ASHLAND — Ashland High School quarterback Nathan Bernhard had scholarship offers to play college football from Michigan, Penn State, and a total of 14 Division I schools.
Yet on April 25 he made the surprising decision to commit to Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina.
Ashland Source recently spoke with the junior standout to talk more about his decision.
For reference, “Power Four” programs compete in the top four conferences in college football – the Big Ten Conference, the Big 12 Conference, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference. Appalachian State is in the Sun Belt Conference, which is a member of the “Group of Five” conferences in college football that also include the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference and the Mountain West Conference.
While the format below is presented as a Q&A, the interview itself was more conversational and not fully conducted as a Q&A. Questions shown below are simply for brevity and clarity.
QUESTION: How did you weigh committing to a Power Four school vs. a Group of Five school like Appalachian State?
ANSWER: With the transfer portal and the NIL (name, image and likeness rights now available to college athletes), the top guys always placing at a Power Four school – where they either play early or you see them in a couple years playing at that school – those days are dead. … There is more than a 50-percent chance that any quarterback that, once they commit to a school and they go to that school, they’re gonna transfer.
I’m pretty sure over 50 percent of the starting quarterbacks in the FBS level (last season) were transfers. So I think when you look at that, you’ve just got to be honest with yourself.
For me, (the dream schools were) Ohio State or Michigan. So if you get the opportunity to chase that dream, you’re gonna go do that if that’s what’s right for you.
If not, I had other Power Four offers and there was stuff that I could have waited on and saw how it played out and maybe placed at a Power Four school. But in reality, some schools aren’t going to look to develop a high school guy and they’re just gonna bring in a transfer over top of you.
That’s not to say that App State isn’t bringing in transfer guys, but typically the transfer guys they’re bringing in are guys that announced somewhere else. It’s different when it’s someone who doesn’t pan out somewhere (as opposed to) somebody who (was highly successful) somewhere and then takes a spot.
Most of my recruiting was Power Four schools, really up until … (Appalachian State head coach Dowell Loggains) reached out to me sometime in January. That’s when they came to me with the idea, ‘Obviously every guy wants to play Power Four, but there really is an opportunity for a guy like you to come into the program and have a shot at playing early and developing here and being the guy at this school.’
Q: What do you like about Appalachian State?
A: I think just looking at the App State situation with the coaching staff, with the experience they have, the type of people they are, just believing that they can develop a quarterback.
This really is a great opportunity at App State. And I think it’s one that is advantageous for me because it’s an opportunity where you could potentially see yourself playing early. But that’s no guarantee; there are going to be guys that have been in college longer that I’m going to be competing against.
You’re always going to have to work hard and do what you need to do and see how it plays out. But I think the opportunity is definitely there.
Q: How much did you know about Appalachian State before they came in with an offer?
A: I’m a big college football fan, so I know a lot about the game. They were a powerhouse at the FCS level (national titles in 2005, 2006 and 2007) and they obviously upset (fifth-ranked Michigan in 2007). But when they moved up to FBS (in 2014), they’ve had a lot of good seasons, won the Sun Belt (four) times.
The biggest thing about them is they sell out that stadium, which is not something you see often with non-Power Four schools. They get more fans in that stadium than a lot of the Power Four schools … that get beat up in their conference every year.
Q: How did recruiting evolve during your process?
A: Recruiting moves really fast in general. With Michigan (early on), it was kind of like, ‘We’re interested, but we’re not really serious about you.’ And then things became pretty serious and it was really close for me potentially ending up there.
The situation I was in last summer is vastly different from the situation I was in in November or December, which was also vastly different than the situation I was in three weeks ago.
Q: Was it hard to disconnect from your love of Ohio State?
A: I grew up a huge Buckeye fan and that’s a part of me that’s close to my heart. But I think you kind of throw that away once you get into the recruiting game. … You have to put that aside.
Q: Is the plan to graduate early from high school?
A: I was always planning to early-enroll no matter where I went. I’ve had that set up since winter of my sophomore year that I was gonna have all my classes set up in a way where I could get all my academic goals that I wanted to get done and also graduate in seven semesters and then early-enroll.
(Bernhard said he currently is taking all advanced placement classes and carries a 4.4 weighted GPA. He will officially graduate from Ashland on Jan. 10, 2026.
Athletically at AHS, he’s competing in track this spring to get faster for football and said he’s still considering playing basketball again as a senior before graduating early, but wants to make sure it doesn’t jeopardize anything as he prepares to join ASU for spring football in 2026.)
A: What were your favorite and least-favorite things of the recruiting process?
Q: There’s something cool about getting to see all kinds of places and meet all kinds of people, especially people who you see on TV when you watch college football – big-time people and big-time places (in the game). It was cool to experience that.
But the stress of the recruiting itself and trying to figure out what coaches think … and just weighing all the options of what’s really best for me. There were just all kinds with the recruiting process. Even though I’m grateful for it, it wasn’t the most fun thing.
Early on, my freshman year, when I first started getting recruited, the landscape of college football was a little different. There was a lot more of the old way of things where you went to a college, sat a couple years and ended up playing. Just the kind of thing where the recruits actually played at the schools they committed to.
That’s rapidly gotten worse and worse. So for me, it went from, ‘Yeah, you’re gonna be at a Power Four school for sure and that’s gonna work out fine,’ to, ‘You’ve gotta be careful where you pick because it might not be the best situation for you and you might end up having to transfer anyway.’
Things changed a lot throughout the process. There were some schools I was really high on at some points and then ended up not talking to them after that.
Then there were some schools where you’re the No. 1 guy and they really want you and if you don’t reflect that interest, they move on from you. There’s a lot that goes into it.
Q: Are you likely to redshirt as a freshman or are you aiming for that starting job right out of the gate?
A: I think it’s going to depend on how you look when you come into spring. If you’re a guy who can compete for the job right away, they’re gonna play the best quarterback on the roster. But if you come in and you’re not ready, yeah, you’ll redshirt and go from there.
The goal (is to be the starter from the get-go). Obviously, that’s easier said than done and I’ll have to work my ass off to get that done. I don’t want it to sound like just because I have the Power Four offers that I can just walk into a Group of Five school and start. That’s really not the case; it’s gonna take a lot.
Q: How much did the Appalachian State coaching staff’s experience with quarterbacks factor into your decision?
A: It was a huge factor, just being comfortable with the fact that you were going to have an opportunity to develop there.
If I was going Group of Five, it was going to be at App State. Obviously, the goal there is to get it done at App State, but there are so many opportunities now with the transfer portal and just the coaching staff in general there. If you do well with those guys, they’re going to get opportunities and you’re going to get opportunities, and maybe those opportunities align and you could move up (to a larger school) together.
But now (with the College Football Playoff including 12 teams), if App State wins the Sun Belt, has a good enough record and is the highest-ranked Group of Five school, you get an automatic bid (into the playoff). So it’s not like you can’t get stuff done in the College Football Playoff without being Power Four anymore.
Q: Did you feel like your junior season at Ashland was all you needed it to be?
A: I think there were a lot of things that I accomplished that I wanted to. There are always things you want to get better at, but overall there was a lot to be proud of.
You’re always gonna want more and I was a little upset about how the season ended; I felt like (Big Walnut) was a team we could have beaten (in the regional semifinals). … And we could have played a Massillon team that was beatable as well (in the regional championship). There really was no team that was just unbeatable for us.
Our goal was to go 10-0 and we did that and it was special. And I think the personal accolades came with it.
I didn’t expect to run for 1,200 yards and 22 touchdowns. … I was thinking more like I’d run for 700 yards but throw for 3,500. I didn’t throw for as much (2,895 yards and 24 TDs), but the yards were still there overall.
Q: With the commitment to Appalachian State made, will you be able to play more loose in your senior season at Ashland?
A: I think I’ll be able to not have the stress of recruiting on my back and will just be able to have fun playing high school football. It’s one of the greatest things you get to do growing up and it’s just a special thing to play on Friday nights.
I can work towards the goal of doing what I need to do when I get to App State, but I can also focus on just working with my high school team and having the best senior season we can possibly have.
Last year, I felt like we needed to go 10-0; it wasn’t as much a goal or a ‘want,’ it was really a need, to be honest. That’s how I approached it and how I felt about it because I felt like that’s what I needed to do to rejuvenate my recruiting after my sophomore season with us not being that good (5-6 record), quite honestly.
Maybe that added a little bit of stress, but I think it also (factored) into how I performed and us actually accomplishing that goal – just that need to get it done.