While it’s easy to look at several massive holes that the Central College football team has to fill, the Dutch have many key players returning as well and are optimistic that they can build on a 2021 campaign that was one of the best in program history.

Yes, five All-Americans are gone, including Gagliardi Award winning quarterback Blaine Hawkins. But Central returns 42 letter-winners, including nine starters. Coach Jeff McMartin says that he has high expectations for his program.

“We want to continue to be a team that can compete on the national level. That’s our goal, not to take steps back. You don’t want to get to a certain plateau or peak and think that it’s all downhill or that you have to rebuild everything. I would like us to continue to be a team that can be dominant, can compete on the national level and compete for conference titles.”

After a month of training camp, McMartin says that the biggest remaining question is who will replace Hawkins at quarterback. It’s been a wide open competition between last year’s backup, Brady Ketchum, sophomore transfer Cooper Rush, and a pair of talented freshmen from Illinois.

We’ll have a full preview of the 2022 season with McMartin on Monday night’s Central College Radio Coaches Corner at 6:00 on 92.1 KRLS, and if you need additional hype material to get you ready for the season, check out our newest episode of the Dutch Memories podcast that drops Monday morning with highlights of some of Central’s biggest games of the past 20 years.

The Dutch open the season this Saturday at home against St. Olaf of Minnesota.