Simpson College in Indianola Iowa has been playing football since 1893. As a founding member of the IIAC in 1922 (now the American Rivers Conference – ARC) the Storm have long history in DIII. The best run of football was the Jim Williams era of 1987-2001 which included NCAA DIII Playoff appearances (88, 89, 91, 96, and 97). The last time Simpson reached the NCAA Playoffs was in 2003 and Reed Hoskins enters his third season trying to build the program back to playoff contention.
Simpson College had solid improvement in year two of the Hoskins era to reach a 5-5 overall mark (4-4 A-R-C) in 2024. Head coach Reed Hoskins returns a veteran offensive line and standout linebacker CJ Hangartner, a two-time First-Team All-Conference selection. Noah Cracraft (West Des Moines Valley) and Tanner Philpott (Waukee Northwest) return as all-conference honorees from the 2024 season as well. The Storm are optimistic that their blend of experienced returners and talented newcomers will position them for a strong showing as Hoskins enters year three leading the Storm.
The Storm have not posted their 2025 final roster yet so these numbers may change. 102 Total players on the roster in 2024 including 63 former Iowa High School players.
“Our team is excited for the upcoming season!” said Hoskins. “We have a great group of returners/newcomers and are looking forward to seeing all their hard work and dedication payoff this fall. The A-R-C schedule provides great competition every week and Storm Football will be ready for the challenge!”
In looking at the schedule Simpson has a winnable non-conference games against Crown whom they beat last year and a game against Augustana whom they lost to 30-13 in 2024. The Storm were picked to finish #5 in the preseason ARC Coaches poll that was just released. So, getting Dubuque and Coe who were ranked above them at home could be an advantage.
For all our SGI previews we set a floor and ceiling. The floor seems like 4 wins with a ceiling of 7 wins. Winning 6 or more games would show continued progress for the Storm in 2025. The gap between the top 5 teams in the ARC this year may be closer than ever, so a few bounces going the right way and staying healthy could lead to another key year of improvement.
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