Former Ravenna football star Hunter Hogan now is a captain for the Knights football team at Calvin University, where he is in his red shirt sophomore year.
By Jonathan Timm
LocalSportsJournal.com
LocalSportsJournal.com
GRAND RAPIDS -- The 2024 founding of Calvin University’s football program provided a new opportunity for former Ravenna football star Hunter Hogan. Now a ground-attack machine and utility plug for the receiving game, Hogan has played a prevalent part of the early-season success for the Knights football team.
After going 2-8 overall and 0-7 in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) play in their inaugural season, the Knights’ 4-0 start (1-0 MIAA) to the 2025 campaign has brought a higher level of expectation as they head full blast into conference play.
“I think we knew going into it, we were going to do some good stuff this year,” said Hogan, who is currently in his redshirt sophomore year.
“Putting up 88 in the first game, and then we’re like, ‘OK, we’re pretty good.’ And then going against Concordia (Wis.), who beat us last year ... and played a full four quarters and a pretty much perfect game (in a 34-7 victory).”
To finish nonconference play, Calvin etched out a 40-37 overtime road win vs. Heidelberg. The Knights kicked off MIAA action last Saturday night with a 24-16 home victory over Kalamazoo College.
One of the keys to Calvin’s success has been the changing of Hogan’s primary role, even though the 5-foot-10, 183-pounder is still on the roster as a wide receiver. Throughout high school, Hogan was a slot receiver until duty called at the quarterback position his senior year at Ravenna. Hogan has now used his football IQ to make the most of the rushing attack for the Knights.
“We have a lot of weapons,” Hogan said. “The running back room was where we needed more depth. Coach Ben Dixon (offensive coordinator) was like, ‘I think we can get you the ball a little bit more in the run game.’”
That “little more” is an understatement now, as Hogan’s 682 yards on the ground rank him second among all NCAA Division III rushers entering a Week 5 road trip to Alma College (2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4). He’s scored seven rushing touchdowns and averages 5.9 yards per carry, and he’s made 14 receptions for 98 yards. A season ago, Hogan had just 494 all-purpose yards.
Getting the reps from handling the football his senior year at Ravenna has helped Hogan’s position change along with his expertise ball-carrier vision.
“In high school when I was quarterback, I was running between the tackles in quarterback leads,” he said.
Having the mind of the quarterback, with the agility, speed, and knowledge of a receiver, has helped the chemistry between Hogan and his current offensive general.
“Tommy Vaccaro is a great quarterback. To work with him and just to see what he’s seeing and putting our minds together in the backfield is pretty incredible,” Hogan said.
Now in sharing the backfield with Vaccaro, Hogan has a newly developed gratitude and mesh with the offensive line.
“It’s a new relationship with us because obviously I didn’t play running back last year,” Hogan said. “Every time before a drive, I go say something to them, and after a drive. Just building that bond with them so they know I trust them is the biggest thing. I always tell them, ‘Just do your job and I’ll do mine.’”
The so-far lethal offensive attack for Calvin is averaging 46.5 points per game, which ranks 10th in D-III.
And it’s not just the offense making the noise. One of the leaders of the Calvin defensive unit is sophomore linebacker Caiden Bolduc, a Reeths-Puffer alumnus, who currently paces the Knights in sacks (five) and pass breakups (four).
“That’s just the great part of it because even when our offense gets stopped and we have to punt or something, we know we’re gonna get the ball back. Or at least get the ball back soon,” Hogan said.
The building blocks of a newly founded program vary more than just offense, defense, and special teams. What stands out throughout the Calvin football roster is the youth. With only six seniors and five juniors, the floor is more than open for underclassmen to take on leadership roles in the up-and-coming program.
“With me, I’ve grown and I’m a captain on the team now,” Hogan said. “I was put in a position where I couldn’t be silent. The coaches explained to me that people and the guys will be watching me and what I’m doing. So that led me to step into leadership more this year. It’s been good for me to be more verbal and really be a leader.”
Hogan also identified the differences of going into last year, without a single game under the program’s belt, to this year now that players and coaches have adapted.
“When we really want to set how Calvin football is, coach Trent Figg steps back and says, ‘You guys decide how this will run and how the chemistry will be built.’”
After trust got instilled into the players, Hogan shared an experience that helped tie any sort of knot the team was lacking going into the season from a friendship and brotherhood standpoint.
“At camp, we all sat in a circle and shared our life story,” he recalled. “When I was sharing mine, I was crying. A lot of guys were. You see the softer side of guys that you normally wouldn’t see just on a daily basis. You wouldn’t really know, ‘Oh, that guy had this happen to him.’ You have to explain your story no matter how hard it is.”
Those are the tears that sometimes get deprived from the blood and sweat that goes into achieving the gridiron goals.
“We have team goals: Win a game, win a road game, win a conference game, go to the playoffs, win a playoff game, and then ultimately win a national championship,” Hogan said. “So that’s the goal, and we have some of them checked off.”
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