MIAA Preview: Davis guides Lopers into Held era

By Jon Dykstra | August 21, 2023 |

JON DYKSTRA/THE FORUM
Nebraska-Kearney quarterback T.J. Davis throws the ball against Northwest Missouri State on October 29, 2022, in Kearney, Nebraska.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The build under coach Josh Lynn at Nebraska-Kearney was truly remarkable. No wins in 2015, one win in 2016, Lynn took the job, three wins in 2017, five wins in 2018, seven wins in 2019 and 10 wins in 2021.

Success isn’t supposed to be linear, but it was for Lynn’s Lopers as they just kept getting better and were 8-3 in 2022 with 1-score losses to Pittsburg State and Northwest Missouri State. Lynn parlayed that success into the head coaching role at West Texas A&M and in the Lone Star Conference where he played at Eastern New Mexico State.

In steps Ryan Held, who played at the University of Nebraska in the mid-90’s and won two national championships with the Cornhuskers.

“Obviously there has been recent success the last few years,” Held said. “Coach Lynn did a good job here. Just being able to come in and re-recruit some of these guys and make sure they saw the vision for the program and what we want to accomplish.”

Since graduating college, he has bounced around to 11 different schools including working for Scott Frost at Central Florida and Nebraska. Most recently, he was the offensive coordinator at North Alabama and the interim head coach.

“There are certain things that we will do that there was success within the program — if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Held said. “But then obviously, we have our new stuff that we do. Scheme-wise, both sides of the ball, we’ll be different.”

When Held got the job in Kearney, priority one became retaining the talent that Lynn had accumulated in central Nebraska. Held wasn’t able to keep everyone, but he did keep the centerpiece with 2-time Harlon Hill Trophy finalist T.J. Davis at quarterback.

“We are definitely buying in to his status of D.D.T. — disciplined, detailed and tough,” Davis said. “I think a lot of those things that he put in place for us allow us to be better men and football players. I think that is going to allow us to strive for greatness.”

Davis returns for his final season leading the Lopers after throwing for 1,370 yards with 16 touchdowns and five interceptions last season. He ran for 1,136 yards with 13 touchdowns.

“I think the biggest thing for me is to not thinking about it too much,” Davis said of the new scheme. “Just go play football like I know how to do and I think that I will be successful and help this team go do great things.”

The Lopers return a lot of talent on the offensive line, led by First Team All-MIAA guard Hunter Hays and center Jon Merten.

The defense will be buoyed by the return of defensive end Tell Spies. Spies is a 3-year starter and a 2-time All-MIAA selection.

“After Coach Lynn left, I was obviously disappointed,” Spies said. “Then they hired Coach Held and it was the day they hired him — we had our press conference on zoom or whatever and he actually called me that day right after the press conference. He told me that I was going to be one of the guys he leaned on to get this team to buy in to his program and his coaches.”

Tre O’Guinn leads the secondary which must replace All-American safety Darius Swanson. The senior safety had 69 tackles and two interceptions last season.

Nebraska-Kearney opens the season with a big matchup at Central Oklahoma on Thursday, August 31.

“It has been drinking out of a firehose the last six months, but it has been fun, rewarding and obviously we are going to be ready like everyone else,” Held said.

Circled on the Calendar

There is no time for Held to ease into the job with Week 1 being the trip to Edmond and a matchup with one of the best coaches in Division-II with Adam Dorrel.

The Lopers won a 20-18 game last season on a game-winning field goal with no time left in Kearney.

The Lopers and Bronchos are two of the teams looking to declare themselves as contenders to upset the Pitt State, Northwest, Emporia State apple cart at the top of the standings. The winner of this game jumps into that fourth contender spot.