2026 Regional College Football Preview #52: Central College

(KMAland) — The Regional College Football Preview Series returns today with another look at an in-state program: Central College in Pella.

The Dutch enter this season once again under the guidance of one of Division III’s most winningest coaches, Jeff McMartin, who enters his 23rd year in charge of the program.

“I think our guys are very excited,” McMartin said on Monday’s Upon Further Review. “We graduated a pretty big class. There are a lot of new faces with a lot of new responsibilities. We’re going to learn a lot about ourselves in the preseason.”

The idea of having a team he doesn’t know a lot about right now intrigues the experienced McMartin.

“There are a lot of unknowns,” he said. “We just have to create as many scenarios as we can to prepare them for things. Nothing beats repetition and experience, so getting those is very important.”

The Dutch are coming off an 8-2 campaign in 2025. They started the year 5-1 and entered the regular-season finale at 8-1, but dropped a massive American Rivers Conference matchup to Coe.

“They battled each week,” McMartin said. “They wanted to perform well and played with confidence.”

Wide receiver Cam Schulte, running back Jase Grunder, defensive lineman Noah Parsons and linebackers Brody Morrison and Clay Saak are among those Coach McMartin views as leaders coming into this year.

“When you’re young, you come at it with the mindset to take things on,” McMartin said. “Sometimes, we don’t know what we don’t know, which can be a good thing. I like that we’re going to develop a solid ground game and our new defensive coordinator (Cody Baethke) will utilize our skillset and play to our people well.”

Central’s roster includes a slew of former KMAlanders, such as Kayden Dirks (Treynor), Tate Mayberry (Glenwood), Caleb Urban (East Mills), Xavier Darrow (Atlantic), Nate Lillig (Southeast Warren) and Renner Bardsley (Glenwood).

“It’s really important we recruit Iowa guys,” McMartin said. “There are a lot of really good players. With Renner Bardsley and Tate Mayberry, we need those guys to step up, continue to develop and help us.”

McMartin has totaled 163 career wins during his time at Central. He’s the seventh winningest active coach in Division III and is eager to add to that win total this fall.

“I think people are going to define success by our record,” he said. “We’ve recruited guys to this program for that. We have high expectations and a lot of confidence that we can meet those expectations. Continuing to improve every day is going to be important. If we can be a mistake-free football team, I think that will be important.”

Central’s season opener is September 5th at Gustavus Adolphus.

Hear more with Coach McMartin below.