddle. Lechlitner, per Andrews, owned the inside track as of earlier this week.
“He’s steady and consistent from a mental standpoint, is working on his (throwing) accuracy, but a strong, physical kid for a sophomore with some running ability,” Andrews says. “We’re not asking our quarterback to single-handedly win the game, but he’s also not going to just turn and hand the ball off.”
When the Panthers (5-5 last fall, 4-3 NLC) do hand it off, junior Brady Weaver (346 yards, 7.4 average, six TDs in 2025), senior Ethan Miller (286, 7.9, seven) and junior Deontay Martz will be prime options to get it.
Up front, All-NLC lineman Wesley Burkholder returns, with fellow senior Kyler Mast and junior Malyk Duncan candidates to join him at tackle, senior Dawson Yoder penciled at center, and senior Gabe Mast, junior Jett Rulli and sophomore Jaxson Yoder among the hopefuls at guard.
Elliott and Sark are joined in a promising wideout stable by junior Ben Yoder and sophomore Tate Jones.
In Burkholder, Rulli and Miller, NorthWood has just three players back on offense who started at least half the time last season.
Over on defense, four such players are back in All-NLC pick Miller at linebacker, senior Brady Blackford at safety, and Duncan and senior Isaiah Stump along the line.
Miller, besides leading the team in tackles for loss with five, was third on the 2025 club in total tackles at 73, just behind a pair of since-graduated fellow All-NLC defenders in Hayden Lechlitner (83) and Austin King (80). Blackford (45) was fourth.
Seasoned senior Cruz Garcia (four TFLs) and juniors Sade Yoder and Faruq Ghaffar are top contenders to accompany Miller at linebacker.
Burkholder, Rulli, senior Nate Davies and junior Bryan Brogdon join ends Stump (four TFLs) and Duncan (four) as hopefuls for time up front.
At safety, where NorthWood typically deploys three individuals, Persing, Elliott, senior Lukas Burbrink and junior Kale Symons are battling to join Blackford.
Weaver, Martz, Ben Yoder and Jones are cornerback options.
Senior Paul Dosal, 23-of-24 on extra points last fall, returns at kicker, while Andrews is optimistic about the rest of his special-team units as well.
“We really like our football team,” Andrews assesses. “The chemistry, the work ethic, I think we have the pieces. At the same time, while we have pieces, we don’t want to lose too many pieces because there’s not tremendous depth. I don’t think we’ll have a lot of two-way guys, but maybe five or six one-and-a-half-way guys.
“I keep hearing that we don’t have a lot of production back offensively,” the coach continues, “and that’s pretty much a true statement, but once we solidify our line, I think it will be a good group with good (backs and receivers) around them.
“The defense, I don’t think we can ask them to carry us,” Andrews says, “but we’re good at linebacker and the strength of this team could be the defensive backfield.”
NorthWood’s 5-5 finish last fall included intense 26-25 and 28-14 losses to Mishawaka (which wound up 10-2), a 44-34 shootout loss to Concord (11-2) and a 27-24 loss to Columbia City (6-5).
“There were so many games last year where we fought like crazy to be in the game and didn’t pull it out,” says Andrews, who enters his 13th season back at his alma mater with a 96-43 record. “We dealt with some mental fatigue in those games, and that’s always a challenge, but we’re going to work hard to be better there.”