Northwestern College in Iowa won a NAIA national title this past season and now they’ve added another Scottsbluff Bearcat to their program.
Bearcat senior Michael Thrash signed with the Raiders on Wednesday, where he talked about what led to his decision.
“Definitely the fact they kept in touch with me all throughout the season. Always checking up on me and stuff. I was already familiar with the town having done multiple camps there. And then obviously the fact Tyson signed there was pretty motivating to go there for sure.”
Thrash referencing his high school teammate and classmate, Tyson Klein, who signed with Northwestern College in early February.
This past season as a senior Thrash made his impact felt in all three phases of the game as a starter at linebacker, on the offensive line, and on special teams.
Defense is where he likes to hang his hat as he finished this past year with 58 total tackles and two quarterback sacks. He boiled down his love for defense by saying, “I just like to hit people.”
Thrash thinks his time in a winning program at the prep level with Scottsbluff will have him well prepared to join a title winning program in college.
“It prepared me really well. Just that winning culture and same intensity will carry over to college. Especially at Northwestern because they already have that culture built up. I’ve talked to some of their players and it sounds like a great community to be around.”
Scottsbluff head coach Jud Hall had high praise for Thrash and what he meant to the Bearcats program.
“Mike’s a total team guy. Started in our program as a fullback and ended up on the offensive line. So a guy that we’ve asked to do multiple things for us, and he said ‘yes whatever I need to do to make the team better’, so a total team guy. A guy that’s able to step into some special teams I think that kind of goes unnoticed going into the college level. A guy that has the ability to long snap.”
Thrash will major in exercise science and then hopes to get into physical therapy.
