ASHLAND — The nationally-ranked Ashland University football team will be put to the test early this season.

The No. 13 Eagles will host No. 25 Indiana (Pa.) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Jack Miller Stadium.

It is the first of three straight home games for AU. 

Ninth-ranked Grand Valley State visits Ashland on Sept. 12 and Ohio Dominican comes to town Sept. 19. The Panthers stunned FCS Morehead State 42-40 in triple overtime last week.

Ashland coach Doug Geiser can’t wait to kick things off.

“Week 1 never gets old,” said Geiser, who is 28-10 in his first three seasons. “You prep nine months in the offseason to get to this point, and the butterflies are still there, and the excitement.

“You think you know what you have, but until you actually kick the ball off and play, you don’t truly know what you have.”

The Eagles opened the 2025 campaign with a 13-9 win at IUP and parlayed it into a historic season.

Ashland was 10-3 overall and shared the Great Midwest Athletic Conference championship with Findlay at 8-1. AU won a home playoff game over Duluth (Minn.) before falling to eventual national champ Ferris State in the second round.

IUP was 7-4 last year and reached the Division II playoffs, falling in the opening round.

“We know the fabric of what an IUP football team is going to look like under (veteran coach) Paul Tortorella,” Geiser said. “They’re very well-coached, they’re physical, they play the game the right away. They don’t make mistakes, they don’t beat themselves.

“They’ll have good players. We know that. They’re always going to be a perennial playoff team.”

Eagles have a local flavor

Ashland’s starting lineup will look familiar to area high school football fans.

Madison product Isaac Brooks, Clear Fork’s Kaden Riddle, Shelby’s Issaiah Ramsey and Mansfield Senior’s Mekhi Bradley are all listed atop Ashland’s depth chart ahead of Thursday’s opener.

A fifth-year cornerback, Brooks is the most veteran of the area quartet. He has appeared in 33 games the past three years after redshirting in 2022.

A redshirt junior offensive lineman, Riddle has started the past two seasons at left guard. He shifts to center this season.

A junior receiver, Ramsay has played in 15 games his first two years. He caught two passes in five games as a true freshman and appeared in 10 games last season.

The 5-foot-10, 249-pound Bradley is Ashland’s starting fullback. He appeared in five games last fall. 

After high school, Bradley spent two years at Cleveland State as a wrestler before the program was discontinued after the 2024-25 season.

Lexington product A.J. Nickoli is Ashland’s offensive coordinator. He was promoted in April after serving as AU’s running backs coach, pass-game coordinator and director of football operations last year.

“A.J. has done a tremendous job during his short time with us,” Geiser said. “I’ve seen him grow from an offensive graduate assistant, to running backs coach, to passing game coordinator and now offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. 

“I look forward to the vision he has established for our offense.”

Prolific Passer

Redshirt junior Drew Novak will take over as Ashland’s starting quarterback this fall.

Novak was one of the most prolific quarterbacks in Ohio high school football history at Western Brown High School from 2019 to 2022. He ranks third all-time with 14,127 career passing yards.

The strong-armed Novak completed 2-of-3 passes for 14 yards in three games last year. He takes over for Cameron Blair, who threw for 2,109 yards and 12 touchdowns last year.