Michael Veldman is in his seventh year as a college quarterback, but has only been able to play two full seasons. Photo by Tim Kruse for Gustavus Adolphus athletics

By Greg Thomas
D3sports.com

Good things come to those who wait, or so I’ve been told. Sometimes we wait voluntarily. Sometimes we don’t have any choice. Record-setting Gustavus Adolphus senior quarterback Michael Veldman has done a bit of both, and all of that waiting is starting to pay off for Veldman and his Gusties. 

Before Veldman was breaking records at Gustavus Adolphus and knocking off top 25 teams, he was a redshirt freshman in 2015 at FCS powerhouse North Dakota State. “Football didn’t translate to exactly what I was expecting or wanted in my first year at NDSU so I decided to leave there,” Veldman said. 

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Veldman is from central Minnesota so he didn’t have to go far to find his next football destination. “I had a pretty good idea of MIAC football and how competitive that conference can be so that was appealing to me.” Veldman continued, “I had been in the transfer process visiting several other MIAC schools, but when I visited Gustavus I really just fell in love with the coaches and players and their vision for things. That was the kicker for me in deciding to go there and I haven’t regretted it since.”

The fit seemed to be perfect. Veldman opened the 2016 season as the Gusties’ starting quarterback and completed 27 of his 34 pass attempts in 2016 before an injury in the second game of the year ended his season. Returning from injury in 2017, Veldman’s season was cut short again by injury and again, Veldman was inactive for the bulk of Gustavus Adolphus’s MIAC schedule. 

“[The injuries] were really tough,” Veldman recalled. “But looking back on those now and being able to play this year it was a blessing in disguise because I was able to take a medical redshirt from that first year and that has allowed me to be here today. It’s kind of cool that it has worked out the way that it has.”

Rehabbing one significant injury is difficult enough, but Veldman had to go through lengthy rehabilitations in consecutive years to get back to playing. “It never was easy but I had so much love and encouragement from my family and my teammates and coaches,” Veldman stated. “They told me to fight through it; that there was light at the end of the tunnel. That was proven to be true and I’m very thankful for those people who were in my corner the whole way.” 

Veldman looks back at those experiences as foundational now. “Those injuries have made me a better person and I believe a better football player as well.”

Michael Veldman was already a tremendous football player. His personal growth would become just as important to the Gusties when they lost football as well. 

After momentum building seasons and close calls against the top tier of the MIAC in 2018 and 2019, the Gusties were poised to break through in 2020. “In 2018 and 2019 we were in those games the whole time and had an equal chance to win those games,” Veldman recalled. “That’s something that we take into our preparation that we can compete with any team in the MIAC and if we can do that, we can compete with any team in Division III.”

But 2020 never happened. Like most of Division III, Gustavus Adolphus did not play football in the 2020-2021 academic year. Like Veldman’s first two seasons in St. Peter, his teammates now had to cope with having the game taken away from them. 

“You never really thought that football could be taken away from you for a whole season, but it has happened to me a couple of times,” Veldman said. Using his own experiences as a blueprint, Veldman was able to help lead his team through the lost year. “Just like when I was hurt, there’s no time to sulk. You get to work and attack what needs to be done next. For me at that time it was rehabbing to get back on the field. During COVID it was about staying healthy and staying ready and prepared to get back on the field.”

Like so many others, life during the pandemic wasn’t always easy for Veldman and his teammates. Veldman and his teammates had to use their creativity to stay connected virtually. With fewer organized football activities and more interpersonal, albeit distanced, activities, the team forged stronger personal bonds. Team activities during the pandemic “helped us learn new things about people and new things about ourselves,” Veldman recalled. 

Those activities also helped pave the way for an active internal support system. “Leaders really stepped up in big ways during that time,” Veldman said. “When we would notice that some guys would be struggling or not having a plan for their day, we were there to help.” 

All of that team bonding and preparation has paid off in spades for the Gusties in 2021. After scoring a school record 80 points in the team’s first game in 20 months, Gustavus Adolphus proved to be more than just a fun box score in a Week 2 victory over then-No. 15 Wartburg. 

“By no means was it our best game offensively or defensively,” Veldman noted. “The big thing is that we came together and stuck together and found a way to win against a really good football team.” 

They certainly did. Veldman also made some more Gustavus Adolphus history on Saturday, setting the all-time career passing yardage record for the Gusties. Probably not surprisingly, Veldman is going to focus on these remaining games in his final season of college football before really considering his place in Gustavus Adolphus history. “It hasn’t sunk in with me yet, but it might after the season and when I’m done playing college football it will be something that I reflect on more,” Veldman said. “Right now we just have one thing in mind and that is winning the next football game that we play in hopefully a MIAC championship at the end of the year.” 

Good things may well be on the horizon for Michael Veldman and his Gusties. We know he has certainly waited for this opportunity. First, he had to wait for his health to be restored. Twice. Then COVID made Veldman wait for that senior season. Now that the waiting is over, Veldman is making the most of this long awaited last chance by delivering two record breaking performances, a win over a top-15 ranked team, and he has set the table for Gustavus Adolphus to challenge for the MIAC championship. 

Rising/falling

This week’s big riser is Ithaca, moving up to No. 19 after their win against then No. 20 Brockport. I did find it interesting that Ithaca vaulted comfortably into the poll on the same week that Gustavus Adolphus defeated a higher ranked team (then No. 15 Wartburg) and did not crack the Top 25. The lesson here is that teams getting votes are generally pretty close to being on most ballots — they’ve stored potential balloting energy to make a big move given a favorable result. Teams that are not receiving votes, like the Gusties in our Week 1 poll, will generally use one great result to build that store of potential balloting energy — another great result (say against Bethel or St. John’s) would likely see the Gusties take a similar leap. 

Wartburg and Brockport tumbled out this week, but I’m keeping my eye on St. John’s going forward. As we talked about in the Around the Nation Podcast this week, St. John’s, Aurora, and North Central have some intersectionality now and not one that is going to be favorable for the Johnnies with respect to their position relative to North Central. The Johnnies did surrender some poll points, and one position, likely due to this result against the common opponent Aurora. Looking ahead, if Aurora struggles in NACC play, or even loses a game in conference play, the Johnnies’ poll points are likely going to be collateral damage. 

Who’s in your Five? 

Probably the same as my Five, if I had to guess. There has been plenty of talk this week about the top five teams in the D3football.com Top 25. Pat Coleman did a deeper dive on this topic on our Patreon page, but just for fun here’s my Week 2 top five: 

1- Wheaton
2- UWW
3- North Central
4- Mount Union
5- UMHB

The margins between these five, for me at least, are razor thin. This shows up in our poll points as well as spots 2-4 are a virtual tie. I did move North Central up two spots from Week 1, so you’ll see that voters will make micro-adjustments throughout the season, particularly with clusters of teams that are hard to separate. 

Any ordering of these teams from 1-5 is reasonable. We’ll probably lose one from this tightly clustered group after Saturday, but don’t be surprised to see the remaining four undefeated teams shuffle around and trade positions throughout the regular season. 

I’d like to thank…

Special thanks this week to Gustavus Adolphus student-athlete Michael Veldman for spending time with Around the Nation this week as well as Gustavus Adolphus Sports Information Director CJ Siewert for helping to coordinate the conversation! 

On Tap: 

It’s really a weeklong tasting flight of Division III football content in the fall. Here’s what you can watch for every week at D3football.com:

Tomorrow - Quick Hits featuring our panel’s predictions and insights into this weekend’s games

Saturday - Game day. Get thee to the scoreboard and feast. 

Sunday - New Top 25 poll 

Monday - Around The Nation podcast. Pat Coleman and Greg Thomas recap the weekend that was and preview the weekend to come in Division III football.

Tuesday/Wednesday – Team of the Week and Features columns

Thursday - Around the Nation column

Read Options?

Small college football is actually pretty massive. Division III is home to 239 teams, many thousands of student-athletes and coaches. There are so many more stories out there than I can find on my own. Please share your stories that make Division III football so special for all of us! Reach out to me at greg.thomas@d3sports.com or on Twitter @wallywabash to share your stories.