*As this is our first NAIA football preview we wanted to share the following context – NAIA programs can offer 24 athletic scholarships, so many of their scholarships are partial. e.g. one player may get a 50% scholarship and two may get a 25% scholarship. NAIA players will often fund their tuition using financial aid and academic scholarships. NAIA programs will often offer additional Merit Scholarships to reduce the cost of attendance. The level of merit scholarships varies by school, and is obviously influenced by the size of the College, the endowment funding, and donations that each school has available.
The schools that put an emphasis on athletics with resources and commitment I like to refer to as a Power 5 NAIA Program. The barometer I like to use to gauge who is a likely committed member of the Power 5 of NAIA football is by looking at the average roster size. There are 95 NAIA football teams nationwide and the average roster size is around 104 players.
When, our SGI team started taking notes on football programs that in the Fall were going to follow and write stories about. One of the most interesting stories was the rise of Graceland Yellow Jackets of Lamoni, Iowa.
The Yellow Jackets compete in the rugged Heart of American Athletic Conference (HACC) which is arguably the best NAIA Football Conference in the United States.
Graceland Football the past 3 years have been building and building. Head Coach Patrick Ross came to Lamoni after an accomplished career leading Lindenwood (near St. Louis) in NAIA and D2 (including getting to the NAIA national title game).
When coach Ross came to Lamoni in 2022 Graceland had not won a football game in three plus years. By my count he came into lead a team that had lost 28 games in a row.
What jumps off the stat sheet year one in 2022 was the doubling of total offense and the 285 average yards per game improvement in the passing game. The fans in Lamoni must have had some “whoa these guys can toss it this year” conversations at the start of the season.
Over the past three years, the win totals have increased each year. The passing game has remained strong in and 2024 the running game created more offensive balance. Defensive improvement had also tracked the offense improvement and last year – 464 yards pg. offense versus the 352 yards pg. defense in 2024.
The Plus Minus Turnover ratio could use some improvement,obviously, but the offensive and defensive improvement has been shown year-over-year.
When we take a look at Graceland’s 2025 schedule and look at key games, four games immediately jump off the page. Week 2 @Benedictine (#3 Preseason). October 25th against @ Peru State (#31) this will be a pivotal game as Graceland is preseason (#32). November 1 at home against HAAC member Grandview University (#1) the defending NAIA National Champion. Then to close the season at home versus Baker (#13).
* Preseason National Rankings above courtesy of the NAIA Football Complete Preseason Ranking of All 94 Teams for 2025 – Victory Sports Network. One of the best sources for NAIA football coverage nationally
As we dug into this and the returning talent it felt like a floor of seven wins would be a solid prediction with an upside of 2+ more wins possible. Making the NAIA playoffs in 2025 was/is not an unrealistic goal.
But there are some late breaking developments as in the last two weeks Graceland University announced in a press release that Head Coach Patrick Ross was stepping into a new role as General Manager of Football Operations. His longtime assistant and Offensive Coordinator Phil Staback was named to the new head coach position immediately.
In the announcement from Graceland, they shared that Ross, will begin stepping back from day-to-day responsibilities to focus on player placement, recruiting, and coach mentorship.
Staback has over a decade of college coaching experience, including eight years as an Offensive Coordinator.
A former two-time All-American quarterback, Staback played under Ross at Lindenwood University, where they helped guide the program to a 22-3 record and an appearance in the NAIA National Championship.
When Change happens at the top there are some adjustment, and it creates some variables. The coach in waiting Phil Staback brings a ton of experience and has been a big part of the resurgence in the program.
In our roster review – Graceland has 100 players on the fall roster and is obviously committed to having a strong football program (SGI Power 5) with 11 former High School Iowa players on the 2025 roster.
The head coaching change creates a few late variables for the Yellow Jackets this season. So, the SGI team is going to hedge a bit on the floor and set that at roughly 6 wins with an upside of 8 possibly 9 wins (Baker, Benedictine, and Grandview are all top #15) if they can get one of those big wins from the top #15 teams on the schedule. If they get to the ceiling the NAIA playoffs are not just a possibility for 2025, but a probability.
Will the rise of the Yellow Jackets continue in 2025? It is shaping up to be a fun football season in Lamoni.
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* Story Source Graceland University 7.31.25
