ST. PAUL, Minn. – This Thursday at 6:30 p.m., Concordia-St. Paul football kicks-off the Joshua Schumacher head coaching era as CSP hosts Quincy University at Sea Foam Stadium in the program's lone non-conference game.
 
Heading into the season opener, the season preview will be released in phases covering the program, the offense, the defense and the special teams as Coach Schumacher introduces the public to the roster.
 
WEATHER OUTLOOK
Nearly a week out, Thursday's forecast is favorable for a football opener with a high of 81, NNW winds at 5-10 mph, mainly sunny and clear conditions with an overnight low on Thursday of 53.
 
WEBCASTING ALSO ENTERS A NEW ERA WITH MIDCO SPORTS PLUS
Starting with the 2026-27 season, Concordia and the NSIC will call Midco Sports Plus the streaming home for the NSIC Network. Midco Sports Plus, a regional cable provider primarily based in North Dakota, South Dakota and parts of Minnesota, features an expanded variety of online sports coverage.
 
The NSIC Network will be part of a subscription service with annual access plans starting at $7 per month or monthly service for $15 which includes NSIC coverage as well as Summit League.
 
Concordia's broadcasts will continue to feature multiple cameras with instant replay along with commentary from St. Paul-native Dan Flanagan, a graduate of Fordham University (N.Y.) where he covered multiple NCAA Division I sports teams on campus for the Rams including football and basketball in the Patriot League. Flanagan has been the broadcast voice of the Golden Bears for nearly 20 years and called multiple national, regional and conference championships.
 
For more information, view the NSIC's press release announcing the Midco Sports Plus partnership: https://cspbears.com/news/2026/7/16/athletics-midco-sports-launches-nsics-new-streaming-home.aspx
 
For streaming support and troubleshooting, visit Midco's support page: https://sports.midco.com/support
 
TICKETS - PURCHASE IN ADVANCE ONLINE
Fans are highly encouraged to purchase tickets online at cspbears.com/tickets prior to game day. All ticketed events for the 25-26 academic year will utilize the Vivenu online ticket platform found at that link and fans must scan a mobile ticket to enter. Tickets will still be sold on site on game day but purchases are card-only and include additional fees. The best way for fans to make their game day entry as smooth as possible is to purchase tickets online in advance. CSP Students, Faculty and Staff will be able to download their free passes through Vivenu.
 
DOWNLOAD THE APP
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains live in-game updates, close game alerts, rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up-to-date on Golden Bear athletics.
 
COACHES SHOW RETURNS TO TWIN CITIES RADIO
The Coaches Show with Joshua Schumacher is back on the Twin Cities airwaves for a seventh season, once again hosted by Wally Langfellow of Minnesota Score. The show airs following the Minnesota high school football game of the week, typically on Friday evenings in the 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. hour on KYCR 1440 AM radio, available in the Twin Cities metro area.
 
The season opener episode will be an in-depth discussion with head coach Joshua Schumacher, while future episodes will feature student-athletes in addition to Coach Schumacher.
 
For fans who miss the show or are outside of the radio station's Twin Cities reach, the entire show is accessible via the CSP Bears Podcast, available in Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and YouTube podcasts. It will typically be uploaded late Friday night (after the initial air time) or Saturday morning prior to the game. Search 'CSP Bears' into your favorite podcast provider!
 
SERIES HISTORY: QUINCY 1, CSP 0
The Golden Bears and Hawks met for the first time last season in Quincy, Illinois in week zero at QU Stadium. The Hawks prevailed with a 38-7 win over the Golden Bears as Bradyn Little completed 22-28 for 256 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for a pair of scores on his three rushing attempts for three yards. Little distributed his three touchdown passes to three different targets and no one on the Hawks had more than 59 rushing or receiving yards in the game.
 
Concordia's defense held Quincy to just 84 rushing yards on 33 attempts, forcing the Hawks to a 2.5 average on their home turf. Ricky Dixon led CSP's defense with seven tackles while Isaiah Wray had six tackles, 1.0 for loss and a half sack.
 
Offensively, Zachary Yeager started and completed 12-20 for 51 yards while Reed Styer entered for the injured Yeager in the second half, completing 5-7 for 87 yards and found Timothy Davis for a 45-yard strike to set up a short touchdown run by Joel Lacy.
 
Davis had three catches for 73 yards and Lacy had six carries for 12 yards. Daniel Hornacek added 48 combined yards with 7-19 rushing and 6-29 receiving.
 
ABOUT THE HAWKS
Quincy enters the 2026 season picked fifth in the nine-team Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Preseason Poll. Quincy went 6-5 overall (4-4 GLVC) last season and were 6-4 overall in 2024 in head coach Jason Killday's first season leading the program. Killday enters his third year with a 12-9 overall record.
 
Returning standouts Bradyn Little (So., QB), Brock Wiley (Sr., LB), Collin Parsons (Jr., RB), Jack Bishop (Sr., OL) and Kendrick Adimado (Jr., CB) are coming off of All-GLVC recognition in 2025.
 
Little engineered the offense in all 11 games, completing 65.1 percent (253-388) of his passes for 2,492 yards and a 17-6 TD-INT ratio while adding four rushing touchdowns.
 
Parsons averaged 4.8 per carry, rushing for 420 yards and four touchdowns and added 20-154 in the pass game, running behind Bishop and the offensive line.
 
Wiley led the team with 106 tackles, adding 8.0 TFLs, 3.0 sacks and six pass breakups while Adimado had a team-best 11 pass breakups with 30 total tackles.
 
SEASON PREVIEW PART 2: OFFENSE
Entering game week, head coach Joshua Schumacher will turn the keys to the offense over to offensive coordinator and playcaller Jordan Armstrong who will have sophomore incumbent quarterback Lincoln Graf at the helm.
 
Armstrong comes to Concordia for his first season after spending the previous two campaigns at Tiffin University, an NCAA Division II program in Ohio, where helped the Dragons to a 15-8 overall record, going 13-5 in GMAC competition and reaching the America's Crossroads Bowl in 2024.
 
Previously the tight ends coach, Armstrong leads the running backs and tight ends position group, a unique dynamic for a playcalling offensive coordinator according to Coach Schumacher.
 
MEET THE BEARS: QUARTERBACK
Graf is Concordia's lone returner at the quarterback position, although he was joined at the semester break by transfer Philip Jacobs who spent last year at Benedictine (Ill.) after a season playing for Coach Schumacher at Concordia Ann Arbor in 2024.
 
Last season, Graf was a true freshman and was the fourth quarterback to take a snap in just the second game of the season. In his first taste of college football against a strong Minnesota Duluth opponent, Graf completed 10-17 for 182 yards and a 79-yard touchdown strike. He started week three, winning his first career start in a road game at Minot State, completing 18-24 for 275 yards and three touchdowns while adding 3-17 on the ground. In the week three start, the rookie QB helped the Golden Bears snap a four-game road losing streak, firing a go-ahead touchdown pass to break a 21-21 tie with 3:24 to play.
 
In the start at Minot, after an incompletion to start his day, he connected for 13-straight completions.
 
With Graf under center, Concordia didn't commit a turnover in any of the four games he played (three starts) as he attempted 82 passes without an interception, completing 52-82 (63.4%) for 671 yards and five touchdowns.

Graf became the 10^th freshman to start a game at quarterback since Concordia moved to NCAA Division II and the NSIC in 1999, but is the first to start under center as a true freshman in his first season.
 
"We're excited to have Lincoln back at CSP, having already played important downs as a freshman – he started and won a game on the road in this league. We're excited that he has more years ahead of him, guys have seen him battle and compete in that way. He came back for a reason, he felt this place was his home, and I am excited to see him lead a team again – he did it as an 18-year old, drove the team down and scored while injured (against Jamestown). He's eager to show that the Minot State game wasn't a 1-game thing. He has better footwork, he's added muscle and looks different. He's improved his play, how he throws the ball from spring to now, he's made a big jump," said Coach Schumacher.
 
The Golden Bears brought in depth and competition at the quarterback position with transfer KJ Smith, a junior from the University of Nebraska Kearney, along with Jacobs who already went through a spring term at CSP.
 
"We would love to see Lincoln stay healthy, but it's rare to go through a season with just one guy playing at any position, including quarterback. We feel really good about all three players at this spot, and they each bring different styles and strengths. KJ competed with Lincoln for the starting spot."
 
Schumacher continued, "I'm really excited to see our QB room, they've received consistent coaching and the process with Coach Armstrong and Coach Marco Aguinaga allows them to showcase their talents."
 
MEET THE BEARS: WIDE RECEIVER
The quarterback group will have a reliable, veteran target leading a versatile wide receiver position that features a little bit of everything from a skills perspective.
 
"We have a good mix of receivers with a range of body types and skills. We have a basketball team at the receiver position: we have shifty guys with speed, guys who can take the top off a defense, we have consistent, steady reliable targets who find the open spots on time. It's a good mix of talent, we have done a great job of learning the passing game to be reliable targets with Coach Vouk so the quarterbacks are confident in their reads."
 
The team has senior Carter Zezulka in his second year at Concordia after transferring from UW-Stout. He led all wide receivers with 23 catches, second-most on the team and the most among all returners, for 224 yards and two touchdowns.
 
"Carter is a vocal leader, he doesn't mince words but says what he believes and what he thinks, and we can work with him on that," Coach Schumacher said affirmatively.
 
The wide receiver group also returns Tony Edwards III, Vinny Churchwell and EJ Previlma. Previlma led that group with 9-160 receiving, averaging 17.8 per catch with a long of 59, Edwards III had 10-99 and a touchdown while Churchwell had what would have been a redshirt season prior to the new age-based NCAA legislation.
 
New to the mix are fifth-year Manny Harris from Black Hills State who will also work with the running backs, senior Raiya Thomas from West LA College, and early-enrollee Kemari Walcott who played as a prep with Graf at Atlantic Community High School in Florida.
 
"I coached against Manny Harris when he was at Wayne State. He's about his business. He finishes first in conditioning, he's a great model for our new guys as well as veteran players in the program. Kemari getting here for the spring term has allowed him to really develop physically. We are excited about Elvick (EJ Previlma), he brings speed and has done a lot of great things for us, showed flashes in the spring and again this fall.  Raiya is a transfer we are excited about with good hands, strength and a feel for the game."
 
MEET THE BEARS: RUNNING BACKS & TIGHT ENDS
The ground is expected to be led by returners fifth-year Joel Lacy and sophomore BJ Davis with senior transfer fullback/tight end Noah Courington from RCTC packing a punch.
 
Lacy had a breakout performance in a late-season victory over Southwest Minnesota State last November, rushing 17 times for 143 yards and three touchdowns, breaking the program's second-longest rushing play in history for a 91-yard score. The 91-yard run capped a 2-play, 99-yard drive solely on Lacy's rushing prowess. He led the team with a 5.9 per carry average and was second on the team with 271 rushing yards while leading the squad with six total touchdowns.
 
Davis would have earned a redshirt in prior eligibility terms, competing in three games last year as a true freshman. He earned a pair of carries for nine yards including a long of seven and also led CSP with a 20.8 kickoff return average on five returns.
 
"Lacy has developed in the offseason after finishing the year strong last season. BJ Davis, he's a dog. He is a guy who brings an edge and tenacity that I love. He has a competitive edge that is important to have on a team. He's buying into what we're doing, the relationships are growing and it's exciting to see that. I'm excited about what he can bring to our offense and our special teams."
 
He continued, adding on Courington, "Noah has done a good job at h-back, he's physical in the run game and more of a fullback."
 
"Overall, the running backs and tight ends have done a good job being showcased to get the ball but also being willing to do the dirty work, blocking in the run game, pass protection and showing tough running and speed. We have guys to give us a 1-2 punch and guys who do the dirty work throughout the position group."
 
MEET THE BEARS: OFFENSIVE LINE
A combination of young returners, transfers who will step into snaps and a chance for freshmen to compete right away gives the Golden Bear offensive line an entirely new look in 2026.
 
Concordia started seven different players up front in 2025 with six of those players starting at least five games each with the seventh, returner Ryan Brinkman starting just the season finale against Sioux Falls as a sixth offensive lineman.
 
"Ryan Brinkman has been a fixture at left guard from the first day we got here to now," said Coach Schumacher of his lone incumbent to start a game last season. A true freshman in 2025, Brinkman made his debut in the week 10 win over SMSU before getting the start in the season finale in what would have been a redshirt season.
 
In the middle, Logan Bockman also started as a true freshman but as an interior defensive tackle on the other side of the ball. "We've moved Logan from defensive line to center. He has an unbelievable mind, he's really sharp. He brings toughness, vocal leadership and the grittiness we needed from the center position, we're really excited to have him on offense."
 
Transfers expected to fill positions on the offensive line include Josh Weilbacher from College of the Canyons and Kade Barney from Palomar College with true freshman Sean Mitchell giving the program another player from Atlantic High School in Florida.
 
The group also features returner Logan Carlson. "Logan can rotate between center and guard, is a smart player and solid offensive lineman, and can make incredible bird whistles," Schumacher said with a grin that morphed into a chuckle.
 
Summing up the position as a whole, "They (OL) are a unit. This is a collective group and they are hungry to keep getting better. The fact that they are a tight-knit group is something you need to have at the OL position. They lead themselves and have a good time. They have good size and they are physical. When they get their hands on you, they can move you. As they develop physically together, I love that they've already gelled as a unit."