With plenty of returners and deep backfield, Trevians are thinking next level

Teams that begin the season with their quarterback situation settled usually feel pretty good. But the select few that kick off their campaigns with a returning All-Conference starter who is a Big Ten recruit feel a whole lot better.

With Jackie Ryder under center once again this year, the 2026 New Trier Trevians feel fortunate to be part of the latter.

The Purdue-bound Ryder impressed as a junior, throwing for 1,775 yards with 17 touchdown passes (4 rushing touchdowns) while helping take the Trevians back to the postseason for the first time since 2021.

The 6-foot-5 gunslinger will lead what New Trier head coach Brian Doll called “one of the deeper groups” of offensive talent he’s ever had. But perhaps an even more exciting prospect is that Ryder’s understanding of the Trevians’ attack and the sport as a whole continue to reach new heights.

“He’s spent so much time studying the game, so he just has a deeper understanding of it this year … and really this offseason and this summer, he took it to the next level,” Doll said, later adding that Ryder has “done everything we’ve asked him to do and then even more with his understanding of the game.”

Ryder described the team’s offseason as “amazing,” saying the Trevians are ahead of where they were a year ago because of the “huge jumps” the offense has made in terms of the overall number of packages it has already installed.

He also believes he’s grown in the intangibles of the position.

“I think I’ve gotten better mentally,” Ryder said. “My arm talent has always been there; I just think the more I learn how to play quarterback, the easier it’s become to slow the game down.”

Following a resurgent 2025, high expectations are buzzing through Northfield right now — and the Trevians veteran leaders feel there’s another level in store.

“We want to make it past the first round and our goal is to make a deep playoff run this year,” Ryder said. “I think the expectation was set after we made the playoffs last year that that’s the New Trier football culture from now on: that every year we’re competing to go to playoffs and go on a deep run.”

Skill position depth

With arguably their deepest running-back room in recent memory, the Trevians believe they have a perfect complement for their high-powered passing attack.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Doll said of New Trier’s backfield depth entering 2026. “We have five kids right now who I can put in at running back who all know what we’re doing and are all very, very strong.”

One of the leaders of that rushing attack is returning senior Declan O’Meara, who last year led the Trevs with 611 rushing yards and five touchdowns.

Joining O’Meara is newcomer Throy Nightingale, a transfer from Notre Dame High School who New Trier anticipates will be a key part of the team’s offense.

Doll said O’Meara and Nightingale are “going to be on the field a majority of the time,” but that the Trevs will also give Nikolas Hanold and Donsley Lyman carries as well.

O’Meara, a senior captain who’s one of the few players tabbed to contribute on both sides of the ball, expects the deep, versatile group may be a second thought for opposing defenses — a premise he feels could lead to big gains on the ground.

“Our running-back depth is just going to make this team more dangerous,” he said, “because every defense is probably going to be game-planning around Jackie, but for us to also have such a dynamic running back room, I think it’s going to make us very hard to stop knowing defenses have to game plan for three or four different running backs and all our different skills.”

In addition to New Trier’s running backs, a pair of junior wide receivers have the sidelines fraught with high hopes this summer. Ben Sullivan and Paul Liang are part of “one of the more talented receiving corps” Doll’s ever had transition up to varsity.

Sullivan burst onto the scene last year, becoming one of New Trier’s top deep threats in the second half of the season. Now, the Trevs are looking to the speedster and All-State lacrosse star to shine in a larger role this fall.

Liang is a prime candidate to fill the void left by the now-graduated wideout Emmett Koshkarian, whose team-high 49 receptions in 2025 finished as the second highest single-season total in program history. Expect Liang to be a threat — and one of Ryder’s top targets — as a slot receiver for New Trier.

Junior Johnny Kropp is a name to watch at the position as well.

Plenty of seniors will contribute out wide also as the Trevs will look to captain Alex Fairchild, John Baxter and Tyler VanderKamp as key pass-catchers.

It’s almost an entirely new look for New Trier’s offensive line as four of the five starters from last season graduated; though, senior captain Nicholas Danielson returns to anchor the right side of the line.

Joining him up front are Levi Solomon at right guard and Aaron Ryba at center. Sean Feeney, Harry Resis and Tyler Leonard are slated to see action on the left side of the offensive line.

Defense and special teams

New Trier’s coaching staff couldn’t be happier about one roster anomaly.

For the first time since the pandemic-shortened spring 2021 season, the Trevs will return four seniors to start in their defensive backfield.

Captains Peter Cusick, Rick Miller and Fairchild as well as Vanderkamp will lead New Trier at the safety and cornerback positions.

“It’s great to have that kind of leadership back there,” Doll said.

With linebackers John Fitzgerald and Aaron Pressman graduated, two of the team’s leading tacklers in 2025, New Trier will need to rely on a new era of leaders in the heart of its defense.

Linebacker Logan Zettek, a transfer from Loyola Academy, will be at the center of that as the Trevians have the former Rambler earmarked as a key for their success.

Zettek knows it will be no easy task replacing last year’s producers, but he believes the group is fit for the task.

“We’re not as big as last year’s linebackers but we have grit, we have heart and we’re going to try to live up to their level as much as we can — and I think we’ll get the job done,” Zettek said.

Doll said one of the biggest surprises in camp so far is the stellar play of Will Molloy, who joins Zettek and O’Meara in the linebacking group. Doll added that he expects Molloy and defensive lineman Cole Mason to be two of the defense’s leading tacklers.

New Trier will count on Solomon and Mason Freiburger as two leaders on the unit’s defensive line.

One of the best additions to the Trevs’ 2026 team, Doll said, may be on the sidelines. Bob Bollweg this offseason rejoined the Trevians varsity staff as the team’s special teams coordinator and running backs coach.

Bollweg was most recently the head coach of New Trier’s junior varsity team. His tenure included a conference championship last fall. But this year, he’s helped lead significant improvements in varsity’s special teams play.

James Kay is back as the Trevs kicker and punter while the play of long-snapper Brody Lutz has elevated to what Doll called “an elite level.”

Numbers soaring

The Trevians begin the year with “unbelievable” numbers across all of the program’s levels, Doll said. New Trier has an astounding 99 freshmen playing football this year.

On varsity, New Trier’s roster features 83 players, and the program as a whole is over 240 players right now — the highest total Doll can remember.

New Trier has even on two occasions this summer run out of helmets and had to order more.

Week 1 preview

New Trier will open its 2026 season this Friday, Aug. 21, with a rubber-game showdown against the Naperville North Huskies.

Naperville North came to Northfield in 2024 to open the season in dominating fashion, besting the Trevs 42-14 behind 28 unanswered points. But the Trevs flipped the script last season with a thrilling 20-14 win over the Huskies in Naperville.

The first week is “always a blind date,” Doll said, but New Trier knows it will have to slow down a Huskies’ offense led by a strong ground game.

“We’re going to have to stop the run; we know that,” Doll said. “They’re very big up front. They have four returning offensive linemen that are going to be very good. They’re a physical team.”

Opening the season at home has added even a little extra excitement for the team.

“We can’t wait,” Ryder said. “We’ve been looking forward to this all offseason, getting to play on our home field in front of a large crowd. We’re super excited that the time has come.”

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