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| Dan Arnold, Nicholas Morrow and Ali Marpet are among the NCAA Division III alumni who are starating the season on 53-man rosters. USAT Sports Images photos by Rob Schumacher/The Republic; Isaiah J. Downing; Kirby Lee |
Although some of the faces of Division III football in the NFL are changing, D-III retains its numbers in the league as seven players start the season on 53-man rosters, two on practice squads and one on the reserve/injured list as the 2020 NFL season gets underway.
Two players from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and seven members of West Region teams are among the 10, and two of them are on the Las Vegas Raiders: tight end Derek Carrier, an eight-year pro out of Beloit, and linebacker Nicholas Morrow, a fourth-year pro from Greenville. Morrow re-signed with the Raiders for $3.26 million this past offseason after a year in which he started eight games and was on the field for 70 percent of the team's snaps.
UW-Platteville alumnus Dan Arnold returns to the Arizona Cardinals after he caught six passes from his tight end spot over the team's final three games last season. He has been proclaimed as a potential breakout candidate in 2020.
Former St. John's lineman Ben Bartch, who was Division III football's only draftee this past offseason, joins the Jaguars, while standout Hobart alumnus Ali Marpet will remain in a starting role for the Buccaneers and Matt Gono, a Wesley alumnus who got into five games with the Falcons last year, returns to Atlanta.
Brandon Zylstra had a great training camp and enters his third year in the league. It's the second season for the Concordia-Moorhead alumnus at wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers after he caught eight passes in 2019, five of them for first downs.
The Chicago Bears placed former Dubuque cornerback Michael Joseph on injured reserve last week. Former UW-Whitewater receiver Jake Kumerow will start the season on the practice squad of the Buffalo Bills after he was cut by the Packers, and Berry wide receiver Mason Kinsey will start his first NFL season on the Patriots' practice squad.
The Bills cut veteran kicker Stephen Hauschka in August, but the Middlebury graduate could still catch on somewhere this season. Former Monmouth quarterback Alex Tanney, who has stuck around the league for several years but has only had the chance to throw 15 passes, was cut by the New York Giants.
The full list:
Arizona Cardinals -- Dan Arnold, TE, UW-Platteville
Atlanta Falcons -- Matt Gono, T, Wesley
Carolina Panthers -- Brandon Zylstra, WR, Concordia-Moorhead
Jacksonville Jaguars -- Ben Bartch, OL, St. John's
Las Vegas Raiders -- Derek Carrier, TE, Beloit
Las Vegas Raiders -- Nicholas Morrow, LB, Greenville
Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- Ali Marpet, G, Hobart
Reserve/injured
Chicago Bears -- Michael Joseph, CB, Dubuque (reserve/injured)
Practice squad
Buffalo Bills -- Jake Kumerow, WR, UW-Whitewater
New England Patriots -- Mason Kinsey, WR, Berry