By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Last fall marked the fifth straight winning season for Nevada’s football program, and the fourth in a row with at least eight wins. The Tigers (8-3) lost to three schools that combined to win 32 games.
“All high school coaches obviously go through this every year where graduation rolls around and you lose some really good players,” said head coach Wes Beachler. “Last year we lost a great senior class from the previous year, and then losing an all-state running back in Jack Chaney to an injury in June and not having him for his senior year really made us wonder how good we were going to be. For the kids to step up and continue the success the program’s seen the last few years is pretty impressive, particularly with our young offensive line, an almost entirely new linebacking corps on defense and then two sophomore running backs stepping up to fill that void with Jack out. I was really pleased with the job the offensive line did and those two young running backs did, and with our linebackers and we’ve had a really good run of linebackers over the past five years.”
As the Tigers turn the page to 2025, they’ll replace half a dozen all-conference players along with second-team all-state defensive end Grady Stewart and third-team all-state guard Cam Williams. They return just as many Big 8 standouts.
Offensively Nevada must replace an H-back, both starting guards and both starting tight ends and Beachler is looking for some young players to step into those roles.
“The tight end blocks, the H-back blocks and the guard blocks are key in our offense so losing all five of those guys to graduation is pretty tough,” Beachler said. “We did retain both starting tackles, the starting center and our entire starting backfield returns including our quarterback whose season was cut short with an injury in week nine, and our wing back and tailback.”
Senior quarterback Kellen Braden completed 36 of 67 passes for 502 yards and 5 touchdowns last year, and he added three rushing touchdowns. He’ll be a three-year starter.
“He’s probably a better dual threat than we’ve shown just because we’ve been so talented at running back,” Beachler said. “Our run game’s been so dominant we haven’t thrown the ball as much as we’d like to at times just because we know we can hand it off and have success. He’s a good dual threat guy and I think we’ll see more this year. A really effective runner, more like a power running quarterback. He’ll stick it up in there and get eight yards pretty consistently and he has a nice touch on the passing game.”
He’s joined in the backfield by junior Will Jackson, a third-team all-state running back and first-team Big 8 pick who led the team with 200 carries for 1,437 yards along with 12 touchdowns. Junior John Michael Collins also returns as a second-team Big 8 all-purpose back and first-team return specialist; he rushed 109 times for 1,050 yards and 14 touchdowns and added 15 catches for 313 yards and 3 scores.
Senior Peyton Wyant (honorable mention Big 8) returns at center, senior Kaden Carter returns at right tackle and senior Isaac Campbell returns at left tackle.
Seniors Jett Snyder and Kobe Buck are returning defensive starters who are also battling for the H-back spot.
“They’ll probably both play there some,” Beachler said. “I think they’ll be pretty solid on the offensive side for two young men who haven’t played a lot of offense in the past. They’ve looked good so far. We don’t often run our H-back but we probably will a little more with these guys and throw to them a little more because they’re pretty athletic.”
Nevada’s defensive unit will feature first-team Big 8 linebacker Snyder, second-team Big 8 linebacker senior Drew Miller, and honorable mention Big 8 defensive back Mason Majors, a senior. Grady Stewart, a second-team all-state end, is one of the key defenders the Tigers have to replace.
“He was a good pass rush guy and set the edge,” Beachler said. “Other coaches in the conference talked about how they’d just run away from him, he was a good player. Our linebacking corps is going to be really good with Jett Snyder and Drew Miller returning and Kobe Buck who was another starter last year and a good linebacker. We’re going to be solid there. Mason Majors was a starter in the secondary last year and we’re going to enjoy coaching him this year. John Michael Collins has been playing a corner spot, and a young man we have back out as a junior is Kendrick Atkins who is playing some in the secondary and is a pretty athletic young man. There are some other guys sprinkled in there I think will be performers for us as well.”
Nevada will jamboree at Carl Junction along with Carthage and opens the regular season on the road at Monett and then at home against Aurora. The team finishes the regular season with a non-conference home game against Pleasant Hill.
“I think the work ethic is really good,” Beachler said. “We’re down in numbers and I don’t know why with the success we’ve had over the last five years but the kids we have are good ones and they’re working hard. It’s a good bunch of young men who know the expectations of the program and want to see it continue to succeed.”
“I’m looking forward to the challenge of the conference we play in and a bunch of well-coached teams. Every night presents its own challenge so it’ll be interesting.”
