With on-field action over with for most of the high school football teams in the country, the focus now turns to off-season improvement and recruitment.
D-2 and D-3 programs are busy evaluating high school seniors and making the determination of whether to pursue them further.
In this case, it’s a bit different, as scholarships aren’t offered however, they do offer some sort of financial aid to the athletes. This of course is very helpful for the player and his family.
In the case of some sophomores and juniors, this is a time period where D-1 schools are starting to build a relationship with these players and will do so over the upcoming months. Some of these juniors will be extended an invitation to attend a programs football Junior Day which normally takes place at the end of January or in early February.
A handful of players on the 2025 Hopewell roster have received college interest.
-Senior defensive back Julian Baldwin has already made the decision to attend Geneva College and play for the Golden Tornadoes.
-Sophomore James Armstrong has a handful of committable D-1 offer, including ones from Pitt, Penn State, North Carolina and Kent State.
-Sophomore running back Nasir Wade has two D-1 offers (Buffalo and Akron) and I’d expect the interest in him to pick up greatly over the off-season. Already a couple of Power 4 programs have called about Wade, so let’s see what develops over the upcoming months.
Hopewell RB Nasir Wade
-Senior wide receiver Logan Triscila has also received some calls and was invited for a gameday visit to Duquesne.
-Junior defensive tackle Keith Young certainly has the physical ability to play college football so this will be an important off-season for him.
-Like Young, junior defensive end Aris Haniotes has the look of someone that will play football in college. The question is where? Following a tremendous junior season in which he recorded 13 sacks, Haniotes has received interested from a number of MAC programs, including Buffalo, where he visited. VSN looks forward to tracking the development and recruitment of Haniotes over the next calendar year.
*Senior kicker Rocco Marcantonio is another player with the ability to play football beyond high school and will do so. The only question is where? Rocco has made a number of visits and worked hard to improve his status by competing in various national kicking camps. Things with kickers tend to develop a bit slower than position players plus, the transfer portal doesn’t help things out either. Rocco is being patient and I’m sure we’ll have news on him sooner rather than later.
Another Hopewell Viking that we’ll have to keep our eye on is junior lineman Tyler Schroeder. This was a big week for Tyler as earlier this week, he made his visit D-1 gameday visit as he was invited to attend Kent State’s game against Central Michigan on Wednesday.
Vikings Sports Now had the chance to talk with Tyler last night about this visit and about his plans to improve over the next year.
Hopewell’s Tyler Schroeder
“Coach Snyder from Kent State sent me an invite and I’ve also had a chance to talk with a couple of their coaches, including their WPIAL recruiting coordinator,” said Schroeder. “The conversations with them have been good.”
Schroeder says that he left around 1 PM for the trip to Kent State. Once he got to the stadium, all the recruits gathered in a room and heard from the Kent State football general manager. After that, Kent State HC Mark Carney spoke to all of the recruits in the room. Overall, Tyler said it was a great time and a valuable experience.
“This was my first gameday visit so personally, it was a big deal for me. Honestly, I was a little nervous because I’ve never been in a room with that many other players trying to do the same thing as me. I’m confident though that I can get there and be that level. Getting to go on a visit like that was motivating. I was definitely one of the smallest linemen there, but I was motivated by getting to see and watch players dressed up and playing on that level.”
Had a great experience for a game day visit at kent state, I hope to come back and visit in the future. #maction #GoFlashes @coachmacarney @jarma72 @DLButler_2114 @BillTeerlinck @CoachSnyder45 @WPIAL_Insider @210ths @HopewellSport @KentStFootball @PA_TodaySports pic.twitter.com/kJTpZvtSQr
— Tyler Schroeder 🏈 (@tyler2008sch) November 20, 2025
Now that this memorable experience is over with, Schroeder tells me that he’s going to work hard to make sure it’s not the last one that he’s fortunate enough to get invited to.
“It’s all work for me from here on out,” said Schroeder. “Hopefully, I can take a few more visits during the offseason but until then, I have to get to work. Personally, I feel as though I improved as a player from a year ago, but I still have a lot more I can get better at. I got stronger during the season, but I still need to get even stronger and get quicker.”
“This offseason, I’m going to focus on my legs and get my core right. I need to be more explosive off the line this year. I also want to be a leader in the weight room and a leader on the team. I want to try and push a lot of kids to try and work and get better and that obviously starts with me. I’m not going to stop until I do get better.”
Tyler is just one of many players that Vikings Sports Now plans to follow this offseason as the football program looks to take another step next season.