Newest Arrow-to-AU Football Commits Ready For Impact

By Doug Haidet

ASHLAND – It would be easy to view them as a trio of dominoes loaded with football talent, tipping over along a pathway to Ashland University.

Ashland High School senior linebacker Gunner Lacey announced his commitment in mid-January to suit up for the Eagles. A few weeks later, his classmates – lineman Budda Martin and kicker Carson O’Brien – made the decision to follow in his footsteps.

Ever the entertaining conversationalist, Martin thought about the situation and had an analogy of his own.

“It was like Gunner was Batman and there was a signal in the sky; that’s what I envisioned,” he said with a laugh. “Gunner was pointing it up in the sky and me and Carson both saw it. The bat signal was up.”

“Yeah,” Lacey said chuckling. “Ashland’s like Gotham City.”

If these Arrows play anything like they did in high school when they reach the next level for Ashland University head coach Doug Geiser, they might just carve out a football story worthy of a few pages within the DC Comics universe.

Lacey finished high school with the most tackles in Arrows history (416), Martin was an All-Ohioan in his first full season at AHS, and O’Brien stamped his name among the best kickers to ever come through a program that has become known for them.

The trio will finish high school with a combined 25 varsity letters and will hope to join a list of AHS-to-AU players who have shined under the lights at Jack Miller Stadium.

“When I committed, I wanted to (try to recruit) as many of my teammates as possible because I feel like Ashland just has too much talent for it to be wasted just stopping after high school,” Lacey said.

“I feel like our senior class as a whole is the most athletic and successful compared to any other Ashland senior class in a long time.”

Geiser has won 28 games in his first three seasons as head coach at Division II AU, and he’s been on staff with the program for more than two decades.

He said the Eagles have thrived on recruiting local talent through the years and he believes the newest Arrow trio will only bolster the dynamic history that has been built.

“You get a chance to admire the successes they’ve had,” Geiser said, “and hopefully they can replicate something like that here.”

A case of football deja vu?

Last year, former Arrows All-Ohio defensive back Tyler Sauder joined the AU roster. With the addition of Lacey, Martin and O’Brien in 2026, the Eagles will have their largest number of players from AHS in nearly a decade.

But the era that might come to mind for many when thinking about the 2026 group is one of the most unforgettable batches of Arrows ever to don the purple and gold.

Just like this 2026 crew, Ashland High School’s Class of 2008 football players put together a perfect 10-0 regular season as juniors, then returned for a record-setting senior campaign.

Among those AHS graduates were eventual AU starters Taylor Housewright, Gregg Berkshire, Logan Kerr and Tyler McFarlin. Equal to this year’s rendition, all of them were All-Ohioans.

That class also marks the last time at least three AHS players from the same class committed to join the Eagles.

“Their seasons were similar because they had the undefeated regular seasons as juniors and then another great season as seniors,” said Ashland High School head coach Scott Valentine, who finished his 20^th season leading the Arrows in the fall. “Overall, those were great groups and teams together, so for these guys to get the opportunity to go on now, you’re just excited for them.”

Recalling an unforgettable era

Housewright and Berkshire became first-team All-Americans at AU.

A three-year starter at quarterback, Housewright finished an AU-record fifth in the voting for the 2012 Harlon Hill Trophy (Division II’s version of the Heisman).

His 7,259 passing yards and 71 passing touchdowns both rank third in Eagle history.

Berkshire, meanwhile, made himself a kicking legend. He’s still the all-time leader at AU in career scoring (323 points), field goals (56) and punting average (43.0 ypp), and had it not been for a major knee injury, he had hopes of an NFL tryout in 2012.

A defensive back, Kerr became an all-conference standout. His eight interceptions in 2010 remain the most for any Eagle since 2003 and were a big reason he was a preseason All-American in 2011.

McFarlin developed into a key defensive player and punt returner during his time and finished inside the team’s Top 10 in tackles in three different seasons.

Geiser vividly remembers the talent that quartet brought with it from Community Stadium.

“We are very fortunate to have so many good players in our backyard,” he said. “Adding (the Class of 2008 group), knowing they were coming from a good program with Coach Valentine, you knew they knew how to win, they knew how to work and there was a personal pride in playing for the hometown school.”

With those four standouts included, AU’s 2010 roster was loaded with a total of seven contributors from AHS. Among them were three-year starting offensive lineman Kyle Stout, defensive back Ryan Stackhouse (the current defensive coordinator for the Arrows) and defensive lineman Dan Icenhour.

The Eagles went 8-3 in 2010 and followed that with a 6-5 mark in 2011 with everyone but Stout returning.

Then with Housewright and McFarlin back for more in 2012, Ashland put together just the fifth undefeated regular season in its history.

That year’s 11-1 record is still tied for AU’s most wins in a season, and the team’s No. 9 ranking in the AFCA Division II poll that year is still its best ever to finish a season.

Deep ties to the Eagle defense

While Housewright’s exploits at quarterback for the Eagles will withstand the test of time, Ashland High School’s contributions to the defensive side of the ball at AU are more wide-ranging.

In 2025, Sauder was a solid scout-team performer for the Eagles, and his place on the roster extended an impressive streak of AHS-to-AU defenders.

The Arrows have had a graduate participate in some fashion on the Eagle defense every year since at least 2008.

Along with Kerr and McFarlin, other former Arrows to thrive on defense during that stretch have included 2005 AHS graduate Stackhouse (80 career tackles in 36 games played), 2012 graduate Zach Bernhard (55 tackles in 33 games), 2016 graduate Scott Valentine (60 tackles in 31 games) and 2021 graduate Kristian Gehrisch (86 tackles in 42 games).

With that in mind, it stands to reason that Lacey and Martin both are aimed at being difference-making stalwarts for the Eagles when their time comes.

In December, the 5-11, 200-pound Lacey became the first defensive player in Arrow history to be named a first-team All-Ohioan twice.

Along with the school’s record for career tackles, he finished with 72 tackles for loss and 17 sacks.

“Gunner got the opportunity to play young and just kept getting better throughout his career,” coach Valentine said of the linebacker. “He has a nose for the ball and does a ton of things well.”

Martin, meanwhile, transferred to Ashland from nearby Madison earlier in high school. In his only full season playing football for the Arrows this past fall, the defensive lineman accumulated 44 tackles and 13 tackles for loss as an All-Ohioan.

“I think he probably is the strongest kid to ever come through Ashland,” Valentine said. “He’s been strong for a long time and he’s kept working at that.

“He really loves the game and has some big potential.”

The 6-foot Martin currently is in the midst of his senior wrestling season. Ranked No. 4 in the state at 215 pounds, he’s got 117 career wins on the mat and is also famous for holding the AHS record on the bench press with a max-out of 440 pounds.

Martin said he received interest from Division III colleges for both football and wrestling, but once he saw Lacey link up with AU, he felt it only made sense to join the Eagles as well.

“When you see success, you want to be around success so you can be successful yourself,” he said. “(Early on at AU) I’ll be focused on making the team better, that’s kind of what I think I’ll have to do,” he added. “We have to train to make sure we come in ready because it’s gonna be hard.”

Valentine himself was an All-American defensive lineman for the Eagles in 1984. His father, John Valentine, was the school’s defensive coordinator for 19 years under Hall of Fame head coach Fred Martinelli.

In so many ways, it’s a defensive lineage that becomes more unique with each new Arrow addition.

“The coaches all know us and they have high expectations for us,” Lacey said, “but it’s just gonna take us working hard. … We want to make an impact as soon as possible and be leaders on the team.”

O’Brien adds new wrinkle to kicking legacy

Not only has defense been one of the calling cards of the AHS-to-AU cavalry, but kicking also has its place in the record books.

Along with Berkshire’s exploits, former NFL kicker Tim Seder – a 1993 Ashland High School graduate – made a name for himself at AU.

A walk-on with the Eagles, he won the kicking job as a freshman, eventually booting 41 field goals at Ashland. He and Berkshire are two of just four AU kickers ever to reach that total.

Seder went on to kick in games with the Dallas Cowboys and Jacksonville Jaguars.

O’Brien has his own intentions of upholding the kicking tradition he’s stepping into.

“I always hear about Berkshire because I’ve heard comparisons all the time and people talk about how he has all these records at AU,” said the 6-4, 215-pound O’Brien. “He definitely made a name for himself and that’s my goal.”

Like Berkshire, O’Brien was a standout on the soccer field for the Arrows as well, splitting his fall seasons between the two sports.

He was a team captain and all-conference performer while playing right-back for AHS as a senior, at the same time making a name for himself as one of Ohio’s best kickers for two years on the football field.

“Carson did a lot of work on his own,” Valentine said. “He’d come and get the practice in before he went to soccer, which allowed him to keep improving. His confidence just came on.”

O’Brien finished 135-of-151 on PATs and 17-of-22 on field goals for his career. His only field-goal miss as a senior was from 48 yards – a kick that would have tied the school record owned by another kicker who spent time with the Eagles, Greg Gallaway.

O’Brien had multiple offers to kick for Division III programs before choosing AU, and both Valentine and Geiser feel he has a right leg that could produce big numbers in college.

“Is he the next Gregg Berkshire? I don’t know if I’d put that on him,” Geiser said. “... But if he can give us just a semblance of what Gregg did, we’re going to be very happy for the next four years.”

Like Martin, O’Brien will start out as a walk-on with the Eagles, but the chance to earn some athletic scholarship money will be there.

In Division II, Geiser said his program has the equivalent of 36 total scholarships. The Eagles typically carry between 155 to 175 players on their roster – with more than half of them being walk-ons – so the staff has to get creative with how it distributes dollars.

But Geiser said the program has typically put seven or eight walk-on players on scholarship every season during his more than 20 years at Ashland.

After the transfer to Division I Fresno State of record-breaking kicker Manaki Watanabe – whose 21-of-22 performance on field goals in 2025 led the nation and set an AU record – the position will be up for grabs.

“I never really had someone (at AHS) to go out there and compete with every day trying to see who could be the most accurate and who could kick the furthest,” O’Brien said. “But the other guys on the (AU) roster, I’ve looked at their clips and they’re legit. It will be fun to compete with them.”

Adding to the Ashland standard

Lacey, Martin and O’Brien admitted that their chances at making an immediate impact as starters at a program as talent-laden as AU are slim.

The Eagles finished 2025 ranked 15^th in the nation and have won a playoff game in back-to-back seasons for the first time ever. Rarely do true freshmen walk in and start.

Despite that, Lacey said the Arrows have a built-in advantage committing so close to home.

If they want, they can stop by Jack Miller Stadium to watch AU practices and film and even attend meetings before they graduate high school.

Then they can hit the ground running in the team’s summer program.

“You challenge them to get into as good of shape as possible, come for voluntary workouts during the summer and, when you get to training camp, shoot your shot,” Geiser said. “Nothing’s been promised to anybody – whether you’re from Ashland or from Idaho. You’ve got to earn your spot.”

Added Valentine, “The thing I told my own sons when they were looking at schools was, ‘You want to go to a good program that is winning because it’s not fun playing and working as hard as you do if you’re not successful as a team.’”

“When you do that, the opportunity to play might not come for a couple years,” he said. “… But those guys who can take that and build on it usually will end up making it through and have a good career.”

Even if their time takes a few seasons to arrive, the newest Arrow-to-Eagle trio could eventually combine with Sauder to give AU four starters who cut their football teeth less than a mile away.

As so many Ashland fans know all too well, it has happened before.

“That’s the dream right there,” Lacey said, “having your high school friends and teammates go to the next level with you and being successful.”