Meyer makes it official
JASON LAWRENCE/DAILY FORUM
West Nodaway senior Trevor Meyer, center, held a signing ceremony Friday afternoon at West Nodaway High School to commit to play football at Graceland next year. Pictured with Meyer, seated from left: North-West Nodaway offensive coordinator Scott Reeves, mother Alisa Meyer, Meyer, father Robbie Meyer and North-West Nodaway head coach Andrew Webster. Standing” Graceland head coach Jeff Douglas and defensive coordinator Alan Dykens.
Irreplaceable.
It only took one word for North-West Nodaway offensive coordinator Scott Reeves to describe senior do-it-all Trevor Meyer, and after the year Meyer put together on the gridiron it’s easy to see why he’ll being playing collegiately next fall.
“He’s a tremendous athlete first and foremost,” North-West Nodaway head coach Andrew Webster said. “You take that athleticism and match it with a will to win, he does whatever it takes to win the game and be successful.”
Meyer officially signed his National Letter of Intent Friday to play for Graceland University, an NAIA school in Lamoni, Iowa.
“I felt like the first time I ever went there, it was just a welcoming place,” Meyer said. “… It just felt right.”
Meyer hauled in 133 passes for 1,944 yards and 25 touchdowns — all state-leading totals. In addition, he ran for 1,149 yards and 18 touchdowns on 129 carries and led the state with 10 interceptions from his safety spot to go along with 156 tackles — the fourth-best total in 8-Man football.
He garnered first team All-State accolades at all-purpose back and was second team All-State in the defensive backfield.
“I think that’ll help him tremendously because he’s already got so much experience playing both sides of the ball,” Webster said. “If you’re good on defense, you have to have an understanding of what the offense is trying to do to you and vice versa. I think being on both sides like that, he’ll be ready for whatever they throw at him.”
With numbers like the ones Meyer put up, he thinks having a bigger field will benefit his skill set, despite the additional defenders.
“It’s gonna be different,” Meyer said. “They have a bigger field. I can use that to my advantage, I think, with speed. I feel like it will work out pretty well, turf will be a lot easier for me to run on than grass.”
Reeves said Graceland took an interest in Meyer as a junior, before West Nodaway and North Nodaway formed a cooperative agreement just weeks prior to the start of his senior campaign.
“He was the one that put his hand across the line first and said it was OK,” Reeves said of Meyer’s role in the agreement. “And they followed him. … That’s what you expect out of a senior. When we first approached him, he was one of the guys we talked to about the co-op, he was like ‘I just want to play football. I don’t care, I just want to play.’
“They don’t come along very often like that.”
And the cooperative agreement, something Reeves and Webster said succeeded in large part due to Meyer, saw more success than either West Nodaway or North Nodaway could have had individually. North-West went 8-4 and lost in the state semifinals.
“He was one of the biggest differences in the co-op working or not working, I felt like,” Webster said. “… We didn’t have to do anything special, just get the ball in his hands.
Meyer, Reeves and junior linebacker Jakob Cordell, who led the state with 204 tackles, went to a couple of games this season and in return for their early interest, Meyer showed his loyalty by singing with the Yellowjackets.
“Graceland got to me first,” Meyer said. “I felt like that was the best thing to do. … Graceland feels like it will be a good fit for me.”
Graceland, which competes in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, went 6-5 last season and 5-4 in conference play. Jeff Douglas’s team, however, loses four senior wideouts including Raysean Brown, who had team-highs in catches (72), yards (1,302) and touchdowns (12).
Meyer said he wasn’t completely sure where he would line up on the field once he got on campus, but did say he wants to “catch the ball, for sure.”
In addition to football, the Yellowjackets are currently working to also get Meyer into the fold in the baseball program, a workload the West Nodaway four-sport standout said could be a heavy workload.
“That’ll be a lot on my plate to deal with, especially at the collegiate level, but I’m just very thankful that I at least get the opportunity to at least play football,” he said.
Meyer plays point guard for the Rockets’ basketball team and is averaging better than 20 points and six assists per game and also pitches and plays shortstop in the spring as well running track, but trying to be like dad won out when it came down to picking a sport to play at the next level.
“Football’s always been one of my favorite things to do,” Meyer said. “My dad played, and ever since I was little, I just wanted to be as good as my dad and I wanted to play college football. Every kid wants to be good at that, so I just figured why not continue with it.”
JASON LAWRENCE/DAILY FORUM
West Nodaway senior Trevor Meyer shakes hands with Graceland defensive coordinator Alan Dykens after signing his National Letter of Intent to play football for the Yellowjackets Friday in the West Nodaway High School media center.
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Senior wide receiver Trevor Meyer breaks a tackle from an East Atchison defender during a game during the fall. Meyer helped lead the North-West Nodaway co-op to an 8-4 record and the 8-Man state semifinals.
