By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
It's been a busy week for Rich Wright.
The Bearcats signed 29 players to its 2021 football recruiting class on Wednesday, and made a couple of additions to its coaching staff.
Roberto Davis will be the new Bearcats' running back coach and Zach Martin will handle the wide receiving corps.
Both Davis and Martin served as graduate assistant coaches under Wright following their Bearcat playing careers.
"They understand the culture, the expectations and how we do things," Wright tells the Post. "They'll be able to hit the ground running and make this transition as seamless as possible."
Davis spent the 2020 season on the Wayne State College staff in Nebraska Before that, he was a graduate assistant coach (defensive line) at Northwest in 2019, when the Bearcats reached the quarterfinals and won a 30th MIAA regular season title.
Davis played at Northwest from 2009-10, winning a national title in '09.
Martin has been on the Northwest campus since arriving as a junior college transfer quarterback in 2016. He played seven games in the 2016 season, in which the Bearcats won the program's sixth national title. Martin then passed for 2,385 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2017, helping the Bearcats reach the playoffs.
Following his playing career, Martin joined the Bearcat coaching staff as a grad assistant. He helped coach running backs in 2018 and receivers the following year.
Northwest saw its coaching tree grow last month when receiver and running backs coach Joel Osborn departed to become the next head coach at Benedictine in nearby Atchison, following a 42-year run by Larry Wilcox.
"Joel and I had several conversations and we felt like it'd be a really good fit for him if he wanted to be a head coach," Wright said. "Obviously, ultimately, that's every coaches' aspiration."
Osborn, Wright and countless other college coaches will face ongoing recruiting challenges as sights are now set on the 2022 class.
The NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to Division I and II fall and winter athletes, which will ultimately limit the number of scholarships available in the next year and beyond.
"Everybody is a little bit different, but it definitely creates a component that's going to be difficult to mitigate," Wright said. "We're all going to be limited on the scholarship resources we have and unfortunately, that's going to limit opportunities for kids in this next class."
It was a year of limited opportunities in 2020 for most teams at the Division II level. The Bearcats were unable to play any games in the fall season, and the notion of playing games in the spring is out the window.
"There'd be no championship on the line and nothing to be gained (in the spring," Wright pointed out. "And the injury risk in the spring is just too profound."
It's no small thing when perhaps the most dominant Division II college football team of the last decade is denied a season.
There was a lot of sacrifice and disappointment that came with the pandemic, but as the Bearcats get ready to start practicing next week, they're feeling now what many feel in the year 2021.
A renewed sense of optimism.
"I guess there's a sense of comfort now," Wright said. "Moving forward, we'll be fine. I think our kids are chomping at the bit to get back to doing what they love to do, which is play college football."
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.
